Turning Back the Pages - September 18, 2025

125 years ago — September 1900

Quiet supreme reigns in and around our homes again; school has commenced.

The new foot bridge over the brook near the Library is being placed in position. The new structure will add greatly to the convenience of the public and the general appearance of that section of the highway.

SHARON — The Messrs. Geo. Gay and Frank Northrup intend laying pipes from the mountain directly opposite Mr. Gay’s for the purpose of bringing water from a large spring there to the two houses and barns.

Geo. Klebes of Sharon Valley has purchased and will soon move into the home of his father, the late Michael Klebes.

The work of fitting up the new telephone office at Gordon’s is being done. This, when completed, will occupy a large corner of Mr. Gordon’s store and will add greatly to the telephone service.

Miss Nellie Ryder, who went on from Falls Village to Klondike to meet and wed U.G. Meyers, got there all right and was married July 26th. — Now living in Eagle City.

100 years ago — September 1925

The many friends of Mrs. George Williamson were shocked to hear that she had been accidentally shot by a revolver at her home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Tuesday, the bullet entering the abdominal section. She was hurried to the hospital and her parents, Dr. and Mrs. William Bissell, were notified. They at once left by the first train for Albuquerque. At the last moment before going to press the Journal learns that Mrs. Williamson seems slightly better and some slight hopes of her recovery are entertained.

William Brewster Hubbard died from a fractured skull at his home at Cream Hill near West Cornwall last Friday. He was carrying a pail of milk from his cow barn when he slipped and fell, striking his head, and died almost immediately. Mr. Hubbard was one of Cornwall’s prominent citizens and had a wide circle of friends throughout this section.

LAKEVILLE — Several from here have gone to Torrington to work.

Mrs. John Barrymore, wife of the noted actor of New York and Mrs. F.G. Gerard of Newport were guests at The Gateway on Wednesday night.

50 years ago — September 1975

A moving van had to be pressed into service last week, when a woman in an iron lung needed emergency transportation from her home to Sharon Hospital. Arnoff Moving & Storage Inc. in Lakeville was called upon when Genie Chester of Lime Rock was taken ill at her home. Her 3000-pound iron lung was too heavy to be handled by the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance. The five men who responded to the call — Larry Farnham, Francis Flint, Robert Francis, Bryant Killmer and Walter Killmer — refused to charge for their work time, and the Arnoff firm donated the use of the moving van. Mrs. Chester was reported in “good” condition at the hospital on Wednesday of this week. A spokesman for Arnoff said the men were expecting to carry her on the return trip to her home Thursday morning.

Deer poaching is a big business in the Northwest Corner and combating it takes much time of enforcement personnel, Conservation Officer Peter Begley told members of the Salisbury Rotary Club Tuesday. One group sold 125 deer during 1973-1974, mostly taken in the Northwest Corner, he said. Another took more than 100 deer from the Cornwall area to New York in a U-Haul truck in 1969-1970. Last year one crew killed 22 deer in a single night and one man alone killed eight. Another man bought an illegally killed deer for $75 and sold it to an undercover conservation officer for $150.

New York City’s famed Salmagundi Club, the oldest art club in the United States, has announced the winner of the 1975 Graphics and Sculpture Exhibition’s First Prize, member Alderson Magee, wildlife artist from Sharon. Mrs. Magee’s scratchboard drawing “Prairie Refuge,” showing two Pintail ducks landing ahead of a severe Midwest thunderstorm, was the winning entry.

Four Sheffield youths were arrested quickly Sunday evening after a robbery at Segalla’s Service Station in Canaan. The young men allegedly took $190 from the cash register of the gas station. The young men parked their car along side of the road, entered the gas station. According to attendant William Sackett, he found one of the boys in the office and noticed the cash register had been tampered with, and opening it, discovered all the bills had been removed. The boy denied any knowledge of the missing money and ran. A customer waiting outside noticed the make of the car and its license number, enabling police to trace the young men.

25 years ago — September 2000

CANAAN — In years to come, William Warner can truthfully tell his tale about catching “the big one.” The 11-year-old, bursting with delight and displaying a beaming smile, described how he had seen a large pike swimming in the Housatonic River for quite a while, but was unable to snag it with his pole. That was, until last Saturday, when his Phoebe, or silver lure, attracted the elusive fish. The sixth-grader at North Canaan Elementary School said catching the 38-incher was the easy part. Lifting it up on shore presented difficulties. The squirming pike, fighting for freedom, was finally landed by William and his brother Matthew, but not before Matthew’s skin was punctured by the fish’s sharp teeth. The family plans to have William’s “pride and joy” mounted.

The leaves on Allen Cockerline’s cornstalks have not begun to droop like those on other stalks aound the Northwest Corner. They remain green and erect, like arms reaching up to heaven. Mr. Cockerline, a farmer and artist, has etched a mystical corn maze into the fields he tends at the border of Falls Village and Lime Rock, at the intersection of routes 7 and 112. The maze has become a popular destination for weekend travelers to the region. “A lot of families come,” Mr. Cockerline said. “They seem to have the most fun, because the kids can usually ditch their parents in the maze.”