To the editor:
I found this information about Presque Isle’s newspaper history in the book “Pine, Potatoes and People” by author Helen Hamlin, published in 1948 and thought readers would enjoy.
“In 1857, the first newspaper in Aroostook came off the press in Presque Isle, before the town had been incorporated. It was the brainchild of Joseph B. Hall and was known as The Aroostook Pioneer. It was jointly owned by Mr. Hall and Mr. W.S. Gilman, a partnership which didn’t last long, and Mr. Hall withdrew. Mr. Gilman moved the paper to Houlton and continued publishing there.
“Hall then started printing a second Presque Isle newspaper called The Aroostook Herald. The editorial slogan stated that it was “Independent in Everything-Neutral in Nothing.” Hall also devoted his energies and editorials to clamoring for a railroad for Aroostook County.
“The Aroostook Herald lasted almost 30 years, but it was not a continuous publication during that time, as Mr. Hall had traveled to Portland and started The Portland Press and out West to publish The Fargo Republican, and finally back to Aroostook to resume The Herald.
“In 1884, The North Star made its debut in Presque Isle and was edited by Dr. F.G. Parker and claimed that it was “Free and Unshackled.”
“The North Star and Aroostook Herald were later amalgamated as The Presque Isle Star-Herald under the joint direction of George H. Collins and Charles F. West. Recently, (1948-ish) The Star-Herald has had its face lifted under the direction of Edward Perrier.
“The Star Herald’s office is typical of the usual hole-in-the-wall newspaper domain. It is right on the Presque Isle sidewalk on Main Street — or rather under it — with steps leading down to its dungeon interior. Perrier, ready to fly off somewhere, is invariably sitting at his desk with his hat on. His editor, Eugene Rowe, removes his hat when he sits at his desk. There is barely enough room for both of their desks, but they manage somehow to squeeze in one more desk for a secretary. Hiding the desks is a clutter of papers, miscellaneous scrap and stacks of handwritten sheets from their outside ‘correspondents.’ All the handwritten news items have to be deciphered and edited. The correspondents are paid by the length of printable local gossip they send in.
“The window in the office is on a level with the sidewalk, and the back room looks too cluttered for anyone to wade through. Despite all this disorder, which newspaper men revel in, they manage to turn out a snappy weekly newssheet. Rowe is an experienced newspaper man and he puts together a “pretty” front page that is the envy of the other Aroostook weeklies. The Star-Herald carries a sports page, which is an innovation in the county. Basketball holds the limelight and the sporting section is primarily devoted to this activity, as well as to Bill Geagan’s outdoor column on hunting and fishing, and a new series of sporting editorials by Verdell Clark of Presque Isle.”
Christie Cochran
Washburn
Editor’s note: Edward G. Perrier died Dec. 30, 1994, in Mars Hill, at 82. He graduated from Fort Fairfield High School. At Colby College, where he won varsity letters in hockey and tennis and took part in tennis tournaments in Maine and Canada, he was a member of Kappa Delta Rho fraternity and editor of the Echo. In 1936 he joined the Bangor Daily News, serving as Aroostook County editor until he became the editor of the Presque Isle Star-Herald in 1940. He became owner and publisher in 1946. He also published several other papers, including the Aroostook Sunday Herald, Aroostook’s first and only Sunday newspaper, and in 1960 he built radio station WEGP in Presque Isle. In 1968 he became a full-time agent with the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, where he was named Maine’s “Man of the Year” for 1969 and 1974. He was a member of the Associated Press.
