100 years ago, 1917
Bates College will have a $100,000 men’s building … $91,000 is already promised; $9,000 is still to be raised. The recent gift of $50,000 will be used toward this building. This building will be somewhat after the order of the Harvard Union, the Brown Union, the Dartmouth Union, the Men’s building at Oberlin. It will afford rooms for recreation, reading, music, meetings of the numerous student organizations, opportunities for healthful exercise of the simpler kinds, and the cultivation of comradeship. There will be rooms for the Y. M. C. A. classes in Bible study, etc. The absence of secret fraternities at Bates makes such a building especially important as a center for the social life of the men at Bates and as a gathering place for returning alumni.

50 years ago, 1967
Approximately 300 people turned out this morning for the start of the 26th annual three-day Maine Agricultural Trade Show, which this year has 110 booths and 36 exhibits, demonstrating new farming methods as well as equipment. Morning meetings today were scheduled by the Maine Co-Operative Extension Service and the Maine Vegetable Grower’s Association, which had its annual meeting.

25 years ago, 1992
The second-oldest collegiate winter carnival in the country will be celebrated this week at Bates College with concerts, athletic events and traditional festivities. “Great Destinations” has been selected as the theme of the 72nd annual Bates Winter Carnival, which runs from Wednesday through Sunday on the college campus. Only the famed Dartmouth Winter Carnival is older. The event officially got under way Wednesday morning in Augusta with the traditional lighting of the carnival torch by Gov. John R. McKernan on the steps of the State House. The torch was used Wednesday to ignite a bonfire next to Lake Andrews, the scene of an evening skating party. Friday’s events include the popular “traying” at 3 p.m. on Mount David, when intrepid students toboggan down the icy slope on standard cafeteria trays.

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