100 Years Ago: 1924

Uncle Lot Wing of West Peru, aged 97, dug seven large sacks of potatoes – from ten to twelve bushels – on Oct. 6th. He said it was just a fair day’s work for him.

Uncle Lot has taken care of a garden all summer. He saws wood when he can find nothing else to do, just to keep himself in good trim.

Mr. Wing tips the scales at just 200 pounds. He has no intention of “rusting out.”

50 Years Ago: 1974

As a result of shortages in available housing for the elderly it’s estimated that on the average an applicant for such housing will have to wait ten years before he or she can move in.

The estimate is that of Robert Berube, executive director of the Lewiston Housing Authority, who made his annual report public yesterday at an annual meeting of the LHA.

Berube noted that there is a long waiting list for elderly housing, but that low-income family housing units are not as scarce.

During the past year the first 90 units of low-income family housing were opened, and yesterday 30 more were accepted at Hillview Apartments. The final phase of 30 units at Hillview are expected to be completed in December.

In reference to the insufficient housing Berube said, “It is an existing community dilemma which must be brought to the attention of the citizens and respectively improved on a major scale.”

The report later states: “The very facts that the vacancy ratio has been less than 0.1 per cent over the past two years, that the turnover rate is comparatively and realistically low, and that 238 single senior citizens and 45 senior couples are awaiting admission proves not only the need for additional similar housing, but also its desirability from the elderly’s vantage point.”

25 Years Ago: 1999

All that was left of Champ’s Steakhouse Friday was a few charred walls, piles of blackened chairs and tables and a lot of work for fire investigators.

Damage to the new eatery was estimated at between $500,000 and $600,000. An investigation into the cause of the fire is expected to carry into the weekend.

“We just started to get into the building,” Turner Fire Chief Steven Fish said late Friday. “The whole thing needs to be shoveled out.”

A late-night fire Thursday leveled parts of the Route 4 restaurant and gutted others. Firefighters from five towns battled the blaze until the early morning hours Friday.

“It was an intense fire, but no one was hurt,” Fish said. “Nobody got as much as a scratch.”

The spectacular blaze forced the closure of a section of Route 4 as crews struggled to save a nearby home from the flames. Just after midnight, the roof of the restaurant collapsed, and flames filled the building.

“We had it under control about an hour after that,” Fish said. “We were able to pull out of there about 5:30 in the morning.”

The material used in Looking Back is produced exactly as it originally appeared although misspellings and errors may be corrected.