100 Years Ago: 1920

The largest baseball park in the world will be built in this city for the New York Americana, it was learned today. Col. Jacob Ruppert of the Yankees, who attended a special meeting of the American League in Philadelphia yesterday where the proposal was given official sanction, would not indicate where the park would be located but said three sites were under consideration.

50 Years Ago: 1970

Councilman Eugene Emery, who also serves in the Maine House of Representatives, said today that “Auburn would slip another rung on the ladder on the way to becoming a “ghost town” if the route for the Union Street by-pass is approved. Emery was referring to the plan which would call for the destruction of the so-called “Cushman Block” which includes many industries and businesses. The main by-pass would circumvent the block. A public hearing on the project will be held next Tuesday evening in the council chambers at the city building beginning at 7:30. Emery’s statement follows: “The State Highway Commission’s public hearing concerning the proposed “Union Street By-pass” in Auburn next Tuesday evening should prove to be of paramount interest to many concerned individuals,including numerous property owners, tax-payers, and manufacturers.

25 Years Ago: 1995

Camp Androscoggin in Wayne is ready to accept the third round of Arab and Israeli students as part of “Seeds of Peace,” a move aimed at reducing the animosity and alienation between the two peoples. The program was held at Camp Powhatan in Oxford in 1993 and 1994, and is the brainchild of John Wallach, author and former foreign editor for the Hearst Newspaper Group. Wallach’s impetus for Seeds of Peace was the World Trade Center Bombing in February 1993. Wallach was bothered, he said, by the lack of a camp in the United States or abroad that regularly brought youth from the two heritages together, even with a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979. There are now Seeds of Peace headquarters in Washington, DC and in the participating  government offices. Wallach selected Maine’s scene and secluded qualities as the perfect site to accomplish the goal: increasing peace. Camp Androscoggin had expressed interest from the beginning and was chosen to assume host status this year.

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