Northern Maine Museum of Science

The beginnings of the museum extend to the early 1970s, when the University of Maine at Presque Isle received two substantial natural history collections.  The first of these was the collections of Leroy Norton, a noted Aroostook County naturalist.  This Norton Contribution included large collections of marine and fresh-water seashells, local forestry specimens and the beginnings of our herbarium.  The second acquisition in the early 1970s was a large portion of the now defunct Portland Museum of Natural History. The modern Northern Maine Museum of Science began in 1994 with a donation of five new display cases from NYNEX (now Verizon).  Many individuals from Aroostook County and throughout Maine contributed their time and expertise to building displays for this museum, which formally opened on October 5, 1996.