Oct. 24, 1805: The first Quaker meeting is held in Concord. It will be 10 years before a Quaker meeting house goes up on what is now the State House plaza.
Oct. 24, 1852: News of Daniel Webster’s death in Marshfield, Mass., reaches Concord at 2:38 p.m. Bells toll and flags are lowered to half-staff. At a memorial service the next day Gen. Franklin Pierce, just days before his election to the presidency, will be the principal speaker. Of Webster, Pierce will say: “The great heart of the nation throbs heavily at his grave.”
Oct. 25, 1843: Col. Richard M. Johnson, the noted Kentuckian who is reputed to have killed the Indian chief Tecumseh, visits Concord. Franklin Pierce and others greet him at the station, and Johnson rides down Main Street on a white horse. At the State House, he wears the same red vest he wore in the Battle of the Thames, during which he is said to have slain Tecumseh. Eleven shots pierced the vest. At a dinner presided over by Pierce, someone will raise doubts about Johnson’s famous act and ask him if it really happened. “In my opinion,” Johnson responds, “I did kill Tecumseh.”
Oct. 25, 1852: Following the lead of a Boston group, 50 young men of various Christian denominations meet in Concord to consider forming a local Young Men’s Christian Association. A committee appointed from this group will lead to the organization’s local founding.
Oct. 25, 2003: The Concord High girls’ cross country team defends their title during the Class L state championship meet in Manchester. They claim the top spot, beating out Manchester Central 50-48.
Oct 26, 1988: State officials break ground for the $1.8 million Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord.
Oct. 26, 2000: As the clock strikes midnight, 33 lucky shoppers are allowed to buy the new Sony PlayStation II at Wal-Mart in Concord. Some have waited in line as long as 28 hours.
Oct. 26, 2001: Patricia Cloutier of Concord, believed to be a founder of Classy Touch Enterprises, a Penacook prostitution business, turns herself in at police headquarters. According to police, Cloutier founded the business with Amy Sullivan and allegedly ran the business out of Sullivan’s home.
Oct. 27, 1908: A throng fills Concord’s Phenix Hall with hundreds standing as the state’s two U.S. senators campaign for the November election. “What a whirlwind (Sen. Joseph) Gallinger is for incessant work, work, work,” Charles Corning, the city’s mayor and the emcee for the night, writes in his diary.
Oct. 27, 2003: In a coffee shop on Main Street in Concord, the New Hampshire Green Party throws its support behind presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. And if Kucinich fails in his attempt for the Democratic nomination, Green Party spokesman Guy Chichester says the party may try to recruit the Ohio congressman to run on its ticket in the general election.
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. 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. 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. 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, 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, 2002: All four major Republican candidates – John E. Sununu, Jeb Bradley, Charlie Bass and Craig Benson – rally at the State House. “We have a lot of things to do in New Hampshire, but none of them is an income or a sales tax,” says Craig Benson, the party’s gubernatorial candidate.
Oct. 29, 2003: A legislative committee has concluded that severe management problems at the North State Street prison in Concord allowed the June 4 escape to happen. In a letter given to Gov. Craig Benson, the committee’s chairman, Rev. Karl Gilbert, names Warden Jane Coplan as the problem. The committee argues that Coplan knowingly distanced herself from critical decision-making aspects of the institution.
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.
