YESTERDAY …

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(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Aug. 2, 1997

NEWBURGH – The aroma of coffee beans and cigars still assails Amos Kimball whenever he enters his great-great uncle’s general store on Route 9. For Kimball, a local historian who visited the store as a child, the past has always been inextricably linked with the present and never more so than with the emporium Jabez C. Knowlton built in 1839.

Thanks to Kimball, who spent years repairing and preserving it as a museum, the white clapboard store appears almost exactly as it did in 1921, when Jabez Knowlton’s son, Amos, successor to the business, closed its doors.

The project, which Kimball calls his “labor of love,” began Aug. 6, 1957, when he had the building moved across the road to its present site because he was concerned it was too close to the busy road.

Included on the National Register of Historic Places, the store is a source of never-ending pride for Kimball, an inveterate collector of Americana.

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BANGOR – “I am Solomon’s child,” the Rev. Richard O’Brien proclaims through peals of laughter at his office in the rectory of St. John’s Catholic Church.

O’Brien, who is splitting time between Bangor’s St. John’s and St. Mary’s parishes, was referring to the Old Testament story in which King Solomon settles a dispute between two mothers by offering to divide the boy in half. But the schedule O’Brien follows is more complicated than simple division by halves. He lives at St. Teresa’s on South Main Street in Brewer and takes his meals at St. Joseph’s on North Main Street in Brewer.

Most constant in his life are his calendar and his beeper.

25 years ago – Aug. 2, 1982

BANGOR – Quick response by the Bangor Fire Department kept damage at a minimum at an outer Ohio Street residence, according to Assistant Chief Frank B. Dinsmore.

The fire was reported at 11:53 a.m. Firefighters were at the scene within eight minutes of the call, Dinsmore said.

The outer Ohio Street location is beyond the range of the city’s fire hydrant network.

The town of Glenburn sent two tankers to the fire scene.

50 years ago – Aug. 2, 1957

BUCKSPORT – The Most Rev. Daniel J. Feeney, Bishop of Portland, will dedicate the new St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church. Feeney will lay the cornerstone for the new structure for which ground was broken nearly a year ago at the corner of Franklin and Central streets. The new church is of colonial design and embodies the latest in church planning.

The exterior is covered with clapboards and matched boards were used in the large arch of the facade. A wide granite platform serves as the main approach from Franklin Street. A simple bell tower surmounted by a gold-leafed cross rises to 65 feet.

The narthex, nave and sanctuary have been finished in sand plaster above a comb-grained oak wainscot. All interior finish is of oak.

The nave seating is solid oak pews to accommodate 362 persons. The pews are of modern design. The church is lighted by a series of suspended lanterns as well as some concealed lighting. The basement comprises a hall capable of seating 400 persons and is equipped with a stage, kitchen and check room.

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BREWER – The city of Brewer development committee has hit upon a novel and poetic method of extolling the assets of the community.

Motorists approaching the city from any of the three main arteries are being greeted by rhyming messages posted on a series of roadside stands, somewhat reminiscent of the Burma Shave signs of a few years ago.

Approaching the city from the east along Route 9, visitors are greeted with this:

Button your shoes

Tighten your laces

Brewer’s the city

That’s going places.

Traveling north along Route 9, the motorist is told:

Brewer’s water

is hard to beat

try it when

you stop to eat.

The only approach to the city not yet covered by the poetic greetings are the two Bangor-Brewer bridges, but the committee is working on that angle now. A message currently under consideration for visitors from Bangor is:

Cross over the bridge

to the city of Brewer

where taxes are lower

and water is purer.

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BANGOR – The only long-haired dog in the world that will jump through a hoop of fire is appearing at the Bangor Fair in a featured act, Stairway to the Stars.

The dog is a Scotch collie, and how it manages to perform the fiery feat without becoming a ball of fire is a mystery to all who see the act. The dog is one of seven collies in the Angela and Eric Wilnow Canine Wonders show. The act includes high jumping, balancing, liberty horses, walking in pairs and hind leg walking. One dog actually walks a tightrope.

100 years ago – Aug. 2, 1907

OLD TOWN – A set of false teeth were found on Treat and Webster island and the owner of same can have them by calling on Mr. Duplissa at Gray’s market. A fine array of molars, incisors and bicuspids, such as any good human should have, were picked up by a lady.

The lady had no use for the teeth so she promptly told the first person she met who happened to be Mr. Duplissa. The teeth are sound and they’ll stand up without hitching. A lady might own them as well as a man and they must have cost at least $25 retail. No clue has yet been found as to how the teeth came to be in such an improper environment.

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ORONO – Arrangements were complete by the signing of the necessary deeds and their delivery to the selectmen of the town is done. Orono now comes into the possession of a valuable tract of land, in all about six acres, bordering on the river and rich in natural beauty, to be used as a public park.

The gift was made by the heirs of the estate of the late Eben C. Webster and that of Paul D. Webster. The grantors are J. Fred Webster, Alden P. Webster, Eben Webster Judd, Mary W. Milliken, Charles M. Webster, Marion Webster and Henry Webster.

The land in question is the several lots lying on the Webster side of the Stillwater River. It is bordered on the street side by a long row of shady elms. The nature of the ground makes it particularly well adapted for a public park, the place lending itself readily to laying out a series of pretty paths and benches which it is expected the town will have done.

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PENOBSCOT – Mr. Fred Dunbar is cutting hay at Mrs. Aroline Wardwell’s farm.

Ed Snowman has a crew of men at work spraying potatoes on his farm in Eden Avenue.

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OLD TOWN – Much interest is being manifested by the parishioners of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in the new band that has been organized by the young men of the parish. The band is composed of 25 pieces and although the organization has been formed only a short time, the young musicians are now able to play many difficult compositions. Everard Clough is the band director.

Father Trudel has turned over the old church to the young men to practice in.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin