100 Years Ago: 1918

The North and West Auburn branches of the Red Cross Society will repeat their drama, “Grandma Gibbs of the Red Cross,” Saturday evening at the North Auburn Grange Hall. There will be dancing and orchestra music.

50 Years Ago: 1968

The reconstruction of Court and Lake streets will have an impact on other areas of the city it was learned today, and a warning was issued to parents in the Manley Street area to keep small children off the streets. City Engineering Planner Arthur Clark reported that fill material which will be removed from Court and Lake streets will be used in the Union Street gully so that several streets which are currently dead-end can be connected. According to Clark, some 16,000 cubic yards of material will be removed from Goff Hill by the W. H. Hinman Co., which will undertake the reconstruction project. Clark pointed out that the project calls for complete reconstruction including the sub-base and the present paving and road base has to go. Rather than just dump the material to get rid of it the fill will be dumped into the gully to serve as the base for the new streets. The streets which will be linked together include Manley Court and Walnut Street. These streets will be tied into Chestnut Street, Temple and Bearce streets will also be linked by a new street. According to Clark, the work is partially in anticipation of the Union Street bypass which, when constructed, will cut off Manley Street to improve travel in the now congested area. 

25 Years Ago: 1993

A trip down Pine Wood Road in Canton won’t be so dusty in the near future as the Board of Selectmen decided Thursday to buy more calcium chloride to limit the flying dust. Selectman Ken Butcher said the 35 miles per hour speed limit on the road could be reduced to help keep the dust down. Also, he said most of the calcium chloride which had been spread on the road is gone and suggested contacting the Maine Department of Transportation to lower the speed limit on the road. Road Commissioner Roger Campbell said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is going to give the town more than $4,000 for roads and Selectmen Chairman Scott Kilbreth suggested using part of the money to buy enough calcium chloride for four or five more applications on the three-quarter-mile section of road. Butcher agreed with Kilbreth that the town should do whatever necessary to keep the dust down without causing undue expense for the town. He said that with winter approaching, it won’t be a problem much longer. The dust is caused by the lack of rain this summer, and selectmen said some wells are drying up. Kilbreth said a resident asked the town to fill a well which went dry, but Kilbreth told her the town doesn’t fill wells because of the possible liability. He told the woman to get water at the municipal building, which she did for her horses. 

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