100 Years Ago: 1924

Frank Groves of Lewiston has a New York Herald extra of April 15, 1865, that is invaluable for it contains the complete account of the assassination of President Lincoln. Each column is heavily lined in black and the headlines which go down each column, instead of going across the top as they do in modern newspapers, read thus:

IMPORTANT
_________
Assassination
of
President Lincoln
________
The President Shot at the Theatre last evening
___________
Secretary Seward Daggered in his Bed But
Not Mortally Wounded
__________________
Clarence and Frederick Seward
Badly Hurt
__________
Escape of the Assassins
______________
Intense Excitement in
Washington
_________
Scene at the deathbed of
Mr. Lincoln
_________
J. Wilkes Booth, the actor, the alleged
Assassin of President Lincoln
___________________

50 Years Ago: 1974

(Sun Journal photo) Shown is one of the first buildings constructed in downtown  Auburn in 40 years and the first in the Urban renewal Project, the Casco Bank Building now stands complete at the corner of Court and Turner Streets.

25 Years Ago: 1999

Someone recommended Rach Desgrosseilliers to the governor.

She doesn’t know who. She didn’t know they had, until Gov. King’s office called and asked her for her resume. She sent it and got the job. Effective Feb 16, the Auburn gift shop owner will join the board of Maine’s Tourism Commission.

“Augusta, here I come,” the 54 year-old Desgrosseilliers said Thursday. The day before, she got a letter from King notifying her of the appointment.

She doesn’t know who left to create the vacancy she’s filling, or when her first meeting is. But she has some definite ideas about what she hopes to accomplish.

She hopes to impress on state legislators how important it is to adequately fund tourism promotions.

“Without tourists,” Desgrossieliers said, “her Gooseberry Barn wouldn’t survive, and the same thing happens throughout the state. But the state doesn’t put enough money into luring tourists this far north.”

“Right now, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont are dishing out a lot of money, and we are at the end of the line.”

She said visitors have told her that if they had known what Maine has to offer they would have saved some vacation dollars to spend here instead.

Besides the additional money, the state has to improve its promotion of other areas of Maine, not just the coast.

“We have so much to offer in Lewiston and Auburn, we sometimes take it for granted,” she said. “Each little community has jewels and things happening throughout the whole state. That somehow has to be made more user-friendly.”

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

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