Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago — April 1922

ORE HILL — F.R. Blodgett has moved from W.A. Bartle’s farmhouse to Yonkers, N.Y., where he is employed as fireman for the Yonkers Hospital.

The storm of Friday night deposited about three inches of snow and sleet, made traveling still more difficult and proved an April 1st joke on the trout fishermen. What’s that old saying about winter lingering in the lap of Spring?

The bus of the Koolfit company of Millerton was destroyed by fire at Sharon last Friday. The bus got stuck in the mud and in trying to extricate itself a backfire started a blaze that soon finished the bus.

50 years ago — April 1972

Sometime Sunday night, after the manager had closed up at 11 o’clock, someone broke into the Dairy Queen in Millerton, N.Y., and made off with three dozen bananas, eight pounds of hot dogs and some lettuce. An employee, questioned Monday morning about the incident, laughingly said he expected the culprits to return for some ice cream for all those banana splits.

A rescue action to save a deer caught on the ice on Lake Wononscopomuc Sunday afternoon spurred the deer to free itself and scramble off into the woods. Roy Sherwood saw the full-grown deer on the ice at the southeast corner of the lake, apparently driven there by dogs. Mr. Sherwood telephoned Resident State Trooper Robert Smithwick.

Smithwick arranged with Edward R. Davis to use The Hotchkiss School’s boat. Messrs. Smithwick, Sherwood and James Haynes proceeded toward the deer, but as they approached it ran off under its own power.

Dr. Roland W. Smith of Lakeville has been certified by the American Board of Anesthesiologists as a specialist in the practice of anesthesiology. Board certification is granted only after passing intensive oral and written examinations.

Kent experienced its Second Annual Easter Snowfall on Sunday. There was enough white stuff to cover the ground throughout Kent and to linger a while on Skiff Mountain. We hope Mother Nature doesn’t consider that event compulsory each year — sure puts a damper on Easter finery.

The old Norfolk station was purchased jointly by Mrs. John Bazzano Jr. and Mr. and Mrs. Laurence Hannafin last Saturday. The building was sold at auction by the First Federal Bank of Torrington. No definite plans have been made for the property, but the new owners feel they will probably use it for a business venture after restoring the building.

25 years ago — April 1997

A howling late-season storm buried the Northwest Corner with a foot — in some cases two feet or more -- of snow Monday night and Tuesday morning. Yet by Wednesday afternoon, much of the white mantle was gone, melted by April sunshine and temperatures soaring into the mid-50s. Hundreds of trees and thousands of limbs were down, some crashing into homes and parked cars. Most residents lost electricity at some point, and at midweek some had been told not to expect it back until Friday. It was a storm to remember.

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