100 years ago: 1925

One of the most severe electrical storms in years broke over Lewiston and vicinity Saturday night, bringing with it rainfall of an inch and three quarters. No damage, save road washouts, was reported in the immediate vicinity, but other sections suffered worse in this respect. Several towns along the coast were thrown into darkness Saturday night, including Rockland, Rockport, Camden, Warren and Thomaston, as result of lightning striking the Central Maine Power Co. plant at Glen Cove at about 10 o’clock. Trolley service was likewise interrupted at those points.

50 years ago: 1975

Rocco Giberti of the Stevens Mills Trailer Park, a member of the Auburn police reserves, was given credit Friday night for extinguishing a fire at Beal’s Laundromat before any serious damage was caused. The blaze was in a small toilet room at the Hampshire Street business and was discovered when Sheila Gurney of 48 Dennison St. detected smoke in the building while she was doing her laundry. She ran to the nearby Auburn Police Station to report the fire 3 and Giberti, who happened to be at the station, drove back to the building with her as APD Dispatcher Eugene Parini notified the fire department. Giberti used an empty plastic bleach bottle belonging to the young woman as a container for water taken from the wash basin and put out the small fire in a wastebasket.

25 years ago: 2000

Gov. Angus King will announce the creation of a new state Web site design Wednesday. The site is intended to speed up the state system, removing many tedious state worker tasks and providing more user-friendly options for the public than in the past. It has not always been easy for the viewer in the past, Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky said. The redesigned site will not only allow users to register vehicles and access driving records away from state offices but will also offer home-buying information and data on local day cares.

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