Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago —
February 1924

No end of speculation and alarm has been caused by the disappearance of Lawrence Travis who has been employed at Martin’s Garage. He seemingly has dropped completely out of sight and no trace of his whereabouts has been learned. On Feb. 16 he left Martin’s Garage in a Star car with a couple of friends, and a short time later returned to Lakeville parting with his companions. He again started out in the car stating he was going to the barber shop. From that time on nothing whatever has been seen of him. Mr. Martin has employed the young man for the past four years and speaks very highly of him, stating that he is more worried about the boy than the missing car. The disappearance of the lad is very strange in many ways, chiefly in the fact that absolutely no trace of the boy or the car has been found. State Police have taken up the case.

Mr. Walter Boardman with a party of friends from Canaan spent Friday in Hartford at the auto show.

TACONIC – Carol Gardner has been out of school for two weeks with a grippe cold. Harold Jones is also out of school and taking fresh air cure for overtaxed nerves.

Miss Fay Jones while coasting down Church Hill last Saturday evening collided with a tree, being thrown from her sled with great violence and rendered unconscious for a while but received no serious injury. Several other minor coasting accidents were reported during the past week.

50 years ago –
February 1974

Superior Court Judge John A. Speziale Tuesday ordered tighter controls on the news media because of the “tremendous amount of publicity in the last few days” on the Peter Reilly murder trial in Litchfield.

If all goes according to the developers’ schedule, Salisbury’s first condominium units will be open for inspection by prospective buyers in time for next fall’s foliage season. However, the proposed Salisbury Glen seemed to arouse a general negative reaction in residents who attended an open hearing on the final plans last Monday night. The 52-unit development has been proposed for a 24-acre tract on Route 44 just east of Salisbury village, next to what was once the House of Herbs. The Planning and Zoning Commission now has 65 days in which to accept or reject the plans.

Employees of M.F. Mulville Construction Co. from Norfolk were hard at work last week doing site work and pouring footings at Becton-Dickinson’s Grace Way plant. B-D this week announced an addition to the plant which will encompass 40,000 square feet.

Canaan gas dealers reported an easier month during February. Most of the dealers contacted said that they had not actually been out of gas for any extended period of time, and most expect to get through to the end of the month on their allocations.

The North Canaan Housing Authority last week became the official owner of the 11-acre tract of land off Quinn Street that has been designated as the site for the town’s first housing for the elderly project. Canaan selectmen signed a warranty deed last Friday transferring the land to the authority. Earlier this month the town purchased the land from Penn Central Transportation Company for $16,500.

The Bargain Box, the thrift shop that has already produced more than $158,000 for the Sharon Hospital Auxiliary, will move March 4 into larger quarters in the Sharon Shopping Center.

Creation of a major new recreation and conservation area was revealed in Kent this week. Dr. Bethia Currie of Cornwall has announced that a tract of approximately 100 acres adjacent to the Macedonia Brook State Park is to be dedicated as a living memorial to her late husband, Dr. John B. Currie.

25 years ago —
February 1999

FALLS VILLAGE – Making an assumption from the book’s title, “Investigation Homicide,” readers might expect a somber, perhaps depressing account by a New York City police reporter. But Jeanne Toomey managed to approach a serious subject with humor, bringing those who follow her story into the world of investigative journalism beginning in the 1940s. Ms. Toomey, who is now chief of operations at The Last Post, a “cat hotel” on Belden Street, tells her story with candor, unafraid to disclose her failures as well as her successes, both on the job and in life.

FALLS VILLAGE – March 2 is Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Schools and libraries are celebrating by proclaiming it “Read Across America Day.” Children throughout the region will be able to call the Lee H. Kellogg School from 6 to 8 p.m. and hear a story read to them. It is called dial-a-story.

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