100 years ago, 1917
W. A. Annis has sold his house on Auburn Heights to Lester Stevens. Real estate is moving lively this spring since houses can be bought ready-made much below cost of production, and population of these cities is increasing by leaps and bounds. The abundant transfers at Androscoggin registry of deeds indicate that the cheapest article now on the market is well located real estate in the cities growing fastest of any cities in Maine

50 years ago, 1967
A lot of signatures were lost to posterity Friday and now are only plaster dust. The signatures were on the cast which Mayor Harry W. Woodard Jr. has worn on his right leg since early in January when he was injured in a snowmobile accident. The mayor’s cast was removed Friday and he underwent his first therapy session at the hospital. The mayor observed that his right shoe felt awfully full of foot, it being the first time he had a shoe on the right foot since the accident. Mayor Woodard, still on his crutches, visited Auburn city building Friday afternoon following the hospital session.

25 years ago, 1992
Lewiston’s proposed property-maintenance code was dead for a few minutes Tuesday before being resurrected and sent on to a second public hearing. The proposed code does not, however, still contain its most controversial section, which would have banned parking such recreational equipment as boats, motor homes and snowmobiles on people’s property “in a state of major disassembly, disrepair or in the process of being stripped or dismantled.” An exception would have allowed the work to take place indoors. That provision should resurface within the next few months, as an amendment to the code, City Clerk Gerald Berube said.

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