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History · St. Francis

St. Francis’ post office opened in 1872, and 30% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 1870.

1872first post office
0on the National Register
30%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How St. Francis began

When was St. Francis founded?

1872

The St. Francis post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Bradbury (1918), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 253 in 18702020 census: 438154 years
Founding year: the first St. Francis post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about St. Francis’ past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of St. Francis are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,489 in 1940; 438 people lived here in 2020.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s St. Francis, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Francis’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

St. Francis, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,60018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,489

Peaked at 1,489 in 1940; 438 people lived here in 2020.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Another post office, Bradbury, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Saint Francis
1872–today
Bradbury
1918–1934
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Back SettlementBradburySaint Francis
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside St. Francis
Old Saint CharlesSaint CharlesSaint Pauls Congregational

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

The story so far

St. Francis, in brief

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

St. Francis or Saint Francis (French: Saint-François) is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States on the Canada–United States border at the junction of the St. Francis River and the Saint John River. The population was 438 at the 2020 census. First settled by English speakers from southern Maine, the original population has been supplanted by French-speaking Acadians.

Its first post office opened in 1872. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 485 to 438 (-10%).

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

Timeline

St. Francis, 1872 to 1940

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe Saint Francis post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1918Post officeThe Bradbury post office opens
  5. 1930On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1934Post officeThe Bradbury post office closes
  7. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 1,489
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

St. Francis on the map, 1930 to 1985

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

St. Francis on the 1930 USGS mapSt. Francis on the 1975 USGS mapSt. Francis on the 1985 USGS map1930St Francis 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 St. Francis.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

AllagashIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSt. John plantation2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about St. Francis’ history

What year was St. Francis founded?

The St. Francis post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 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.