June 16, 1842: The Democratic platform, as reported in Concord’s New Hampshire Patriot, rails against Whig support for broadening the rights granted to corporations. Only “an unwarranted construction of the Constitution” sanctions corporate privileges, the platform says. “If the policy of creating corporations be continued much longer, our country will (have) all the outward forms of a free Government, but . . . will in fact be governed by an oligarchy of corporations.”
June 17, 2000: The Class of 2000 says thank you to Concord High School Assistant Principal Michael Garrett, who has announced his retirement after 40 years at the school. In his honor, a path of granite steps between the school bus circle and the main entrance is christened “Garrett Way.”
June 17, 1970: Attorney General Warren Rudman tells the Concord Rotary Club that he was glad the Chicago Three – David Dellinger, Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman – were allowed to speak at UNH. You cannot repress free speech, he says. You cannot repress advocacy of things you don’t agree with.
June 17, 1863: With Union armies still faltering at the front, 30,000 people gather in Concord for the formation of the Public Loyal Union League of the state. Bands, speakers and marches are the order of the day.
June 17, 1840: On Concord’s Rumford Square, a five-acre field of trees between School and Center streets below Rumford Street, a speech by the Whig Sen. Daniel Webster draws a rousing crowd. The speech follows a “Log Cabin Procession” for Gen. William Henry Harrison.
June 17, 1965: Democratic Gov. John King and the Republican-controlled Legislature fight over the governor’s pay raise. King makes $16,587. At issue: raising him to $25,000.
June 17, 1975: Gov. Mel Thomson vetoes legislation guaranteeing equal opportunity in school sports for boys and girls. His fear: costly litigation over “problems that exist more in the minds of social architects than on the playgrounds.”
June 18, 2003: House and Senate leaders strike a deal on a compromise state budget that restores most of the cuts to Health and Human Services that Gov. Craig Benson and the House proposed earlier this year. “We have presented a people’s budget,” Senate President Tom Eaton says. “And we did it without raising taxes.”
June 18, 2001: The Concord City Council puts off a proposal to raise the annual tax credit for veterans. The city’s veterans are entitled to a $50 tax exemption; the proposal would have doubled the amount.
June 18, 1812: Congress declares war on Great Britain. Siding with the Federalist opposition, New Hampshireman Daniel Webster calls the declaration of war “premature and inexpedient” and accuses the Republicans of having entered an alliance against England with the “papists, the infidels (and the) atheists” of France.
June 18, 1853: A group of Concord citizens meets and raises money for a street sprinkler to keep the dust down on Main Street.
June 18, 1965: Lawmakers consider legislation to allow grocery and drug stores to sell light wines. They estimate an extra $700,000 in state revenue. (The legislation will eventually pass.)
June 19, 2003: Speaking at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, Sen. John Kerry offers his solution for navigating the country out of the economic doldrums, a situation he calls “deeply disturbing” and “bleaker than we would like it to be.”
June 19, 2002: After 66 years, Washington Street School in Penacook closes. In the fall, students will attend Penacook Elementary School, a brand-new facility one mile away.
June 19, 2000: Residents of Hull, Quebec, pedal through downtown Concord on a 33-passenger bicycle, part of a trek the Canadian town has organized to celebrate its bicentennial.
June 19, 1807: Parliamentary maneuvering in the Legislature results in Concord being named the capital, ending several years of roving state government.
June 19, 1856: One hundred booms of the cannon in Concord celebrate the nomination of John Charles Fremont, the first Republican candidate for president. The cheer goes up: “Free Soil, Free Men and Fremont.”
June 19, 1973: Gov. Mel Thomson vetoes legislation that would prevent a governor from delving into confidential tax records.
June 20, 2002: Republican gubernatorial hopefuls Gordon Humphrey and Bruce Keough file a joint complaint with the attorney general’s office accusing the primary rival, former Cabletron CEO Craig Benson, of violating campaign spending laws. Humphrey and Keough say Benson’s political action committee, WhyBenson.com, accepted donations in excess of what the law allows.
June 20, 1841: More than 1,000 people gather at the Old North Church to hear a lecture by John. H.W. Hawkins, a self-proclaimed “reformed inebriate” who is now a silver-tongued missionary for temperance.
June 21, 2003: A robust fire that spits flames out of a Perley Street apartment house leaves eight people homeless. Nobody is injured.
June 21, 2001: One of two men accused of fatally beating a 91-year-old Penacook woman confesses in court as part of a deal for a reduced prison sentence. In nine months, prosecutors will ask the court to dissolve the plea deal, saying they now want to try the man who confessed and accept a lesser plea from the second man, who had been headed for trial.
June 21, 1861: In New Jersey, Lt. Charles W. Walker of the Goodwin Rifles, a revered company of the Second New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry Regiment, falls from a lurching platform car of the train carrying the regiment to Washington. His injuries prove fatal. His body will be brought back to Concord for burial.
June 21, 1788: At a meeting house near the former Walker School, delegates from around the state vote 57-47 in favor of the new U.S. Constitution. This makes New Hampshire the ninth and deciding state to ratify. Hopkinton’s delegate votes in favor; Concord’s delegate, the burly Capt. Ben Emery, votes no.
June 21, 1909: The White Parks beat the Old Timers 14-0 in the first game of Concord’s Sunset League. The four-team after-supper baseball league will have games daily except Saturday at 6:15 p.m. The teams play till dark or for five innings, whichever comes first. Crowds of 400-500 gather to watch.
June 21, 1990: With Steve McAuliffe and a large crowd of dignitaries and ordinary citizens in attendance, the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium is dedicated in Concord.
June 22, 2003: The Concord Quarry Dogs bang out 15 hits and draw 10 walks at Doane Diamond in Concord, scoring the most runs in the team’s history, demolishing the Manchester (Conn.) Silkworms, 18-1.
June 22, 1814: Isaac Hill’s New Hampshire Patriot attacks the rising Federalist congressman Daniel Webster, calling him a vain “moon-struck maniac” and a graduate of the “Hanover Indian School” (Dartmouth).
