(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Dec. 15, 1995

ORONO – The University of Maine Faculty Senate gave its stamp of approval to the creation of a School of Marine Studies. The faculty governing board voted 24-14 to support the project that would consolidate the university’s diverse marine science offerings and staff under one roof.

Today there are 70 university staff members involved in marine studies that are spread among four colleges, 14 departments and nine research programs. There are no degrees offered specifically in marine science.

To correct the situation, UM President Frederick Hutchinson created a task force to study how these disparate aspects could be forged together.

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LEVANT – The new Levant Consolidated School surely will not stick out like a sore thumb in this community.

In fact, architects from WBRC Architects and Engineers of Bangor have made sure that the building blends right in with the rest of the town’s rural farm-based backdrop.

With a silo-like reading room standing adjacent to the library-media center and a multipurpose room which, from the outside, resembles an antiquated barn, the new school – scheduled for a September 1997 opening – will fit nicely with its surroundings.

The new $4.8 million school was approved by voters from SAD 23 – Carmel and Levant – by a resounding 332-64 margin. The facility will house Levant pupils from kindergarten to fourth grade and fifth-graders from both Carmel and Levant.

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BANGOR – A special issue of Down East magazine – entirely devoted to the Queen City – makes its debut on newsstands today.

The story of Bangor and of the people, events and places continuing to shape it are interpreted in a series of articles, lists and fact boxes, and through dramatic color photos and stark black-and-white shots.

Why Bangor? Editor-in-chief Dale Kuhnert and his staff were amazed at how often that question was asked during the more than a year they’ve spent scoping, researching, photographing and writing about Bangor.

Down East takes readers on tours of Bangor’s fine and performing arts scenes, its bustling public library and its stately historic buildings. It serves up a menu of area eateries – from upscale to down home – in Bangor proper or within an easy drive.

25 years ago – Dec. 15, 1980

BANGOR – The second Christmas concert in the Bangor Auditorium was held and thanks to the imagination of Nancy Olsen, the auditorium looked warm and inviting.

Over the years all sorts of attempts have been made for an effective placement of orchestra and audience, but this time the arrangement, with the orchestra directly in front of the floor seats and the left balcony, seemed to work as well as any.

Nearly 1,400 people crowded into the hall to savor Christmas music. Interspersed with the music performed in the latter half were Christmas carols in which the audience, nudged along by the Bangor Symphony Caroleers, participated.

50 years ago – Dec. 15, 1955

BANGOR – The century-old Columbia Street Baptist Church will have two new wings, which will be built at a cost of $100,000, according to plans made at a meeting of the building committee.

William E. Burroughs, Philadelphia architect, drew the plans for the new wings, which will be on either side of the church.

Each wing will have three floors and will greatly enlarge the facilities of the church and provide for additional Sunday school quarters.

On the first floor the wings are designed so they can be opened into the present facilities to enlarge the dining room quarters. The second floors of the two wings will open up to enlarge the present church auditorium, and the third floors will open into the present church balconies. Also on the third floor will be a soundproof, glass-enclosed room with loud speakers where children can see the church services and hear them without disturbing the congregation.

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BANGOR – At the instigation of King Lion Irving Hunter, the Bangor-Brewer Lions Club went on record as opposed to the sale of switchblade knives in the Bangor-Brewer area.

Hunter expressed “no surprise that the action had been taken” since the recent outcropping of reported incidents involving knives among junior high school pupils.

The Lions, Hunter said, have always done considerable work for youngsters – milk fund, camp funds, Little League ball and their current Christmas project – and he thought it would be appropriate if the Lions could do something to keep the kids from stabbing themselves with the dangerous switchblade type of knife.

Guest speaker E. Carroll Bean of Winterport told Lions of his recent trip to Germany and France, sponsored by the Crusade for Freedom. He revealed that more than 1,000 people each month cross the Iron Curtain into free Europe and Berlin, and 1,000 refugees a week are crossing over from East to West Berlin.

Bean also declared that he is not in favor of any cutbacks in defense spending and he said that the high command at NATO told him it would be four years before the Free World could be certain of repulsing a Russian attack.

100 years ago – Dec. 15, 1905

BANGOR – Several hundred people attended the opening entertainment of the Universalist fair in City Hall and no better concert has been given in this city in many a long day.

Miss Faustina Curtis and Miss Marion Parsons sustained in generous measure the reputation they have won in the city’s musical circles. Their duet, “Life’s Merry Morning,” was exquisitely sung.

A very pleasant feature was the first Bangor appearance of Miss Annie M. Kittredge, who in other Maine cities is known as one of the state’s most talented impersonators. She possesses a charming personality and a clear, sweet voice.

Miss Kittredge is at her best when impersonating children. How well she succeeded was easily apparent to those in the audience. She appeared twice and in both instances was obliged to respond to a double encore.

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BUCKSPORT – The winter fishing from the Bucksport-Verona bridge has commenced in earnest, there being four nets set from the bridge. Hiram K. Danforth and Richard Whitmore have two nets on the Verona side of the bridge. Alpheus Delano and Roy W. Delano have two nets on the Bucksport side.

The smelts are commencing to run in large numbers now; the price remains the same.

The herring are running in quite large numbers and the flounders are caught in the greatest numbers on the night tide. It is a sight well worth the walk down to the bridge to see the men pull in the nets sagging with the weight of slippery fish, glistening in the moonlight.

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BUCKSPORT – The Franklin Street church will adopt the envelope system for the church offerings the coming year. The envelopes and the calendars which accompany them were the gift of a friend.

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BUCKSPORT – J.H. Baker was here with a single sled load of pointer sleds for the young population of the town. The sleds were very fine and of a unique build, having been made in Bar Harbor.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin