Turning Back The Pages

100 years ago — March 1921

SALISBURY — Paul Cleaveland has gone to Brookfield to assume his duties on a large farm there. The family will go to Brookfield later on.

LAKEVILLE — William Stanton will open a lunch room in the Bates place early in April.

SALISBURY — James Melvin is having moved a section of the barn from the Bushnell place to a lot which he recently purchased of Miss Agnes Mead.

The auction at C.H. Osborn’s second hand store on Wednesday drew a considerable number and proved generally satisfactory to seller and buyers.

The last of the ice disappeared from the lake on Thursday March 17th, a much earlier date than usual.

50 years ago — March 1971

CORNWALL — A rare bird, a snowy egret, was found dead near the state highway garage at Cornwall Bridge one day last week by William Clarke and Theodore Johnson, State Highway employees. At first they thought it was the pet duck of Mrs. Mabel Engisch until they saw the duck following her where she was working out in her yard. They picked up the white feathered bird, and saw it resembled a heron but had yellow feet. Never having seen such a bird before, they took it to the Sharon Audubon Center where it was identified as a “snowy egret.”

KENT — A small group of local youngsters, of an age to complain that “there’s nothing to do in Kent,” entertained themselves Sunday afternoon by vandalizing Kent Center School. Finding a door open at the school, four eight- and nine-year-olds embarked on a program of malicious mischief that might have caused irreparable damage had they not been caught in the act. Principal Robert Keene, notified by a nearby resident that children were at the school unattended, arrived to find water rushing down the stairs from the upper level. His offices, a conference room, and the health room were awash. Racing upstairs to turn off the taps and open the drains in the girls’ lavatory, he discovered the culprits on the scene.

Police and parents were called to the school. One mother fainted when she saw the damage, and Dr. Donald Peters was summoned to revive her. Children and parents cooperated with custodian James Woodard, who arrived with members of his family to direct cleanup operations. They worked several hours to return the building to reasonable order for classes on Monday. The youngsters’ parents have assumed responsibility for the damage.

SHARON — Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Goldberg of the Sharon Water Company said they would consider selling the water company to the Town of Sharon at a meeting of the Water and Sewage Study Committee Tuesday night, but would not state a price at that time. The Goldbergs said they would try to have an answer by the time of its next meeting April 6.

CANAAN — Bicron Electronics Company of Canaan is building a 12,500 square foot building adjacent to its Barlow Street manufacturing, design and office facilities.

25 years ago — March 1996

Doris Alexander, formerly of Salisbury, has just learned she is one of nine second-place winners in a national contest that drew more than 8,000 entries. A former teacher of English at Salisbury Central School, she has always had a love of words. Entrants were to send in their favorite simile. Hers, entered in the category that used the phrase “as quiet as,” was “they became as quiet as sand sifting through an hourglass.”

CANAAN — The results of tests performed on a suspected rabid raccoon, shot and killed near the center of town March 7, came back positive late last week. North Canaan animal control officer Richard Gustafson had been called after a Foote Avenue resident called state police. Mr. Gustafson described the raccoon as “acting strangely” and “generally sick-looking.”

LAKEVILLE — Rod Aller continues to amaze and impress the sports world with his continuing athletic feats as he becomes an octogenarian. His most recent exploits have brought him championships in the Eastern Sise Cup Series as well as the National and International Alpine Masters Championships.

Note from Norma — There’s a cool story in The Lakeville Journal, March 25, 1971, page 2, about a Salisbury School class ring that traveled to different places looking for its owner. To find it, and much more local history, go to the Scoville Library Community History Archive at www.scoville.advantage-preservation.com/

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