100 years ago, 1913
North Bridge was a spectacle for gods and man Thursday morning. Somebody who had been collecting waste paper had lost part of the load and the bridge was strewn with it from Auburn to Lewiston. If this were the first time it would not be worth mentioning but it averages to happen every week or so. Lewiston is also about the last city in the country to permit the distribution of hand bills to litter the streets and almost the last where waste paper is put outside the door in cans or barrels for the wind to distribute or children to pick over and throw about. The throwing of waste paper into the river is also a matter for public consideration.

50 years ago, 1963
The farms, forests and factories of Maine, like those of other New England states, contribute to the substantial flow of commerce between the U.S. and the coffee producing nations of the world, a new survey of the coffee economy reveals. Maine’s exports to coffee countries include Lewiston: Electronic components, sheets and pillow cases; Poland Spring: Spring water; North Monmouth: Industrial fabrics; Rumford: Bond and tablet paper.

25 years ago, 1988
Founders of the newly-created Challenger Drum and Bugle Corps are hoping to take over where the recently disbanded Pine Tree Warriors left off. The new senior corps, which will meet in the Warrior Reservation clubhouse on Lincoln Street and will use some of the Warriors’ instruments, will be a new organization, according to Mike Desrosiers, one of the committee members who are trying to form the new group. The Warriors folded because “we lost a lot of members,” said Jack Walsh, who handled public relations for the Warriors. “It really broke my heart that after 30 years, it had to end.”