Ford Motor Car ad
Photo: Sanford Tribune and Advocate, Thursday, Dec. 3, 1925
By Lawrence Furbish
The main headline was a tongue-in-cheek piece titled “Watch Out,” about a misleading question on the special election ballot scheduled for the following Monday. The issue was whether to adopt Daylight Saving Time, and the problem was the way the ballot was worded. If you were against Daylight Saving, you had to vote yes, but if you wanted to adopt it, you had to vote no. According to the paper, The Tribune, Goodall Worsted, and Sanford Mills were all in favor of changing the clocks.
The town selectmen had two “powerful tractors” lined up for snow removal during the upcoming winter season. One had been purchased for $5,200, authorized by a Town Meeting vote, and the other was being leased with an option to buy. With increased traffic, it was deemed important to keep the highways open.
Extolling Sanford as “the Biggest Town in Maine,” the Tribune reported that the Sanford Men’s Singing Club had voted to spend $25 to join the New England Federation of Men’s Glee Clubs, which would allow them to enter a choir competition held in Massachusetts in the spring.
In public safety news, a local man was nabbed by police while attempting to deliver a gallon of liquor to an east side customer. He was fined $400 and got two months in the county jail. (This was during Prohibition.)
Front page sporting news was about boxing matches at the Springvale ring. “Emery Kid Cabana” socked it to Paul Murphy of Biddeford, winning a 10-round decision. “Battling Therrien” of Springvale prevailed in another 10-round decision and “Young Hurd” of Sanford KO’ed “Kid Sullivan” of Lewiston.
This edition of the paper had a column about Sanford news 26 years ago. The Dec. 1, 1895, edition of the Tribune reported that a much-needed plank was laid on Church Street, F.A. Chadbourne purchased a fine driving horse from Charles Tibbetts, Miss Madelon Gowen was taking a long-awaited vacation in Massachusetts, and Calvin Roberts was very sick in his home in North Berwick.
Harold Lloyd’s silent film, The Freshman was playing at the Colonial Theater in Springvale in 1925. The theater was bragging about its new “gold fibre screen” with its clear picture, the same type of screen used at Boston’s Metropolitan Theater.
At “The Paris” store, bloomers and step-ins were going for $1.98 to $3.98, or for the same price you could get Philippine hand-made nighties.
Lawrence Furbish is president of the Sanford-Springvale Historical Society. The Historical Society Museum in Springvale has many resources regarding Sanford’s history. It is open Thursday and Saturday, 10 am-2 pm and Friday 10 am-4 pm.
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