Jan. 5, 1776: In the first of five Provincial Congresses in New Hampshire, delegates adopt a temporary constitution. The document makes New Hampshire an independent colony six months before the colonies jointly declare their independence. Recalling the objectionable actions of recently departed Royal Gov. John Wentworth, the framers make no provision for a governor. Meschech Weare becomes New Hampshire’s president. The permanent state Constitution will not take effect until June 1784.
Jan. 5, 1813: The first products from state prison industries go on the market: axes, made in the prison’s blacksmith shop, at 10 shillings or $1.50 by the dozen.
Jan. 5, 2002: The Concord police found firsthand evidence of methamphetamine’s creeping presence last month in an attic crawlspace on Northeast Village Street, the Monitor reports. There, in the Heights home, officers found a pH tester and chemical bottles. Methamphetamine, also known as “crank” and “speed,” has long been a top concern for law enforcement officials in the West and Midwest. But only recently has the narcotic turned up in New England, law enforcement officials said.
Jan. 6, 1790: George Hough, 31, who has hauled in a hand press and type cases from Windsor, Vt., publishes Concord’s first newspaper, The Concord Herald and New Hampshire Intelligencer. His office is a one-story print shop on what will one day be the State House grounds. Printed under the weekly’s nameplate, Hough’s motto is: “The Press is the Cradle of Science, the Nurse of Genius, and the Shield of Liberty.” A later journalist will call “Pa” Hough “a man without guile, who never made an enemy, whose only delusion was that all men were as honest as himself.”
Jan. 6, 2001: President Bill Clinton will make one more trip to New Hampshire before leaving office, the Monitor reports. “There’s not a specific reason . . . besides the fact that he likes New Hampshire,” a White House spokeswoman says. “It’s just sort of a farewell tour.”
Jan. 6, 2002: The New England Patriots trounce the Carolina Panthers 38-6 to win the AFC East division title with 11 wins and 5 losses. In Concord, fans sit at Cheers and talk about the game. “I don’t know if they will go to the Super Bowl,” says Josh Gullage, a 29-year-old production supervisor from Gilmanton. “Just making it to the playoffs is a big accomplishment for them.”
Jan. 7, 1904: At its annual meeting, the First Church of Christ Science thanks Mary Baker Eddy of Concord for her gift of $120,000 toward the Concord church, now under construction.
Jan. 7, 1942: Concord starts a three-day spell of bitterly cold weather with a low temperature of 15 below zero. The next day it’ll be 25 below, and the day after that, the temperature will fall to 22 below.
Jan. 7, 2002: Concord’s new mayor, Mike Donovan, welcomes the new city council and outlines his priorities for the city. It is Donovan’s first city council meeting as the mayor, as well as six new councilors’ first times at the table.
Jan. 8, 1895: The Supreme Court and State Library buildings are dedicated in Concord.
Jan. 8, 1968: With the impeachment of Mayor J. Herbert Quinn behind it, the newly formed Concord city government takes its place. Seven new members of the city council are sworn in, and the newly hired city manager – John E. Henchey of Presque Isle, Maine – is on the scene.
Jan. 8, 1990: The city council elects Jim MacKay mayor of Concord. He defeats the incumbent, Liz Hager.
Jan. 9, 1974: Twenty-five people brave a snowstorm to gather at the State House to pray in support of beleaguered President Nixon. “God Loves Nixon,” reads one banner.
Jan. 9, 2000: Only half in jest, the Monitor editorializes that among the current crop of Republican candidates for president, “no gross overstatement seems adequate to describe the decay of the military. McCain calls military pay ‘a national disgrace.’ To Orrin Hatch, ‘our military is falling apart.’ If things are that bad for men and women in uniform, do these veteran U.S. senators really think voters will let them get away with posing as innocent bystanders?”
Jan. 10, 1942: City aldermen approve a $400,000 expansion of Concord Airport. The city appropriation for the project is $30,000.
Jan. 10, 1964: Paul Grindle, David Goldberg, Sally Saltonstall and Caroline Williams arrive in Concord from Boston. The four young people, all political amateurs, pay $400 to rent an empty storefront across from the State House for two months. They order a telephone and borrow furniture and folding chairs from state GOP headquarters. They will pay a sign-painter $162 to paint a sign for their storefront reading “Lodge for President.” Two months later, their candidate, write-in Henry Cabot Lodge, will win the New Hampshire Republican primary.
Jan. 11, 1982: C. David Coeyman is elected to succeed Martin Gross as mayor of Concord. He beats Jim MacKay in a 9-6 vote of the city council. “We have not always agreed and we will not always agree, but I respect the man,” says Charles Vitagliano, on nominating Coeyman.
Jan. 11, 1993: A fire forces nine nuns out of the Carmelite monastery on Pleasant Street in Concord.
Jan. 11, 2002: Dozens of residents from small towns between Concord and the Seacoast are expected to meet in Barrington with state officials to review options for stopping, or scaling back, what could be the state’s largest water-bottling operation, the Monitor reports. USA Springs, the Pelham-based company that hopes to construct a water-bottling plant on 100 acres it owns on the Barrington/Nottingham town line, wants state permission to withdraw up to 439,000 gallons a day from the bedrock beneath, or enough to satisfy 2,200 households. But members of Save Our Groundwater insist the plant’s water withdrawals will drop the water table for miles around, drying up private wells and concentrating contaminants in what water is left.
