The town was incorporated June 23, 1784, then including what today are the towns of East Machias, Whitneyville, Machiasport and Marshfield. It was the first town incorporated between the Penobscot and the St. Croix rivers.
English settlers had visited as early as 1633, when Richard Vines established a trading-post. During this period, France and England frequently fought over territory. The French attacked from Port Royal, Nova Scotia, and killed two of the village’s six defenders and carried away the others with their merchandise.
The town includes a University of Maine college and a small airport owned by the town. The word Machias is a word from the native Passamaquoddy tribe that roughly translates as “bad little falls,” referring to the Machias River. The town also is site of the first naval battle of the American War for Independence.
In June 1775, jus after the conflict between colonists and British soldiers at Lexington and Concord, the British schooner Margaretta arrived in Machias, where independence sentiments ran high. After some conflict between the townspeople and the ship’s crew and officers, locals attacked the Margaretta and seized it for the American cause.