100 Years Ago, 1907

More than 500 men are now at work at the Portland Shipbuilding Co. on contracts to fit out four steamers, namely, the City of Stamford, which has been launched at Kennebunk for the North and East River Navigation Co.; the towboat Pejepscot recently built at the Portland Shipbuilding Co. for the Bay Shore Lumber Co. of Brunswick, the Miranda for the Narragauset Bay Oyster Co.; and a boat for the Winter Harbor Co. for Winter Harbor, ME.

50 Years Ago, 1957

Harold E. Dow, husband of an Auburn native, has been named director and administrator of Prudential Insurance Company’s $100,000,000 building project in Boston’s Back Bay area.

Dow’s wife is the former Phyllis Bickford, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Everett Bickford of 63 Winter St., Auburn.

The 45-year-old insurance executive will administer a 50-story development to be built on the present Boston and Albany Railroad yards. The Northeast headquarters for Prudential, it will be the biggest building owned by the insurance company and the largest in New England.

25 Years ago, 1982

• PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. – A nation already beset by brutal weather got more dismal news Tuesday from Punxsutawney Phil, the furry forecaster who predicted six more weeks of winter.

• WASHINGTON – President Reagan will ask Congress next week to cut spending on Medicare and Medicaid by more than $5.1 billion, budget documents revealed Thursday. The spending plan will also tilt the nation’s energy policy toward nuclear power, five Democratic congressmen said.

In addition, the budget the president will submit Monday will leave the Environmental Protection Agency without some of the money needed to police hazardous chemicals and clean up dangerous spills, and it could also mean the demise of Amtrak everywhere except the Northeast corridor, the congressmen said.