Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago — 1923

The organ at St. John’s Church is being overhauled and tuned by tuners from New York.

Will the person who has Mrs. Loucks’ quilt frames please return them to her?

Fifteen inch ice is being taken from the lake.

Fred Ellis is off duty owing to a strained chest received while operating the large scraper which is used to clear the snow from the Hotchkiss hockey rink.

One of our readers who has kept count says that this section has had 25 snow storms thus far this winter.

50 years ago — 1973

Temperatures far below zero, the coldest of the season so far, were forecast for Thursday in Northwest Connecticut after a storm Sunday night brought 12 to 16 inches of snow on the area. Tuesday morning a low of -13 was recorded by United States weather observer Edward C. Childs at an upland valley in Norfolk, but predictions were that Thursday temperatures would go lower. More snow was predicted for Thursday evening.

Members of the Sharon Peace Vigil, which began in November of 1969, voted last Sunday to discontinue the vigil, noting “We have been misled too many times not to have misgivings about the future.”

Twenty Bristol Boy Scouts enjoying a weekend at Camp Wamgum on Weatogue Road were evacuated safely early Sunday morning before fire gutted the mess hall in which they had been sleeping. The mess hall building, a wooden structure of uncertain age that bore evidence of many additions, appeared to be a total loss except for kitchen equipment which might be salvageable. In addition to the Scouts, several other occupants of the building escaped safely. A family of flying squirrels which made its home under the gutters finally leapt to other perches as heat, smoke, water and spotlights made life uncomfortable. One lit on the shoulder of Resident State Trooper Robert Smithwick.

Several Lakeville residents spent a chilly hour or so late Friday night watching an unidentified flying object low in the eastern sky. The man (who asked to remain anonymous) and his neighbor, along with their wives, reported afterward that the object stayed pretty much in the same position, about 15 degrees off the horizon, with a slight erratic movement up and down as well as from side to side. Another man, a former Air Force fighter pilot, said he was positive the thing was not a conventional flying craft such as an airplane or helicopter.

A “delighted” Richard Snyder will be in Canaan next Monday for the formal closing on his purchase of Canaan Depot from the Penn Central Transportation Company. Railroad and town officials will be on hand for the occasion.

25 years ago — 1998

KENT — The Cyberian Outpost Internet-based computer product retailer added another chapter to its resounding success story this week by signing a major partnership deal with America Online (AOL), the leading computer Internet online service. The one-year agreement requires Cyberian Outpost to make guaranteed payments of $5 million to AOL, which will also share in revenues.

Student Council members from Sharon Center School organized a penny drive to raise funds for the Ronald McDonald House of Connecticut. A one-week competition was begun to see which class could collect the most coins. Event organizers Maryann Hoyt, Liz Bird, Alexis Lucas and Katlyn McKenna were amazed by the response. Many of the containers placed in the classrooms were so heavy that they either broke or were split up. A total of $1,100 was collected.

These items were taken from The Lakeville Journal archives at Salisbury’s Scoville Memorial Library, keeping the original wording intact as possible.