115 Years Ago-1900
• Get the smoked glass ready to observe the eclipse of the sun next Monday afternoon.
• Wednesday morning as John Cochran was at work with his team on the flat near the river, a caribou was seen coming over the hill a short distance away. The animal swam the river and started in the direction of Limestone, along the line of the B & A Railroad.
100 Years Ago-May 27, 1915
Racing time — The secretary of the Caribou Trotting Park is already receiving many entries for the Fair and circuit racing and prospects look good for the largest field of horses ever started on an Aroostook track; all stakes to close June 5.
Groceries galore — “A chance to save money,” proclaimed this ad for Smith & Lufkin Co, Sweden Street and Vaughn Avenue: 14 pounds sugar, $1.00; 1 pound best tea, 45 cents; 1 pound La Touraine coffee, 35 cents; 2 pounds Arm & Hammer soda, 10 cents; 7 pounds Lenox Soap, 25 cents; and 1 can best salmon, 18 cents, total $2.33 — “You can buy this combination for one week for $2.”
75 Years Ago-May 23, 1940
Not your average chip — All citizens of the Caribou area who are interested in knowing more about the new potato-skim milk wafer plant proposed for Aroostook are invited to a special meeting in the Matoaka Club rooms. Floyd W. Sitton of Washington, D.C., will tell of prospects for the setting up of a manufacturing plant here to cost $25,000. Those at the meeting will have an opportunity to try the product. The product may be made in the form of wafers, sticks or croutons. It is prepared by whipping air into a mixture of skim milk, riced boiled potatoes, salt, pepper and other flavoring. The whipped mix is turned out in desired form, dried and toasted. The product contains no fat and is therefore not unstable in flavor as potato chips often are.
50 Years Ago-May 27, 1965
Kiwanis milestone — The seven-year-old Caribou Kiwanis Club was set to play the role of host to upwards of 200 members and their wives of eight other Division 9 North clubs, New England District officers and dignitaries during the division’s 50th anniversary celebration. The Caribou club took shape in the fall of 1957 and enjoyed its first full year in 1958.
Seven still serving — Seven of the Caribou Kiwanis Club’s eight past presidents are still serving club and community. The eight presidents since 1957 are Bert Pratt, Norris Cianchette, Joseph G. Kelley Jr., Pete Beaulieu, Lenoard Bero, Claude Cyr, Doug Costello and A. Leigh Mills. Mills is the current president, with Ward Silsbee as vice president, Kelley as secretary and Wallace Getchell as treasurer.
25 Years Ago-May 23, 1990
Not again! — A front-page photo, taken May 22, shows a line of cars blanketed with — yes, Virginia — snow: “Caribou residents awoke yesterday to the ‘beautiful’ sight of fresh snow. They refused to get discouraged, however, certain the weather would improve…”
Tea in New Sweden — A Mother’s Day tea was held at the home of Gloria Gustafson by Covenant Women with her sister, Pat Laroque, as co-hostess. Entertainment was a fashion show of vintage 1920s-1950s styles put on by Wendy Bossie and Shirley Cote with models Kitty Doar, Cindy Hawkinson, Francine Boody, Natalie Anderson, Gloria Gustafson and Sarah Clark.
