The Story Behind This Century-Old Ad on a Building in Lewiston, Maine

Lower Lisbon Street in Lewiston is the historic district of the city and has many commercial buildings with some that were built as far back as 1850, according to Wikipedia. In 1985, the historic district was put on the list of the National Register of Historic Places with 18 buildings included, but today, 11 of them are gone, having been demolished for "progress."

Even though many of these downtown buildings are gone, there is still one piece of Lisbon Street's past that remains.

On the corner of Lisbon and Cedar Streets sits a building that still has an advertisement for Uneeda Biscuits, a soda cracker made by the National Biscuit Company. They were just five cents per package.

The National Biscuit Company was formed in 1898 when the New York Biscuit Company and the American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company merged. In case you haven't figured it out, today, the NAtional BIScuit COmpany is known as NABISCO and makes Premium saltines, Wheat Thins, Triscuits, and Oreo cookies.

The sign is a relic of how advertising was done in the days before the internet, television, and radio. To see it still intact over 100 years later is amazing. The colors have hardly faded.

If you look closely at this sign, you can see the company's original logo, which you may have seen elsewhere if you're paying attention.

Where else have you seen something similar to this? Ever at the design on an Oreo cookie before eating it?

I'm kind of saddened that Lower Lisbon Street isn't what it used to be, but times change. Luckily, the Uneeda Biscuit sign still stands, and I hope it does for generations to come.