From the pages of the Livermore Falls Advertiser 

75 years ago:  

According to an announcement by Jay School board member Joseph Drottar, at a meeting of the board last night five members of the teaching staff at Jay High School were released. Attempts are being made to bring the school up to the standard of the schools in the surrounding communities. With this idea in mind, a course in Manual Training and also Agriculture will soon be added to the curriculum.

Jay High School will graduate 23 seniors on Friday evening, June 7, at 8 p.m. A note states: Pictures of the graduating class are not available for publication because the process used in printing them in the School Year Book differs from the usual plate for press printing.

The Red Cross benefit party held Sunday evening at St. Rose hall in Chisholm netted $125 for the fund in that town. 27 tables of whist and bridge were enjoyed.

Plans are completed for the big Red Cross benefit card party and concert tonight at Murray Hall. A half-hour concert by the Livermore Falls band will be given in the hall prior to the card playing and auction. Purchase a ticket and help this community to meet its allotted quota of $300.

A total of 22 votes were cast here Monday at the special election for Representative to Congress in which Mrs. Margaret Smith, wife of the late Congressman Clyde H. Smith, was elected to fill the unexpired term caused by the death of her husband.

Mrs. Smith is the first woman to ever represent the State of Maine in Congress.

50 years ago:  

At a recent meeting of the Fayette selectmen, it was decided to vote upon the articles relative to joining a School District in an open meeting rather than by Australian ballot. This decision was made after reviewing the costs relative to the printing of a ballot of sufficient size to include all of the necessary articles.

Providing the citizens of Fayette vote to join the School District, the citizens of Livermore and Livermore Falls must decide at a special town meeting with 45 days or by the first week in August whether they will accept Fayette as part of the School District.

Fayette, Livermore Falls and Wayne formerly were all part of School Union No. 130 with the same Superintendent of Schools serving all of these communities. Following the organization of S.A.D. No. 36 the Board of Directors voted to instruct the school committees of Fayette and Wayne that they wished to terminate the sharing of the Superintendent’s administrative services on June 30, 1965. Should Fayette be accepted into the District, the Superintendent under the direction of the Board of Directors would be responsible for the educational program and related matters for the towns of Fayette, Livermore, and Livermore Falls.

Livermore Falls banker Reginald H. Sturtevant has resigned as chairman of the board of trustees of Colby College in the interest of his health. He will continue to serve as a trustee. Mr. Sturtevant was elected to the board and has been chairman since 1960. The trustees accepted his resignation with “extreme regret.”

The largest class to graduate from Livermore Falls High School will hold commencement exercises on June 17, 1965 at 8 p.m. in the Gymnasium. There are 92 members of the Senior Class. The Annual Class Day Exercises will be held Wednesday afternoon, June 16 at 1 p.m.

The Jay firemen were called out Saturday afternoon to fight a large grass fire on the “Big Meadow” which adjoins Seven Mile Stream near the North Jay village. The fire started at the back of the meadow and slowly burned across the meadow. Older residents estimate that it has been between 35 and 40 years since the meadow hay has been cut. The fire was on the former Niles and Parsons meadowland.

25 years ago:  

The economic picture for Livermore Falls just keeps getting brighter and brighter.

A $50 million wood chip burning plant, which will generate electricity, is in the planning stages for Livermore Falls.

The site for the power plant may well be land the town owns adjacent to the landfill located on Snelling Road, off of Route 133 near the Catholic Cemetery.

Livermore Falls Town Manager Maxine Bailey and selectmen met this week with Bill Bousquet, an engineer and vice president with Alternative Energy, Inc., to offer the company acreage it needs to build a biomass power generating plant.

The wood fired power generating plant could cost as much as $38 million in construction costs alone. The company has been trying for several months to obtain suitable land in the Livermore Falls area.

A policy made just one month ago by Fayette selectmen governing when the town office could be open was revoked recently and a new policy was instituted.

The original policy did not take into consideration the need for various town committees to use the town office after hours for meetings.

The new policy adopted by the selectmen states, “No one is to be in the town office except during business hours, or for committee meetings, without having part of the office staff present.

18 Jay Head Start children said “Happy Birthday Peanut Butter” as they explored the cafeteria kitchen at Jay High School.

The children saw 80 pounds of rising bread dough, enough to feed approximately 750 students; the 40 gallon pots used to make soup and spaghetti; ovens that hold 5 16″ X 24″ trays; 7′ X7′ walk in refrigerators; and a dishwasher that “looked like a car wash” as one young visitor exclaimed.

Tracy Rose and Eric Pomerleau were chosen randomly from all attending Juniors as the queen and king for the Jay Junior Prom held recently at Jay High School. Stairway to Heaven was the prom theme. A spiral staircase descending through cloud-like decorations and streamers of blue and shimmering white helped set the mood for the evening.

Compiled by Pam Harnden.

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