10 years ago – Sept. 26, 1992

(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

BANGOR – At the end of its first month of operation, Acadia Hospital in Bangor already has opened an additional five beds on one unit, and expects to add three more in the coming week.

“We just didn’t think the hospital would be this busy this quickly,” said Lynn M. Madden, director of administrative services.

The acute-care hospital for psychiatric and chemical-dependency patients began services Aug. 27 with a 20-bed chemical-dependency unit, a 16-bed adolescent psychiatric unit, and 16 beds open on a 24-bed unit for adult psychiatric care.

Within a couple of weeks, those units were full or nearly full, and Acadia continues to expand its adult unit incrementally as more staff comes on board. The hospital had a total of nine admissions on one day this past week, and increased the number of open beds on the adult unit to 21. That number will rise to 24 this coming week, Madden said.

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BANGOR – In less than 48 hours the crew at the Bangor Humane Society has seen the positive and negative sides of human nature.

On Thursday morning they felt violated when they arrived at work to find the shelter had been burglarized and vandalized. On Friday they saw how supportive and caring the community can be.

Executive Director Jodi Buckman arrived at work Friday and found the WWFX Radio van set up in the parking lot preparing to broadcast live from the facility. The radio announcers told Buckman that they hoped to raise $1,000 before the end of the day. Throughout the day donations rolled in and by about 4 p.m. almost $2,500 had been raised.

25 years ago – Sept. 26, 1977

BANGOR – People over age 60 aren’t just “senior citizens” who think alike, act alike and have the same desires and needs.

This was one of the major points of a dramatic reading presentation made Sunday afternoon at Bangor Community College by 10 older persons, all specifically chosen to participate in a project sponsored by the Maine Committee on Aging and paid for by a grant from the Maine Council for the Humanities and Public Policy.

“We saw real persons” who were different, “not just senior citizens,” said Constance Carlson, a panelist who commented after the one-hour presentation.

Society generally seems to treat people of the same age as if they are the same, particularly the aged, said Mary Hartman, another panelist. “We were shown today, these people are unique.”

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ORONO – Marine education is the latest subject teachers are marching out for Johnny’s educational salvation.

Close on the heels of career, consumer, health, survival and community education, this one is another hybrid concoction geared to meeting the needs of a changing society as perceived by educators.

The goal of marine education is to give students a respect and understanding of the seas and other bodies of water, which some observers believe are jeopardized in their present form by pollution, or underused as a resource.

50 years ago – Sept. 26,1952

ORONO – Now’s the time to take soil samples so that you’ll get the results in time to plan your orders for lime and fertilizer next spring, advises Paul N. Mosher, Extension Service crops specialist of the University of Maine.

Maine farmers wanting soil samples taken should contact either the county agent at the Extension Service office or the farmer-fieldman or committeemen at the county Production and Marketing Administration office. These men will arrange to have the sample taken.

Soil testing is the foundation on which to build good soil fertility on the farm, points out Mosher. He hopes that farmers who have not had soil tests taken on their farms in the last two years will request them not later than Oct. 1.

Soil testing in Maine is a co-operative affair between the Production and Marketing Administration, the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, and the Agricultural Extension Service.

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BANGOR – The fourth annual conference of the New England Reading association will be held Thursday evening through Saturday afternoon, Oct. 4 at the Poland Spring House. Among those attending the sessions will be several teachers from the Bangor area.

The theme of the conference is “Improving Reading Abilities Through Better Teaching in the Content Areas.” The two-day program has been planned to give delegates the opportunity to hear many noted authors, educators, and specialists in the field of reading and to participate in group discussions covering a wide variety of topics.

With the rapid growth in school population and the ever-increasing amount of reading demanded by everyday living, teachers are more aware of the importance of the teaching of reading than ever before. Teachers in the Bangor area, especially, have been making efforts to prepare themselves for this job through summer school and extension courses. Consequently, they have been asked to serve as leaders, consultants and recorders for groups at the reading conference which will discuss problems of reading at various grade levels and within many content fields.

100 years ago – Sept. 26, 1902

HAMPDEN – At a business meeting held at the home of Mrs. J.H. Spofford in Hampden, Wednesday, Sept. 5, the Dorothea Dix Memorial Society completed arrangements for the annual fair to be held October 15 and 16.

Col. Charles A. Jones was present and greatly encouraged the workers by his generous contributions. As a soldier and admirer of the patriotism of Miss Dix, his greeting to the society, as he furnished them flag after flag, is always, “Keep it waving – she is worthy.”

Another soldier of the Union army, from Kentucky, sends from his lithographic factory for the sale at the fair one dozen lithographs in recognition of Miss Dix’s devotion to the cause of the American soldier, for which she gave without pay as free volunteer service the five years of the Civil war.

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BANGOR – Among other recent donations to the Bangor Historical Society are two of special local interest. One, from Hon. Joseph A. Williamson of Belfast, is a fine proof lithograph of “the north front of Mercantile Row, with a northeast distant front of the Bangor House.”

This probably dates from before or during 1836, and shows what was so long known here as Mercantile Block, with tower and clock, some of the old-time buildings in Wall Street, and the then-new Bangor House, high and alone in its glory.

The other gift is from Geo. W. Thatcher, Esq., of the Boston banking firm of Loring, Tolman & Tupper, and consists of two certificates of stock in “The Bangor and Piscataquis Canal and R. R. Corporation” (28 shares), running to Henry Williams Jr., dated May 8, 1840, and July 13, signed by Eliphalet Williams, president, and Elbridge Harris, treasurer. Henry Williams Jr. graduated from Harvard College three years before this purchase, and this was probably his first investment in stocks. It certainly proved a permanent one.

Compiled by Matt Poliquin