July 24, 2002: An 11-run second inning and sparkling defense propels Concord National to the Junior League Softball Championship, with a 13-2 victory over the host Bedford team.
July 24, 2003: Manuel Gehring, the Concord man accused of fatally shooting his children, Sarah and Philip, pleads not guilty on two counts of first-degree murder in Hillsborough County Superior Court.
July 25, 1874: Thirteen months after a fire destroyed the church on the same site, the cornerstone is laid for the North Congregational Church at North Main and Chapel streets. It will be ready for worship in March 1876.
July 25, 1927: A police squad of six officers enters the home of Ruth MacKinnon on Runnels Road in Penacook. The officers arrest MacKinnon and confiscate 106 bottles of beer, empty pint and quart bottles and a capping machine. MacKinnon will be fined $100 and $41.10 in court costs and sentenced to 60 days in the house of corrections in Boscawen, but the sentence will be suspended. With her arrest, the police believe they have cut off the supply of liquor to this portion of Merrimack County.
July 25, 1927: A crowd of more than 40,000 gathers to greet Col. Charles Lindbergh, who lands his “Spirit of St. Louis” at Concord airport at 1:44 p.m. The band strikes up “Hail to the Chief” as the hero of transatlantic flight takes his seat on the platform. “This airport can still be improved in many ways,” Lindbergh tells the crowd. “In the future it will bring you considerable air commerce.”
July 26, 1927: His tour stop over, Col. Charles Lindbergh and his “Spirit of St. Louis” take off from Concord Airport at 11:50 a.m.
July 26, 1965: Trains carrying 71-foot laminated wooden arches arrive in Concord. Shipped from Oregon, they will become rafters for the new Everett Arena.
July 27, 1927: The police report more evidence of the pickpockets who worked the crowd during Col. Charles Lindbergh’s visit to Concord two days before. Two young boys have found 20 more pocketbooks in a hole covered with paper behind the airport hangar. The number of people robbed now totals at least 36.
July 27, 2000: A Massachusetts company presents preliminary plans for a 300,000-square-foot retail development on 53 acres between South Main and Hall streets in Concord. The project will meet with significant opposition from residents of the South End.
July 28, 1827: Othello is performed at the Eagle Coffee House in Concord. Crowds are sparse.
July 28, 1855: The Concord city council registers its approval of the state’s new anti-drinking law. “Resolved that the late act for the suppression of intemperance in this state meets with our entire approbation. Therefore, resolved that the city marshal and his assistants are requested to prosecute, with promptness and energy, all violations and infringements of said law.”
July 29, 1927: Police Chief A.S. Kimball orders the Lapp carnival on the Bridge Street fairgrounds to close “forthwith.” The shutdown follows the arrest of two men who work for the carnival on gambling charges. Both are convicted and fined $50. The chief investigated after receiving reports of gambling and indecent shows at the fair, including one show to which only men were admitted. The sponsoring Elks Club will argue in vain for a reversal of Kimball’s closure order.
July 29, 1988: Developers announce plans for an eight-story office and retail building at the corner of Main and Bridge streets in Concord. (It won’t happen.)
July 29, 2001: The New York Post runs a first-person essay by Concord’s Adam Young about the experience of trying to make the New York Giants’ roster. “I think I have a different perspective than a lot of guys,” Young writes. “You appreciate the things that come to you after having to battle your way through the ranks.”
July 30, 1777: After riding all night from Exeter, Lt. Col. Gordon Hutchins, Concord’s legislative representative, bursts into the Sunday service at Concord’s meeting house to say that Gen. John Stark is marching west but needs more men. “Those of you who are willing to go had better go at once,” Rev. Timothy Walker tells his congregation. All men present leave.
July 30, 2003: According to documents that are unsealed in Concord District Court, Manuel Gehring told investigators that he shot his children Sarah, 14, and Philip, 11, on the side of a road, 30 to 45 minutes from Concord. Hundreds of miles later, he said a prayer over their bodies before leaving them in a shallow grave with crosses made from duct tape on the chests.
