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History · Orient

Orient’s post office opened in 1839, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the U.S. Inspection Station-Orient, Maine. Its Register listing is the U.S. Inspection Station-Orient, Maine. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1940 on, and the census since 1850.

1839first post office
1on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Orient’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Orient began

When was Orient founded?

1839

The Orient post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 205 in 18502020 census: 156187 years
Founding year: the first Orient post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Orient’s past

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

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 244 in 1890; 156 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsA post office since 1839: 187 years of Orient.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Orient’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewOrient In Use: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Orient, census by census

01002001850190019502000Peak: 244

Peaked at 244 in 1890; 156 people lived here in 2020.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

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

Timeline

Orient, 1839 to 1997

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1839Post officeThe Orient post office opens
  3. 1890CensusPopulation peaks at 244
  4. 20th century
  5. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1997In the archiveOrient In Use
The story so far

Orient, in brief

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

Orient is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 156 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1839. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 147 to 156 (+6%).

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

By decade

Orient, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1990s1 item
Orient In Use1997Orient In Use
Today1 recent
Orient Maine Border Station2007Orient Maine Border Station
On the map

Orient on the map, 1940 to 1989

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

Orient on the 1940 USGS mapOrient on the 1958 USGS mapOrient on the 1975 USGS mapOrient on the 1989 USGS map1940Amity 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 Orient.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Orient

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2014
U.S. Inspection Station-Orient, Maine
U.S. Inspection Station-Orient, Maine
Buildings
U.S. Inspection Station-Orient, MaineBuilding

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.

HaynesvilleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWestonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAmity1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Orient’s history

What year was Orient founded?

The Orient post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Orient?

One place: the U.S. Inspection Station-Orient, Maine (listed 2014).

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 (2), 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.