100 years ago, 1917
“Mike” Ryan, the famous marathoner and former track coach of Bates college, has desisted from training fat off the varsity speedsters and is now engaged in training fat on the succulent broiler. In other words, Mr. Ryan has bought a farm on the outskirts of Auburn, and will undertake as a sideline to the regular farm business, to serve chicken dinners to such of the public as care for that kind of entertainment and come his way. It is a far cry from the spiked shoes and cinder tracks to the role of host on a Maine farm, but it takes more than a leap of that sort to upset the former distance man. Proudly, Mr. Ryan tells us that he has raised everything he will serve at this board, from the smallest vegetable to the biggest chicken. He intends to start this end of his new venture next Sunday and will make bookings a day ahead by telephone.

50 years ago, 1967
The Auburn Shoe Co., a division of Shaer Shoe Corp., laid off close to 30 people this week, company officials said, after applying last month for a state grant to hire and train 225 new employees. The company had about 260 employees before the lay-offs. Ron Gregoire, senior vice president of manufacturing, said the plant is changing customers to make a higher quality product. “We’re slowing down because we’re making better shoes,” Gregoire said. When asked if the layoffs were temporary or permanent, Gregoire said, “nothing is permanent.”

25 years ago, 1992
Lewiston Rep. Louis Jalbert, chairman of the Yes Vote for the Third Bridge Committee, today reported that the proposal is being well-received in many areas of the state and said that the campaign for approval of the bond issue will be intensified following the Labor Day holiday. “It’s amazing how many people outside of the Lewiston-Auburn area have told me that they’re going to vote specifically for the third bridge. Many of them have indicated an interest in shopping in the Lewiston-Auburn area and have said that this would be a lot easier with a third bridge.”

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

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