Turning Back the Pages

125 years ago — March 1900

Falls Village was visited by a disastrous fire yesterday morning. At about a quarter of seven the Sid Reed Block was found to be a mass of flames. As the village has no means of fighting fires, all the people could do was to get out what articles they could and let the fire do its work. The block consisted of the clothing store of John Belden in the main part, with a tenement each side, occupied by Sidney Reed and A.S. Davis. By hard work most of the store stock and household goods were saved. We understand the buildings were fully insured. It was thought the depot would also burn, but it was finally saved after being pretty thoroughly scorched. It was not known what started the fire as it was under such full headway when discovered. The barns belonging to Reed were uninjured.

A family of five was last week poisoned by eating huckleberry pie in Hartford. We always suspected there was something uncanny about the Hartford pie, but we did not think it was so deadly as all this. We would not be surprised if huckleberry pie would supplant bromo seltzer and chocolate drops that have formerly been used by up to date poisoners. Moral: Beware of the meek looking but deadly huckleberry pie.

Last month a party of 16 started from West Goshen to North Dakota. Several of the party intend to take up land and raise wheat.

SHARON — Extensive improvements are being made on the place formerly owned by Mrs. Taylor. The barn is being moved over next to Mr. Eggleston’s barn and we understand the hedge is to be taken away.

The trouting season opens April 1st and LaPlace the druggist is prepared for it with a large line of fishing tackle to meet all demands.

S.J. Lee, a prominent farmer living near Irondale, met with a fatal accident on Thursday night. He started out to hunt foxes in the afternoon and did not return. Midnight came and his family became alarmed. A searching party was organized and at half past four Mr. Lee’s body was found covered with snow and lying within a stone’s throw of his home. From appearances it seems that he had slipped on the ice, the gun was discharged and one side of his neck was torn away, evidently causing instant death.

100 years ago — March 1925

J. Cox Howell has returned to his home in Salisbury after a cruise through the Panama Canal to the Pacific Coast on board a freight steamer.

Mrs. Frink, mother of the Misses Mary and Katherine Frink of Frink Hill, recently fell and fractured her hip.

LIME ROCK — Miss St. James, our nurse, has been housed with a cold.

SALISBURY — Among the names appearing in the mid-winter honor list at Yale University, is the name of Robert B. Flint, son of Mr. and Mrs. Scott Flint, and grandson of W.P. Everts of this place, who is listed in Class of 1927, scholars of the first rank, general average of 90 or more.

George Rowe of Lime Rock is not able to step on his foot yet.

A book belonging to the Hartford Public Library, What the Schools Teach and Might Teach, borrowed for the use of the Education Group of the League of Women Voters, is now overdue. Will the holder kindly return as soon as possible to Mrs. J.C. Howell, Salisbury.

An 11 ½ pound son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Clark of Wells Hill last week.

John Beard, who has been spending the winter in Ore Hill, has gone south.

A son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Fuller of Holten, Maine, on March 9th. Mrs. Fuller was formerly Miss Ellen Lasher, a teacher here, and Mr. Fuller was Principal of the Lakeville High School.

50 years ago — March 1975

Area businessmen and officials are to testify Friday in opposition to an end to rail freight service on the Berkshire Line. Termination of service to Canaan alone would cost more than 100 jobs and $1 million in personal income, one spokesman will tell federal officials. An ad hoc committee of businessmen, selectmen, planners and private and civic groups have formed the Rail Research Committee for the Berkshire Rail Line. The group will make its presentations Friday in Wethersfield before public hearings conducted by the Interstate Commerce Commission.

The 1973-74 Acorn, literary and arts magazine of Housatonic Valley Regional High School, has taken first prize for overall excellence in the annual contest of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. The Acorn which judges measured against similar publications from schools across the nation, was produced under the editorships of students Heidi Schmidt and Leslie Dakin. Ellery Sinclair was the faculty advisor.

Last week’s Lakeville Journal story on the new Regional Shared Services budget noted an increase from $2000 to $6000 in the amount allotted “for loyal services.” That line should have read “legal services.”

The amphibious plane built by Frederick C. Gevalt III took to the air early last Sunday morning from the Great Barrington airport. Fred worked on the plane over a 4½-year period at his parents’ home in Lakeville, putting in what his mother estimates as about 5000 hours of labor. The craft was transported to Great Barrington on a 36-foot trailer before its triumphant maiden flight. Because a homebuilt plane is considered an experimental craft, Fred may fly only within a 50-mile radius of the home airport for the first 50 flight hours and may not carry any passengers for that period.

To accommodate the growing demand for custom-made early American furniture, Webster “Bud” London has opened a shop on Stonehouse Road, just off Route 41 in Sharon, making hand-made wooden furniture. The new shop, “The Pioneer Spirit,” is housed on the second floor of a remodeled barn behind the Londons’ home. In a first-floor room, the Londons also have made a small showroom featuring many of the articles Mr. London has made.

Mr. and Mrs. Taylor Coleman’s Wolfpit Kennels of Sharon won special mention in “The Complete Cairn Terrier,” a book recently written by John T. Marvin. The Colemans came to Sharon in 1952, when Mr. Coleman took on the job of administrator of Sharon Hospital. By then they already had a longstanding interest in and experience with cairns. Their kennel on Wolfpit Road has had outstanding success, breeding and/or owning some 33 champions, Mr. Marvin said.

Faculty-student basketball games will be played Friday evening at the Kent Center gymnasium to raise money for the 8th grade class trip. The first game, between the faculty men and the boys’ team, will start at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $1 per adult and 50 cents for students, with the provision that no family will be charged more than $2.

25 years ago — March 2000

As part of an aggressive movement to cut costs, a work reduction of 41 employees was announced Wednesday at Sharon Hospital. The cuts affect all departments.

An 18-wheel dump truck carrying debris crashed into the stone bridge across Burton Brook on Route 44 in Lakeville March 14, mid-afternoon. It skidded onto the Salisbury Bank & Trust lawn, popping a tire along the way. The driver said he swerved to avoid hitting a vehicle which had darted out of Bostwick Street. There were temporary traffic delays, particularly when school was dismissed.

Lakeville’s loss will be Millerton’s gain in mid-April. That’s when Harney Teas moves most of its business from its present quarters, between Lakeville and Salisbury, to the former Taconic Products building on Route 22 in Millerton. “We’ve run out of space and don’t have room to expand,” John Harney said this week, pointing to nine trailers the firm has had to rent for extra storage space at its present location.