Oct. 25, 1989

Citing downtown traffic concerns, the Gorham Planning Board denied a request last week by Peoples Heritage Bank to convert the former Gorham Federal Regional Credit Union at the corner of Main and Elm streets into a branch office. The board objected to three different plans for a drive-in window, all of which called for a curb cut on Main Street. The unanimous denial also was based on perceived incompatability with the comprehensive plan. Town Planner Will Johnston, who was preparing a letter to the bank on Friday, said that he believed the bank had given up the idea of renovating the building. Calls to the bank by the American Journal were not returned.

Trees will fall on Longfellow Street if and when Westbrook rebuilds it, and the City Council held up on a contract for the work when it heard from residents Monday night about the anguish over the loss. “I don’t want my street to look like Saco Street,” said Joanne Reardon. “We have 18 trees on our property and most likely all will disappear,” said Jack Gorsuch. “I’m going to lose 16 feet of my property and probably won’t be able to get the car in off the street.” “People were not contacted on whether we wanted this improvement,” said Robert J. Hammond Jr. The question before the council was whether to accept the low bid of R.J. Grondin & Sons, $572,623, to rebuild the street. Aldermen voted 6-0, on motion of Fred Wescott, to send the question to the council’s Highways Committee. The council promised the residents that they will give them notice when the committee is ready to talk about the work again.

Bonnie Clark and Mary MacDonald, Libby Avenue in Gorham, were awed by the scene presented recently by a bull moose with full rack standing in the open field next to their home. They watched for some time before he disappeared into nearby woods.

Canal School in Westbrook will hosts its second annual Special Person Breakfast for its students Nov. 3. Students will invite a “special person” in their lives to share this breakfast with them.

Art by first-grade students in Mrs. Varney’s class at Saccarappa School is on display in the Warren Memorial Library in Westbrook. Under direction of art teacher Karen Maxell, the children have created collages depicting stories by author Eric Carle.

You’ll be able to sleep an extra hour Saturday night when we “fall back” to standard Time. Clocks should be set back an hour that night, officially, at 2 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 29.

Oct. 27, 1999

The city of Westbrook is now in the process of acquiring the right of way for and designing a separate lane on Spring Street, starting at the hop of the hill, for cars coming from South Portland to turn right onto William Clarke Drive, a recently completed study of the Spring Street corridor says. That’s not the only wider intersection on the way, it seems. A quick digest of the study’s overall recommendations would be, “Making Spring Street wider at all intersections and adding turning lanes.” The study also proposes widening William Clarke Drive at the intersection with Spring Street to four lanes coming from Gorham, with a lane each for left and right turns and two lanes for through traffic. The Eisenhower Drive-Spring Street intersection should get a traffic light, and the left-turn-only lane for cars from South Portland turning into Eisenhower Drive should be lengthened. It also suggests widening the mouth of Spring headed toward the Maine Mall to four lanes, one for right turns onto County Road, one for through traffic across the intersection and two lanes dedicated to left turns onto County Road in toward Portland. Westbrook city councilors have copies of the study.

Bob Vorron has been told that his 94-year-old mother Cleona will not pull through from her injuries from the car crash they were in together on Route 25 in Westbrook last week. Troubled by that news, he visited the offices of the American Journal Friday to talk. His mother suffered a collapsed lung, three broken ribs, broken pelvis, broken legs and internal bleeding. Vorron and his mother had been particularly close. He married but he and his wife have been separated for a long time, and when his father Herbert died in 1981, he told his mother she could come live with him. Eighteen years later, she was still going strong, cooking, gardening and canning produce.

The Westbrook School Committee will meet Oct. 27 to vote on a $98,000 plan to move the superintendent’s offices to the Castle building at the high school, off Stroudwater Street. Renovation work would begin after the second half of the new Vocational Center opens over Christmas vacation. Former Superintendent Robert Hall proposed moving the office to the Castle in February after testing showed bad air quality in the 100-year-old superintendent’s building at 596 Main St.

The Wise Guide shopping publication opened its doors Monday at 538 Main St., in Westbrook, moving from Cottage Road in South Portland. Its new office, a bungalow house that was once the home of Stutz Electric founder Howard Stutz, was most recently the dental office of Dr. Elliott Favier. The Wise Guide has been printed at the American Journal since 1994.

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50 YEARS AGO

The Westbrook American reported on Oct. 21, 1964, that Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Carll of Hillview Road in Gorham were visited by a couple from Danvers, Mass.

Ruby Emery of West Buxton was at the home of Mrs. Leroy Betts in Salmon Falls for the winter.

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Local developer C. Sam DiBiase constructed this building at 716 Bridgton Road in 1975 as an office and warehouse. He was well known for the many Westbrook homes he constructed in the Colonial Acres project, as well as Lori Lane, Anne Terrace and Temple Street. DiBiase eventually sold this building and through the years several different businesses were located here. Advantage Auto Inc. was the occupant when this photo was taken. The Vineyard Church of Greater Portland purchased the building several years ago and it has been remodeled into a church. To see more historical photos and artifacts, visit the  Westbrook Historical Society at the Fred C. Wescott Building, 426 Bridge St. It is open Tuesdays and Saturdays, 9 a.m.-noon, and the first Wednesday of each month at 1:30 p.m., September-June. Inquiries can be emailed to westhistorical@myfairpoint.net. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org.