Turning Back the Pages

125 years ago — June 1900

William J. Sherwood of Salisbury is quite ill with pneumonia.

I would like to inquire of the man about town, what has become of the bank and trolley?

It is now that we get the returns from the drowning accidents caused by the idiot who rocks the boat for the fun of the thing. The fresh air fiend who insists on opening the windows on railroad trains and in public places is also in evidence.

We don’t blame anyone for liking to ride a wheel and we believe that bicyclists should receive fair treatment, but there are a few things that wheelmen ought to remember and thus keep within the law. One is, that approaching a team from the rear the wheelman should have decency enough to ring his bell and give the driver a chance to take care of his horse. There are lots of horses that pay no attention to a wheel as long as they can see it, but to have a wheel flash up behind and past them is enough to startle a human being to say nothing of an equine.Most wheelmen are gentleman and like to do what is right, but there are some careless ones, and it is to them that we respectfully “dedicate these lines.”

The following pupils of Amesville school have not been absent or tardy during May: Millard Kipp, Willie Pulver, Emma Reed, May Call, Mary Woodin, Ross Woodin. Joseph Hines was absent one-half day.

Last Tuesday night while Otis Turner’s tent show was in progress at Sharon, some of the seats collapsed, precipitating about 300 spectators to the ground. A number were hurt, receiving sprained ankles and severe bruises. Fortunately none were seriously hurt, but it was due to sheer good luck and nothing more. It is supposed that while taking down some of the seats, one of the workmen loosened the wrong ropes and the seats went down.

100 years ago — June 1925

LIME ROCK — Ralph Hunter’s dog was struck by an auto Sunday and badly hurt.

ORE HILL — Frank Brown has moved to Lincoln City. James Flint has purchased the house previously occupied by the Brown family.

John Erickson is applying a new coat of paint to the flag pole in the park.

The silent policeman is once more on duty near the bank for the coming season.

50 years ago — June 1975

The Town of Cornwall’s Wetlands Agency will challenge the State Department of Environmental Protection, agency members decided Tuesday. At issue is the state’s claim to jurisdiction over construction of a dam on Popple Swamp Road. The agency said Tuesday that the state DEP had “seized jurisdiction” without presenting any evidence as to why the local agency should not have authority over dam construction and the resulting 20-acre pond on land owned by Richard Nash.

Salisbury is to have a new historical marker across from the Town Hall relating the highlights of its past. First Selectman Charlotte Reid disclosed Tuesday night that the wording of the marker to be erected by the Town and the Connecticut Historical Commission had been worked out by Richard A. Kimball, recently retired chairman of the Salisbury Historic District Commission, and Marguerite Bourdon, unofficial town historian.

Cable television prospects for the Northwest Corner jumped forward this past week when Haystack Cablevision Inc. won its certificate from the federal government to operate in two towns — Salisbury and Canaan. If all goes well, Haystack may begin actual operation in early 1976.

A plaque placed at the foot of a yellowwood tree was dedicated in the memory of Paul F. Allyn Jr. of East Canaan last Thursday at a brief ceremony at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. Paul Allyn Jr., a 1973 graduate of HVRHS and the school’s vo-ag program, died at the age of 18 in an automobile accident in September 1974.

The Housatonic Chapter of the Future Farmers of America will be led by a young woman next year, the first female to be elected president since the organization was founded in 1939. Lynn Pollard of Falls Village, a junior this year at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, was elected to the chapter presidency on May 20. Lynn’s parents, Calvin and Addie Pollard, own a farm in Falls Village operated by Lynn’s three older brothers.

The dean of Salisbury’s news correspondents, Lila Nash, has retired from her position with The Waterbury Republican. Mrs. Nash, who covered Salisbury- Lakeville stories for 45 years, ended her association with the paper last week.

Permission for the Brothers Pizza restaurant to serve beer and wine has been refused by the State Liquor Control Commission. John F. Healy, commission chairman, said the restaurant was denied for two reasons. One reason was that applicant William Stefanopoulos was considered unsuitable because he is “unable to read and understand English.” The other reason given was that the location of the restaurant was declared inappropriate because of its “close proximity to the recreational area” (the Town Grove) which would make serving of liquor “detrimental to public interest in the neighborhood.”

Salisbury Selectmen decided Tuesday night to give formal notice to the Erickson Brothers that the new town solid waste transfer station will go into operation July 1, 1976, a month before expiration of the present contract for use on the landfill on the Erickson farm.

Canaan’s North Elm Street shopping plaza, a project abuptly dropped after much fanfare last fall, sprang to life again this week, this time with no advance notice. Workers and equipment were on the site early Wednesday, grading the land and digging drainage ditches. The Grand Union Company in Waterford, N.Y., confirmed that a Grand Union Market will be built, as originally announced last October.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas James Foley Sr. of Lower Road, Canaan, were honored Sunday at a reception given by their children in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary. They were married May 30, 1925, in Newark, N.J. Mrs. Foley is the former Theresa Stoecker of Irvington, N.J. The came to Canaan in 1926 to run the farm they now own. The Foleys have four children, Warren, Thomas Jr. and John of Canaan and Mrs. Charles Joch Jr. of Ashley Falls, Mass. They have 10 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

CORNWALL — Since the mowing season is beginning and the men on the town crew are not trained horticulturists, First Selectman Kenneth Merz has asked anyone with flowers or shrubs along the roadside that he wants protected to call the town garage and state the location of the plantings.

25 years ago — June 2000

KENT — A second group of Schaghticoke Indians has taken preliminary steps to challenge a petition for recognition submittted in 1994 by a faction of the tribe led by Chief Richard Velky. The Schaghticoke Indian Tribe, which includes members who currently reside on the 400-acre reservation in Kent, submitted a letter to Valerie Lambert, head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the Northeast region, informing her it would be submitting a petition of its own for federal recognition shortly.

LAKEVILLE — It was standing room only at the Church of St. Mary here the day after Memorial Day as nearly 500 people attended a funeral Mass in honor of the late Martha Fitzgerald, 56. The community turned out in full force to celebrate the memory of the woman who had supported so many children, families and the elderly during her own life. Mrs. Fitzgerald was a nurse for many years with the Salisbury Visiting Nurse Association and was the nurse for Salisbury Central School until last autumn. “The children wanted to go see the nurse all the time, just to see the nurse,” recalled Maggie Fraser, who taught at the school for many years.