100 years ago, 1915
E. K. Smith, 36 years in the bakery business, 203 Main street, Lewiston, has sold his business to Charles Thorne of Cushman & Thorne, Turner street, Auburn, bakers. Smith’s Bakery on Main street has been a landmark and a by-word for many years. It has always borne an excellent reputation.

50 years ago, 1965
A Lewiston rock ‘n roll band and Lewiston itself have received a bit of free publicity in the New York Times. In a Times Magazine article written by James A. Michener, noted author of such books as “Tales of the South Pacific” and “Hawaii,” a local group known as Little Caesar and His Romans gets quite a bit of play. Requested to act as a judge for the championships of the rock ‘n roll world, in New Jersey, Michener decided to get acquainted with some of the contestants, being neither square nor hip. “I had expected groups of four or five musicians, carrying guitars, perhaps a double bass and a set of drums,” Michener writes. “Little Caesar and His Romans from Lewiston, Me., disabused me. The five young men arrived in a private car, followed by a truck from which they took a dozen large electronic speakers, five amplifiers, four additional microphones, an organ requiring four men to carry it and literally hundreds of feet of special electronic cord.” The author said he was amazed when Ronald Poulin, leader of the Lewiston group, informed him that the equipment used by the band cost in the vicinity of $5,675 and had been paid for from proceeds of playing engagements, including the P.A.L. hops Friday nights at City Hall. Michener concluded his review by stating that he liked the music of the bands and was “fascinated by the sociology that accompanied it.”

25 years ago, 1990
The Lewiston City Council approved $900,000 in bonds for the expansion of the city’s landfill at a special meeting Thursday night, while expressing dismay about the increase in the project’s cost. The price tag for the landfill expansion, planned in three phases, has risen from $5.6 million a year and a half ago, to $8 million in 1990 dollars.

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