100 years ago, 1913
The Longleys of Greene have been exhibited thru the Lewiston Journal as farmers, cheese makers, hotel keepers and stage drivers. Do many people remember when they ran Longley’s express, now the Androscoggin & Kennebec and Grand Trunk railroad between Lewiston and Portland? For some time the Grand Trunk, before extending its main line above Danville, ran its trains into Auburn. It was then before the days of crowding out small enterprises that Longley’s express was a great institution. J. B Longley, always on dress parade with nicely ironed silk hat, attended to the business, while his brother looked after the teams and the delivery of freight. The advertisement of the company offered facilities for delivering goods to any part of the county. The company did a good business, was popular with the people, and there was general regret when its business was absorbed by a larger corporation.
50 years ago, 1963
(Photo caption) A bulldozer today was making short work of demolishing a Spring Street, Auburn, building which has stood for more than a century. The building purchased recently by the Elm Street Universalist Church, is located just to one side, at the rear of the church, on Spring Street. According to Auburn City Councilman Franklin W. Prescott, chairman of a committee which directed extensive renovations at the church, the area, when cleared, will become a parking lot.
25 years ago, 1988
A proposed new facility-use policy for two city public meeting places would create a review committee to determine which groups might use the facilities and would slightly increase user fees. The city administrator is recommending the City Council approve the new policy, which would cover the Multi-Purpose Center and the Memorial Armory. The policy was developed because the current one covers only rental fees for the buildings, but does not provide guidelines for a situation that occurred about two years ago when a group wanted to put on a lingerie show in one of the buildings. The show also included a male stripper. Although that show went on with no problem, the new policy would provide that a review committee would be able to evaluate such a request beforehand.
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