Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago – 1924

Miss Lucy Reed has returned from an extended visit with her sisters in West Springfield and Suffield, and expects to resume her duties at the Canaan post office on Monday.

H. Roscoe Brinton has sold Radio sets to Miss Grace Ball and G.R. Belcher.

LIME ROCK – Arthur Peck has purchased a new piano.

Several are having their ice houses filled with 12 inch ice.

Mr. and Mrs. Robie of Taconic gave a radio and card party at their home on Saturday evening. All had a wonderfully enjoyable time.

Gaston Cleaveland is driving truck for H.S. Kelsey.

50 years ago – 1974

A week of rain and warm winds has imperiled the 49th annual U.S. Eastern Ski Jump Championships at Salisbury. But the sponsoring Salisbury Winter Sports Association has not yet cancelled the jumps, scheduled for Feb. 9 and 10.

Gasoline station owners in the Tri-State area tightened their belts another notch in the last week of January, a month many describe as the worst yet. They are not optimistic about February and the future months. A spot check of area stations this week found many dealers are out of gasoline, while others who have the precious fluid have limited the hours they pump gas.

Adv. – GAS HOURS 7 to 8:30 a.m. and 2 to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday. Limit of purchase depends on supply. Lakeville Service Station, Montgomery Street, Lakeville.

A pet cat belonging to John T. MacFadyen of Millbrook, N.Y., allegedly was the cause of an auto accident Monday morning on Under Mountain Road in Salisbury. The cat escaped from a box in the car and reportedly jumped on the young man, causing him to lose control of his vehicle, which knocked down a telephone pole. Mr. MacFadyen was taken by ambulance to Sharon Hospital, where he was treated and released. The cat disappeared during the confusion.

The North Canaan Housing Authority opted for electric heat for the 24-unit housing for the elderly project at its last meeting. Before coming to its unanimous decision in favor of electric heat the group listened to the merits of both oil and electric heating as presented by representatives of the Hartford Electric Light Company and John B. Hull Inc. Housing Authority members favored electric heat because of the lower costs of installation and maintenance. The wheels of fortune (and Penn Central) grind exceedingly slow, but last week, after 50 weeks of negotiations, Canaan became the owner of the 11-acre tract off Quinn Street planned as the site for a housing for the elderly project.

A film of Steve Blass in the 1971 World Series will be shown this Friday in the North Canaan Elementary School at 7 p.m. The film will be open to all boys participating in Canaan - Falls Village Little League and their parents.

25 years ago – 1999

SHARON – The town lost a piece of its history last Friday when an electrical fire began in the library of the stately Weatherstone and gutted the interior of the front half of the home, leaving it little more than a shell of its former grandeur. As approximately 100 firefighters attempted to get the blaze under control, neighbors and townspeople tried to get a glimpse of what one observer said was the “finest house in the Northwest Corner.” The 18th century Georgian manor house, with more than 300 years of history, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1765 by Dr. Simeon Smith, who operated a pharmacy in Sharon with drugs imported from London and Amsterdam, the home’s original name was the Governor Smith Homestead. It was not until the 1940s that the home was given the name Weatherstone by owner Bryon Stookey, a prominent New York City neurosurgeon.

Kerry Keser, former education director, was recently promoted to museum director for Holley House and the Salisbury Cannon Museum. Although her actual duties will be little affected, Ms. Keser is pleased with this vote of confidence from the Salisbury Association.

FALLS VILLAGE – The Board of Selectmen voted 2-1 to move forward in the permit application process with the Department of Environmental Protection necessary to dump contaminated soil from the Lee H. Kellogg School as landfill cover. Selectmen Louis Timolat and Patricia Mechare voted in favor of the motion, while First Selectman Gabriel Seymour voted no at a meeting Jan. 21. Mr. Timolat has maintained that the soil is suitable for cover at a landfill. The hydrocarbon count is 418 parts per million, well below the maximum allowance of 50,000 parts per million, he said.

Falls Village residents got an update on the less than seamy side of Washington, D.C. last week. Lara Mittaud, a senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, recounted her experiences as a summer intern to a gathering of the Republican Town Committee. Although the internship was arranged and largely funded through the RTC, the meeting was a show of bipartisanship. Both Democrats and Republicans in town contributed money so that Ms. Mittaud could travel to the nation’s capital.

A daughter, Ciara Siobhan McElroy, was born Jan. 11 at Sharon Hospital to Noelle LaMuniere and Sean McElroy of Falls Village.

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