Sept. 29, 1954: Vice President Richard Nixon warns a crowd of 900 state Republicans at Concord’s city auditorium that Sen. Styles Bridges “is one of those targets chosen by left-wing groups” in the coming election. Opinions may differ over a move in Congress to censure Sen. Joseph McCarthy, he says, but there is “no difference of opinion” in the Eisenhower administration’s objective to destroy communism.
Sept. 29, 1965: New Hampshire Attorney General William Maynard advises the state barbers licensing board that the operation of “a mobile barbershop which would be driven from town to town or around a city conducting the business of barbering” would be illegal. After all, he reasons, how would health inspectors perform mandatory spot inspections? A month later, he will use the same logic to kill plans for a ladies’ “beauty shop on wheels.”
Sept. 29, 2002: Records fall, footballs fly and the scoreboard veritably smokes from the dizzying pace as Concord High School beats Manchester West 42-20 at Memorial Field in Concord, the Monitor reports. In the single greatest rushing display in the school’s history, Ryan Dunlavey shatters the school record for rushing yards in a game, cranking out 263 yards on 34 carries. The old record of 221 yards was held by Mark Champagne since 1973.
Sept. 30, 1829: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ellen Tucker marry in Concord. The festivities last three days. The couple moves to Boston, where Emerson has just been ordained as assistant minister at the Second Church in the North End.
Sept. 30, 1864: Private Robert H. Potter, a Concord farmer before the war, is shot through the left lung during the Battle of Poplar Springs, Va. Because the surgeon says it is “a question of only a few moments with him,” Potter is carried to the dead house. The next day, a chaplain will find Potter lying in a pool of water, still breathing faintly. Potter will recover, return to the 6th New Hampshire regiment and, after his company takes a battery at Petersburg, be promoted to captain.
Oct. 1, 1976: In an appearance at the New Hampshire Highway Hotel in Concord, Ronald Reagan tells 700 Republicans that Gov. Mel Thomson must be reelected. Thomson, he says, is a “politician of national stature.”
Oct. 2, 1856: Near the end of his term, President Franklin Pierce visits Concord to stump for James Buchanan, the Democrat nominated to succeed him. Pierce is greeted with a great parade and reception downtown. A fine horseman, he himself rides in the procession down Main Street.
Oct. 2, 1929: Vincent Cozzi of Albin Street in Concord is the sculptor of a fully-equipped 6-foot doughboy being carved from a three-ton block of granite at Swenson Granite Co. When it is completed, the statue will be shipped to Harrisonville, Mo., to stand in the square as a memorial to that town’s World War dead. Cozzi is using a photo of a Missouri soldier as a model for his statue, which he expects will take eight weeks to complete.
Oct. 2, 1963: Gov. John King announces the formation of the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Women. The chairman will be Margaret Normandin of Laconia, the vice chairman Marion Alexander of Concord. The commission is modeled after a national commission created by President Kennedy in 1961.
Oct. 2, 2000: Campaigning in Concord, Ralph Nader criticizes the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has excluded him from tonight’s debate in Boston. He says the two major parties “have wasted democracy in this country.”
Oct. 3, 1924: Malcolm McLane is born in Manchester. McLane will serve on the Concord City Council from 1956 to 1976, including six years as mayor. He will also serve on the Executive Council and run an unsuccessful third-party race for governor against Mel Thomson.
Oct. 4, 1861: A fire on the southwest corner of Main and Centre streets destroys the Merrimack House, a marble works and a doctor’s home and office.
Oct. 4, 1983: Chubb Life President John Swope announces his company’s plans to expand, bringing 300 new employees to Concord. “This is exactly the kind of employment Concord wants,” he says. “The only environmental problem we cause is we produce too much paper.”
Oct. 5, 1817: An earthquake rocks Concord at about 11:40 a.m. It lasts 1-2 minutes.
