100 years ago: 1925

A definite movement is underway, it is reported in Auburn, to transfer support and activities of a considerable group of influential Auburn businessmen on the hotel proposition of constructing a new high school. This movement, it is expected, will be revealed at the forum meeting of the Auburn Chamber of Commerce primarily in interest of the hotel.

Many businessmen feel that a new school building is much more vital to the welfare and progress of the community than a new hotel, and it is reported that one or two contributions might even be solicited to start the matter going.

50 years ago: 1975

An employees’ food co-op I will soon be operational at Lewiston’s Bates Fabrics, Inc. The word “food” doesn’t appear in the title of the new co-operative venture, known officially as the Bates Employees Cooperative, but food is what it’s about, at least in the formative stages.

One hundred and eighty-nine employees have registered for the co-operative, which is expected to get under way in a few weeks.

“We’re trying to cut down the cost of living by doing something collectively,” explained Julien Cloutier, president of Local 462, Textile Workers of America at the major Lewiston mill and chairman of the co-op committee.

25 years ago: 2000

At first there was only an apple orchard and Jill Agnew’s husband worked a second job for the first 10 years to keep the [Sabattus] farm afloat. In 1982, Agnew and her husband, Charlie, founded Willow Pond Farm. By the late 1980s, it became obvious to them that they would either have to get out of farming or find a way to make more money. To keep the farm, they started a Community Supported Agriculture program in 1989.

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