115 Years Ago – Nov. 5, 1908
Making a move — James Carr, who has been working in August Swenson’s shoe shop for several months, moved his family from Fort Fairfield to Caribou last week.
A premier high school — The Star Herald of Presque Isle says that the high school in that town leads all the high schools in the county in print of attendance, the enrollment enrollment for the present term being 122. Caribou high school has an enrollment of 123, just one more than the school in our sister town, and therefore can lay claim to being the premier high school of the county in terms of attendance.
100 Years Ago – Nov. 8, 1923
Taking a business trip — M. E. Mockler and R. A. Currier is leaving next Monday morning by automobile on a business trip. They will stop at Augusta, Portland and Boston, where Mr. Mockler will look over different lines of furniture and merchandise pertaining to their fall business.
Hospital work coming along — Downing & Horsman, the building contractors, are now busy pushing along the work on the Caribou hospital. This structure, the main building of which is 40 x 80, with a boiler room annex of 24 x 35 ft., is now roofted over and the interior finish work is ready to begin. It is strictly fireproof, there being no wood whatsoever in this construction except the doors. The floors as well as the roof are of concrete, and it will be when completed a model structure of its kind. Besides the work they have on hand this firm is figuring on a $20,000 job up at St. David, which will keep them busy during the cold weather. During the past season they have averaged to employ a hundred men about fifty of whom have been on the Caribou hospital job and fifteen on the Gouldville school house.
75 Years Ago – Nov. 4 1948
The Retail Trade Bureau lays plans for a Christmas program — The Retail Trade Bureau of the Caribou Chamber of Commerce held a meeting of the executive committee last Friday at the Chamber office. Among topics discussed were a Christmas program and a solicitations problem. It was decided that the committee as a whole would help develop a Christmas program in Caribou which would entail lighting up the streets and arranging for the playing of carols. A conference was held with Roy Barton, of the Maine Public Service Co., and he agreed to cooperate with the Bureau.
Local VFW post begins participation in membership drive — Ivan Bennett, commander of V.F.W. Post No. 9389, in Caribou, has announced that his post will begin participation in V.F.W. national contest to secure 600,000 new members by next September. The purpose of the drive, Bennett said, is to add new strength to the VFW advocacies for national welfare, world peace and an equitable readjustment in benefits for veterans and the survivors of veterans.
25 Years Ago – Nov. 11, 1998
Woodworking shop opens in former Agway building — The city has welcomed a new employer to town. Valley Woodworking of Van Buren has moved into the former Agway building on the Access Highway. Valley Woodworking is a small business which specializes in custom kitchen and bathroom cabinets, but lives by its slogan: If it’s made of wood, we can make it. There for the ribbon-cutting ceremony was: Roland St. Peter (former owner of the building), Paul McLauchlan (treasurer of the Caribou Development Corp.), John Swanberg (president of the CDC), Caribou Mayor Phil Bennett, Maurice Martin (owner of Valley Woodworking), Gilda Thibodeau (Valley Woodworking employee), Joe Bouchard (Caribou City Council candidate), Caribou Town Manager Dick Mattila and Kirk Tibbetts (Caribou Chamber of Commerce Executive Director).
200 celebrate vets ceremony honoring U.S. flags in Caribou — About 200 people gathered Sunday to celebrate the history of the United States through eight flags and through the words of an eight year old boy. Eight-year-old Matther Labbe, the son of Patrick and Bev Labbe of Presque Isle, lead the group in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. During the celebration , each flag was carried by American veterans. The flags are as follows: The Bedford Flag was carried by the minutemen in 1775. The Bunker Hill flag was formed by the colonial troops as they opposed the British in June 1775 at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The Gadston flag bears a coiled serpent or rattlesnake on it which says, don’t tread on me. The Grand Union flag was used by George Washington in Jan. 1776 in Cambridge, Mass. The Bennington was flown at the Battle of Bennington by the Green Mountain Boys or the Vermont militia in 1777. The Betsy Ross flag was adopted on June 14, 1777 as the flag to represent the U.S.. The Star-Spangled Banner flag was flown over Fort McHenry and adopted in 1797. The 48-Star flag was used for 47 years before the states of Alaska and Hawaii were added.
