St. Francis was notably settled by people of Acadian and French-Canadian descent. They supported themselves through agriculture and also with logging operations taking place upriver in the Allagash region. In the early twentieth century, St. Francis became the western terminus of the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad; the railroad turntable is still visible and accessible near the present-day St. Francis Historical Society.

Shirlee Connors-Carlson used this photograph in her work, "Landings, Logging & Lumbermen" (2001). Her caption reads: The railroad came in and ran in the back of the old Wally Albert store. Notice Jones Mill in front of Wally's Store [i.e. directly on the river], out on the flat. To the far left is the mouth of the St. Francis. Phot[o] taken in 1920."

The mill's two chimneys appear to be the same as those that appear in a photograph of the Ward & Bradbury (later the Blanchard) mill dating from the same period.

This card was mailed and postmarked in 1927. The publisher is not given.