May 31, 1989

Making music is best when it’s an all-day, all-night thing, young Tom Accuosti told the Westbrook Planning Board. He and Brent Smith, his partner in One of a Kind Recording, want musicians coming to their recording studio to be able to sleep there too, and for that they need a zone change. The studio is on the second floor of a building owned by Paul Morin on the cul de sac at the end of Terminal Street, which runs off Larrabee Road at the rail tracks. Accuosti said the open second floor is “a perfect size” for recording sessions. The nearest neighbor is the J.L. Morin Co., supplier of ceilings and other building materials. Accuosti and Smith said they are buying the recording business, which has been operating there two years. The building is in an industrial zone, in which overnight rooms are not permitted.

One of Westbrook’s biggest business developments, a $16 million, three-story brick building for Maine National Bank’s central offices, on a 26-acre site on the County Road, won easy approval from the city’s Planning Board last week. The bank’s new administration operations center will have 160,000 square feet of floor space and parking for 1,000 cars. Four hundred people will work there at first. The eventual capacity is 750.

The 10th annual Westbrook Together Days will celebrate the city’s heritage with a day of family activities and entertainment on Saturday, June 10. A road race begins the fun, followed by a 10 a.m. parade of local bands, marchers and floats proceeding from the Eagles Club on Bridge Street to Riverbank Park, the hub of the festival.

Voters of wards 2 and 4 said no, but voters of wards 1, 3 and 5 out-polled them to pass the $1.35 million loan for expanding Westbrook’s Saccarappa School last week. In a total of 1,007 votes, the bond issue won, 575-432.

Gorham High School students Aaron Gould, Tammy Smith, Jeff Morrow, Brandi Deragon and Kim Isaacson will take part in “Worldpeace Camps for Teens” this summer. Aaron will attend Camp Artek in the USSR in July. Brandi, Jeff, Tammy and Kim are part of a host delegation for an international camp to be held in Poland Spring, where teens from the USSR will visit. The focus of both programs is Soviet-American communications.

June 2, 1999

A juvenile released from the Maine Youth Center on Friday was assaulted early Sunday morning in the Brown Street area of Westbrook. The ripples from that assault sparked a near-riot later that drew police from five jurisdictions. “Members of the family” of that injured juvenile looking for “some justice” got together with friends and were threatening people who live at 44 North St., who thought they were in some way involved in the youth’s assault, Westbrook Police Capt. Mike Lambert said. That was about 5 or 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Residents said there was a fight in the street. Officers Steve Crocker and Kurt Bosse separated the crowd and got things calmed down.

The former Transportation Center at 587 Main St., Mosher’s Corner, Gorham, will be converted into a Dunkin’ Donuts. Ed Wolak, Scarborough, who owns two Dunkin’ Donuts franchises in Westbrook, will appear before the Gorham Planning Board for an informal presentation on June 7. Town Planner Deborah Fossum said that Wolak intends to renovate the existing 8,400-square-foot building between Beal’s Ice Cream and the former Carquest auto parts store. In addition to a counter and seating area, it will include a bakery area and drive-through window looping around the back of the building.

The Little Dolphin School has broken ground for an 11,000-square-foot day care center and preschool near the Haven’s candy factory on County Road in Westbrook.

Calpine Corp., the San Jose, Calif.-based company that is developing a $300 million natural gas-fired power plant off Eisenhower Drive and Spring Street in Westbrook, posted profits of $3.9 million in the financial quarter ending March 31. The Westbrook plant is one of eight Calpine is developing across the country.

Mr. and Mrs. Philip Moulton, 24 North Gorham Road, have offered to sell the 2-acre lot they own abutting White Rock Elementary School to the town of Gorham. They are asking $90,000. Town councilors were to meet behind closed doors last night to discuss the proposal. The council’s capital improvements committee expressed support for the purchase in a meeting last week.

Singers of all ages are invited to participate in a performance of John Peterson’s musical, “Jesus Is Coming,” in Westbrook this fall. Rehearsals will begin June 10 in Trinity Lutheran Church and continue the second and fourth Thursdays of June, July and August.

At one time Harry F.G. Hay (father of John W. Hay) operated his funeral business from this building at 830 Main St. before moving to 795 Main St. The building later became Peters Fruit Store, which was also known as Peters Tea Room, operated by Chris Peters. It was demolished in 1975 to make way for the widening of Church Street during urban renewal. To see more historical photos and artifacts, visit the Westbrook Historical Society at the Fred C. Wescott Building, 426 Bridge St. Inquiries can be emailed to westhistorical@myfairpoint.net. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org.