It is near the Canada–United States border and Houlton, Maine and the intersection of Interstate 95 and the Trans-Canada Highway making it a transportation hub.

It is also a service centre for the potato industry[2] and for more than 26,000 people in the nearby communities of Hartland, Florenceville-Bristol, Centreville, Bath and Lakeland Ridges for shopping, employment and entertainment.

Little is known of the area before it was settled by disbanded veterans of De Lancey's Brigade following the American Revolutionary War.

On The Twelfth (Orangemen's Day) of July 1847[10] a riot took place at the corner of Victoria and Boyne streets near the site of the Orange Hall,[11] built in 1848 and now a vacant lot.

He made provisions in his will for the building of several educational institutions, among them the first Agricultural and Vocational School in Canada, and the L. P. Fisher Public Library.

In 1861, the newly built railway between St. Andrews and Woodstock was seized by several hundred navvies, angry at not being paid.

[17] In 1887, Tappan Adney, visiting Woodstock, learnt birchbark canoe construction from a Maliseet, preserving and document the building process.

The multipurpose complex houses a 25-metre (27 yard) indoor swimming pool, an 846-seat arena, a fitness centre, and community meeting rooms.

The Woodstock Slammers of the Maritime Junior Hockey League played previously at the Ayr Motor Centre.

The shorter New Brunswick Route 95 extends westward from Woodstock to the Houlton/Woodstock Border Crossing, where it continues into the United States as Interstate 95.

Iron-manganese and iron ore occurrences were reported in 1836 during a geological survey conducted by the state of Maine.

Calamities over the years included a hurricane in 1836,[28] and fires in 1860,[29] and 1911,[30] As a result, much of downtown was rebuilt in the brick that remains today.

[31] Before the arrival of the railway, businesses faced the river banks, since they provided transportation, energy, and water.

[31] The George Frederick Clarke house, built in 1905, is a provincial historic site valued as a rare example of residential Regency architecture.

When new court house was constructed, the old one was used as a horse barn from 1911 to 1960 when it was purchased by the Carleton County Historical Society.

[32] It was the site of the George Gee trial, and that of Minnie Bell Sharp who ran the Woodstock School of Music in the early 1900s.