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PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — As Aroostook County faces down the COVID-19 pandemic — radically affecting The County way of life — it’s not the first time the area has suffered a global health crisis.
The 1918 influenza pandemic — colloquially known as the Spanish flu — ravaged the United States and the rest of the world from 1918 to 1920, infecting millions and killing approximately 675,000 people in the United States alone. Influenza quickly spread to all 16 counties across Maine.
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While Aroostook County has so far not experienced the brunt of COVID-19 — with two cases logged at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention as of Wednesday — this was not true of the 1918 influenza when The County had the highest reported death rate in Maine, according to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
Northern Maine was undoubtedly a very different place in the early 20th century. But archival copies of The Star-Herald from the time show a population struggling with a litany of problems that could easily have come out of today’s newspaper: business closings, illness, death and medical shortages.
A report from southeast Presque Isle in March 1920 painted a grim picture: a virus that did not distinguish between village and rural districts and often affected every member of the family.
The fight many residents had with the disease was studiously reported upon by The Star-Herald. Writers gave updates on the current conditions of those in the community in a way that seems unimaginable today: “Mrs. McQuaide, who was ill last week of influenza, is up around again,” read a page from Jan. 2, 1919.
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Many were not so lucky. The paper reported as several residents succumbed to the virus, and the flu’s reputation for killing young people was well-represented in the obituaries.
Margot Brewer, 26, of Presque Isle and Mars Hill, died at the Hoyt and Wheeler Farm — where she had been employed — on Feb. 20, 1920. She left behind a husband and two daughters, aged 3 and 18 months, respectively. Described as a “faithful, painstaking mother,” she had seen her older brother die of the disease about a year before.
Cynthia Perkins, 25 or 26, had been teaching in Washburn for only two weeks when there was an outbreak in the school. She contracted influenza, and then pneumonia, and was dead within days. Relatives from Castine traveled 200 miles to collect her body.
Ruth McGlauflin was seemingly one of the youngest victims of the virus in the Presque Isle area. She was only 3 when she died on Jan. 6, 1919.
It was a time before live press conferences, but the Maine Department of Health still publicized information about the virus. By September 1918, it had told state residents influenza was spread by coughing, sneezing and sharing utensils.
Hundreds of miles away from the capital, it is unclear how informed the Presque Isle area was on methods of containing the virus. On Oct. 24, 1918, Maine Health Commissioner Leverett Bristol described The County population as “very hard hit.”
Yet, there were no statewide stay-at-home orders. During the virus’ initial outbreak in 1918-1919, Bristol recommended closures but said local boards of health were the only entities with the authority to implement them.
State officials eventually came to believe that fighting an outbreak at the municipal level was ineffective. The Maine State Legislature centralized the Department of Health in 1919, with local boards across Maine coming under state control.
Reports from the Presque Isle area display officials’ fluctuating rules on public gatherings, determined by the daily trajectory of the virus. These closings seemed to be with state approval: Two stories from early 1920, during which influenza appears to have made a resurgence in the Presque Isle area, show local officials strictly following the guidance of the state board of health on closures.
A story on March 18, 1920, said that all churches in Easton had been closed one Sunday because of new influenza cases, but there was hope they would be able to open the next Sunday. This is a far cry from COVID-19 rules, which have banned all traditional religious gatherings across Maine.
On Feb. 12, 1920, the paper reported that people in Presque Isle were being advised to cease all public gatherings because of the rapid spread of influenza.
Acts of charity also occurred throughout the pandemic. Nurses placed their lives at risk to care for others stricken with the disease, working long hours as communities faced a medical staff shortage. Residents also organized food giveaways for those adversely affected by the pandemic.
A hundred years later, technology has dramatically changed the manner in which a community fights a pandemic.
It’s also changed how The Star-Herald and other media report on it. Residents can get up to the minute information instead of waiting for days or weeks, and papers no longer publish wellness updates on individuals. The proliferation of social media further enhances the speed that information travels.
While The County has changed, reporting from the early 1900s portrays a resilience from the population that seems to remain strong a century later. By 1921, the pandemic was over, and life was back to normal as The County experienced population growth throughout the 1920s.
It is said that those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it. The influenza outbreak undoubtedly ravaged communities across The County at the time. As residents prepare for heightened infection levels and potential death tolls in this rural, aging community now, perhaps some of the lessons learned from the 1918 influenza will not be lost.