(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – May 12, 1995

BANGOR – The library was abuzz with activity at the Phillips-Strickland House.

Seniors ages 72 to 97 threw around words like “byte,” “CD-ROM” and “mouse” as they completed their first session in a computer lab that opened at the residential facility.

Heads up, computer buffs, because the Internet cruising crowd at Phillips-Strickland is ready to go online – well, maybe in the next lesson or two.

The goal of Paul Paulson’s program is to get timid nonusers so familiar with the wonders of cyberspace that they can communicate with peers in Australia, play cards or write stories on the machines.

A former guidance counselor, Paulson won the 1995 Maine Adult Correctional Education Outstanding Volunteer Award for the program.

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ORONO – In the 1950s when residents or students of the University of Maine approached the town, people drove down the major arteries beneath an arching canopy of towering sugar maples and elm trees.

It was an impressive sight and brought pride to the residents of the town. But when Dutch elm disease struck in the 1960s, one by one the towering trees came down.

The sugar maples were unable to fill in the gaps and today most of those trees, with an average age of 100 years or more, are beginning to die off.

This has not gone unnoticed, and a group in Orono is dedicated to restoring the grandeur that once was. The Orono Tree Board wants to restore the arching shade trees to the town’s main thoroughfares. The board has been taking an inventory of the shade trees of the town’s rights of way for the past few years.

25 years ago – May 12, 1980

BREWER – The Brewer school board will consider a motion to transfer Allan Snell, principal of the junior high school, to be principal of the Capri and Washington street schools on the retirement of principal William Anderson. Snell was one of 22 applicants for the job, said Superintendent Arthur Pierce.

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BUCKSPORT – Dr. Willam Deighan Jr. of Bangor was elected president of the Maine Retired Skippers Race Inc. at the annual meeting at the Jed Prouty Tavern in Bucksport.

Other officers elected were Ryan Fendler of Pittsfield, vice president; Merle Bragdon of Castine, treasurer; and Col. Alfred Bagot of Castine, secretary.

Col. R.C. Gibson, outgoing president, presided at the meeting. John Letcher of Southwest Harbor, chairman of the race committee, was authorized to modify the race rules to improve the rating of larger boats.

In other business, a trophy was established to honor Capt. John M. Kennedy of Castine. Richard Falk of Bucksport was selected publicity chairman for the 29th annual race to be held at Castine.

New directors elected were Don Scheu of Orland, Frank Wakefield of Blue Hill and Frank Wiswall, Castine.

50 years ago – May 12, 1955

HAMPDEN – Dorothea Lynde Dix, a native of Hampden, a crusader for the establishment of mental hospitals, is among the nominees in the 1955 election of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. The national shrine is located on the Bronx campus of New York University.

Thus far, 83 distinguished people from the nation’s past have been elected to the Hall of Fame. Busts of 81 of them have been installed in the shrine, an open-air colonnade that overlooks the Hudson and Harlem River valleys and the New Jersey Palisades.

The current ballot contains the names of 209 famous Americans, all of whom have been dead at least 25 years. Included on the list are former presidents, teachers, journalists, patriots, physicians, inventors, pioneers, military leaders, businessmen, lawyers, authors and statesmen.

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BANGOR – Workmen began to construct a metal staging in preparation for tests on the City Hall tower on Hammond Street.

According to City Manager Joseph R. Coupal Jr., the staging is being erected by Perry and Morrill, contractors of Bangor.

As soon as the staging is erected, a series of tests will be made to determine the future of the tower. A number of cracks were discovered recently in the brick structure and the city is attempting to determine what repairs will be necessary.

Coupal said that he hopes the trouble can be repaired without too much expense. If the tests show the tower to be beyond repair, however, the city has already prepared several possible plans for rebuilding the structure.

The same staging that will be used for conducting the tests also will be used for repairs or rebuilding. The project will be completed this summer.

100 years ago – May 12, 1905

BANGOR – A man about 30 years of age, smooth-shaven, well-dressed and of gentlemanly appearance, nonchalantly entered a horse shed on Broad Street where a valuable black horse belonging to Samuel Prentiss was kept.

A Concord wagon, also the property of Mr. Prentiss, was standing beside the stable. The stranger harnessed the horse, attached it to the wagon, and mounting the seat – still without any haste – quietly drove away. His action was observed by many in the neighborhood, but so calmly was it all done that not until Mr. Prentiss came to claim his property, considerably later, was it discovered that the well-dressed stranger was a thief.

Police were notified and are now working on the case. Up to a late hour, however, their investigations were without result.

The stolen horse weighs 1,000 pounds., stands 16 hands high, was very recently shod and has a partly white hind leg. The wagon has a black body upholstered in leather with red running gear. The daring thief wore a light-colored coat and hat. Nobody appears to know the exact direction in which he drove.

“But it was about the coolest ever,” was the general opinion of the police in discussing the case.

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BANGOR – The collections in the city churches on Sunday will be devoted to a worthy object – the erection of a children’s ward at the Eastern Maine General Hospital.

This ward has long been greatly needed, the hospital officials having found it necessary to refuse all child patients through lack of adequate accommodations. It will cost between $10,000 and $12,000 and, although but a few hundred of this amount has thus far been raised, it is hoped the fund will be materially swelled within the next few months by the contributions of generous citizens.

Envelopes were distributed in the churches last Sunday. They will be collected next Sunday and their contents should provide a good foundation for the sum which is needed.

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BANGOR – The S.L. Crosby Co., 186 Exchange St., advertises the choice of a free Edison record with the purchase of any phonograph. Records the store offers include band music, orchestra music, bagpipe solos, banjo solos, bells solos, brass quartets, bugle calls, church chimes, clarinet solos, cornet solos, cornet duets, cornet and trombone duets, dulcimer solos, field music, flute solos, mandolin solos, piano solos, piccolo solos, trombone solos, violin solos, violin and flute duets, whistling solos, xylophone solos, zither solos, vocal solos, vocal duets, trios, quartets, sextets and quintets.

“Pick out your favorite instrument or your favorite song and let us show you how naturally it can be reproduced by the improved Edison Phonograph,” the ad urges. “Be fair. Try it.” The company also advertises a free phonograph concert.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin