Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago — 1923

One of the large oak trees in the Grove School yard fell across the street recently, and damaged the porch of Mrs. Packard’s cottage and carried down the electric light and telephone wires. The road was cleared and wires restored by evening of the same day.

E.R. Smith and family will leave here Monday for Miami, Florida. They will make the trip in Mr. Smith’s car.

The cozy bungalow of Mr. and Mrs. Madison Silvernale on Orchard Street was the scene of a very pleasant and somewhat rare event on Monday, Oct. 29th, the occasion being the 50th anniversary of their marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Silvernale were married in Lakeville on October 29, 1873, and have spent their entire married life here.

A new metal roof has been placed over the office of the Holley Mfg. Co.

50 years ago — 1973

Mrs. Donald Sager of Cornwall Bridge and her five children escaped without injury when a propane gas explosion at 3 a.m. Tuesday imperiled their home. Monday night’s heavy rains apparently undermined a propane tank which fell into a ditch beside the foundation of the one-story Sager home on Route 7 just north of the Kent town line. Police said fumes from the severed gas line spread in the ditch and into the cellar through an open window. Meanwhile the fall of the tank awoke son Donald, who woke his mother, and she called state police. Then the furnace kicked on in the basement, which was filling with fumes. There was a flash and a boom. Mrs. Sager, along with her children, got out of the house as flames seared much of the outside of the home. State Trooper Robert Peyman then arrived and ran to the fuel tank and also a second one, shutting off the lines and preventing the spread of fire and explosions. Cornwall and Warren firemen arrived and extinguished the flames. The home suffered relatively minor damage.

State Police Lieut. James Shay, commander of Canaan Barracks, said Tuesday he felt some people in the Canaan -Falls Village area were distrustful of police actions and motives in the Barbara Gibbons murder case. Since the arrest of 18-year-old Peter Reilly for the Sept. 28 murder of his mother, many residents have rallied to Reilly’s support, raising bond money and assuring him of their sympathy. The Troop B commander said he felt the rural setting of the Gibbons murder had something to do with people’s reactions. “Most people here aren’t used to this type of major investigation,” he said. “They are unaccustomed to its proportions.”

In case you thought you needed to get a new pair of glasses after reading last week’s Lakeville Journal, don’t go — yet. The size of the type really was smaller. Because of the newsprint shortage, we had to take paper where we could find it. The Norwich Bulletin generously sold us enough for last week’s edition, but the rolls were 4 ½ inches narrower than our standard size and it was necessary to shrink pages 13 percent in order to use the rolls. This week’s edition is back to our regular size and comes to you by courtesy of The Meriden Record, which was able to sell us additional rolls. What about our shipment from Canada? Well, you won’t believe it, but after being shipped from the mill in northern Ontario it was halted in Toronto, the victim of a trucking strike. The company promised it would be here this week, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed. Meanwhile the Journal expresses its appreciation to readers who have put up with our vicissitudes and to other newspapers and the American Newspaper Publishers Association who have offered help. P.S. The truckload of paper arrived Wednesday afternoon. We feel like a dog in a forest of fireplugs.

25 years ago — 1998

CANAAN — Owners of the Colonial Theater have been given 60 days to make structural repairs to the historic Railroad Street building. Building Official William Conrad inspected the two-story structure last week and declared it unsafe. Non-compliance with the order would result in it being condemned, he said.

When horseless carriages were beginning to come on the scene and telephones were less than common fixtures, a child named Katharine was born in Westbury, Long Island, at Wheatly, the family estate, to Edwin and Elizabeth Morgan. The date was Oct. 29, 100 years ago. Today, Katharine Avery Evarts will be greeted by family and friends on her 100th birthday in a party at The Kent nursing facility here.

Tina Drozdenko and Michael Hanlon were married Aug. 29 at their home in Falls Village. The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Drozdenko of Torrington. The groom’s parents are Mr. and Mrs. John Hanlon of North Canaan.

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