Jan. 1, 1992

Ann Moody, who defeated Jane Golding last March for a three-year term on the Gorham School Committee, will resign at the committee’s next meeting Jan. 8. She said she will explain the reasons for her resignation at the meeting. She said she has found that you can’t make changes from within; you can only hope to do it from the outside. “The people in education are a close-knit community,” she said.

Mr. and Mrs. Ernest L. Townsend, Everett Street, Westbrook, were honored recently at a surprise 50th wedding anniversary party. They were picked up at their home by a limousine with the their son-in-law and daughter, Michael and Carolyn Townsend Butterfield, and son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Willis Townsend. After riding into Portland, the couple learned they were going to the Prides Corner Congregational Church in Westbrook to renew their marriage vows. A reception followed at the AMVETS Hall, Westbrook.

Jane M. Spiller and her piccolo will be among the players in the Hall of Fame Bowl today in Tampa, Florida. The daughter of former Westbrook Mayor and Mrs. Philip Spiller, 76 Sawyer Road, she is a junior at Syracuse University, whose football team meets Ohio State University on the field. On Monday, the Syracuse band performed at Disney World, where Jane first played with the Westbrook High band in 1989.

Gorham High School’s Project Graduation ’92 expects to blanket the town with a bottle drive Jan. 4. Senior class members, led by 10 student team leaders and faculty adviser Roger Lord, will spend the day in this effort. The drive is one of many projects planned to fund this year’s after-graduation, chemical-free party at the University of New England’s new recreation complex in Biddeford June 14.

Not all Gorhamites simply attended “Magic of Christmas” performances at Portland City Hall. At least seven talented singers actively participated. Larry Kellet, 19 Newell St., marked his eighth year of singing with the 150-member chorus. Other chorus members from town include Ruth Doyle, John McVey, Irving Kimball Rachel Brown, Rose Phinney and Althea Irish.

Westbrook’s supply of the dog tags that all law-abiding Maine dogs want to be wearing starting today arrived Dec. 27 at the office of City Clerk William Clark. “Lots of people have been asking for them and we’ve sold quite a few of them already,” Clarke said Thursday afternoon. The usual arrival date for the tags is Dec. 1.

Jan. 2, 2002

Westbrook city officers elected Nov. 6 will take office in inauguration ceremonies Jan. 6 at Westbrook High School’s auditorium. A public reception will follow. Taking the oath of office will be Mayor Donald E. Esty Jr., City Clerk Barbara Hawkes, City Council members John O’Hara and James Violette, at large, and, by wards, Brenda Rielly, 1; Bruce Chuluda, 2; Keith Gorman, 3; Elmer T. Welch, 4; and Jennifer Connolly, 5; and School Committee members Colleen Hilton, at large; Cheryl Roma, Ward 3; and Mary Hall, Ward 4.

Lewis R. Emery got welcome word Dec. 21. He has been admitted to Annapolis and come September, he’ll be a plebe at the United States Naval Academy. You might have thought the Westbrook High School senior, son of Lewis H. and Stephanie Emery, 14 Lewis St., was a shoo-in. Fifth in his class, he had been nominated for admission by not one but three Maine members of Congress (Snowe, Collins, Allen). But nomination and admission are different, and admission involves a lot more – including a physical exam as well as a military physical aptitude exam.

William Gowen’s proposed offices and shops at the corners of Bridgton and Hardy roads won final site plan approval from the Westbrook Planning Board Dec. 18, but with some adjustments and with construction conditions added.

The Gorham Planning Board will hold a public hearing Jan. 7 about an expansion of Parsons’ gravel pit off Buck Street, proposed by R.J. Grondin & Sons. The land is owned by Arthur Parsons.

From Anne Foote’s column, Ramblings: We always enjoy the annual Christmas Tea at Westbrook’s Walker Memorial Library. The refreshments table, in the hallway, is always full of a variety of crackers and dips, cakes and cookies (including delicious pizelles, donated by Dori Hawswell). Also on the table were sliced raw vegetables plus a popular punch bowl. Among guests we chatted with were Florence and Marshall Wing, Bruce Chuluda and his wife, John LaPointe, sporting a new L.L. Bean sweater, and City Clerk Barbara Hawkes in a pretty red dress, with black frogs (designs circling the buttons).

This wooden bridge on Longfellow Street was over the Cumberland & Oxford Canal, a hand-dug canal that went from Long Lake in Harrison, into Sebago Lake and eventually connected  with the Fore River in Portland. The canal was started in 1828 and completed a little less than three years later. At the time, it provided an important means of travel and transportation of goods Between Portland and many of the inland towns. The canal was closed in the fall of 1876 when more modern and economical means of transportation became available. Songo Locks and traces of the canal are still visible reminders of this once important part of our history.

The house is at 108 Longfellow Street (once called Beaver Road) and was built sometime before 1805 by Enoch Freeman. Captain John Warren purchased the house in 1826 and the house remained in the Warren family for many years. The house was eventually acquired by the Wyer family and as of several years ago still owned by heirs of this family. Wyer’s Greenhouse was operated out of this location until it was destroyed by fire in the late 1960s.

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.