Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago — 1922

SALISBURY — Mrs. William Blanchard Rand last week was awarded the Carol H. Beck gold medal for her portrait of Hon. Donald T. Warner, by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. This portrait was judged by the painters’ jury to be the finest portrait in oil shown at the exhibition. The Beck medal was offered by James M. Beck, the well known lawyer in memory of his sister, Carol H. Beck, who died in 1908.

— Miss Sarah K. Everts has resigned her position as teacher in the Seymour School and is with her father here in Salisbury.

— March came in with a blast of cold weather, the mercury recording 5 to 8 above. The blue birds and robins have retired to don their felt boots and heavy coats.

LAKEVILLE — Miss Mary Stanton has resumed her duties at the post office after being ill with grippe and quinzy.

— Miss Annie Chipman, who went to the Winsted Hospital in December for treatment for an infected finger, has recently had the finger amputated.

50 years ago — 1972

In the face of pressure from the Connecticut Department of Health, the Kent Nursing Association plans to join a New Milford agency on a trial basis, severing ties with the W. Bradford Walker Nursing Association in Cornwall.

— A new financial institution came to Lakeville this week as the Litchfield Savings Bank opened its branch office, complete with drive-in window, in the Lakeville Professional Building on North Main Street. Henry C. Stocking, executive vice president of the Litchfield Savings Bank, will be in charge of the Lakeville branch. He reported steady business on the first day, including the opening of more than 30 new accounts.

— Mrs. Betty Shepard of Ellsworth, Sharon, has accepted the position of Welcome Wagon Hostess for seven villages in Northwest Connecticut. She will greet new families in Salisbury, Lakeville, Sharon, Cornwall, Kent, Canaan and Falls Village. Mrs. Shepard will continue as Sharon correspondent for The Lakeville Journal.

— A television field unit of the National Broadcasting Company slipped into the Northwest Corner Tuesday and spent Wednesday filming a report on school busing in the six-town regional school district. A Cornwall student at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, Laurie Trager, will be featured in the interviews made at the school, as will Principal Edward Kirby and District Superintendent Frank Samuelson.

— Falls Village town officials are dismayed by the Hollenbeck Club’s refusal last week to lease 10 acres of land for use as a sanitary landfill site. First Selectman Miles Blodgett told The Lakeville Journal that the club’s rejection of the proposal had been something of a surprise and was “very disappointing.” Mr. Blodgett informed the Journal that the present site is adequate “for the moment,” but that the town must work quickly to find another area.

— Norfolk surrendered its option to buy the Boscardin block at a special town meeting attended by 20 citizens Monday night. The town acquired the option some years ago when the property last changed hands. The meeting’s action clears the way for purchase by a party as yet unnamed, who reportedly intends to continue its use as a commercial block.

— The Penn Central Railroad and a West Cornwall laundromat operator have been charged with violating state public health codes and were served with cease and desist orders on Feb. 11 by Town Sanitarian George Senseney. The cease and desist order served on the railroad states that the toilet used by a tenant in the West Cornwall railroad station is “discharging raw sewage into a brook which flows into the Housatonic River,” while the owner of the laundromat is cited for having waste from 10 washing machines flow into a small brook, which discharges into the Housatonic River, also in violation of the same health codes as the railroad.

— The “driven snow” of northwest Connecticut may not be as “white and pure” as we’d like to think. Some ecology students at Kent School have discovered that the white stuff contains, of all things, cyanide. In random analyses of snow samples from the area, traces of cyanide persistently appeared. Instructor Robert Riedman is “mystified as to where it came from,” and hastens to add that only minute traces were found. “You’d probably have to eat a ton of snow to feel any ill effects,” he said.

25 years ago — 1997

SALISBURY — The battle of the sandwich boards was brought to a close Monday, when the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously voted to eliminate the two-sided portable signs from downtown. Shopkeepers with businesses that are not visible from Main Street have used the signs as a way of attracting business. The decision to eliminate the sandwich boards was primarily to avoid a later proliferation of the signs. In order to help merchants who believe that their businesses may suffer from the ruling, the commission is interested in erecting a common sign at a downtown site that may direct tourists to a number of shops.

FALLS VILLAGE — At last weekend’s Class S championship wrestling meet in Colchester, Tom Presson added the honor of Class S runner-up at 275 pounds to his strong second season wrestling for Housatonic Valley Regional High School. His finish moved the Mountaineer matmen up into 15th place out of 22 teams.

CANAAN — Battle lines have been drawn once again over a proposed affordable housing development on Sand Road. Phoenix Horizon Corp. submitted an application to the Land Use Commission Monday night for construction of a 73-home community, a portion of which would be available to first-time home buyers who meet income guidelines.

These items were taken from The Lakeville Journal archives at Salisbury’s Scoville Memorial Library, keeping the original wording intact as possible. Go to www.scovillelibrary.org for more.