10 years ago – July 11, 1992

(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

BRADLEY – The Town Council voted Tuesday to become intervenors in support of the Basin Mills project. Town Manager Rose Brooks said the main reason the councilors support the hydro-electricity dam project is that the power house will be located in Bradley.

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BRADFORD – Bradford moves into its second day of Bradford Days today (Saturday, July 11). Last night’s talent show opened the annual festivities and today the action starts with a parade.

According to Cindy Kekacs, the parade begins at 10 a.m. and will proceed up the East Road to the town hall. It will include the town’s championship baseball team, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts, Cub Scouts and Brownies and a lot of the people who will participate in the horse shows held in the afternoon will ride their horses. There also will be homemade floats, antique cars, tractors, firetrucks and Strout’s bus.

25 years ago – July 11, 1977

BANGOR – On June 27, the Bangor City Council passed an ordinance which makes it illegal to loiter in the city. Last Thursday the ordinance became law.

Loitering prohibited: It shall be unlawful for any person to loiter, loaf, wander, stand or remain idle either alone or in consort with others in a public place in such a manner as to:

Obstruct any public street, public highway, public sidewalk or any other public place or building by hindering or impeding the free and uninterrupted passage of vehicles, traffic or pedestrians.

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BANGOR – “It looks as though I’ve been hailed before an exam board,” exclaimed Lynn Redgrave as she swept into a press conference at the Bangor International Airport on Sunday night. In her entourage were Joe Silver (he claimed he was Robert Redford – in disguise), Chevy Colton and Paul Shier, all of whom will be appearing in Miss Redgrave’s vehicle at Lakewood Theater this week – Neil Simon’s “California Suite.”

50 years ago – July 11, 1952

BANGOR – Staff Sergeant Jack Sauders, 21, of Dow Air Force Base and Logan, Ohio, nearly drowned in the choppy waters of Green lake yesterday morning but his life was saved in a dramatic rescue effected by David Crabtree, 20, of Bangor.

Sauders collapsed from exhaustion while swimming at the lake about 11:30 a.m., and Crabtree made good on his first try at saving a man’s life by pulling the stricken sergeant to a raft and holding his head above water until help arrived some 20 minutes later.

Crabtree, who hauled Sauders about 50 feet through the water before reaching the raft, said it was “a tough battle for a while. He [Sauders] sure took aboard a lot of water.”

The sergeant was pulled unconscious from the water by Lee “Sonny” Ross of Bangor, and John L. Merritt of Great Barrington, Mass., who were fishing in the vicinity at the time.

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BANGOR – The name Robert Ripley and the term “Believe It or Not” are an accepted combination after more than 30 years of worldwide explorations in search of the unusual.

A special showing of oddities and art objects from this collection is being exhibited on a national tour for the third consecutive year.

One of these mobile museums will be in Bangor for three days, starting Thursday, July 17, sponsored by the Navy Club of the U.S.A. This is the second such exhibit to be seen in Bangor, and will be completely different from anything previously shown.

The exhibit will be on display on State Street at the Mall, and will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. July 17, 18, 19. Teachers are invited to bring classes at any time during these hours.

There will be no admission charge, although voluntary donations will be accepted.

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OLD TOWN – Approximately 18 young men and women of high school age are participating in a work camp of the American Friends Service Committee June 27-Aug. 22.

The campers, who represent many races, religions and national origins and come from more than six states, will work with the Penobscot Indians on Indian Island, helping them to paint homes selected by the Indian sponsoring committee. They also are conducting a recreation program for Indian children.

100 years ago – July 11, 1902

BANGOR – At 5 o’clock on Thursday afternoon the committee of the City Council in charge of the work of constructing the new Union Street schoolhouse met in the mayor’s office, City Hall, to decide upon the heating system to be used and to award the contracts for installing it; also to award the contracts for doing the plumbing work. These bids for doing the work were received by the committee:

Plumbing:

C.H. Babb & Co. $987.00

Leighton and Davenport $770.00

Carter, Adams & Co. $900.30

Steam Heating:

C.H. Babb & Co. $2437.00

Leighton and Davenport $2543.00

Hot Air Heating System:

C.H. Babb & Co. $1887.00

Leighton and Davenport $1628.00

It was decided that the hot air system of heating was best adapted to the needs of the building and it was voted to award the contracts for doing the plumbing and installing the heating system to Leighton & Davenport, their bids for both jobs being the lowest that were received.

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BANGOR – The work of tearing down the old school building at Union and First streets, is progressing slowly, the brick walls being as solid, apparently, as when they were laid, so that the men find it hard work to demolish them. Thirty years ago there was a great scare over the condition of this old building, the impression having gotten abroad that it was unsafe and likely to tumble down at any time. Thousands of children have been stuffed with knowledge there since that time, and the old building has never shown any signs of collapse, standing as firmly as the hill on which it was built.

Many of Bangor’s most capable instructors have taught in this building, among whom will be remembered the Misses Galloupe, Miss Dunbar, and Miss Bakeman.

School Agent Thompson says that the town of Bangor acquired the land on which this schoolhouse was built in the year 1802, the deed being recorded in 1804, but he has no record to show when the building was erected. The earliest record in existence shows that in 1852 the school had 67 pupils under David Worcester, a famous schoolmaster of his time.