Located on the St. John River between Fort Kent and Madawaska, Frenchville was settled by people of Acadian and French-Canadian descent in the early 1800s. Through the nineteenth century, the area was known variously as Chatauqua (or Chautauqua), Dionne Plantation, and Dickeyville. Residents helped organize a Catholic parish in the 1840s; the settlement was incorporated as a town in 1869. The railroad reached Frenchville in 1910, but the area's vocation remained primarily agricultural.

The photograph depicts the stretch of Main Street (Route 1) near the present-day Frenchville Historical Society. The date and location are ascertained by the water tower, seen partially on the left, which, according to one source, was built in or around 1910. Some of the homes to the right of the road still stand today. One of those buildings, though substantially altered, may be the Wylie House, which is today home to the historical society.