120 Years Ago – Nov. 4, 1904
Here on business — J.W. Scott, representing the Edison Phonograph Company, was calling on the local agent, C.P. Hussey, this week in the interests of the phonograph business. The Edison company is about to put on the market a new kind of machine which will be handled by Mr. Hussey.
The mail still gets delivered — It is at such seasons of the year as this, when country roads are at their worst, that our rural mail carriers earn their salaries all right. Driving 25 miles a day through a foot of mud is not as pleasant a job as might be wished for.
115 Years Ago – Sept. 3, 1909
Home for the season — H.H. Craggy and son of South Columbia, N.H., who has been engaged in E.A. Holmes’ starch factory this fall, left for home this morning. Mr. Craggy informs the republican that it has been one of the best years in his experience for the starch making, and the starch is of an extra fine quality. A.C. Duncan who has been superintending the making of starch in W. B. Hall’s factory was in Caribou Monday on his way to his home in Washburn, the factory having shut down for the season. The town of Washburn is noted for the number of starch makers which go from there every fall into nearly every factory in the county.
Thanksgiving day official — On Tuesday President Roosevelt issued the Thanksgiving day proclamation setting aside Thursday, Nov. 24, ‘to be observed as a day of festival and thanksgiving by all the people of the United States at home and abroad.’
Returned home from Alaska — Roland Sutherland, who has been in Alaska this summer in the interests of the Caribou Gold Mining Company, returned home Friday. Mr. Sutherland is highly pleased with the outlook and thinks that another year the company will declare a big dividend. A considerable portion of the time this year was occupied in getting the machinery set up and in position; and they were also handicapped by the unusually short summer even for Alaska, the frost not leaving the ground until very late. The Caribou company owns 11 claims, one having been sold by Mr. Sutherland for the company for $75,000 to Mr. Lane, one of the largest miners in the world. This claim was bought for $6,500. There seems to be every prospect that the Caribou company will prove a most profitable mining venture.
100 Years Ago – Oct. 30, 1924
Accepted a new position — Miss Evelyn Barnes, who has been assisting in the office of Dr. C. F. Thomas for a short time, has accepted a position in the office of the Caribou Water, Light and Power Co., and entered upon her new duties on Monday, taking the place of Miss Margaret Dudley, who resigned to accept a position with E.H. Doyle in his potato house.
75 Years Ago – Nov. 3, 1949
State Auto office moves to a new home — The State Automobile Registration Bureau moved its office Monday from the Nylander Museum to new quarters in the recently completed $40.000 building at Prospect and Herschel streets. Basil Huntress, chief inspector, and his office staff of three clerks, occupy the whole lower floor of the building, which has been painted with a soft pastel color. Ceilings are of soundproof material, and the flooring is of composition opping that also absorbs sound. The office staff consists of Miss Ruby Hutchinson, chief clerk of Mars Hill; Mrs. Virginia Snow, clerk of Caribou; and Miss Theresa Jalbert, clerk also of Caribou. Among the rooms on the lower floor is Huntress’ office which is also used for applicant examining purposes. Other rooms contain neatly-stacked 1950 ‘scotchlite’ auto plates, and many of the various forms used by the Burdeau. Huntress said that 1950 drivers’ operating licenses are being issued now. This may remove part of the heavy load which the Bureau always experiences toward the end of the year. The new plates, however, will not be issued until probably December 1. The inspector explained that reserved numbers requested by motorists must be first cleared through Augusta before any general issue of plates begins.
Pie baking finalists to compete here Friday — More than 200 youthful pie bakers in the nation’s Potato Capital will move into the finals of Aroostook County’s Pie Baking Championship this Friday evening at the Caribou high school auditorium. The finalists are to be picked from some 589 entrants who will be judged Friday afternoon in a preliminary contest at the school. This was preceded by elimination contests held the last two days in 11 of the county’s high schools and institutes having home economic courses. The Aroostook pie baking contest is one of the highlights of the annual ‘Maine Apples for Aroostook’ campaign, designed to provide an improved-quality consumer market in the area.
25 Years Ago – Nov. 3, 1999
Officials visit the site of veterans cemetery — Legislators visited the proposed site of a veterans cemetery to get an idea of what needs to be done to change the field into a burial ground. Organizers hope to begin burials by Memorial Day. Earlier this year, John T. Noble of Caribou donated 57 acres on the corner of Washburn and Lombard roads to Bureau for Maine Veterans Services for use as a cemetery. The Northern Maine Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery Association is the governing body for the cemetery with the same name. The association invited legislators to show them what needs to be done to develop the cemetery. Many of the legislators are members of the Legal & Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which will decide how much the cemetery should be appropriated in January. There are specific requirements to burial in the cemetery. Only veterans who were honorably discharged will be buried there, according to Gary Kelly, of the NMVMCA. Veterans may have their family members next to them, said Kelly.
Cary Center will open next month — Cary Medical Center will open its Women’s and Children’s Health Care Center on Nov. 13. The 10,000-square-foot complex, located at the hospital off Route 1, will offer medical care plus support groups, lectures and programs on topics from breast-feeding to domestic violence and teen-agers’ concerns. The center will take appointments beginning the first week of December. Chris Doody Chabre, chief executive officer of the Cary Medical Center, said the project was community-based and should give the hospital staff and the community a great sense of pride.
