Read more about Jan. 17, 1923, in the SunJournal.com archives.

100 Years Ago: 1923

The BPW members who enjoy whist met with Mrs. L.M. Lunt at her home on Sabattus Street Monday evening. Mrs. Lamson won the highest score. In two weeks the meeting is to be at the Greyloft. A regular class will be formed and there will be an instructor.

50 Years Ago: 1973

(from a Journal photo) Mrs. Bernard R. Marcus, Auburn, and Mrs. Thomas E. Delahanty, Lewiston, at the telephone, are co-chairmen of tickets for the Red Stocking Revue presently in rehearsal for two performances to be presented at Lewiston High School auditorium January 31 and Feb 1.

The tickets will be available the latter part of this week and will be placed in some downtown and upper Lisbon Street business establishments. Others will be available at the box office at the high school on the performance date.

The Red Stocking Revue is being presented for the benefit of the Central Maine General Hospital under the auspices of the Woman’s Hospital Association.

25 Years Ago: 1998

Cell phone usage shot up by as much as 1,000 percent in the Northeast during the ice storm last week.

“What I think it does more than anything is bring to light the importance of wireless communication in emergency situations like this,” said Andrea Linsky, a spokesman for Bell Atlantic Mobile.

The ice storm that hit the Northeast last week knocked out the power lines for thousands of customers in Vermont, Maine, New York state, and New Hampshire. At the peak of the blackout, 275,000 customers in Maine and 20,000 in Vermont were without power. It left millions in Quebec without power.

The damage also took out an unknown number of telephone lines. Bell Atlantic Mobile, one of two companies that provide cellular phone service in hard-hit northwestern Vermont, said use of its cellular phones increased 60 percent during and after the ice storm. Bell Atlantic said cellular call volume increased 500 percent in the Alburgh area between Jan. 7 and Jan. 11, and 1,000 percent between Jan. 9 and Jan. 10. So many people used their cellular phones during the blackout period that emergency Management officials in Maine and Vermont asked callers to restrict their use to necessary calls to keep the circuits free.

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