(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Nov. 20, 1998

BANGOR – Thursday night’s snowfall sent motorists off the road and kept police, fire and ambulance crews busy, along with tow trucks and sanding crews.

Most of the accidents appeared to have caused more dismay than injuries as motorists were forced once again to become acquainted with the qualities of the white, fluffy stuff falling from the sky.

That several vehicles went off the road because of slippery conditions didn’t seem to deter some motorists. More than one vehicle was spotted passing other cars on the Interstate and tractor-trailer trucks seemed undaunted by the weather.

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BANGOR – The former Better Homes building at 178 Harlow St. will be torn down within the next few weeks to make way for more parking at the Abbott Square parking lot.

The city of Bangor purchased the former store for $98,000, the amount approved in September by the City Council.

Depending on how the parking lot is laid out, there could be up to 50 new spaces on the lot.

25 years ago – Nov. 20, 1983

HAMPDEN – The SAD 22 Board of Directors approved candidates for teaching and extracurricular coaching positions.

Directors approved the nomination of Nancy Jordan as a business teacher at Hampden Academy for the remainder of the 1983-1984 academic year.

The board also approved Donald Edinger, a fifth-grade teacher at the George Weatherbee School, as freshman girls basketball coach at Hampden Academy; Brian Otterson, a teacher at John Bapst Memorial High School, as the girls gymnastic coach; Norma Gorham, special education teacher at Hampden Academy, as varsity and junior varsity basketball cheering coach; and Pam King, mathematics teacher at Hampden Academy, as the International Club adviser.

50 years ago – Nov. 20, 1958

BANGOR – Greater inspired efforts to fashion a stronger front, not only for Maine’s Democratic Party but also for all the people in the state, constituted the theme of a victory celebration in Bangor for 250 party members in the Third Congressional District.

Democratic Gov. Edmund Muskie, United States senator-elect, told the gathering at Pilots Grill, “It will take courage and guts to fight for a continuance of what we believe is right for the people of Maine and the programs that already have been put forward. Democrats never really lose, because what we are fighting for is right and good.”

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BANGOR – One of the darkest, loneliest stretches in Bangor at night that has heavy motor vehicle and pedestrian use is the Washington Street bridge that connects the East and West sides of the city along the waterfront.

It wasn’t planned that way, it hasn’t always been that way, it just sort of “faded” into this condition over a period of the past two or three years.

The reason? Only one of the 10 lamps originally installed on the bridge now give forth any light. A year ago there were three.

It stands out in sharp contrast to the new bridge across the Penobscot and the old Bangor-Brewer bridge from Washington Street to State Street, Brewer. In fact, a glow from these two structures spreading out for nearly a half-mile is one of the few means that give this area any light at all.

A few days ago a 60-year-old Bangor man, perfectly sober, was hospitalized for injuries received when he fell across unlighted construction in the area when he came upon it suddenly in the dark.

A sort of “feeling one’s way” across the bridge is common practice.

Although the bridge is the main artery in the cross-town motor traffic, it has heavy after-dark use. It makes for a long, lonely walk.

100 years ago – Nov. 20, 1908

BANGOR – More than 300 members of St. John’s Catholic Parish attended the reception tendered the new pastor, the Rev. P.J. Garrity, in St. John’s hall.

The hall was handsomely decorated for the occasion with bunting and Japanese lanterns, presenting a most charming appearance.

At the formal reception, Father Garrity was assisted by C.J. Gallagher, Hugh Gallagher, Hugh Davis, Hugh O’Brien, Patrick J. Dunn, Lawrence Rooney, William Curran, Thomas Allen, Walter Allen and John M. O’Connell.

Among the clergymen present at the reception were the Rev. T.J. O’Dowd of St. Mary’s Parish, the Rev. Timothy Houlihan of Portland, the Rev. John Houlihan of Dexter, and Fathers Karp and Driscoll of St. John’s parish.

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CASTINE – Schooner Hattie Dunn has been chartered by the Devereaux Co. to bring a cargo of 650 tons of assorted sizes of coal to be landed at Castine and Bucksport.

Frank Hooper was out on runners this morning. He is usually the first one to use them in the fall and the last one in spring.

Work seems plentiful. The carpenters are all busy. Perkins and Bowden have several crews at work and the Water Co. has been keeping a large force employed.

The thermometers about town registered from 17 to 20 degrees above zero this morning.

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HAMPDEN – The Dorothea Dix Memorial Association was much gratified to receive from Mrs. Margaret Merrill of Portland a check for $10. It was accompanied by a pleasant note, in which the writer said that she had once known Miss Dix – had gone to school with her. The money was added to the treasury and the note will be cherished in the records.

The recent fair under the auspices of the association was socially very successful and from it a considerable sum was cleared. The proposed improvements in the beautiful park in Hampden, however, will cost a good deal of money, so that contributions like those of Mrs. Merrill are always received with pleasure.

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BANGOR – The marriage of Miss Edith Frances Libbey of Auburn and Frank Smith Benson of Bangor was solemnized in Auburn in the home of the bride’s aunt, Mrs. N.J. Jordan. Owing to the death of a near relative of the bride, the arrangements of the event were simple in every detail.

Mr. and Mrs. Benson will leave in the steamer Caronia on Nov. 28 for Naples. They will remain in Italy until after Christmas and then make a brief journey through southern Europe, returning to Bangor in February to reside at 104 Grove St.

Mr. Benson has lived in Bangor all his life. He attended Bangor High School, Fryeburg Academy and the University of Maine. He is a bond broker with offices in City Hall.

Miss Libbey is a Smith graduate and made a most charming impression in Bangor at the time of her visit last spring.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin