Turning Back the Pages - January 22, 2026

125 years ago — January 1901

There seems to be more small pox than in years past. Small pox is a pretty scary disease, but it doesn’t kill half as many as grippe and consumption.

They say Tesla has received a message from Mars. This sort of beats Col. Stone’s Winsted tales in the New York papers.

CHAPINVILLE — The C.N.E.R.R. Co. has commenced filling their creamery ice house, from the Twin Lakes. Thomas O’Hara has the contract of sawing the ice which is about nine inches thick.

It is said there is a big scheme on foot to take the water from the Housatonic and Ten Mile rivers for New York City. The streams would be dammed and many miles of valuable farm land would be submerged and the Housatonic rendered useless for manufacturing purposes.

Adv.: For sale at a great bargain the following articles in excellent condition, but useless to owner because of alterations in house: — 2 pairs fine lace curtains, 1 brass bedstead (double), 1 parlor sofa (mahogany and silk). For further information apply at this office.

After the ice storm of last Friday, the view which ever way one might look was one of beauty. Every twig had been provided with the ice king’s diamonds and when the sunlight fell upon them they sparkled and shone in a dazzling fashion.

100 years ago — January 1926

The women are always ready to insist upon having their rights and generally get some that belong to the masculine element. About the only thing strictly masculine that is left to the male is his mustache.

FOR SALE — Seasoned chestnut wood sawed in stove lengths. $4.50 per 2 horse double box load. Edward O’Neil, Lakeville.

Editor Krouse of the Connecticut Western News has announced that he will resign his position at least for a time, owing to the fact that his health is not all that it should be. His many friends hope that he will soon be himself again at the helm of the News.

50 years ago — January 1976

Canaan Products Inc., makers of Wash ‘n Dry, have announced they will close out manufacturing operations in Canaan by the end of March. Approximately 40 employees will lose their jobs, according to plant manager James E. Shepherd.

The concept of cable television for northwest Connecticut is still alive but is a “close question as to investment,” according to Haystack Cablevision spokesman Nicholas Eddy. Mr. Eddy, one of three partners working to bring cable television to the area, said no progress has been made.

The Lakeville Journal was awarded third place for General Excellence among all weekly newspapers in New England of 5000-6999 circulation at the New England Press Association meeting in Boston last Friday. The Journal also took second place for the Best Editorial Page in its circulation group, Class III. Those two awards brought to 14 the number of citations for excellence achieved by The Lakeville Journal in the last five years.

Fingerprints lifted from the cottage where Barbara Gibbons was killed in 1973 have been matched to those of Timothy Parmalee of Falls Village, Peter Reilly’s attorney T.F. Gilroy Daly said Tuesday. Timothy Parmalee is the brother of Michael Parmalee, who has been identified through affidavits as a suspect no longer having an alibi for the night of the slaying.

25 years ago — January 2001

Nearly 60 years ago a Canaan limestone plant became a defense contractor. It was no secret the magnesium produced was shipped for use in military aircraft and incendiary bombs. It was 1943 in the midst of World War II, but it was not until the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima that it became common knowledge the majority of the mineral mined from Canaan Mountain was used in the Manhattan Project.

It came as no surprise that a report titled “The Health of Connecticut’s Hospitals” ranked Sharon as one of four “significantly distressed” in the state. The 285-page document is the result of a special act of the General Assembly in 1999 which called for the state’s Office of Health Care Access to study Connecticut’s hospital system and the factors that influence the financial conditions of hospitals.

KENT — The town hall meeting room was nearly filled to capacity Sunday as residents came to honor their “hometown hero,” former State Sen. M. Adela Eads. Mrs. Eads retired from the 30th District this month, after serving 20 years in the upper chamber. And while her area covered 15 towns, she always had a special place in her heart for the people of Kent.

Lake Wononscopomuc is home to two species of snail and two weeks that are of special concern to environmentalists, but it does not shelter any endangered species, according to a report from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

CANAAN — Librarian Norma DeMay came across some treasures. Two portraits — one an oil painting of a dignified, middle-aged man, the other an elegantly framed charcoal drawing of an older gentleman — await identification. Both pictures appear familiar, almost presidential. But a look through the book of presidents only provided the clue that the style of dress places both portraits in the mid-1800s. “It would be rather embarrassing if they turned out to be famous and we didn’t recognize them,” Ms. DeMay said. But both she and town historian Fred Hall believe the oil painting, at least, is of a local man.

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