Belfast is a city in Waldo County and its county seat, incorporated as a town on June 29, 1773 and as Maine's eighth city on April 3, 1852. In 1845 it set off land to form part of Searsport.
With its location on Penobscot Bay, its shipping and shipbuilding brought a population growth of 1,000 per decade between 1810 and 1850. Its rail line and steamboat service provided critical transportation links. Later the shoe industry emerged with a factory off Main Street.
The City's historic district features an interesting variety of architectural styles, primarily the product of the booming economy of the 19th century.
In the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's, Belfast was home to the chicken broiler industry and two of Maine's larger processors: Maplewood and Penobscot Poultry companies.
Currently the city is a site for the giant credit card processing company MBNA which now employs over 1,500 workers in Belfast, and many more in other Maine locations
