Chester

Chester is situated on the west bank of the Penobscot River, near the middle of Penobscot County, and 56 miles N.N.E. of Bangor. The town is triangular in form, its base extending about 10 miles along the river. Opposite, on the eastern side of the river, are Winn and Lincoln,—the latter having a station of the European and North Amencan Railway. Other sides are bounded by unnamed townships. Katabdin Horseback, about 200 feet in height, is the most notable eminence. A large stream runs through this, cutting a notch down to its base. The principal streams are Medunkeunk and Eber Horse Stream, the latter a tributary of the first. Medunkeunk has a pretty cataract of 12 feet, and both streams afford water-powers which have been improved, in time past, by several mills. The underlying rock is slate. The soil is a clayey loam, and quite fertile. Potatoes are the crop chiefly cultivated. The forests are composed mainly of poplar and white birch. Along some of the highways grow rock maple, elm and English willow, from a dozen to forty years old.

Chester was incorporated in 1834. It has nine residents who are above eighty years of age. Of former residents, Samuel and Samuel H. Chesley, David Bunker and Friend Brown have been highly esteemed by their fellow-citizens. The town sent 32 men to aid the Union against the rebels,—of whom 11 were lost. The religious denominations of the town are Baptist and Free Baptist. Chester has six public schoolhouses, valued, with other school property, at $600. The value of estates in 1870 was given in the State report as $47,l03. In 1880 it was $42,760. The rate of taxation in the latter year was 21 mills on the dollar. The population in 1870 was 350. In 1880 it was 362.