Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago — July 1922

ORE HILL — James Flint has been confined to the house with an attack of quinsy.

Mr. Joseph Beebe has a cow that has given birth to twin heifer calves.

Miss Madeline Beers has resigned her position at the Telephone office.

50 years ago — July 1972

The Penn Central railroad has jumped the gun on its previously announced timetable, and has applied for authority to abandon trackage from New Milford to Canaan. Connecticut Gov. Thomas Meskill protested the move to abandon Friday in a letter to the Interstate Commerce Commission. He requested a public hearing in the area, and underscored the state’s intention to expand rail service north of Danbury on the Berkshire line. Railroad spokesmen said earlier they would wait until mid-September before petitioning the ICC for abandonment authority.

The roar of engines overhead again alarmed Lakeville and Salisbury residents Tuesday night, as two giant airplanes passed over the area at estimated altitudes of 400 to 500 feet. The planes were identified Wednesday as C-130 aircraft belonging to the Air National Guard. They were enroute from Binghamton, N.Y., to Fort Devens, Mass. The low-flying planes were spotted by several Salisbury residents at about 8 p.m. Tuesday night. Residents reported that the four-engine, unmarked, khaki colored aircraft passed over The Hotchkiss School at heights of no more than 500 feet.

Charles B. Estabrook Jr., brother of Lakeville Journal publisher Robert Estabrook, died Friday of leukemia at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md. He was 50 and at the time of his death was a supervisory commodity specialist with the Agency for International Development. Mr. Estabrook, his wife, the former Martha Hayward, and their two sons, Thomas and Charles, had visited a number of times in Lakeville, most recently over the July 4 weekend.

Name plates, flowers on terraces and other homey signs show that Salisbury’s housing complex for the elderly, Noble Horizons, is beginning to look like home. At least 18 residents had moved in last week.

Come July 31 the local crew for the State Highway Department will move with all its equipment to new quarters at the highway garage in Cornwall Bridge. Involved in the move will be all nine men of the Sharon crew, presently quartered at Gay Street, including area foreman George Hosier. The move is part of state consolidation to economize.

Steve Blass, Canaan/Falls Village native, realized another long-time ambition Tuesday night as he pitched for the National League in the annual All-Star game in Atlanta.

FALLS VILLAGE — Beebe Hill School will begin the third phase of its 129-year history this Sunday when it is reopened as an educational museum. The school will be rededicated in ceremonies beginning at 2 p.m. The old school was erected in 1843 and served as one of 10 one-room school houses in Falls Village until June of 1918.

25 years ago — July 1997

For 251 students in Region 1, summer has more to do with the three Rs than with hanging out at the beach and whiling away the afternoons. That’s the largest number of students ever enrolled in the Region 1 summer school program. The program, which includes three divisions, runs for three weeks from July 7 to July 25 at Sharon Center School.

Robert “Bobby” Day of Salisbury completed his 35th year this month as an employee at the White Hart. Mr. Day has worked for four different owners of the local inn coming to Salisbury first under the sponsorship of John and Elyse Harney.

Dave and Cheryl Pecha, proprietors of the new Great Falls Book and Coffee House, are welcoming customers at their eatery/reading room space in the former Riverrunning Expeditions building on Main Street in Falls Village.