100 years ago, 1915
City hall looked like a training school for politicians Sunday, the corridors crowded all day, and meeting of impromptu nature in many of the rooms. Francis X. Belleau conducted a meeting in Jacques Cartier hall in the interests of his candidacy and was well encouraged. The rumor was noised at noon and in fact Monday morning that both Hines and Belleau would draw but little credence if given it, in the fact of urgent denials and declarations of faith by both men. Belleau claims 1,200 votes in the caucus giving Hines 800 and Brann 500.

50 years ago, 1965
Members of snowshoe clubs in the Twin Cities left Friday night by chartered bus for Manchester, N.H., where they will attend the annual International Snowshoe Convention this weekend. The big convention is slated for Saturday night and sports events are on tap Saturday morning.

25 years ago, 1990
The historic Paris Manufacturing Co. plant on Western Avenue, South Paris, burst into flames Tuesday night, destroying much of the complex. The raging fire was being fought by at least eight area departments and was brought under control about midnight, according to South Paris Fire Chief John Bryant. Gail Martin, whose home faces the plant, said she thought she heard a car door slamming outside her house at 9:15 p.m. “I thought it was someone in my dooryard,” she said, and when she went outside to check she saw what was apparently three separate fires on the first floor of the more than 100-year-old, four-story office building at Paris Manufacturing. She ran inside her High Street home to call the fire department, she said, but the phone line was busy. She learned later that her neighbor had seen the blaze, too, and notified the South Paris Fire Department.

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