Turning Back the Pages

125 years ago —January 1900

SALISBURY — Clarence Holder, who met with an accident at the Bicycle shop a short time since is improving.

Since the recent rains the Cutlery Handle shop has had water power to enable them to run on full time.

Lester Ostrander is now working at the cycle shop and has moved his family into the company’s tenement house.

G.A. Selleck is one of the busiest of men these days, as the wheels at the grist mill can be heard grinding early and late.

The depots at Salisbury and Chapinville were entered by sneak thieves Sunday evening last and the contents of the gum machines and telephones were taken after smashing them in order to reach the contents. Very small amounts were secured at both depots.

Mrs. Henry Staniforth is very ill of nervous prostration.

The village of Sharon has had its lesson upon the danger of being without sufficient hose in case of fire, and to the credit of that village be it said it has risen to the emergency and has adopted the scheme of having more hose, having raised the amount necessary. We hate to admit it, but this village has a similar lesson to learn. It may be a dear one, but it is bound to come sooner or later. The point is, that even if we can’t have a regular hose company we at least ought to have about 1500 more feet of hose.

The question of changing the Sharon Station depot to Cooper’s crossing is one that is agitating our people just now. Papers are being circulated both for and against the change.

LAKEVILLE — The station has been piped for gas lighting from the main and we may soon expect to see the station lighted better than ever before. Several burners are already in operation with good effect and more are to be added.

Robbins, Burrall & Co. have placed a street light on the corner of the bank. It is lighted by acetylene gas, has a reflector and lights up the surroundings in splendid shape. If we could have such lights at regular intervals all over the village the people would hardly know that night had come.

100 years ago — January 1925

The village of Sharon sustained a serious fire loss last Sunday morning, when the village Casino went up in smoke and flames and two dwelling houses adjacent were seriously damaged. The Sharon Chemical Co. responded, along with companies from Amenia, Lakeville, Millerton and Canaan, but there seemed to be some kind of trouble with the water pressure and in spite of a lot of hard work the Casino was soon a mass of ruins. The houses of Miss Ruth Prindle and Roland Marckres on each side of the Casino were also soon ablaze and while the fire was stopped before the buildings were consumed, they still suffered great damage, and the occupants were compelled to leave them in a hurry after saving what household effects they could. The Casino was a large building and the glare of the fire could be seen for miles and called a large crowd of people from the surrounding country. Several reels of films booked by E.J. Stuart were also consumed. The Casino was built some years ago and was owned and operated by a stock company. It is understood that insurance to the amount of $13,000 was carried, but this amount will not cover the loss and some doubt is expressed that the building will ever be replaced.

Wednesday morning furnished the coldest weather of the present winter. The mercury registered from 15 to 25 below zero according to locality, and Earl Day states that his thermometer said 31 below. The arctic hasn’t much on us after all. This is almost a record for this section, but not quite. Older residents recall that in the winter of 1906 the mercury went down to 88 below at the Willard farm near Salisbury. That year water pipes leading into houses froze up in numerous cases and created a bonanza for the plumbers. For a period of about two weeks the mercury never got up to zero. However the present spell of weather has been cold enough to suit the most exacting. Let us all rejoice that there is plenty of coal to meet the conditions.

Mr. J. Cox Howell has decided to take a novel vacation. He left town Tuesday for New York where he joined the crew of the freight steamship Malta, which will voyage via the Panama Canal to San Francisco. Mr. Howell has shipped as an ordinary member of the crew and will practically work his way to the Golden Gate. He did not have to do this but he figured that he would have a lot more enjoyment as an ordinary seaman instead of seeing things from a deck chair. He figures that he will thus get a different perspective on seafaring life and that the experience will be something to enjoy and remember. His many friends here wish him a successful and enjoyable trip and vacation.

LIME ROCK — Little Gloria Peck has whooping cough.

Every child that was old enough to be out and most of the grown-ups witnessed the eclipse last Saturday morning. During the eclipse a daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Philip Atkins.

50 years ago — January 1975

Rod Aller of Lakeville unintentionally initiated the swimming season on Tuesday. He also demonstrated the utility of the lifesaving icepicks the Salisbury Rotary Club is obtaining from Sweden for sale at cost through various stores as a public service. Rod, an accomplished outdoorsman, was skating on a portion of Lake Wononscopomuc when he suddenly came on a patch of new ice and broke through. With the icepicks around his neck he easily clawed his way to safety despite the icy bath. Lake Wononscopomuc has not yet frozen solid this winter and has a number of open stretches where thousands of ducks and Canada geese congregate.

A head-to-head confrontation of ski jump “super stars” now looms with the annual Salisbury Ski Jumps fast approaching. Jay Rand, who has twice won the Magnus Satre Trophy, won the U.S. National Nordic Championships at Gilford, N.H., by jumping 243 feet on that 70 meter hill, for a point total of 404.8. Norwegian ace Petter Kongsli, last year’s winner of the Satre Trophy at Salisbury, was second in the jump at Gilford, with a point total of 404.7. Second overall at the Gilford event was Walter Malmquist. All three — Rand, Kongsli and Malmquist — will be jumping at Salisbury. Rand and Bruce Jennings, another star performer, will each be trying to retire the Trophy by winning it for the third time. No one has ever achieved that feat.

Lakeville residents were surprised to find Jacqueline Onassis and her son John F. Kennedy Jr. in town last Friday. Escorted by a U.S. Secret Service agent, the two had an interview with admissions officers at The Hotchkiss School. Mrs. Onassis is reportedly considering enrolling her son at the private school. While in Lakeville, after their interview, the pair stopped at the Salisbury Milk Bar for lunch. In a brief conversation, Mrs. Onassis is reported to have commented on the beauty of the community. John Thompson Sr. at the Salisbury Milk Bar said Mrs. Onassis ordered a hamburger and coffee, while her son had a hamburger with a fried egg on it and a shake.

Salisbury Cleaners on Undermountain Road in Salisbury is under new management, with William Tedder II the new owner, taking over the cleaning business from his father, William Tedder.

Clarence Martin of Sheffield was the subject of a film on the art of horseshoeing . Mr. Martin has been a farrier for over 60 years and is well known for his knowledge of horses. The film, made by television director Michael Gottlieb, may be used to get a grant for more films on vanishing American craftsmen.

25 years ago — January 2000

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Dozens of firefighters from three states responded as part of a mutual aid call Tuesday morning to search for a girl who is presumed drowned. The search included state police underwater rescue and dive teams. As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, the rescue effort continued to search for Shirley Palmer, 5, who fell in the Housatonic River as she tried to pull her brother Richard out after he slipped in snow on the bank of the river and fell into the water. The two were on their way to Bryant school, taking a route along the shoreline instead of going down Main Street.

The parking lot at the Recreation Building at the Town Grove was full. Inside there were warm hugs and congratulations for a veteran teacher, more than enough to offset the damp cold outside. “She was the nicest,” Shawn Bushey, now a pre-teen and a former Housatonic Day Care Center participant, said of Joan Palmer, who was being honored Sunday for her 30 years with the organization.