While the fireworks at the Lewiston celebration were being displayed and crowds of people were about the streets of the two cities, the alarm for fire at the Wilson ice houses in New Auburn was rung in. The loss will amount to fully $5,000, it is thought, and although being unable to ascertain at this time the amount of insurance, it is known to be small.

William Rogers of Sixth street, was the first to discover the flames and at once notified E. F. Finlay, the night watchman at the Barker Mill in the rear of which on the Little Androscoggin, the sheds are situated. By the time the fire department arrived, the ice houses were in a mass of flames.

50 Years Ago, 1955

•Auburn’s Goff Street has become a “doctor’s row.” During the last 30 years some 17 doctors have decided that Goff Street was the best location in the Twin Cities to hang out their shingles. Within the last two years four or five more doctors have located in the few blocks of Goff Street so that almost every other house displays a doctor’s sign.

•Water taps in the Twin Cities are being worked overtime these hot, sticky summer days as sweltering men, women and children use up nearly 10 million gallons each day, mostly for drinking purposes.

25 Years Ago, 1980

The history of Lewiston is closely tied to its geographical proximity to water that resources almost endless capacity for supplying clean power for industry.

Even in 1980, utility visionaries hope to construct a large hydroelectric facility at Lewiston Falls, but Central Maine Power Co.’s present plans for a 25-megawatt plant there could jeopardize the 130-year-old canal system, which depends heavily on the flow of the river.

Industry engineers have repeatedly claimed that the plant would undoubtedly effect the amount of water which could still run through the canals. They do not think that the 22 operating generating units could still run on what is left.