Yesterday …

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(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Feb. 9, 1996

BREWER – The William T. Meucci family has been involved in the business community in the Bangor area for more than 50 years. Recently the family acquired the Footman Dairy property on State Street in Brewer, and plans for a model mini-mall are under way.

Andy Meucci said the family hopes to develop the 30,000-square-foot complex in Brewer.

Right now, Whitcomb’s Auto Service, which is at the bottom of State Street next to the old Penobscot River bridge, has agreed to relocate to the Footman site. The relocation is necessary because the new Bangor-Brewer bridge will be eight feet from the entrance of the garage bay doors.

Meucci said other tenants being considered are the Thompson Redemption Center, a medical supply outlet that needs storage space, and an antiques and collectibles business.

Meucci said the family also plans to put in a meeting room or conference hall for civic organizations. Basic maintenance and repairs are under way.

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OLD TOWN – The Old Town Museum is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year by launching a campaign to acquire the former St. Mary’s Catholic Church, a local historic landmark that was put up for sale last fall.

The goal of the museum’s Reach for a Star campaign is $200,000, which would cover the purchase of the former church, and relocation and renovation expenses, according to a brochure by museum supporters.

The museum, now housed in the former waterworks building on North Fourth Street Extension since its inception in 1976, needs room to grow. The acquisition of the former church – a 5,200-square-foot structure – would allow the museum to do that.

25 years ago – Feb. 9, 1981

ORONO – Cheerleading used to be simple: some jumps, a cartwheel or two, a few rousing cheers.

Today’s cheerleader, however, is more of a gymnast than a pompon girl. Pyramids, combination mounts, double stunts and lifts characterize this activity, now considered a varsity sport at most colleges and universities.

The new trend toward more demanding routines is resulting in a rash of injuries among cheerleaders. At a recent awards banquet, three cheerleaders at the University of Maine arrived on crutches or wrapped in slings.

Wrist and ankle sprains are common among members of the two UM squads that lead cheers at football and basketball games, said their coach, Brenda LaRoche. Her own brother, Brad LaRoche, sprained his right ankle while leading cheers during football season.

Routines naturally got more rigorous when men were brought back to the squads four years ago.

LaRoche believes the men are back to stay.

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OLD TOWN – Proposed changes in the way the Maine Department of Transportation distributes highway aid funds to local governments “may be very disruptive to municipal budgets,” Old Town City Manager Stan McGowen said.

Under an MDOT proposal now before the 110th legislature, Old Town could lose as much as one-third of the money it currently receives from the state each year for highway maintenance, McGowen said.

Under the proposed formula, state highway aid would be based on the number of miles of road a community maintains, the tax burden imposed by that maintenance and the community’s population. Currently, highway-aid funds are distributed to communities based on property valuation.

50 years ago – Feb. 9, 1956

A fireman’s training begins the day he joins the department and continues until he retires. He learns what to do in virtually every kind of fire.

Still, fireman James H. Morse of Bangor believes that the training program should be broadened to include a course in obstetrics. Morse should know. He delivered his sixth baby early Tuesday morning.

At last report, the mother, child and Morse were all doing well. The baby girl was born to Mrs. Elbert Thompson at 419 Hammond St. Morse, the driver of the city ambulance, took charge of the situation when it became apparent that there wasn’t enough time to get to the hospital.

There have been dozens of close calls in which Morse wheeled the ambulance through heavy traffic to beat the stork by a matter of seconds. In many other cases, babies have been born in the ambulance en route to the hospital with a bona fide doctor in attendance.

100 years ago – Feb. 9, 1906

BANGOR – More than 40 people are employed by the firm of Thurston & Kingsbury, wholesale grocers and manufacturers at 64 Broad St., and indications are that the number will be greatly increased during the coming season.

The candy department was started about five years ago under the direction of George H. Fox. The candy department averages an output daily of 11/2 tons. In 1905 the output of chocolates alone was more than 100,000 pounds. On the fourth floor, the broken, stick and hard candies are manufactured.

Extracts were added to the list of manufactured goods about two years. The extract business has grown to such an extent that today Thurston & Kingsbury is the largest seller in eastern Maine. The extract room is situated in the top floor, and here the Purity Brand and other brands of extracts are manufactured. Huge percolators are to be seen, and barrel after barrel of pure vanilla extract.

The blending and packing of tea is another enormous enterprise of which the company is justly proud. Its leading blend of tea, T. & K., is one of the biggest sellers in Maine. They have the only tea-blending apparatus north of Portland. It is the invention of Mr. Fox.

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BUCKSPORT – Louis F. Tapley has just completed filling his ice house with the prettiest ice he has ever cut from Silver Lake, being 15 inches thick and clear as a crystal. Mr. Tapley has cut in the past years many tons of ice, much of which has been shipped away. The ice was in past years sluiced from the lake to the hill back of the town, thus minimizing the expense in a great degree.

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PENOBSCOT – At the meeting of Highland Grange last week, the following question was discussed: Have the scholars of today as good advantage for obtaining an education as those of 50 years ago had?

In the view of the report of the superintendent, W.W. Stetson, one-sixth of the current schools are now a failure, though the schoolrooms are better supplied and the scholars have more weeks of school in the year.

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BREWER – A full ice harvest on the Penobscot is now assured, beyond any reasonable doubt. It is expected that the field at the Stetson house will be opened tomorrow.

At the Rollins houses at Brewer, where Charles D. Stanford and Carl P. Dennett will conduct operations this winter, men have been employed for the past few days getting the gear into condition for work. The engine has been repaired and a smoke stack added. The field is already staked out and by the time the houses are ready to receive the ice, it will be of sufficient thickness.

Work has begun by the Citizen’s Ice Co. in filling the houses above the dam, and ice of good quality is being taken out. It is also understood that the Maine Central will take some ice from above the dam.

Getchell Bros. were working in filling their Brewer houses, the ice being of sufficient thickness and of good quality.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin