Today the nameplate at the top of Page One proclaims “The only newspaper in the world interested in Houlton, Maine.” That may be true today, but 157 years ago Houlton had the distinction of being the only town in the state to have two weekly newspapers — the Aroostook Pioneer and the Aroostook Times.
While the double coverage lasted only until 1933, the mission statement of today’s surviving newspaper — The Houlton Pioneer Times — remains true to its roots. The newspaper staff strives to report the events — both planned and unplanned — of Houlton and surrounding communities in a comprehensive and timely manner. In short, we want to bring local information to readers who cannot get it anywhere else.
It is the weekly newspaper’s ongoing goal to create an accurate and appealing newspaper that tells the ongoing story of Houlton and southern Aroostook County. If someone who had never visited the Shiretown were to read just one edition of the Pioneer Times, they would get a real feel for the community and its inhabitants.
To do this, the small 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. They 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.
Indeed, Houlton’s newspaper has been around a long time. The Aroostook Pioneer, the county’s first newspaper from which today’s Pioneer Times claims its heritage, rolled off the press in 1857. Although publisher William S. Gilman and editor Joseph B. Hall launched the paper in Presque Isle, the operation was eventually moved south to Houlton.
A competitor, The Aroostook Times, hit the streets in 1860 under the guidance of Theodore Cary. In fact, the Times and Pioneer sat on opposite sides of Court Street!
Both papers espoused the qualities of Houlton and were devoted to the interest and prosperity of Aroostook County. Said Cary of the Times, “Having faith in the opulence of its resources, and believing that no part of the Union offers greater inducements or more solid advantages to the immigrant than our own county, the Times will labor steadily and earnestly to spread before the people reliable information of the fertility of its soil, the affluence of its production, and the character of its people, hoping that at least a part of the tide of Western emigration, which has proved so disastrous to our state may be turned back to its own borders, and the waste places and solitudes of Aroostook may be made glad with the sounds of honest labor.”
Cary continued to guide the Times until poor health forced him to sell the operation to Stephen H. Hanson and J. Alton Reed in 1898. This partnership lasted several years but eventually sold out to Charles E. Dunn and Llewellyn M. F***h. In 1907, Charles H. Fogg bought the paper.
Fogg’s ownership of the local paper provided the perfect vehicle for him to demonstrate his immense pride in his community. He built a new brick building to house his newspaper and printing plant and changed the name to Houlton Times in 1917. He remained an active publisher until 1932, three years before his death.
Meanwhile across the street at the Pioneer, several leadership changes had taken place. Founder William S. Gilman edited the paper until his death in 1887. The firm name changed to W.S. Gilman and Son and the paper took on a more colorful tone under the reign of William’s son, George.
Houlton printer Charles A. Lyons and a partner, A.W. Hall, teamed up to purchase the Pioneer upon the younger Gilman’s death in 1906. The printing business was combined with the newspaper operation. Hall later sold his interest and Lyons became sole proprietor. Upon the death of her husband, Mrs. Eunice Lyons took charge of the paper with assistance from Albert K. Stetson. Stetson, who had interned at the Times, eventually owned the Pioneer until his death in 1930.
Bernard E. Esters, who had taken his first job out of college with the Times and left the area to write for larger publications, returned to his hometown and former employer in 1928. Upon the death of Stetson, Esters pulled together a group of Shiretown business leaders to purchase the Pioneer and merge the two local weekly papers. He became editor-publisher of the Houlton Pioneer Times in 1935.
During Esters’ leadership, the paper expanded its coverage of the Houlton region and grew in page count and staff. Before his death in 1966, Esters sold the Houlton paper to Northeast Publishing Company of Presque Isle, a subsidiary of the Bangor Publishing Company — owners of the Bangor Daily News.
Members of the current Pioneer Times staff are receptionist Wanda MacIlroy, advertising sales representative David Bates, and reporter Joseph Cyr. Rick Levesseur is the managing editor.
