North Star and Aroostook Herald merged
to create city’s current weekly newspaper
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 140 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 newspaper continues to strive to reflect the concerns of its readers in a resonant, independent manner.
The Star-Herald, which has been published every week since 1871, was preceded by the establishment of several other, relatively short-lived publications beginning with the Aroostook Pioneer, according to Alan R. Miller’s 1978 book, “A History of Current Maine Newspapers.”
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.
Aroostook’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.
Northeast Publishing Company, a subsidiary of the Bangor Publishing Company, purchased the Star-Herald in 1964. The firm boasted a state-of-the-art offset press.
Today the community newspaper has expanded its reach beyond the Star City to Mapleton, Easton, Ashland, Mars Hill, Blaine, Bridgewater, Fort Fairfield, Washburn and other surrounding towns.
“It is our goal to create an accurate and appealing weekly newspaper that tells the ongoing story of Presque Isle and central Aroostook County. If someone who had never visited Presque Isle were to read just one edition of the Star-Herald; we would like to believe they would get a real feel for the community and its inhabitants,” said Mark Putnam, current managing editor.
To do this, the six-person staff must reach out to readers and advertisers on a daily basis to gather information in all its many forms for use in the newspaper. Reporters also rely on community members to submit items of interest or tips to follow up on. “Each issue is a mix of the planned and the unplanned and that’s the way we like it. Reporters do not have to know everything; they just have to know how to find out,” said Putnam.
Current staff at the Herald includes reporters Scott Johnson, Kathy McCarty and Kevin Sjoberg, advertising sales representatives Scott Galipeau and Gary Bowden, and receptionist Joanna Richards.
