Fort Kent, Maine
Aroostook County
23-25755
Fort Kent is a town in the north of the U.S. state of Maine. It belongs administratively to the Aroostook County. Fort Kent is located east of the Saint John River, which forms at this point the state border between the United States and Canada.
The city hosts the campus of the University of Maine was founded in 1878 at Fort Kent with about 1,100 students and an Olympic Biathlon Training Center. Fort Kent is the 10th Mountain Center, one of two biathlon facilities of the Maine Winter Sports Center with FIS and IBU licenses. There already numerous North American Biathlon Championships were held. Furthermore, Fort Kent site of an annual Canadian-American dog sled race. Economic life in the small town is dominated by agriculture, especially the cultivation of potatoes and forestry as well as companies from the textile industry. In the border town ends extending from here to the south U.S. Highway 1, just as the canoe route Northern Forest Canoe Trail.
In economic and cultural terms Fort Kent is closely related to the Canadian cities Clair and Saint -François -de- Madawaska, both located in Madawaska County, New Brunswick, on the other side of the Saint John River. While it is taught in schools on the Canadian side of the watercourse French, is on the American side English is the default language. Nevertheless, 62 percent of residents Fort Kent habitually speak French, which is, however, known in the valley of the Saint John River Valley as a French and a dialect differs substantially from standard French part. Many residents of the city and the region have a dual American- Canadian citizenship.
Attractions
The Catholic Church of St. Louis was built in 1860 and was the first religious building in Fort Kent. Due to a strong growth of the local church the previous building was no longer enough, was demolished and replaced by a larger church building was inaugurated in 1882. Again, this only lasted a few years, until he fell victim to a fire in 1907. Just two years later began the construction of a new church building in the Gothic style, which was completed in 1911. 1951 stained glass lancet windows were installed at a facility's renovation, St. Louis, to represent the patron of the church.
A remnant from the time when the United States is the Fort Kent Blockhouse. It was built in 1839 to secure the border during the so-called Aroostook Wars ( 1838-1839 ), a violent border dispute between the United States and British North America. It is now designated as a National Historic Site and can be visited.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 143.4 km ²; 140.3 km ² of which land and 3.1 km ² waters.
Demography
In the United States Census 2000 4.233 inhabitants were counted in 1,735 households, and 1,106 families residing in Kent. The population density was 30.2 inhabitants / km ². The number of housing units was 1,824, which corresponds to a density of 13.0 dwellings / km ².
The inhabitants passed in 2000 to 96.95 % White, 0.38% African American, 0.76 % Native American, 0.87 % Asian, 0.28 % from other races, and 0.76 % from two or more races. 0.50 % of the population reported in the Census to be Hispanic or Latino.
In 28.2 % of households were living children under the age of 18 and 54.0 % of households were living together married couples, 6.7 % of households had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2 % of households were non-families. 29.3 % of all households were made up of individuals and 13.0 % had someone aged 65 years or older living alone. The average household size was 2.34 persons and the average family consisted of 2.90 persons.
Of the population 22.3% were less than 18 years old, 11.3 % were in the age group of 18 to 24 years, 26.9 % were between 25 and 44 years old 24.0% between 45 and 64 years. 15.5% were 65 years of age or older. The average age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 96.3 males; each accounted for 91.7 men per 100 women in the age 18 and over.
The average income per household was $ 29,547, and the median family income was U.S. $ 41 616. The men had on average an income of 35,325 U.S. dollars, compared with U.S. $ 19 146 for women. The per capita income amounted to U.S. $ 16,403. About 9.5 % of families and 14.5 % of the population were below the poverty line; this applied to 13.7 % of those under age 18 and 18.2% of those age 65 or over.