Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago — April 1924

Miss Helen Harding has gone to New York where she has a position in a library for three months.

SALISBURY – W.W. Hortie of Winsted spent Sunday with his daughters.

TACONIC – Samuel Collins has resigned his position at J.F. Fishers and will soon move to a farm near Hudson.

Myron Holley has sold the block for many years occupied by the M.E. Miller estate to R.W. Dufour, and Mr. Dufour has sold his building at present occupied by A.E. Bauman to Harry T. Miller. The parties concerned in these deals have not yet announced their future plans.

Nearly a foot of snow arriving on April 1st proved an April fool joke to those looking for spring. Some of the farmers brought their milk to town on runners. The snow fell very rapidly, but Dan Lorigan and his men operated the state snow plow during the night and as a result the state roads were cleared and ready for use early Wednesday morning, a fact that was much appreciated by auto drivers.

TACONIC – Arthur Tomlinson has completed his new house to the second story.

Last Thursday afternoon the brakes on the Conn. Power Co. truck which was parked in front of their office loosened up and the truck backed down the hill coming to a stop after smashing in the side of a Cadillac car belonging to Leslie Dufour.

The Senior Class of the Canaan High School arrived home from Washington on Thursday. Miss Margaret Jones of this place who is attending high school in Canaan made the trip with the rest of the class, and besides enjoying the other pleasures of the trip she shook hands with President Coolidge.

On Wednesday radio fans were glad to hear that coal had dropped $1.00 per ton in price.

50 years ago — April 1974

On a dirt road between the Kent School and the Schaghticoke Indian reservation a small stone building lies in ruins. Now a pile of crumbling masonry and rotted beams on a weed-choked lot, the structure is said to have housed a mission school for local Indians. According to Schaghticoke Chief Ernie Harris of Litchfield, the Moravian missionaries who brought Christianity to the Schaghticokes used the building as a school until its abandonment in the mid-nineteenth century. Chief Harris visited the site last week with a group interested in restoring the building as a monument.

Salisbury has been experiencing difficulty obtaining the proper materials from the state for completion of the bridge reconstruction on the Salisbury- Lime Rock Road, Salisbury First Selectman Charlotte Reid said Tuesday night. A report from Town Engineer Henry Rossire detailed the problems which arose when the state official in charge of materials was ill and the town crew was given 30 special sized nuts instead of the 113 requested, 9 post bolts instead of 28, and 4 end posts instead of 9. Mr. Rossire is trying to track the matter down, but Selectman George Kiefer said the problem had required “a phenomenal amount of correspondence.”

A contract has been let to build and install replicas of the decaying railings which were removed from the tower of the Sharon Congregational Church last summer. Replacement is to be completed for the 150th anniversary of the historic brick church in May. In addition, 62 shutters are being repainted by church members to complete the new look.

Over 100 boys registered for this year’s Little League program in Canaan, according to League president Doug Humes. There will be six teams and a farm team playing in the league this summer.

The soft glow of kerosene lamps has a special intrigue for Dr. Vincent Peppe of West Main Street. Dr. Peppe started collecting the lamps this winter in an effort to conserve energy and now declares that he likes them better than candlelight for soft lighting. Dr. Peppe has a number of interesting lamps in his collection and is seeking more information on how they were used most effectively in by-gone days. He talked briefly to the Exchange Club about his lamps Tuesday evening.

The Department of Environmental Protection has finally scheduled a public hearing April 26 in Hartford on Falls Village’s bid to open the new town landfill on Route 63. The town acquired the land for $125,000 last summer, but still hasn’t been able to put it in service. Delay of formal DEP approval has been the last big stumbling block.

25 years ago — April 1999

In a unique collaboration, local artists, entertainers, illustrators, sculptors, photographers, actors and others, along with skilled craftsmen, have combined their talents to create one-of-a-kind artwork to be sold for the benefit of the Northwest Connecticut and Litchfield Hills chapters of Habitat for Humanity. The artwork will be offered for sale at a festive party and silent auction April 10 from 4 to 7 p.m. (last bid at 6:30 p.m.) at the Paris- New York- Kent Gallery at Station Square. Everyone is welcome.

For her 23 years of service to the Kent Volunteer Ambulance, Leslie Connery was recently given the Distinguished Achievement Award. Mrs. Connery, 70, was given the award at the annual awards banquet of Connecticut’s Emergency Medical Services March 20 in Cromwell.

CANAAN – Theresa Freund recalls the time she mistakenly plowed the cornfield her husband had just planted. Matthew Freund was understandably upset. But that was nearly two decades ago and they are still happily married and she has learned a lot since then. Last month, the couple traveled to Mobile, Ala., where Mrs. Freund received a national “Outstanding Young Farmer” award. She was one of 39 farmers in the country and the only one in New England to receive the award, which was sponsored on the state level by the Hartford Jaycees and the Connecticut Agricultural Information Council.

Noted Norfolk journalist Seth Moseley celebrated his 90th birthday last week with a party given by many of his friends.

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