100 Years Ago: 1924

An Oxford man claims he has a Stradivarius violin.

This is Lorenzo B. Jones. The remains of this violin were found tied up with strings in a store in Sorento, Fla., some years ago.

They were picked up and sent to the Maine man, who was musical and interested in fiddles.

The plates bore the date: 1726.

Mr. Jones reconstructed the instrument with a Stradivarius neck and scroll and it is now highly valued.

50 Years Ago: 1974

“It’s really unbelievable,” declared Frank Ring, who parlayed a daily “Holiday Plus” ticket for Friday, Dec. 13, into a $500 daily prize, and yesterday’s $4,500 win, for the bonus game’s top $5,000 windfall.

Ring, a 38-year old mechanic and father of three, was winner of the second $4,500 weekly prize. given away in the Maine State Lottery’s “Holiday Plus” drawing game.

“This is my third win!” he reported. On Dec. 12 — one day before his big bonanza began — he’d won $20 with another ticket.

“We’ve got a few bills that we want to clean up and get the new year off with a good start,” declared Ring, who’s employed by Arnold Machinery Co. of Portland.

Asked if there was anything he’d like to splurge on somewhere in his serious spending plans, Ring replied, “I’ll probably get a different car. That’s how I happened to be home today. I’ve been trying all morning to get that car started.”

But he readily admitted that it was pleasant to be home to receive his very special day-after-Christmas present.

25 Years Ago: 1999

As an antiques and history buff, Jim Sylvain decided to put his passion to work to help celebrate Rumford’s bicentennial.

Now available in many businesses throughout Rumford are six picture postcards, each depicting some aspect of town history, ranging from a photograph of the first frame house built by Jonathan Keyes in Rumford Center in 1785, to the growth of the business district in the early 1900s. Sylvain worked with the Bicentennial Committee and the Rumford Historical Society to find the six best d old photos to show how the area grew so swiftly.

Marcia Lauze, a Bicentennial  Committee member, said the project originated several months ago when the committee thought that issuing old postcards might be a good way to show some of Rumford’s history. That conversation evolved when Sylvain volunteered to sift through hundreds of original photos to find six that could become a historical souvenir for the bicentennial.

“It was hard to narrow it down to six, but he’s done a good job,” she said. “They are beautiful and show great detail. They depict some of the early history well. It’s amazing to look back at some of those things.”

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