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is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,233 at the 2000 census. 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 , 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. 1 and the ending point of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. It is also home to a battle which took place in the Aroostook War or the bloodless war which took place in the 1800s.
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 in Fort Kent are habitual speakers of French. The variety of French spoken in Fort Kent and most of the St. John River Valley, closely resembles the French spoken in Quebec and New Brunswick. It is referred to as "Valley French" or "Brayon". Many residents also have American-Canadian dual citizenship.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 55.3 square miles (143.4 km²), of which, 54.2 square miles (140.3 km²) of it is land and 1.2 square miles (3.1 km²) of it (2.15%) is water.