10 years ago

From the Journal Tribune: “Following a commitment from a local business owner, the (Kennebunk) Economic Development Committee voted unanimously on Thursday to endorse a $300,000 bond to pay for road and sewer improvements in a proposed business park. The development is in a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District, which creates an opportunity to direct incremental tax revenues coming from the development to pay off a loan.”

50 years ago

From the Biddeford-Saco Journal: “Perched atop an outcropping of the state’s granite backbone, the fire tower on Ossipee Mountain commands a view which is worth the climb to persons not dismayed by the rough track which winds its way up to the 1,058-foot elevation. Inspiring though the sight may be, the purpose of the tower is strictly utilitarian.”

100 years ago

From the Biddeford Daily Journal: “Score one more for the snappy football aggregation that represents Biddeford high on the gridiron this season. The local outfit defeated the fast Westbrook seminary aggregation at the Prospect park grounds this morning in a remarkably fast game. The score was 19 to 0.” — Jeff Lagasse

Today in History

Today is Friday, October 16, the 289th day of 2015. There are 76 days left in the year.

On this date: In 1793, during the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, the queen of France, was beheaded. In 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown led a group of 21 men in a raid on Harpers Ferry in western Virginia. (Ten of Brown’s men were killed and five escaped. Brown and six followers were captured; all were executed.) In 1916, Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York. (The clinic ended up being raided on October 25 by police who arrested Sanger.) In 1934, Chinese Communists, under siege by the Nationalists, began their “long march” lasting a year from southeastern to northwestern China. In 1943, Chicago Mayor Edward J. Kelly officially opened the city’s new subway system during a ceremony at the State and Madison street station. In 1951, Johnnie Ray and the Four Lads recorded “Cry” by Churchill Kohlman and “The Little White Cloud That Cried” (written by Ray) in New York for Okeh Records. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy was informed that reconnaissance photographs had revealed the presence of missile bases in Cuba.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On October 16, 1995, a vast throng of black men gathered in Washington, D.C. for the “Million Man March” led by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Ten years ago Polish television broadcast a recorded interview with Pope Benedict XVI, who said that he planned to visit Poland, the homeland of his predecessor, John Paul II. The Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-3 to win the American League Championship Series in five games, their first pennant since 1959. Elmer “Len” Dresslar Jr., the booming voice of the Jolly Green Giant, died at age 80.

Five years ago Iran freed an American businessman jailed in Tehran for more than two years on suspicion of ties to an allegedly violent opposition group. (Reza Taghavi, 71, hadn’t been charged with a crime and denied knowingly supporting the organization, known as Tondar.)

One year ago During a special congressional hearing on the Ebola crisis, Republican lawmakers pressed for a ban on travel to the U.S. from the West African outbreak zone; the White House resisted the idea and tried to tamp down fear as the pool of Americans being monitored expanded. Travis Ishikawa hit the first homer to end an NL Championship Series, a three-run drive that sent San Francisco to a 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 5. — By The Associated Press