100 years ago, 1914
A team of six horses of an average weight of one ton per horse, will be one of the attractions at the Maine State Fair, which will open in Lewiston on Monday. This team is one of the show rigs of the country and has attracted the widest attention wherever it has been exhibited. Not only are the horses well worth looking at, but the wagon which they draw is something of a vehicle. The cost of this wagon was $3,000.

50 years ago, 1964
The mystery of who is painting the “flags” on rural-type mailboxes on the so-called back side of Court Street hill was believed cleared Thursday night when a resident there said the work had been undertaken by the mail carrier in that area. Apparently the carrier is painting the flags an orange-red color to make them more readily visible. A very neat job of the repainting is being done, it was reported. As one party explained, the mail carrier told a member of the family that he was repainting the flags so that he could readily tell when they had been raised to indicate there was mail in the box which the property owner wished him to pick up and take to the post office.

25 years ago, 1989
It brings a touch of Europe’s grandeur to Lewiston’s Main Street. On an August afternoon, the cool, dark quiet inside St. Joseph’s Catholic Church provides a welcome contrast to the honking rush of traffic near the corner of Main and Sabattus streets. The unique architecture of St. Joseph’s is one of the reasons it recently gained a place on the National Register of Historic Places. The building, the oldest Catholic church in the city, received its official acceptance on the list on July 13. Another reason for the 122-year-old church’s historic significance is that its designer was Patrick C. Keely of New York. Keely was one of America’s leading architects of Roman Catholic buildings during the mid- to late-19th century.

The material in Looking Back is reproduced exactly as it originally appeared, although misspellings and errors made at that time may be edited.