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is a city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. Its population was 8,312 at the 2000 census. The city is the birthplace of current U.S. Senator Susan M. Collins.
Alexander Cochran visited the area in 1793 seeking a water mill site. Fourteen years later, Charles Turner surveyed ten thousand acres (40 km²) of land in northern Maine, then part of the state of Massachusetts. In 1808, Captain William Eaton was deeded these same 10,000 acres (40 km²) as a reward for his heroic victory over the Barbary Pirates. This estate became known as the Eaton Grant, and now comprises the southeastern section of Caribou. Around 1824, settlers began arriving from New Brunswick and settled on the north side of the Aroostook River.
Between 1838 and 1839, the undeclared Aroostook War flared between the United States and Canada. The dispute over the international boundary delayed settlement
of the area until after the signing of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty in 1842. With peace restored, European settlers arrived in large numbers in 1843. From Eaton Plantation and part of half-township H, Caribou was incorporated on April 5, 1859 as the town of Lyndon. In 1869, it annexed Eaton, Sheridan and Forestville plantations. On February 26 of that year its name was changed to Caribou, only to revert back to Lyndon on March 9. On February 8, 1877, Caribou was finally confirmed as the town's permanent name. Caribou was incorporated as a city February 23, 1967. Its population began to decline soon thereafter, a result of difficulties in its traditional potato industry.
The Caribou Public Library is a Carnegie library. Designed in the Romanesque Revival Style by local architect Schuyler C. Page, it was built in 1911-1912 with a $10,000 grant from industrialist Andrew Carnegie.