100 years ago, 1916
An interesting sight was seen Saturday at the Elm House Stables, Auburn, when Archie Bragg, a trapper, breeder of foxes and fur buyer below Waterville, arrived with several hundred skins, The lot included foxes, coons, skunks, musk rats, etc. “Rich” Hunnewell soon arrived and got busy in no time overhauling them which resulted in a long check going to Mr. Bragg. One of Mr. Hunnewell’s largest deals this season was closed last Thursday, when he purchased nearly $15,000 worth of skins from a concern that has offices In Portland. He expects that his entire lot will go to France, as he has recently received a communication from a firm there stating that a representative of the concern will soon visit him for that purpose.

50 years ago, 1966
An official of the Rumford office of the Central Maine Power Co. said Thursday that lightning arresters at the power sub-station on Prospect Avenue malfunctioned, causing a seven-hour blackout Wednesday in a large section of northwestern Maine. The Rumford line tripped out, the CMP spokesman said, throwing a large section into darkness. The power failure forced the Telstar satellite tracking station at Andover to switch to emergency power but that was done immediately and station operations were not affected, an official there said.

25 years ago, 1991
Educators used to have the luxury of expecting their clientele — students and taxpayers — to “just trust” them, but those days are over, according to David Eretzian, principal of Auburn’s Franklin School. “It’s time for taxpayers to understand what’s going on and have some say,” Eretzian said when he addressed the Auburn-Lewiston Kiwanis Club last week at the Ramada Inn. And it’s time for educators to begin implementing the past decade’s research that has shown that “the things we thought were true (about education), aren’t. There are things we’ve been doing in education that have been hurting kids, not helping them.”

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