Town of
Chester, Maine

About Chester

Chester is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, first settled in 1823 by Frink Stratton from Albion, Maine. Chester was incorporated on February 26, 1834 from T1 R8 WPR township.

The name was provided by Samuel Chesley, recently of Chester, New Hampshire, indirectly for the English town of the same name.

The post-statehood boom affected this town as many others, and the population grew accordingly with farms and mills occupying the landscape. During the Civil War, the small town sent 32 men to join the Union effort; 11 were lost.

Across the Penobscot River from the mill town of Lincoln, Chester’s small population grew by almost 19 percent in the decade ending in 2000, and maintained its growth through 2010.  In 1870 its population was 350, more than in 1970, and more than 500 in 2020.

(North Chester Orchard)

Info provided by Maine, An Encyclopedia