100 years ago, 1914
A new Webster grammar school building on the Hampshire street lot is a step nearer realization. The committee on schools from the Auburn city government and the superintending school committee met Tuesday evening and declared by vote that a new building is needed. This was all in accordance with an order passed by both branches of the city government at its November meeting which said that after investigation, if it was found that a new building was needed, the committee and board were empowered to get plans.
50 years ago, 1964
Nearly seven months of construction will soon be completed and the new Central Maine General Hospital nurses’ residence at Hammond and Lowell Streets will be ready for occupancy. The exterior of the dormitory has been completed and only work on the interior remains. The 60 student nurses who will occupy the new structure are expected to move in shortly after Christmas. Work on the 133-foot by 42-foot structure was started April 30 of this year.
25 years ago, 1989
After years of working out of cramped office space, the employees at Union Water Power Co. are enjoying their new surroundings. What was once a nondescript gray structure looking somewhat like a blockhouse is now a long, lean two-story complex spanning the entrance to Lewiston’s canal system. John McPherson, agent and engineer, said the Lewiston operation houses the company’s offices and maintains and controls the flow of water from the Androscoggin river through the canals, supplying power to several mills along its route. In 1878, the owners of the city’s mills provided funding to build the system, which includes five dams “upcountry” that control and store runoff within the Androscoggin River watershed. The Union Water Power Co. itself was formed some years later to manage the whole system, he added. In addition to the canal monitoring, the company also measures daily precipitation — rain or snow — and records temperatures.
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