YESTERDAY …
10 years ago — Aug. 6, 2005
(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)
BANGOR — Penobscot Pediatrics, a physician-owned practice that cares for approximately 15,000 youngsters from the Bangor area and beyond, has announced its relocation from the Webber Building at Eastern Maine Medical Center to the expanding campus of Penobscot Community Health Care on Union Street.
The decision represents not only a change of scene for the providers and their patients but also a recommitment to the practice’s mission, a reaction to the complexities of practicing medicine in a low-income state and a shift in the health care profile of the region.
BANGOR — They haven’t even finished up their bachelor’s degrees, but University of Maine students and twin brothers Matt and Pat Brann already appear to have cornered the market in Bangor’s nightlife.
The 24-year-olds from Hampden own one of the city’s newest clubs, Club Gemini on Harlow Street. The name is appropriate because the symbol for the zodiac sign Gemini is twins.
The pair always had dreamed of owning their own business and since the club opened March 18 the Branns are finding that business is good.
25 years ago — Aug. 6, 1990
BREWER — There are no outdoor basketball courts in Brewer, but a recently formed committee is raising funds to do something about it.
A small group of people concerned about the lack of outdoor hoops began putting their heads together last March, and have since developed a plan to build two regulation size courts at the Pendleton Street Hockey rink.
BREWER — When Rainer Fluhr boards a jet for Dielingen, West Germany, and a new position with Lemforder Metallwaren, he will leave behind many friends and business associates from his seven and a half years as manager of Lemforder Corp.’s Brewer operation.
The German native is leaving with mixed emotions. When he came to Brewer to run the German company’s fledgling U.S. operation, he never intended to stay too long. But in the interim he acquired a house in Orrington and Maine became home.
50 years ago — Aug. 6, 1965
Passenger voyages are pleasant adventures in relaxation as the ship steams along. But 100 years ago the passengers had no guarantee that the captain wasn’t going to get drunk and run the ship aground. The trip then became a nightmare.
The record of such a trip is contained in a letter owned by Albert Bean of Hudson. Bean’s letter, dated Aug. 6, 1865, is the story of his great-aunt Sarah Goodwin’s voyage by steamship from New York to Victoria, British Columbia.
Her trip was punctuated with a collision with a sailboat just out of New York harbor, a shipwreck about a day from Aspinwall (now Colon), Panama, probably rail passage across the isthmus and attempts by a government agent to recover $1.5 million in greenbacks lost in the shipwreck.
To be in a shipwreck where only 400 out of 700 passengers could be saved, to lose all belongings except a carpet in the shipwreck, to be stranded on a sand island with poor water and insufficient food — this was an experience that would try anyone’s spirit.
The letter, which the Bean’s cherishes, bears the marks of age. It is faded and yellowed around the folds and marked with brown splotches at the edges of the page. But the writing is still clearly legible, preserving a dramatic record of shipwreck, rescue and final arrival in Victoria after a trying passage.
BANGOR — A giant cookout with more than 350 youngsters participating was put on at Broadway Park by the Bangor Recreation Department.
Youngsters were treated to hotdogs, ice cream, soft drinks and potato chips. Cookout specialist Charlie Miller prepared the hotdogs and Bob Dow played records from 6 to 9 p.m.
Chaperones included Bertha Cameron, Frances Stoddard, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Tenan, Mrs. Gary Miner and Mrs. Danny McKusick.
100 years ago — Aug. 6, 1915
HAMPDEN — Putting greens of the golf course at the Conduskeag Canoe and Country Club are being constructed as a beginning in the extensive work which will be carried on there for many weeks.
One great feature of the course will be a water way that will run entirely through both the former Barrows farm and the Canoe Club property, making a hazard which will be greeted with delight by all experienced golfers. Another desirable feature will be a drive of 450 to 500 yards for the last hole.
The pond at the lower end of the Barrows farm will be filled in and drained.
BANGOR — On the 50th anniversary of the coming of the Sisters of Mercy to Bangor, the new Catholic orphanage in Hammond Street — Mount St. Michael’s — was dedicated with simple but impressive exercises. Mass was said by the Rev. Jeremiah McCarthy of St. Mary’s Church, and a gathering of several hundred inspected the spacious edifice and admired the beauty of the surrounding grounds.
The new orphanage, which was formerly the Hersey farm, is in one of the most favored spots in all New England. Built upon high ground, it commands a genuinely wonderful view — one of nature’s finest panoramas. Almost as far as the eye can see is a majestic expanse of field and woodland, dotted with prosperous farms — the whole melting, in the dim distance, into the mountain ranges of Charleston, Dixmont and Orrington.
The orphanage is a three-story wooden structure, substantial, comfortable, well-arranged and unpretentious. The estate comprises 25 acres which should be enough for 20 small children to play in.
Directly in the rear of the house is a huge red barn, which was built in the year of Lincoln’s assassination.
ORONO — Postmaster Parady has made announcement of the result of the examination of candidates for office in the post office, the first ever held here under civil service rules and as a result of which, there will be an assistant postmaster and two clerks, whose service will be for only eight hours for each day, instead of intermediate time as hitherto. The appointees are Charles Ray McKenney and Stanley J. Cowan, clerks. Under the new classification, these receive $800 for the first year’s service.
BREWER — William Dunn is moving the stock from his cigar manufactory in Maple Street to the Fernald building recently vacated by H.A. Witham in North Main Street. More room and better accommodations will be found in the new location.
BREWER — The silver trumpet won by the South Brewer hose team in the races at Maplewood, after the Fourth of July, is on exhibition in Merrill’s drug store window. The trumpet is attracting a lot of attention.
Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin