100 years ago, 1916
Forty-five cases of fireworks for the Fourth of July celebration are at the Upper Maine Central station but the committee and Mayor Brann are up against the proposition of storing these until time to set them up the day before. They can not be stored in city buildings because of insurance restrictions and the same applies to private and business houses. The consignment is held at the railroad station to await some arrangement to take care of the situation. E. S. Stetson of the J. H. Stetson Co., Lisbon street, is chairman of the fireworks committee and L. B. Morrell of Webster street is the agent thru whom the fireworks were ordered and who will have charge of them until the specially trained workmen arrive here the day before the Fourth to make stands for set pieces and to prepare ditches for the display.

50 years ago, 1966
More than 1,000 birds died this morning on Minot Avenue in Auburn when the braking system on a large trailer truck failed and dumped several hundred crates of chickens onto a traffic island at the Minot Avenue-Washington Street traffic rotary. A spokesman for the Hillcrest Poultry Co. in Lewiston said more than 1,000 birds were lost in the mishap which tied up traffic on the rotary.

25 years ago, 1991
After more than two years, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection has concluded that Maine Electronics is responsible for the contamination of two of the town’s wells. Additionally, the DEP has ordered that if the town has to stop using the affected wells — the Moody Road and/or Cornshop wells — that Maine Electronics shall provide a replacement water supply for the town of Lisbon of at least equal quantity. In the document signed on June 13, the firm has been ordered to maintain the Moody Road filtration plant, including but not limited to, replacement of filters and reimbursement to the Lisbon Water Department for analysis costs for monitoring of the filtration plant for an indefinite period of time until the order terminates.

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