St. John Valley area From our Files – Week of February 14, 2024

3 months ago

50 Years Ago — Feb. 13, 1974

  Block house made landmark – The Fort Kent BlockHouse is in the same historical league as Bunker Hill, Mount Vernon and the Alamo, reported Rep. Bill Cohen this week in 1974. He announced that the Fort Kent BlockHouse has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. It has been judged by the Secretary of the Interior “to possess significance for all Americans,” as Cohen put it. The Fort Kent BlockHouse is the only existing fortification of the famous bloodless Aroostook War of 1838-39. This was the conflict which climaxed the Northeast Border Dispute with Great Britain, following the War of 1812.

25 Years Ago — Feb. 17, 1999

School names two new bee-masters – Madawaska Middle/High School recently completed its annual spelling bee. The yearly event, sponsored by the Bangor Daily News, receives participants from middle schools statewide. After eight rounds and nearly 15 competitors, only two remained, both sixth-graders. As the final round unfolded, sixth-grade student Jade St. Pierre out-dueled fellow classmate Nate Deschaine.

10 Years Ago — Feb. 12, 2014 

Maude Moring named most senior citizen — Maude Moring, born in 1917, was named the town’s “Most Senior Citizen” by the Ste-Agathe Historical Society and was presented a golden cane Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014, at Montfort Heights. Morin was given a certificate and her name was added to the Most Senior Citizens plaque, while historic society representative Terry Ouellette looked on.