Aroostook & Northern Penobscot Counties
26
Lyman Pendell And The Aroostook Republican by Charles Francis
T
The power of the press
he Northern Aroostook County town of Caribou was the last major population center in the State of Maine to acquire its own newspaper, and it was largely due to the efforts of Lyman Pendell that it did. This paper was the Aroostook Republican. There was really nothing unique about the establishment of a paper to serve the region north of Presque Isle and Fort Fairfield. It was undoubtedly inevitable that either Caribou or Van Buren would eventually have a newspaper. What is unique about the founding of a paper for the region is that the
man who was largely responsible for the first real success and continued existence of the Aroostook Republican was one of the most remarkable newspapermen north of Bangor in that he already had a broad range of experience in journalism and publishing by the time he arrived in Caribou. Prior to the establishment of the Aroostook Republican, the county was served by the aptly named Houlton Pioneer. Then, around 1870 there seems to have been a flurry of interest in the newspaper business, which centered in Caribou. In fact, according to Ayer’s
Registry, an early compendium listing Maine newspapers, Presque Isle’s Star-Herald had actually started in Caribou as the North Star, which in turn had been started as a competitor for the Republican which had come into existence a year earlier. While all this is a bit confusing, what does seem clear is that it was Lyman Pendell who had the greatest degree of influence on northern Aroostook County journalism. Lyman Pendell was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts in 1865. While he was still a child his father, who was a Methodist minister, moved the family
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