100 years ago, 1915
There is mourning among bird-lovers and joy among the poultry-keepers in Auburn. The cause of this divided sentiment is the death of one of the familiar pair of bald-headed eagles which have nested around the northeasterly shores of Lake Auburn for several seasons. The large bird was reported to have taken hens from the yards of farmers living along the outskirts of Auburn, and on Sunday a fatal shot was fired. The bird, when carefully measured from wing to wing, proved to be five feet and 11 inches.

50 years ago, 1965
President Arnold Aron of Pioneer Plastics Corp. said Thursday the firm will begin limited production at its new $3.6 million Auburn plant by the end of next week. He said the building is about 90 percent finished. Still to be completed are some business offices and management product engineering offices. The testing of plant machinery has been going on for several days. “We’ve been breaking in people on the machines,” Aron said, “and in most cases, have two crews on the machines.” Pioneer Plastics Corp. will produce Pionite plastic laminates in the 360,000 square foot building. The company has out-grown three plants in the past 10 years and the Auburn plant is designed to provide for further expansion should additional space be needed.

25 years ago, 1990
(Photo Caption) Heavy equipment loads rubbish onto trucks at the Mid-Maine Waste Action Corp. site on Goldthwaite Road in Auburn. The rubbish will be hauled to a landfill until work is completed on demolishing the former Auburn Energy Recovery Plant and replacing it with a state-of-the-art incinerator. Approximately six truck trips per day are needed to remove the trash from the 12 MMWAC member towns. Trucks back up along side the bi-level station and a front end loader is used to fill the empty trailers.

The material in Looking Back is reproduced exactly as it originally appeared, although misspellings and errors made at that time may be edited.