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Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic ChurchOur Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church · Photo: National Park Service · Public domain
–Not graded
History · Grand Isle

Grand Isle’s post office opened in 1907, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1938 on, and the census since 1860.

1907first post office
1on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Grand Isle’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Grand Isle began

When was Grand Isle founded?

1907

The Grand Isle post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, West Van Buren (1851), Grant Isle (1859) and Lower Grant Isle (1890), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 545 in 18602020 census: 366119 years
Founding year: the first Grand Isle post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Grand Isle’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Grand Isle, and 3 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,574 in 1940; 366 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Grand Isle’s homes were built before 1961.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Grand Isle’s post office has been open since 1907. Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

West Van Buren
1851–1859
Grant Isle
1859–1907
Lower Grant Isle
1890–1907
Grand Isle
1907–today
Lower Grand Isle
1907–1910
Lille
1910–1989
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Daigle MillLilleNotre Dame
Gone or out of use
Lille Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Grand Isle
Notre Dame Du Mount CarmelSaint Gerard

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start Grand Isle’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Grand Isle’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewMont Carmel: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Grand Isle, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,600190019502000Peak: 1,574

Peaked at 1,574 in 1940; 366 people lived here in 2020.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Grand Isle’s Wikipedia page.

The story so far

Grand Isle, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Grand Isle yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Grand Isle (French: Grande Île) is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 366 at the 2020 census. The village of Grand Isle is in the northwestern part of the town. According to the most recent American Community Survey data, up to 57.9% of the population age 5 and older speak French at home.

Its first post office opened in 1907. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 467 to 366 (-22%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Grand Isle, 1851 to 1940

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1851Post officeThe West Van Buren post office opens
  3. 1859Post officeThe West Van Buren post office closes
  4. 1859Post officeThe Grant Isle post office opens
  5. 1890Post officeThe Lower Grant Isle post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1907Post officeThe Grant Isle post office closes
  8. 1907Post officeThe Lower Grant Isle post office closes
  9. 1938On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 1,574
By decade

Grand Isle, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Mont CarmelDate?Mont Carmel
Today2 recent
Grand Isle Fire Department trucks2026Grand Isle Fire Department trucksMEMap-location-of-Grand Isle2017MEMap-location-of-Grand Isle
On the map

Grand Isle on the map, 1938 to 1986

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grand Isle. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Grand Isle on the 1938 USGS mapGrand Isle on the 1940 USGS mapGrand Isle on the 1975 USGS mapGrand Isle on the 1986 USGS map1938Grand Isle sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Grand Isle.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Mont Carmel
Retake this viewMont Carmel

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Grand Isle’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Grand Isle

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church
Buildings
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic ChurchBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Madawaska3 historic placesBVan Buren3 historic placesB+

Questions about Grand Isle’s history

What year was Grand Isle founded?

The Grand Isle post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Grand Isle?

One place: the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church (listed 1973).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.