Fort Kent, Maine
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Fort Kent is a town located in Aroostook County, Maine. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 4,233. U.S. Highway 1 has its northern endpoint in Fort Kent. It bears the northernmost campus of the University of Maine System (the University of Maine at Fort Kent), an Olympic biathlete training center, an annual CAN-AM dogsled race, and a national historical site (the Fort Kent Blockhouse, built in reaction to the "bloodless Aroostook War"). Principal industries include agriculture (potatoes) and textiles. MBNA has opened a call center in the town, which provides significant employment.
The town is economically and culturally linked to the Canadian towns of Clair (pop. 800) and Saint-François-de-Madawaska (pop. 800), both in Madawaska County, New Brunswick, right across the St. John River. Most children on the Canadian side attend school in French while their American counterparts attend school mainly in English. Despite this, many people (http://www.francomaine.org/English/Carto/cartes/Aroos_Th4.htm) in Fort Kent have French as a first language (official statistics unavailable) and the language can be heard everywhere. Many residents also have American-Canadian dual citizenship (official statistics unavailable), as Fort Kent has the closest hospital for many Canadian residents.
Until recently, it was significantly cheaper to live on the Canadian side. However, for those working on the American side (and receiving employer paid health insurance) there are major income tax savings to be had by living in the USA. Despite free trade (NAFTA), Canadian customs collects both federal (7%) and provincial (8%) sales taxes as well as duties (which can be as high as 15% on cloths made in China, for example) which significantly discourages legal cross-border shopping. Groceries (usually without sales tax) and gas are popular purchases for Canadian residents shopping in Fort Kent as gas, turkeys and milk are significantly cheaper there. Fort Kent residents cross over to the Canadian side to take advantage of cheaper labour costs (on haircuts, for example).
Fort Kent is artificially isolated from the nearest major cities (Quebec City and Montreal) by the land-owner cooperative known as North Maine Woods (http://www.northmainewoods.org/know.html) that bars "shortcut" international traffic on what would be a significantly shorter trip through western Maine. Aroostook County residents are therefore forced to go north through New Brunswick to go to the province of Quebec, their western neighbour. This nonsense is one of the reasons many Aroostook residents favour separating from Maine and forming their own state.
Fort Kent hosts major dog sled and cross county skiing events in the winter.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 143.4 km² (55.3 mi²). 140.3 km² (54.2 mi²) of it is land and 3.1 km² (1.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 2.15% water.
Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there are 4,233 people, 1,735 households, and 1,106 families residing in the town. The population density is 30.2/km² (78.2/mi²). There are 1,824 housing units at an average density of 13.0/km² (33.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the town is 96.95% White, 0.38% Black or African American, 0.76% Native American, 0.87% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.28% from other races, and 0.76% from two or more races. 0.50% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 1,735 households out of which 28.2% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.0% are married couples living together, 6.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% are non-families. 29.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 13.0% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.34 and the average family size is 2.90.
In the town the population is spread out with 22.3% under the age of 18, 11.3% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38 years. For every 100 females there are 96.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 91.7 males.
The median income for a household in the town is $29,547, and the median income for a family is $41,616. Males have a median income of $35,325 versus $19,146 for females. The per capita income for the town is $16,403. 14.5% of the population and 9.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 13.7% of those under the age of 18 and 18.2% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
See also: Fort Kent (CDP), Maine
External links
- Town of Fort Kent (http://www.fortkent.org)
- North Maine Woods (http://www.northmainewoods.org/know.html)
- Maine's French Communities (http://www.francomaine.org/)