Fort Kent, ME

Fort Kent, Maine
Location of Fort Kent in Aroostook County, Maine
Coordinates: 47°14′31″N 68°34′20″W / 47.24194, -68.57222
Country	United States
State	Maine
County	Aroostook
Area
- Town	sq mi (km²)
- Land	sq mi ( km²)
- Water	sq mi ( km²)
Elevation	ft ( m)
Population (2000)
- Town
- Density	/sq mi (/km²)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP codes	04741, 04743
Area code(s)	207
FIPS code	23-25755
GNIS feature ID	0582477

Fort Kent is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The town is home to the campus of the University of Maine at Fort Kent. Fort Kent is also home to an Olympic biathlete training center, an annual CAN-AM dogsled race [[1]], and the Fort Kent Blockhouse, built in reaction to the Aroostook War and in modern times designated a national historic site. Principal industries include agriculture (particularly potatoes and forestry) and textiles. Fort Kent is the northern terminus of U.S. Route 1 and the ending point of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail.

The town is economically and culturally linked to the Canadian towns of Clair and Saint-François-de-Madawaska , both in Madawaska County, New Brunswick, directly 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, 62 per cent of people [2] in Fort Kent are habitual speakers of French. The variety of French spoken in Fort Kent and most of the St. John River Valley, however, is not considered Parisian French, which is the standard of the language: ore similar to the Quebecois joual, it is referred to as "Valley French." Many residents also have American-Canadian dual citizenship.

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 (2.15%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 4,233 people, 1,735 households, and 1,106 families residing in the town. The population density was 30.2/km² (78.2/mi²). There were 1,824 housing units at an average density of 13.0/km² (33.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.95% White, 0.38% Black or African American, 0.76% Native American, 0.87% Asian, 0.28% from other races, and 0.76% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.50% of the population.

There were 1,735 households out of which 28.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.0% were married couples living together, 6.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% were non-families. 29.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.90.

In the town the population was 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 were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 96.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $29,547, and the median income for a family was $41,616. Males had a median income of $35,325 versus $19,146 for females. The per capita income for the town was $16,403. About 9.5% of families and 14.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.7% of those under age 18 and 18.2% of those age 65 or over.

See also: Fort Kent (CDP), Maine

External links

• Town of Fort Kent
• 10th Mountain Ski Club

Coordinates: 47°15′31″N, 68°35′22″W

• UMFK website

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