100 Years Ago: 1921

Gov. Baxter addresses the closing session of the New England Rotarians, tonight, extending an official welcome for the state. Governor Baxter was unable to come here for previous sessions. His address was followed by motion pictures of Maine scenes, including lumbering, winter scenes, Katahdin, and the various Ricker Hotels. Prizes for the various athletics were awarded and the evening concluded with a grand ball. On Saturday the Rotarians will be guests of the Portland Club.

50 Years Ago: 1971

Chief William Red Fox, a 101-year old Sioux chief, ran into some complications when he applied for his first passport in Corpus Christi Friday. It seems he couldn’t produce proof that he was born in the United States. The Chief, whose memoirs recently became a bestseller, told a federal clerk, “I think my birth records burned up in a fire on the Standing Rock Reservation — about 1885, I think.”

25 Years Ago: 1996

The hand-cranked phone came back to life at the Fryeburg Fair. Thanks to the Hathaway family of the former Bryant Pond Telephone Co. and the Fryeburg Historical Society, a working display of old-time phones had been set up at the fair’s Farm Museum. Several models of old phones were displayed with the first switchboard in Fryeburg and the switchboard from the Rangeley  Inn. The idea for the phone display began two years ago when museum curators Ed and Diane Jones talked with Michael Hathaway about the possibility of setting up phones for fair visitors to use. The idea  blossomed for a full display. “We think there  are a lot of people who are going to find this display interesting,” Ed Jones said.

The material used in Looking Back is produced exactly as it originally appeared although misspellings and errors may be corrected.