115 Years Ago – Jul. 29, 1902
Expansion — It is expected that the B&A will run an excursion from Houlton to Caribou next Tuesday on account of the ball games between the Caribou and Houlton teams. If the weather is fair on that day, we may look for the largest crowd which has yet attended a game here.
100 Years Ago – Aug. 2, 1917
Automobiles aplenty — We are informed that an item recently appeared in the Kennebec Journal stating that Caribou had the largest number of automobiles of any town in the United States.
Hay — Much hay will be left uncut in Maine this summer, as it is utterly impossible, from a financial standpoint, to pay $10 per day for man and team, and $4.50 for a man.
75 Years Ago – Jul. 29, 1942
Pool progresses — Construction of the swimming pool got underway Monday of this week when a crew of workmen cleared the location at the junction of Sweden and Spring street of bushes and trees to facilitate construction of a dam. The committee is headed by Claire Noyes, assisted by Walter Greenier, Newman Doyle, Floyd Smith and Philip Soucia.
Resident passes — The death of John Osborne McGuire, 46, occurred Saturday, July 25 at the Veterans’ hospital in Togus following a three week illness. For more than 20 years, Mr. McGuire was employed by the Railway Express Company located in Caribou, Van Buren and Newport. During World War I, he served with the rank of Lieutenant and was Captain with Battery B, 152 Field Artillery, National Guard Unit stationed at Caribou. His wife, Eva Cochrane, died last April.
50 Years Ago – Aug. 2, 1967
Narrow escape — A young girl escaped injury when lightning caused an estimated $2,000 worth of damage to the Clement McDonald home on the Presque Isle Road in Caribou. McDonald said that his daughter, Jeanne, 16, who was home alone, was very close to being struck by the bolt. Jeanne was sitting outside on a cellar enclosure shelling peas when the lightning knocked the pan out of her hands. The bolt shattered the chimney and gashed the roof of the house. Several electrical appliances were damaged when the lightning raced through the wire.
Landscape — Through the efforts of T.W. McLaughlan, the town has secured permission from Mrs. Elsie Shaw and William Shaw to landscape the site of the former Shaw Building at the corner of Sweden and Main Streets, which was left in an unsightly condition after a fire. Aside from removing a community eyesore, the project will eliminate such health hazards as mice and stagnant water.
25 Years Ago – Jul. 29, 1992
Irving suit — Camp owners at Big and Little Madawaska lakes voted to form a committee to meet with officials of J.D. Irving Ltd. to discuss the fate of the lakes’ dam, during the July 22 Madawaska Lake Environmental Association public meeting held at the Sportsmen’s Inc building in Stockholm. Camp owners have filed a lawsuit against the Irving company claiming loss of shoreline in front of their lake cottages with the dam was built in 1983.
Closed for construction — Lyndon Street in Caribou is scheduled to be closed for construction between South Main Street and Cross Street starting Wednesday, July 29, according to Richard C. Mattila, Caribou city manager. The street will remain closed to through traffic for about a week.
