Mars Hill is a border community whose eastern boundary was settled with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. Agriculture and the lumber industry constituted the earliest economic activities. Potatoes became a commercial crop with the arrival of the railroad in the 1890s; the long white buildings in the photograph—located near the railroad tracks—are likely warehouses for potatoes.

The town, seen partially on the left, experienced a commercial boom in the early twentieth century. The towns of Mars Hill and Blaine combined efforts to build a modern, state-of-the-art high school and preparatory school located near their shared boundary. The Aroostook Central Institute was built in 1907 and appears to have welcomed its first class in 1908. The original wood structure burned down in 1918. The towns erected a new brick structure in its place.

The publisher, W. M. Prilay, was located in Pittsfield, Maine. The card bears no publication date or postmark; the year given on this record is based on similar colorized photographs in the same collection and is therefore approximate.