Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago — October 1923

Mr. H. Roscoe Brinton returned Saturday from a two weeks’ hunting trip with a party of Florida friends in New Brunswick, Canada. Moose hunting was the specialty of the party and Roscoe informs us that he was fortunate enough to kill a bull moose (not the 1912 variety.) He left the head to be stuffed and mounted and it will be sent on to him later.

There was quite a brilliant display of northern lights on Tuesday night. The weatherwise say this indicates much colder weather.

The auto traffic last Sunday was as heavy as at any time during the summer season. The fine weather appealed strongly to those owning motor cars and that means a large part of the population.

LIME ROCK — Mr. and Mrs. Cooley of New York are camping on the hill side in one of Miss Jennie Brasie’s fields.

ORE HILL — Much annoyance has been caused in this place by the fact that the C.N.E. trains no longer stop here. Jitney service is the only way of getting in and out of the place for those who wish to travel.

50 years ago —
 October 1973

All Penn Central rail freight service in the tri-state area stopped entirely for 24 hours beginning at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Service resumed Wednesday only after a day-long hearing conducted Tuesday by the Department of Transportation in Washington D.C. Freight customers on the Berkshire Line between Canaan and Pittsfield, Mass. and on the Harlem Valley Line between Dover Plains, N.Y. and Chatham, N.Y., had received no warning of the abrupt halt in service. The shutdown hit 6900 miles of Penn Central freight-only track scattered throughout the East and the Midwest. In the Canaan area the sudden halt in shipments threatened to play havoc with industries such as the Pfizer lime plant, with farmers awaiting shipments of feed, and with lumber and farm equipment dealers.

Friends and admirers numbering more than 500 turned out on Bill Barnett Day Sunday afternoon to honor Salisbury’s retiring first selectman at the scene of his favorite project, the Town Grove. 

The Housatonic Valley Regional School Board has appointed Kenneth L. Bartram of Sharon as chief custodian at HVRHS. Mr. Bartram will fill the vacancy created by the resignation of John D. DuBois who retired Sept. 30 after over 34 years of service.

The North Canaan Fire Company has received an offer of “up to two acres of land” for a new firehouse from Pfizer Company. The location offered to the firemen is the site of the former Wickwire farmhouse and lies near the Pfizer plant. Fred Wohlfert, member of the firemen’s Real Estate Committee, said this week that the offer has been referred to the committee for review.

Falls Village firemen got a new truck this weekend, bolstering their firefighting capabilities. They also disclosed that the ambulance service they provide the town is imperiled. The real ambulance problem is one of people, not of equipment or housing. To operate an ambulance service they are required, by state regulations, to see that ambulance volunteers receive the intensive training courses offered in the area by Sharon Hospital. The fire department members, with jobs, family and fire training obligations, are finding it hard to meet that requirement, according to fire chief David Goddard.

25 years ago —
 October 1998

Steve Blass came home this week and his town welcomed him in full force Monday at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. Several baseball games were played, followed by a talk from Mr. Blass and a full dinner. Mr. Blass reminisced about growing up in Falls Village. He mused on attending first grade at Hunt Library before Lee H. Kellogg School was constructed, selling apples and seeds, and love. “I was first introduced to romance and religion in Falls Village,” he said. “Whichever girl I was after, I would just go to her church.”

CORNWALL — With the sale of his 100-acre farm on the eastern banks of the Housatonic River here, singer James Taylor and the farm’s new owners, George Boyle and Marianne Pirotta, have crafted a conservation easement that will protect the farm’s gently rolling hills forever. Mr. Taylor, who has owned the farm since the early 1980s but has not lived on it, has been a keen advocate of sustainability — meeting present economic needs while protecting natural resources for future generations. 

The Falls Village Volunteer Fire Department has grown too big for its britches. Hence, it is considering a site on Route 7 to construct a new facility. Members approached the Board of Selectmen Thursday, seeking support in obtaining the property. The prospective location is the “town gravel bank,” which lies on Route 7 south between the Marshall property and  the Falls Village Sawmill. The property is owned by the town.

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