100 years ago: 1925

“Lewiston city hall is bubbling over with excitement at the news that an attempt was made sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning to break into the city clerk’s office by extracting a large window pane in the door. Napoleon Hamel, clerk of the office discovered the attempt Sunday noon. Three sections of the molding and the putty had been removed. All sorts of rumors as to why a break had been attempted were going the rounds Monday. Some went so far as to say that one party had made a bold attempt to obtain a certain set of political papers but had been scared away. Others said that money was the reason for the attempted robbery. City Clerk Hamel agreed that there is a much larger amount of money in the vault at this time of the year than at other times, due to the collection of money for various licenses. He said that both money and political papers are always locked up in the safe when the officials are away from the office.”

50 years ago: 1975

“If the word ‘dance’ conjures up images in your head of twinkle-toed ballerinas in starry-eyed poses, or a series of seemingly complicated moves that are supposed to be incomprehensible except to those who are performing them, you obviously didn’t see the Bates College Modern Dance Company’s spring performance Friday and Saturday nights in the Schaeffer Theater. The veteran dancers proved again in their performance of ‘Trilogy’ that dance can be refreshing, spirited, varied, and never dull. Under the direction of Marcy Plavin, the Bates Company performed before a full house, combining unique qualities that have been developed over the years by hard work, dedication and, most important, talent.”

25 years ago: 2000

“They’ve already spent the money and built the lanes for the city’s new bicycle path in Lewiston. But there was one thing the city forgot to tell the people who lived along the route that borders College Street, Stetson and Hogan roads, Central Avenue and Russell Street: There would be no more parking on either side of the street. On Wednesday night about 20 people who live along the path spoke out. They want to park on the streets they live on and a new bike path shouldn’t keep them off, they said. ‘My rights are getting smaller and smaller in this city and I’m paying more and more taxes,’ said Bob Richard, who lives on Stetson Road. ‘I understand people want to ride their bikes around town and that’s fine and good, but where are my rights as a taxpayer?’”

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