(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Oct. 18, 1997

BANGOR – Those pausing at Main Street’s Davenport Park were transported back in history to a day 75 years ago when a handsome monument was dedicated to the memory of Maine’s soldiers and sailors who served in the Spanish-American War of 1898.

The memorial is often referred to as the USS Maine Monument. Certainly there is a strong connection to the USS Maine, the battleship that blew up in the waters of Havana Harbor on Feb. 15, 1898. More than 250 servicemen were killed in that blast, which drew the United States into war.

The monument features the shield and scroll that adorned the prow of the USS Maine, items mounted for the past 75 years on a block of granite.

25 years ago – Oct. 18, 1982

BRADLEY – Almost 200 years after horses, oxen and day-laborers built a sawmill deep in the woods east of Bradley village, bulldozers and cement trucks are at work doing much the same thing.

Some 70 members and friends of the Maine Forest and Logging Museum were at the museum site to clear brush from the banks of Blackman Stream about a mile below Chemo Pond. Workmen are expected to pour a concrete footing on the spot where a 19th century sawmill will be reconstructed next spring.

The 250-acre site is being developed as a living history center, with a museum building to house artifacts and an authentic 19th century logging community.

.

WINTERPORT – When the public toured the Ebenezer Blaisdell house in Winterport they learned that it was built in 1785, the oldest house in town. They saw the room where cocoa was hidden from British soldiers during the War of 1812, an oven where hams were smoked, and books and documents relating to the house’s early years.

Ebenezer Blaisdell was a grandson of Ralph Blaisdell, who arrived in Maine after surviving the wreck of the Angel Gabriel of Pemaquid in 1635.

The house was restored several years ago by its current owners, Al and Nancy Feero, who have furnished it with authentic items.

50 years ago – Oct. 18, 1957

BANGOR – “It seems to me that some potential good can come of the stunning development of the Russian Moon,” U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith told Brewer Kiwanis members at the Pilots Grill in Bangor.

The senator explained that the Soviet satellite should “shake us out of any overconfidence in which we may be foolishly and unrealistically lounging. And that it could mean – despite all the loud and rough talk of the Russian leaders – that we have actually less to fear of Russia now than we did before the satellite Sputnik.” She said it may produce a more “cooperative and less belligerent Russia.”

She told the members of the importance of retaining our overseas bases because it offsets whatever advantage Russia may have over us in her successful launching of an intercontinental missile.

The members were told it should be clear that there is the greatest urgency to eliminate any “squabbling” between the Army, Navy and Air Force which may be delaying in the slightest our program for the successful launching or our own intercontinental missile.

100 years ago – Oct. 18, 1907

EAST BUCKSPORT – C.C. Brown has sold four Great Western manure spreaders to Orrington parties recently.

The men in this place are busy hauling wood to market.

.

OLD TOWN – Old Town is likely to gain renown through the medium of a new poet in the person of John F. Young. Mr. Young has just completed the poem “The Awful Fire in Old Town,” which details in all its horror the terrible events connected with the fire, which took place on the morning of Feb. 23.

Mr. Young possesses a style all his own. The poem can be classified as epic, dramatic or lyric, according to the taste of the reader. From the first line to the last the poem is full of thrills and Young shows himself to be a master of rhythm.

.

BREWER – An enjoyable feature of Wednesday night’s fire was the hot coffee and lunch served by Mrs. Howard Wheelden to those who, tired, cold and wet, could well appreciate fine cooking and a finer thoughtfulness.

At 12:30 a.m. on Thursday when the department reached the central fire station, they found a hot oyster stew awaiting them. It was served and prepared by Mrs. W.F. Parker, wife of the fire chief, and by Mrs. F. Herbert Hathorn. A great jar of Mrs. Parker’s new, fall pickles was a delectable addition. The milk for the stew was provided by F.H. Hathorn, whose recent purchase of two cows made possible such generosity. Hartley Wentworth obligingly opened his store for the late oyster customers and City Marshal Fickett aided in the good cause.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin