When railroads reached Aroostook County in the years after the Civil War, agriculture blossomed.
Factories that turned potatoes into starch began in Oxford, Franklin and Somerset counties as early as the 1840s. By the 1880s, there were 20 starch factories in the state.
The earliest starch factory in Aroostook County was started in 1871.
Thanks largely to the availability of rail transportation, potato production increased drastically between the 1860 and 1890 as did the number of horses, cattle, sheep, hay and oats in Aroostook County.
