Maine artist Walter H. Rich designed the issue; his work has garnered mixed praise and dislike from numismatic authors.

Until 1954, the entire mintage of such issues was sold at face value by the government to a group authorized by Congress, who then tried to sell the coins at a profit to the public.

At the request of the groups authorized to purchase them, several coins minted in prior years were produced again dated 1936, longest-lived among them the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar, first struck in 1926.

[7] The York County, Maine, Tercentenary half dollar was one of several early commemoratives issued despite being mostly of local, not national, significance.

[8] Rick Sear, in a 2011 article, wrote, "By 1936, thanks to enabling legislations put forth by accommodating Congressmen, it was possible—or nearly so—to get a coin struck to observe a town picnic ...

'"[9] According to numismatic author Arlie Slabaugh, "of the many bills introduced in Congress for half dollars to commemorate 'local' places or events this is one that managed to pass.

[17] That bill was brought to the House floor on June 15, 1936, but unanimous consent was required for its consideration and John Taber of New York objected.

[20] It was enacted into law with the signature of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 29, 1936, authorizing 30,000 York County half dollars, of which no less than 25,000 could be issued at any one time.

The Committee for the Commemoration of the Founding of York County, in charge of making the arrangements for the half dollar, chose Portland artist Walter H. Rich to create the designs.

He based the obverse, which depicts Brown's Garrison, on a sketch published in the book The Proprietors of Saco (1931) by Frank C. Deering, and the reverse on the seal of York County.

[24] The commission was charged by a 1921 executive order by President Warren G. Harding with rendering advisory opinions on public artworks, including coins.

Caemmerer, wrote to Assistant Director of the Mint Mary M. O'Reilly that the CFA had met with Rich a week earlier and had approved the designs on condition slight changes to the style of the lettering were made.

[27] The obverse depicts the area of the first European settlement in Maine, with Brown's Garrison, the Saco River and four sentries before the fort, with one of them mounted.

In part, he blamed the "amateurish rendering of Brown's Garrison" used for the obverse, "but the tedious background and oversized border inscriptions are less excusable, even granted that Rich was a wildlife painter and not a professional sculptor.

He suggested that the coin, with its broad rims, was meant to evoke the colonial coinage of Massachusetts, of which Maine was long a part, such as the pine tree shilling.

The old device of the sun's rays fills the background above the buildings, and the placing of the conventional mottoes in the inner borders easily wins a grand prize for unimagination ...

[11] Senator White, in a March 15, 1937 letter to Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross, stated that the committee had erred, thinking only 25,000 pieces were authorized.

[32][41] With the exception of the first 100 coins, the commemoratives were sold in folding paper holders that depicted on their front cover black line drawings of Brown's Garrison and the York National Bank of Saco.

Also included were slots to hold up to five more coins, as well as a tissue paper insert that read "We thank you for your interest in our commemorative half dollar, and extend to you the hospitality of York County, Maine.