100 Years Ago: 1925

“The greatest show on earth,” came off as advertised Saturday morning the eclipse of the sun by the moon, more than 90 per cent of which was visible in Lewiston and Auburn under the most ideal conditions.

Roofs were crowded and the easterly windows of tall buildings were crowded.

It was never dark but as the moon began to take bigger bites out of the solar surface, a twilight spread over the community. Lights were needed in offices and factories and in many houses but on the streets there was no need for lights.

50 Years Ago: 1975

A pair of slacks was stolen during the night from Beal’s Laundry on Hampshire Street, Auburn, the incident reported to police shortly after 8 o’clock this morning by the proprietor Terry S. Badger.
Detective William Fournier said the pair of men’s slacks was taken from an office area at the laundromat. There was no sign of forcible entry, he said.

25 Years Ago: 2000

People wanted to know how to act around their new neighbors from Africa.

They asked for the words to welcome the strangers in their native tongue. They inquired about customs, about how to avoid a faux pas.

The college professor and the students answered their questions. But, really, said the man from the resettlement program, what it all comes down to is mom’s teachings.

“Be polite the way your mother and grandmother expect you to be,” Matthew P. Ward suggested. “People will get along.”

That certainly seemed to be the goal of the 45 or so who gathered Sunday afternoon in the basement of Holy Family Parish Center in Lewiston, to hear the plans of Catholic Charities Maine to resettle refugees from the West African nation of Togo, in Lewiston.

It will be the first time Catholic Charities has helped refugees settle here. A total of 250 refugees come to Maine every year, and almost all start in the greater Portland area, according to Ward, director of refugee and immigration services at Catholic Charities Maine.

It sees Lewiston-Auburn as a better fit for the Togo families, who speak French. Also, it says affordable housing in the Portland area is becoming scarce.

It is expecting five families from Togo, about 30 people total. It does- n’t know when they’ll arrive. It could be days away, it could be weeks. They won’t all come at once.

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