(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Jan 4, 1997

BANGOR – Department store chain founder Bob Reny usually likes his stores to be the big frog in a small puddle community.

But these days, with little room to grow in existing markets, Reny’s may be branching off into larger ones. And Bangor could be a market he hops to in the near future.

The departure of Rich’s from the Airport Mall later this year has prompted some speculation that it would be a prime location for Reny’s. Rich’s has gone bankrupt and is closing all of its stores, including four in Maine, though its Bangor store has done well.

Reny said that there are no plans yet to expand to the Airport Mall or to Bangor, but the retailer isn’t discounting such a move.

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BANGOR – Sarah Parcak’s resume is three pages long – and she’s only 18 years old. It doesn’t list her employment record. Instead, the document includes her National Honor Society induction as a sophomore and how she helped begin Bangor High’s Young Democrats club.

The 4.1 grade point average, the 1,400 SAT score, Girl’s State governor and Girl’s Nation senator are all there.

Farther down the list are the two All-New England soccer selections, and her four years as the Rams’ leading scorer and assist maker.

In black and white is her award as the outstanding female athlete in the 1996 Penobscot Valley Conference-Eastern Maine Indoor Track League Championship meet.

Friday night she defended her PVC-EMITL high jump and long jump titles in Bangor’s season-opening meet at the University of Maine field house.

Parcak captured the 1996 state Class A high jump title with a 5-foot, 2-inch leap and finished third in the long jump at 15-101/2.

25 years ago – Jan 4, 1982

HAMPDEN – Julia Gardner of Hampden was honored on her 100th birthday with a reception at the Bangor Baptist Church gymnasium. Mrs. Gardner, who resides with her daughter, Josephine Morrill, on the Kennebec Road, Hampden, is a member of the church and the Young-at-Heart Club.

She has six grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and numerous great-great-grandchildren. She was presented with letters of recognition from Governor Brennan and members of the Congressional delegation, 100 red roses from her church and a rocking chair from the Young-at-Heart Club.

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HERMON – Keith Estes, a senior at Hermon High School, has attained the rank of Eagle Scout. He joined Troop 25 when he was 11. He is a member of the Order of the Arrow Brotherhood and has attended the order’s national conference in Knoxville, Tenn., and Fort Collins, Colo. He has umpired for the Little league for the last three years. He is a member of the French Club and the basketball team. He plans to attend college after graduation.

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BANGOR – Deborah L. Allen, a graduate of Bangor High School, has been elected news editor of Newspeak, the Worcester Polytechnic Institute campus newspaper. Allen has been associate editor on the staff this year.

Allen is a sophomore majoring in chemical engineering. She has been active on the karate team and in the band at WPI. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Owen F. Allen of Boyertown, Pa.

50 years ago – Jan 4, 1957

BANGOR – A tree replanting program is expected to start in Bangor in the spring to replace some of the 69 shade trees that were cut down during 1956, according to Carlton Wiswell, director of Public Works.

A total of $1,200 is expected to be provided for the job, of which $600 has been carried over from last year’s budget with another $600 being asked for this year.

The 69 trees that were cut down in Bangor were either dead, created dangerous situations for pedestrians or property owners, or damaged by storms.

Wiswell and city forester Daniel C. Perkins said to their knowledge there has been no Dutch elm disease in Bangor.

Alfred D. Nutting, Maine forest commissioner, said that he had received no reports of the disease in Bangor.

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ORONO – Assistant Secretary of the Navy Raymond H. Fogler has submitted his resignation to President Eisenhower. Fogler, chairman of the University of Maine’s board of trustees, and a retired department store executive, has been serving as assistant secretary for materiel.

Fogler graduated from the University of Maine in 1915 and has missed only two commencements since that time. He holds an honorary degree given to him in 1939.

He worked his way up with W.T. Grant Co., from a trainee in 1919 to president of the company in 1952.

Fogler served as chairman of the Union Building fund campaign which resulted in erection of the Memorial Union building on the University of Maine campus. He will be 65 in February.

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HERMON – A $550,000 centralized traffic control system to be run by a single tower operator will be instituted along the mainline track of the Maine Central Railroad between Hermon and Pittsfield.

E. Spencer Miller, MCRR president, will officially open the system which will control all switches and 22 signals along the 28-mile track.

With a flick of two fingers the operator in Hermon will be able to send an electrical impulse over the track to Pittsfield, where it moves a switch; and then in 14 seconds whisks back to the new Hermon tower where it rings a bell and lights a light, thus announcing the completion of its job.

Similarly, the operator can move any of the passing switches along the stretch of track, or change any of the signals. He can, by flicking another switch, light propane gas heaters under any of the passing track switches in the area so snow and ice can be melted in wintertime. If a heater goes out anywhere along the line, an automatic device warns the tower operator.

100 years ago – Jan 4, 1907

EAST CORINTH – This village narrowly escaped another disastrous fire today. Shortly after 1 o’clock a blaze started from a chimney in a closet in one of the flats of W.R. Clark’s building on Main Street. The west side of the second and third floors was badly burned, while the south flats were damaged by smoke and water.

The waiting room of the B.R. & E. Co. is on the first floor and is badly damaged by water. The stock of A.C. Whitcomb & Co., groceries, confectionery and books was damaged by smoke and water. The north flat was occupied by Mrs. L.S. Herrick and family. Her furniture, clothing and bedding is a total loss. All damage is covered by insurance. The total loss is estimated to be more than $1,000.

Some serious accidents were narrowly averted. Two or three men were overcome with smoke and one was badly cut by throwing burning bedding through a broken window.

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BANGOR – In addition to the new annex to the Windsor Hotel to be erected next spring, landlord Durgin has decided to make other important improvements in his house, involving considerable expenditure and greatly increasing the capacity of the dining hall, lounging rooms and office.

The Windsor stands about 12 feet back from the Harlow Street line, thus leaving a strip 12 by 150 feet in front of the hotel unoccupied except for a porch along the main part of the building. This porch will be removed and the Harlow Street front for its entire length carried out one story and flush with the sidewalk. The structure will be of steel and plate glass, and architecturally attractive, as well as greatly increasing the area of the first floor.

The new annex of the Windsor is to be four stories high, of grey brick, and will contain seven stores on the ground floor. The arrangement of the three upper floors has been changed somewhat from first plans. Landlord Durgin has decided to have the space divided into 60 suites of rooms, 20 on each floor, and each floor to be connected by a bridge with the main hotel.

With all these improvements and enlargements, the Windsor will be one of the largest, as well as one of the best, hotels in Maine, occupying an entire block front from Central to Franklin streets, about 300 feet.

-Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin