100 years ago, 1916
The St. Louis church, New Auburn, was dedicated yesterday with appropriate ceremonies which were in personal charge of Bishop Walsh of the Maine Diocese. During the forenoon high requiem mass was celebrated and the Bishop blessed the church with his benediction and by sprinkling ointment about the building. In the afternoon came the dedication of the four bells and these also received the blessing of the Bishop. Fifteen members of the Diocese were in attendance to assist in the ceremonies.

50 years ago, 1966
Main traffic arteries in both Lewiston and Auburn were plugged solid most of Thursday afternoon with the combined city traffic and the additional traffic resulting from the Maine Teachers Association convention. Lewiston and Auburn police officers were out in force doing hand traffic at intersections in an effort to keep vehicles moving but despite their efforts long lines of traffic piled up in the main arteries and cars were backed up on side streets waiting to enter the main flow. Times of a half hour or more to get from one end of the traffic jam to the other were common, according to reports.

25 years ago, 1991
The Auburn City Council Monday night defeated eight proposed ordinance amendments that would have given councilors the final say as to what streets, if any, would be accepted by the city. The amendments would have empowered the council to determine if streets in major subdivisions should be public or private. In fact, according City Solicitor Curtis Webber, one of the amendments appeared to give the council “full authority to disapprove any final plan for any reason not limited to street designation …” The premise behind the proposed ordinance amendments, hashed out at a previous workshop session, was to save the citizens tax dollars by not adding more streets to the Public Works Department’s jurisdiction.

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

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