For 136 years, Star-Herald remains

    On the masthead of the Presque Isle Star-Herald, in the lower right-hand corner, reads a small line. Just four words; yet those words have proclaimed the theme of the city’s newspaper for 136 years.
     Aroostook County’s Independent Voice.
    From the birth of its predecessors in the mid-1800s, through its growth into a century and up to its present day, the local weekly continues to strive to reflect the concerns of its readers in a resonant, independent manner.
    The Star-Herald was preceded by the establishment of several other, relatively short-lived publications, beginning with the Aroostook Pioneer.
    Late in 1857, two years before Presque Isle was incorporated as a town, Maine Senate Secretary Joseph B. Hall joined forces with printer William S. Gilman. In offices above Winslow Hall’s store, with a hand press and lead type formerly used by the Bangor Gazette, the first issue of the Pioneer was turned out.
    The county’s first newspaper, the Pioneer continued for three years under Hall’s leadership. In 1860, Hall sold it to Gilman, who published it in Presque Isle until 1868 and then moved the operation to Houlton.
    At the time of the sale, Hall founded the Aroostook Herald, whose slogan declared, “Independent in All Things; Neutral in Nothing.” Despite its seemingly radical slant, the paper was strictly Republican in platform; under the conventions of the era, most newspapers reflected partisan politics.
    After only two years, Hall discontinued the publication and moved to Portland. In 1863, there was the first edition of the Loyal Sunrise, published and edited by Daniel Stickney, who would become one of Aroostook’s most colorful journalists.
    Srickney’s prospectus for the new paper, formed as a voice of the Union in Aroostook, declared, “It (the publication) will give an efficient and unconditional support to all measures of the government for suppression of the rebellion. It will advocate the right of all men white and colored to life, liberty and the pursuits of happiness.”
    “Literature of questionable moral influence will be excluded from its columns … It will be published every Wednesday … as a sheet a little smaller than the other Aroostook papers with new and small type so that it will contain more reading matter than either of them.”
    Stickney’s fierce determination to have the region’s best newspaper laid bare a competitive spirit which erupted with the establishment of yet another paper, the North Star, which was first published in 1871 by F.G. Parker.
    Although he sold the Sunrise in 1868 to A.W. Glidden and George S. Rowell, Stickney continued as editor, engaging in a literal “war of words” with Parker, which was based largely on political differences. The two editors used their talents to fling printed abuse upon one another; finally, in 1876, the war abated with the well-liked Parker emerging as the apparent victor. Stickney moved his publication to Fort Fairfield.
    For seven years Parker’s North Star held the reins of Presque Isle’s newspaper industry. Then, in 1883, Hall returned to the area and began a second Aroostook Herald. The two papers continued along more similar lines, both advocating the building of a railroad in the county.
    Parker sold the North Star to George H. Collins in 1887. The Herald, purchased by F.S. Bickford upon Hall’s death in July 1889, was also sold to Collins, who would merge the papers. January 16, 1890 saw the first edition of the combined papers as The Star-Herald.
    Presque Isle’s new paper continued under Collins’ leadership, increasing its pages and coverage and ever emerging as a strong voice for Aroostook. When the U.S. declared it would enter World War I, the publication supported the idea firmly, joining the nation in the use of patriotic advertisements.
    The Herald’s growth was aided when Charles F. West, Collins’ son-in-law, joined the staff as business manager in 1920 and gradually took on more of the editor’s duties. When Collins died in 1930, West hired veteran newspaperman Roland T. Patten of Skowhegan as editor.
    Patten stayed on for six years, resigning in 1936. West took over as editor, retaining his managerial position as well. Meanwhile, the paper’s appearance was changing; its seven-column broadsheet, and its headlines were growing larger in type and reaching across several columns.
    Keith Field, the paper’s advertising manager, acquired the title of assistant editor in 1936, and was replaced in 1939 by Guy E. Durgin.
    The Star-Herald reached a turning point in 1946 when West, due to failing health, sold the paper to Edward G. Perrier. Perrier had for six years served as advertising manager and assistant editor, and had written a column “The Observer.”
    A Fort Fairfield native and Colby College graduate, Perrier left his mark on the Herald. He increased the eight-page format to 16 pages, began a sports section, changed the style and embarked on an aggressive advertising campaign. His work paid off as circulation climbed to 2,800. The paper further improved with the use of more photographs and expanded coverage of outlying towns.
    Perrier continued as publisher until late 1962, when he sold the Star-Herald to Bernard E. Esters of the Houlton Pioneer Times and Charles P. Helfenstein of the Aroostook Republican and News. Under editor Gene Rowe, the Herald’s circulation grew to 3,284 and advertising volume increased dramatically.
    Rowe resigned in 1964 and Esters temporarily took over editorial duties until 1966 when his partnership sold the Caribou, Houlton and Presque Isle weeklies to Northeast Publishing Company, a subsidiary of the Bangor Publishing Company. The firm boasted a state-of-the-art offset press.
    C.M. Goolsby of New Jersey, hired by Northeast to manage the paper, attempted a semi-weekly format — Wednesdays and Saturdays. the effort was abandoned in a few years.
    Goolsby hired Herbert L. Rafford of the Keene, N.H. Sentinel, in July, 1968. In January, 1970, radio and television news reporter Frank S. Knight was named editor for a short stint. He was replaced in 1971 by Horace Moody, a former Bangor Daily News reporter. He stayed until 1975.
    Homer T. Ford brought 25 years experience to the Star-Herald in 1976, leaving the paper less than a year later. Staff writer Elizabeth Sisson took over editor’s duties, revamping the paper’s layout, using bigger photographs and more boxed feature stories.
    Former intern Jane Russell Stanford of Fort Fairfield was the paper’s next leader, stepping up as editor in 1982. During her tenure, the paper changed from a 15-inch to 13-inch web format to comply with the industry’s change from an 8-column to a 6-column format. Also, in 1984, some color began to appear on the front page and in some advertisements.
    Promoted to editor in 1986 was Mark Putnam, a sports editor and general news reporter at the paper since 1983. Today he serves as managing editor for Northeast Publishing, overseeing coverage and content at four weekly papers.
    Current staff at the Herald included reporters Scott Johnson, Kathy McCarty and Sara Gray, sales manager Jim Berry (a 30-plus year employee), advertising sales representative Scott Galipeau and receptionist Becky Hull.