100 Years Ago: 1923

A fine ecclesiastical plant – not alone a church, as forecasted in Thursday’s Lewiston Journal, but a rectory, a convent and a school-will be erected on the seven acre lot on Scribner Boulevard, near the Lisbon road, Lewiston, just purchased by Bishop Louis S. Walsh of the Catholic Diocese of Maine. Bishop Walsh, who is at the Poland Spring House, made this statement Saturday morning when questioned by a Lewiston Journal reporter. “Final details in the purchase had not been completed when I was questioned earlier in the week,” said he. “They are completed now, and a brief announcement can be made.” Although plans are for the erection, ultimately, of a complete church plant, a combined school and chapel will probably first be built. The church will follow, and finally the convent. “The size of these buildings will be determined after a visitation to this section of Lewiston and a careful estimate of the number of Catholic families.”

50 Years Ago: 1973

A rich history of contributions to the cultural, sportive and intellectual life of Lewiston may have come to an end with the decision to sell the St. Dominic’s High School building on Bartlett Street. For more than three decades the building has served as a Catholic high school but older area residents remember the building as the home of L’Association St. Dominique, a cultural organization which in its last years turned to sports activities as its principal contribution.

25 Years Ago: 1998

Joni Cooke, a fourth grade teacher at Leeds Central Elementary School recently completed a 10-day honors workshop for elementary school teachers at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., sponsored by NASA and the National Science Teachers Association. Mrs. Cooke successfully competed with hundreds of other educators for one of 25 spots in the NASA Educational Workshop for Elementary School Teachers (NEWEST) at NASA Langley. Nearly 100 other elementary educators attended similar workshops at one of four other Agency centers across the nation. “I am very honored to be selected for this exceptional NASA experience that will allow me to inspire my students to go beyond any Earth boundary.”

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