100 years ago, 1915
Darting from side to side, in and out among the people on Lisbon street, pausing a moment more to discover a democratic office holder not looking for another, keeping out of the way of shoe and coal men, was a brown, elusive, little animal, ambitious and proud, Mr. Ground Hog on his annual parade, Tuesday. His little snapping eyes searched in vain for his shadow. Old man sun was having his day off and the little fellow was glad of it. Spending several weeks in a dark hole is a sketch that doesn’t appeal much to G. H. and he yearns for his life of freedom. Besides the spring campaign promises to make it plenty warm enough even for ground hogs.

50 years ago, 1965
Severe flooding occurred in the vicinity of Canal and Cedar Streets in Lewiston as the result of a water main break shortly after 10 o’clock last night, and police were forced to re-route traffic on Canal Street due to the large amount of water on the street. Charles Vaillancourt, Water Division supervisor, said there was a lot of water damage, and the basement area of a large apartment house in the area was flooded to the window wells. Men worked through the night clearing up the icy water. A pump also cleared out the water in the apartment house basement, and Vaillancourt said a plumber had the boiler in the building working this morning. Police said the water gushed steadily for about three-quarters of an hour before it could be shut off.

25 years ago, 1990
A plan to guide potential development of the municipal parking lot at Ash and Park streets will be in the hands of the Lewiston’s planning department early next week, according to Development Director Robert Thompson. Thompson said that the emphasis of the plan is on ensuring that the history, architectural style, character and culture of the area will be preserved. “There is a ‘sense of place’ there, which is something we want to preserve,” he said. “Right there you have Dingley Building, and the post office, even the library, and Saints Peter and Paul Church dominates the area.”

The material in Looking Back is reproduced exactly as it originally appeared, although misspellings and errors made at that time may be edited.