100 years ago, 1915
The Atwood Hotel property at the corner of Main and Mill streets, Lewiston, was sold, Thursday, by the Libbey & Dingley Co., to S. Merritt Farnam and John P. Stilton of Lewiston, the proprietors of the Atwood Hotel. This is a building of five stories on the Mill street side and running to four stories at the other end. It has a facing of 130 feet on Main street and 167 foot on Mill street. Beside the hotel the Androscoggin Electric Co. has its offices in the building. The new owners will enlarge the hotel by adding rooms and baths. An elevator will be placed in the hotel and other improvements installed.

50 years ago, 1965
Announcement was made Tuesday of the opening on Feb. 15 of a Manpower Development and Training automotive center at the old Herrick Co. building on Main Street, Auburn, with Warren L. Bigelow acting in a supervisory capacity and as an instructor. The school will have an enrollment of approximately 70 trainees once it is in operation and it is expected that this total will remain fairly constant. The school is made possible through the Federal grant of $304,000 under the adult retraining program and the $154,000 youth training program.

25 years ago, 1990
A state trooper apparently escaped serious injury after his cruiser collided with a moose lying in the road just past Exit 13, the Lewiston exit, on the Maine Turnpike. Trooper Steve Ashcroft was being checked out at Central Maine Medical Center shortly after 1 a.m. today. Corp. Harold Savage of the Maine State Police said Ashcroft’s cruiser struck the moose, which was apparently already dead in the road, became airborne and flipped over onto its roof. The car slid approximately 300 feet further down the road, he said. All the windows in the cruiser were blown out, the roof was caved in and a bumper was left on the median strip about 200 feet behind the car.

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