AUBURN — If you believe the advertising in the latter half of the 19th century, gulping down a bit of Dr. J.F. True’s Elixir offered the best possible treatment for everything from a headache to a lizard living in your stomach. Regardless of whether it really worked or not, the dark and somewhat alcoholic liquid […]
history
Maine: It happened here first
The state’s do-it-yourself spirit has led to many innovations over the years, from earmuffs to doughnut holes and maybe even a universal snub.
How a Bates College professor from Turner helped forge Edmund Muskie's political career
LEWISTON — Sometimes a life hinges on whether someone finds what they need at the moment they need it. A Bates College professor played that role for one of America’s leading politicians during the Cold War, former U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie of Maine, a lanky young man from Rumford who walked into Brooks Quimby’s classroom […]
Dressing for the weather — 1800s' style
LIVERMORE — Staying warm today means dressing in the latest technology — you know those battery-powered long Johns for which you control the temperature with your smartphone? If the Washburn family, who lived in the 1800s, could see us now, they’d mock us — or be jealous. But for all this technology, when Western Maine […]
Remembering Roselle Coury, Maine’s ‘first lady broadcaster’
This past Thursday, Oct. 25, marked Roselle Coury Fortier’s 100th birthday. Known as one of the top radio personalities in New England in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, the well-known icon at Lewiston’s WCOU radio could do it all. The energetic, outgoing entertainer and broadcaster not only deejayed her own programs, wrote and delivered commercial […]
History will come alive at 'Ghosts of Freeport’s Past' tours
FREEPORT — The Freeport Historical Society and Freeport Players invite all to join them in the Woodlawn Cemetery on West Street for the ghostly voices of Freeport blacksmiths and shopkeepers at the annual cemetery tour. Walk among the graves and learn about ancestors from the 19th century. All apparitions will be portrayed by actors from the […]
Robert L. McCleery releases book on history of Farmington fire fighting
FARMINGTON — “History of the Farmington Fire Department 1850-2000: A Volunteer Fire Department” by former Chief Robert L. McCleery will be released this month. With firemen and events updated to 2017, this is a 150-plus year chronicle of Farmington’s glorious firefighting past. The book was compiled, edited and updated by daughter Ruth McCleery Watson. It […]
Michael Haley
AUBURN — Michael Haley, 75, of Auburn, formerly of South Paris passed away Wednesday, Aug. 22, at Clover Manor. He was born in Norway on Feb.13, 1943, the son of Gerald and Jeanette Downing Haley. He graduated from Paris High School in 1961 and from the University of Maine at Orono with a master’s degree in […]
Anita Lohman
NEW GLOUCESTER — Anita Lohman, 82, of New Gloucester, passed away in Lewiston on Thursday, Aug. 9. Born in Brunswick on Sept. 11, 1935, to Alfred G. and Hazel Ellis Reeks, Anita lived in Bath until the age of 13 when the family moved to Alden, Mass. She graduated from Malden High School and attended Northeastern […]
Museum L-A’s dance party Under the Stars II to remember musicians
LEWISTON — Museum L-A invites community members to bring a photo in memory of a professional musician whom they would like to be remembered at the museum’s Dance Party Under the Stars II. The memorial photos of the musicians will be on display at the party on the exterior fence where guests enter to enjoy […]