Oct. 28, 2003: About 700 people attend the unveiling of the new and improved Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord. The theater sports a three-story glass atrium, a new paint job and a refurbished conference room.
Oct. 28, 1906: The New York World reports that Mary Baker Eddy of Concord is mentally and physically unfit to lead the 800,000-member Christian Science church, which she founded. Eddy is 85 years old. “Mrs. Eddy looked more dead than alive,” wrote two reporters who had never seen her. Mayor Charles Corning visits Eddy after hearing this account and finds her “keen of intellect and strong in memory.”
Oct. 28, 2000: In interviews 10 days before the election, independent voters tell the Monitor they’re still undecided between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Their reluctance to choose a winner will seem prophetic in the coming weeks as the nation waits for rulings to determine which candidate won.
Oct. 28, 1856: Thousands teem into the State House park after a torch-light procession through the streets of Concord to rally support for Republican presidential nominee John. C. Fremont.
Oct. 29, 1963: A crowd of 600 to 1,000 – mostly college students and other young people – break through a police cordon at Concord Airport to greet Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. “I don’t know when I’ll be back up here again,” says Goldwater, “but it won’t be long.”
Oct. 29, 1795: Concord Bridge, the town’s first span across the Merrimack, opens with a party and parade. It is near the site of today’s Manchester Street bridge. A second toll bridge will be built to East Concord in 1796.
Oct. 29, 1870: A committee recommends to the residents of Concord that Long Pond become the municipal water supply. After more than two years of contentious debate, the first water will flow from the pond into the pipes.
Oct. 29, 1976: Concord Police Chief David Walchak agrees to distribute “hot dots” to city kids on behalf of Gov. Mel Thomson. Earlier, Concord school superintendent Seth O’Shea said he would not distribute the reflective safety dot packages (which include a pamphlet on highway safety featuring a picture of Thomson) until after Election Day. Walchak says the dots are “in the finest tradition of public service by the law enforcement community.” City Manager John Henchey was not consulted. “I doubt I would have concurred,” he says.
Oct. 29, 1989: Meat Loaf, whose 10-year-old “Bat out of Hell” album has sold 17 million copies, plays one of the last big shows at the deteriorating Capitol Theatre on South Main Street. The crowd, not a full house, stands and sings the choruses with him.
Oct. 29, 1792: The first issue of the Mirror is published in Concord. The cost: 5 shillings per year. The publishers requests 1 shilling cash and the rest in “country produce.”
Oct. 30, 1865: The day after President Andrew Johnson proclaimed Dec. 7 as Thanksgiving Day, New Hampshire Gov. Frederick Smyth announces that this state will celebrate the holiday on Nov. 30. Smyth will hold out for 10 days before switching the date to conform with Johnson’s proclamation.
Oct. 31, 1944: Elizabeth Hager is born. In the 1980s, Hager will become the city’s first woman mayor. She will serve many years as a city councilor and state representative and run unsuccessfully for governor in 1992.
Nov. 1, 1819: A new animal law takes effect in Concord: “whereas the inhabitants of Concord and travelers with teams and loaded sleighs are frequently annoyed by cows and sheep running at large, therefore hereafter no cow or sheep shall be permitted to run at-large in the Main street . . . or within half a mile to the west of Main Street.”
Nov. 1, 1845: Thomas Potter of Concord falls 34 feet from a chestnut tree without fracturing a limb. Twenty-four years earlier, he fell the same distance from the same tree.
Nov. 1, 2002: If elected, Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, the state’s first female governor, would become its first female U.S. senator as well, the Monitor reports. And although she doesn’t mention that fact – even in the final round-the-clock push to turn out every possible voter – she believes it matters. “Whether you’re talking about domestic violence issues or issues of credit for women . . . it’s women who’ve lead the charge,” she said.
Nov. 1, 1842: The New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane opens in Concord. One of the first patients: a man from Tuftonboro who prays and preaches on the subject of the Second Coming for four hours each morning and remains quiet the rest of the day.
Nov. 2, 2002: A recent Concord Monitor poll shows the race for U.S. Senate between Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and Republican U.S. Rep. John E. Sununu is statistically dead even. In informal interviews with nearly two dozen voters in Pembroke and Concord, most people say their decision will come down to their assessment of Shaheen’s performance during her six years as governor, or else specific issues, such as taxes or abortion.
Nov. 3, 2003: Seven candidates show up at the secretary of state’s office in Concord, marking the first day that presidential candidates are able to file papers to enter January’s primary. The only one whose name carries any cachet in Washington, D.C., is Dick Gephardt, who makes a lunchtime appearance between campaign stops.
Nov. 3, 1908: Concord elects Democrat Charles French as its new mayor. At midnight, a cheering crowd carries him through the city streets. Outgoing Mayor Charles Corning, who did not seek re-election, disapproves of his successor. The result will bring about “a veritable misfortune unless French reforms his loud manners & modifies his coarse & nasty speech,” Corning writes in his diary.
