100 years ago, 1916
Of the many groups of performers who will delight the youngsters when the Barnum & Bailey circus comes to Lewiston on July 3 none will give greater joy than the fifty clowns — the “Joeys,” as they are called in circusdom. Among them is the daddy of all clowns, Jerry Madison, 78 years old. This merry old Jester has been a circus clown for 61 years.

50 years ago, 1966
Apparently someone is walking around Lewiston trying to remember where he left his auto and the Lewiston Police Department is making an effort to find him so he can move his auto from the yard of a Lewiston gasoline filling station. The owner of the gasoline filling station reported to police today that four days earlier a man drove an auto into his yard and asked him to change a flat tire. Shortly after the first vehicle drove in a second followed and the operator of the first car joined the two men in the second car and off they drove. When the mechanic went to change the flat tire he found there wasn’t any to change on the 1959 sedan. The man has never returned and the auto has been sitting in the service station yard ever since. It was noted that the auto has not been reported stolen to any law enforcement agency in the state.

25 years ago, 1991
A retaining wall in Auburn that was once just “brick in the city” has been the focus of pride among those who have been working to transform it into a work of art. Students from Franklin and Stevens Mills alternative schools, as one of their community service projects, took paintbrushes in hand this spring to beautify with a series of murals the graffiti-laden concrete wall on Main Street, located below Beth Abraham Synagogue. It was dubbed the Re “New” Wall Project. “The kids in both schools are really doing something for someone else without being asked,” said David Eretzian, director of the alternative programs. “That’s something we’ve lost as a society and something we want to get back to. These are kids who have been disconnected from society who are willing to be reconnected.”

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