June 27, 1990

“There is a substantial business looking seriously at Westbrook,” Mayor Fred Wescott announced Monday. He later said that it is an industry presently employing 150 people and growing fast. It is a worldwide business and uses “new technology.” He said it has shown interest in two Westbrook properties. These are understood to be the County Road site at which Maine National Bank started build and then stopped, and the idle part of the Data General plant.

The Westbrook High School day care center for student mothers and their babies came under attack Monday as the City Council’s Finance Committee continued its study of the school budget. Alderman Don Richards, chairman of the committee, bluntly told school board Chairman Arnold Gaudet that the day care program should be out of the budget, “sends the wrong message,” and could be done for less money by sending the eight babies to a private day care. Gaudet responded just as bluntly that the day care question already has been decided and is not proper subject for the council’s considerations.

Advertisement: Strawberries are Ripe at Wagner’s Farm, Libby Avenue, Gorham! Pick your own and retail.

Stanley Cohen, business manager for the Gorham School Department, will leave his job at the end of July and take on similar duties at Bridgton Academy. Cohen’s position with Gorham paid $44,900 a year. He has worked for the Gorham school system since 1987.

The Conley family of Westbrook has accomplished something to be proud of. Donna Conley graduated on May 19 magna cum laude from Westbrook College with a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and her daughter Patricia Conley graduated the same day cum laude from Roger Williams College, Bristol, R.I., with a bachelor’s degree in historical preservation. Donna skipped her own graduation ceremony to attend Patricia’s, along with other family members.

Celebrate Gorham ’90 enters its last planning weeks with all teams full steam ahead, as the committee joins with Maine Street ’90 and Gorham Community Services to celebrate Gorham’s heritage, assets and community spirit. A program has been planned for July 14, climaxing with a concert in the park featuring the popular Devonsquare.

From Ramblings, by Anne Foote: Merrill Luthe of Portland wrote to say that the lead article in Frances Mains’ Gorham Notes three weeks ago caught his eye – and soon afterward he called on Kay Hurd at the Eunice Frye Home, when she now lives. She was Merrill’s fifth-grade teacher at the Forest Street School, Westbrook, and Merrill had not seen her since then. So that reunion was a pleasurable one for both of them.

June 28, 2000

A 49-year-old woman walking on Gray Road in Gorham Monday was shot in the chest with a BB by someone in a passing white van. The woman was taken to Maine Medical Center bleeding. She still had the BB in her chest at noon yesterday. She was under observation and expected to be released, said Lt. Wayne Coffin. Police did not release her name. A passerby saw that she had been injured and called Gorham Rescue on a cell phone. Coffin said police are developing leads as to who shot the woman.

Westbrook should publish requests in 30 to 60 days for developers’ proposals for private use of the former high school-junior high school, and for the old Warren School, soon to be vacated by the school superintendent’s offices, Mayor Donald Esty’s administration proposed to the City Council’s Building-Facilities Committee Monday. The former Forest Street School, now leased to the Maine School of Ballet, was also on the list. Esty said he’s negotiated a proposed extension of that lease. Quiet negotiations between the city and a potential developer of the old high school-junior high school fell through recently, James Bennett, administrative assistant, told the council. Reportedly, that plan would have seen the city using the newer wing of the building for city hall space, the developer taking the older part.

A proposed ordinance calling for all building owners to keep their property painted and in good repair is being taken up by the Westbrook City Council’s Committee of the Whole at a June 28 meeting. A suggested “unsightly clutter” ordinance is based on one “in a neighboring community,” said city attorney Rick Sullivan. It calls for all owners to keep the entire outside of every building or shed in good repair and with no peeling, scaling or old paint, missing shingles or siding or crumbling bricks or mortar. No exteriors should be covered with tarpaper or vapor barrier and all surfaces need a protective coating such as paint.

A group of Westbrook property and business owners have questions and complaints after the release of a suggested Riverfront Master Plan that calls in one place for closing Main Street from Mechanic Street west. The goal of that, according to the plan, is to create “a larger developable parcel adjacent to the river,” as part of a proposed Saccarappa Development District, with a goal of luring new businesses “based on the technology-based revitalization of the Dana Warp Mill.”

Based on his demeanor and his ability to listen, learn and contribute, Aaron Chadbourne makes the ideal Gorham School Committee member. But he never votes and never sits in on executive sessions. That’s because he’s a high school representative to the Gorham School Committee. Chadbourne, who will be a junior next fall, likes to be involved in what some professionals often call “the group process.” Chadbourne understands that his stint as the first student representative is an important one. “I will help define the student role,” he said.

Westbrook Hardware Co. was located at Main and Ash streets just before going out of business. It originally opened in an old wooden building at 827 Main St., known as the Boothby Block, and in later years as the Greene Block when the Greene Realty Co. in Boston became the owners. The building was eventually condemned by the city and later demolished. Westbrook Hardware moved into a brick building next door at 837 Main St., and remained there until it was demolished during urban renewal. It then moved into the newly constructed building on Main Street at Ash Street and operated there for several years, eventually being purchased by Maine Hardware Co. and renamed Westbrook-Maine Hardware. The Westbrook store was eventually closed. The building now houses Greater Portland School of Jukado. 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. Photo and research courtesy of Mike Sanphy