Jan. 8, 1878: A temperature of 35 below zero is recorded in Concord, an all-time record cold reading for the city that will stand for more than 65 years.
Jan. 8, 1895: The Supreme Court and State Library buildings are dedicated in Concord.
Jan. 8, 1988: During a visit to Pleasant View retirement community in Concord, GOP presidential candidate Alexander Haig impresses resident Millicent Sawyer. “He’s even better-looking in person than he is on television,” she says.
Jan. 9, 1944: Miss Grace Blanchard, Concord’s retired librarian of 40 years, dies. In her will, she leaves $40,000 in public bequests, including $25,000 to the library.
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. 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. 12, 1952: The Monitor reports on plans to make Main and State streets one way, with one going north and the other going south. The idea is to relieve traffic congestion. (It’s never approved.)
Jan. 12, 1960: Concord teachers request a 15 percent pay raise. If it is granted, the starting pay for teachers will have doubled since 1947, when it was $2,000. The teachers want a contract granting them a pay range of $4,025 to $5,865.
Jan. 13, 1891: Concord’s board of aldermen and common council appropriate $20,000 “for a Soldiers’ Memorial to commemorate the men of Concord who served their country on land or sea, in the several wars to establish, defend and maintain the unity of the Republic.” It is planned for White Park, then city hall, then the county building. It will be eight years before the Memorial Arch is finally dedicated in front of the State House.
Jan. 13, 1943: Responding to the governor’s call for Victory gardens and home farming, Concord Mayor Charles McKee says: “Concord citizens can keep pigs and chickens in their backyards if they want to. There is no city ordinance to stop them.”
Jan. 13, 1991: With placards proclaiming “No Blood for Oil” and other such messages, a peace group marches from the State House through the snow-banked streets of downtown Concord in protest of the threat of war with Iraq.
Jan. 14, 1824: The “other Concord” – in the North Country – officially changes its name to Lisbon, ending confusion with New Hampshire’s capital city.
Jan. 14, 1873: More than two years after Long Pond was recommended as Concord’s municipal water supply, the first water flows from the pond into city pipes.
