(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Aug. 1, 1992

ORONO – In a small laboratory in the basement of Boardman Hall at the University of Maine, high school students Mathew Olsen of Yarmouth and Tammy Greenlaw of Sherman Mills stand beside a small, brown, concrete-hard block that quite possibly could be a breakthrough in civil engineering.

The 65-pound block, 6 inches wide and high, and 21 inches long, is rather plain in appearance. It’s what’s inside that makes it different.

Containing about half the amount of the costly cement normally used in paving roads, the concrete block also contains a small percentage of minute plastic fibers.

Preliminary tests by the two 16-year-olds and Assistant Professor Dana Humphrey show that the fibers help the material stay together. In northern Maine where unusually soft soils underneath roadways cause cracks, Humphrey said, the new mixture could be an important breakthrough.

25 years ago – Aug. 1, 1977

BREWER – The Brewer Historical Society has received its certificate of incorporation from the Secretary of State’s Office. Functioning as a nonprofit organization, the historical society will strive to preserve the antiquity of our area for the future generations, students, historians, researchers and all interested persons.

The move to form a historical society in Brewer began as early as 1965 with members of the present group spearheading the original plan.

“The City of Brewer has a rich heritage,” says society president John Cayford. “Brewer engaged in the shipbuilding industry, the brick making industry, the ice industry plus others. Not enough research has been done concerning these industries or Brewer individuals, and the society will work hard to fill these gaps.”

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BANGOR – When the Twenty-Four Hour Club softball team goes to bat, members are after more than just runs.

According to Dave A., team member and founder of the club, which sponsors the team, playing softball is a way of helping the members of the team stay sober.

And, as representatives of the Twenty-Four Hour Club, a club for recovering alcoholics and problem drinkers, the group also “carries the message that alcoholism is a treatable illness.”

50 years ago – Aug. 1, 1952

BANGOR – Bangor officials and businessmen, equipped with the advisory help of the state highway engineer and city engineers, will meet with members of the Air Force and the Maine congressional delegation in the governor’s office next Tuesday to continue discussion on the contemplated Dow Air Force Base expansion.

City Manager Julian H. Orr said yesterday that the meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

He said that plans are under way to have Air Force officials sit in on the meeting, which is designed to attempt to find an alternative to relocating Hammond Street should the proposed Dow expansion be carried out.

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BANGOR – In spite of threatening skies in the afternoon and showers during the evening, the attendance at the Bangor Fair of 20,000 for yesterday still managed to equal that of the corresponding day last year, which was the top day in 1951. The finals in livestock judging and a 4-H tractor contest were the leading events on Thursday’s slate while today the Shriners of Anah Temple will hold sway at the fair.

The afternoon’s program of racing provided two thrillers as the daily double paid a $110.40 bundle for a deuce ticket and Bay State Tom came home in 2:06 and two-fifths in the Colonel Morrill free-for-all pace to establish the fastest mark of the year in Maine.

The program today will open at 12:30 p.m. with a parade starting from Shrine headquarters on Columbia Street and heading up Main Street to Bass Park. Once at the fairgrounds, the Shrine band will take over on the stage and play for the drills to be presented by the mounted and Arab patrols.

100 years ago – Aug. 1, 1902

BANGOR – It is now expected that the hearing before the bridge commission appointed by Chief Justice Wiswell of the Maine Supreme Court to decide upon the amount which the Bangor Bridge Co. shall receive for its property, which will begin in the Supreme Court room on next Tuesday, will be a very lengthy one, possibly lasting through four days. While the commission, which is composed of Leslie Cornish of Augusta and Engineer Cheeney of Boston and Engineer Graves of Hartford, has announced that the hearing will open on Tuesday, it has not signified the hour, but it is supposed that it will be at 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

There will be an array of legal talent at the hearing that will guarantee the careful looking after every point that may arise. The city of Brewer has secured the services of Herbert M. Heath of Augusta to assist Frank E. Floyd. City Solicitor Taber D. Bailey of Bangor is to be assisted by Matthew Laughlin. The bridge company will, of course, be represented by its president, Charles F. Woodard, who will be assisted by Appleton & Chaplin.

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BANGOR – Three cargoes of coal are now discharging at Bangor, having arrived in the past 24 hours in the Schooners Iona Tunnell, from Philadelphia, for the Canadian Pacific railway, and Mare D. Rockhill and Lavinia M. Snow from South Amboy, for the Hincks Coal Co. Ten or a dozen more cargoes are on the way, aggregating, probably, 14,000 tons, the fleet including the five-masted Sch. Gannie Palmer, which carries about 3,500 tons, three four-masted Schs., two barges and a bark.

Compiled by Matt Poliquin