Winn is a town in Penobscot County, incorporated on March 21, 1857 from Five Islands Plantation. Chadbourne has only one fascinating line about the town's name: Winn was named for John M. Winn of Salem, Massachusetts, who owned it until cheated out of it by sharpers.
Joseph Snow from Arlington, Massachusetts settled there in 1820, naming it Snowville probably as much for the winter precipitation as for himself. By 1829 the military road to Houlton passed through the town. Before that, mail was carried by boat on the Mattawamkeag River, then on horseback to Houlton.
Winn is an agricultural community slowly losing its small population as are many northern Maine towns.
