Special to The Star-Herald
Unlike other local schools, the exact year of the construction of the original Gouldville School is unknown, but it’s well accepted that the year was very close to 1900. Its name derives from Arthur R. Gould, a highly successful businessman who came from the Bangor area in the early 1880s to establish a local bank.
Gould also developed lumbering operations, a brickyard, and was responsible for the first cement bridge crossing the Presque Isle Stream on State Street in 1910. He established electric lines from Aroostook Falls, New Brunswick in order to run his Aroostook Valley Railroad. The west side of the Presque Isle Stream (Gouldville) was named in his honor. It’s highly likely that he initiated the construction of Gouldville School with a hefty donation. In 1926, Gould was elected to the U.S. Senate.
The original school contained four classrooms. It became necessary in 1913, because of a population growth, to enlarge the school and was then doubled in size. In 1923, the school was consumed by fire. Gould again stepped in and lobbied for a brick building; he volunteered to donate the bricks from his own brickyard. The new school, now containing 16 classrooms, was completed that October. Sometime in the 1930s, a new addition was added which again doubled the school’s size. The school, after 98 years of service, closed in 1998.
