100 years ago, 1917
A Reo touring car, with its nose pointing due sou-sou-west and its front wheels three feet in air, saluted the morning sunshine at the corner of Court street and Highland avenue, Auburn, Friday morning. It looked like a submarine in distress or a British tank coming out of the trenches. Its head wheels were under the branches of an “umbrella tree” in the yard of F. L. Dingley. Its canvas top was distributed thru the branches of the tree. Its rear seat was full of cabbage, eggs, potatoes, apples and butter. When Mr. Dingley saw it from his chamber window at sunrise, he said: “I have been wanting an automobile for years. One has come down from heaven and landed in my front yard.” The automobile didn’t come from heaven. It came from Lincoln, Maine, and was driven by a man from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

50 years ago, 1967
(Photo Caption) A series of overlays on a map of the City of Auburn, developed and prepared by the graphic Arts Department of the Central Maine Vocational-Technical Institute in Auburn, will be used next week for Auburn’s presentation in the All-American Cities competition in Milwaukee. Each of the overlays designates one of five years of development in the community. Viewing the map is Auburn banker Carleton L. Bradbury, a member of the committee which prepared the original application and who will make the city’s presentation. Walter L. Johnson, layout and design instructor at CMVTI, is with him.

25 years ago, 1992
The Pettengill Park ice rink in Auburn will remain uncovered this winter because total costs of a roof and other planned improvements are now projected at $126,000 more than the original budget. Auburn City Manager Steve Lewis said the city still will pursue the possibility of covering the rink as part of a reduced-cost project, but that approach could not produce a roof in time for this season.

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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