100 years ago, 1913
“Profit Sharing with Our Co-Workers.” Such is the title of a 37 page booklet, which the Great Department store of Lewiston has just issued and is distributing among friends and acquaintances in the business world. The object of the book is to explain the method by which this huge mercantile house divides its earnings with those who labor for its good. It was conceived and printed as the easiest way in which to reply to the hundreds of queries from all over this country, Canada and foreign lands.
50 years ago, 1963
Clergymen of the Lewiston and Auburn area diverted yesterday from the sermon texts which had been planned and at least part of the services were devoted to memorial service for President John F. Kennedy. Also churches in this area will be open today for prayer and meditation and Masses will be celebrated in the Catholic churches. “Much of the joy I had planned to express has been turned to profound sorrow,” was the way Rev. Frederick L. Niles, pastor of the Calvary Methodist Church, said it. The feeling was that the words of this minister summed up the situation as it prevailed yesterday. Most ministers had planned sermons around the Thanksgiving theme. Lewiston and Auburn pastors reported unusually large attendance at all services, with some ministers stating that their congregations rivaled the Easter turnouts of parishioners.
25 years ago, 1988
The old Peck’s department store once again experienced a post-Thanksgiving Day shopping rush this morning, but the buying blitz of 1988 was much different than that of years past. This year’s customers came from throughout the world, not just the immediate area. Instead of visiting the Main Street building, they called in orders using a toll-free phone number. They numbered in the thousands, not the hundreds. They included everyone from Hank William Jr. and Tip O’Neill to two women in Indiana who wanted to send gifts to the West Coast. “I remember shopping for my kids on this floor,” said Anita Tardiff, one of 180 telephone representatives taking never-ending calls at midmorning at the new L.L. Bean telemarketing center in the old Peck‘s store.
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