Sept. 17, 1847: With 85 recruits for the 9th Regiment, Lieutenant Charles F. Low, son of Concord’s renowned General Joseph Low, sails for Vera Cruz, Mexico, and the seat of war.
Sept. 18, 1679: King Charles II ordains that as of Jan. 1, 1680, New Hampshire will have its own government. He names John Cutt, a wealthy Portsmouth merchant, the first governor.
Sept. 18, 1987: In Concord, Elizabeth Dole defends her decision to quit her job as U.S. transportation secretary to help her husband, U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, run for president. “This is my choice,” she says. “I’m not going to be just out there standing by Bob’s side and smiling. We’re talking about something with serious implications. We’re talking about the leader of the free world.”
Sept. 19, 1989: After nearly two years of shoulder problems, St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Bob Tewksbury of Concord wins his first major league game since 1987. It is also his first major league shutout, a 5-0 four-hitter over the Montreal Expos.
Sept. 19, 2000: A deal has been struck to keep Concord’s Sunnycrest Farms a working apple orchard, the Monitor reports. A grassroots coalition led by the orchard manager has worked out an agreement with the owner, provided the group can raise about $1 million.
Sept. 19, 2001: Concord Planning Board approves the renovation of the Riverbend Community Mental Health’s building on North State Street. The building is the former home of the Concord Monitor and was donated to the agency in 1999. The project will involve tearing down a 1969 addition that housed the newspaper’s printing press.
Sept. 20, 1992: The first Sunday Monitor is published.
Sept. 20, 2002: State and federal officials approve a plan that allows the Concord Municipal Airport to reconstruct a 3,200-foot runway and make other improvements while protecting the endangered Karner blue butterfly.
Sept. 21, 1838: A Mr. Lauriat displays his hot air balloon in Concord. He takes off from the State House plaza, touches down at Shaker Village in Canterbury and then off again to Northfield. He travels 16 miles in 1½ hours – the greatest recorded speed in the area!
Sept. 21, 1846: Lt. Joseph H. Potter of Concord, a West Point classmate of Ulysses S. Grant, is wounded while storming a battery with his regiment at the battle of Monterey. He writes: “I was shot through the leg about two inches below the knee – the ball passing between the two bones of the leg and out the opposite side.”
Sept. 21, 1938: A giant hurricane roars through Concord. One thousand electric poles are downed and Concord Electric’s Sewalls Falls station is flooded. No power can be generated. Eighty percent of the trees in parks, cemeteries and streets are destroyed in what one account describes as “six shrieking hours of wind.”
Sept. 21, 1983: Officials announce that Rumford Press will close at the end of the year, putting 400 Concord employees out of work. “It’s a phenomenal shock to them,” says Charlie Stott of the AFL-CUIO. Mayor David Coeyman describes the impact on the city: “In a community interested in revitalization, this is not necessarily the kind of opponent we seek. Concord has not , since the railroad left Concord, had to deal with a major employer closing its doors.”
Sept. 21, 2003: Merrimack Valley High School holds its homecoming football game against Goffstown, the first football game to be played on one of three new field at the high school. The celebration includes 1,500 hot dogs, a banner-bearing airplane and a Black Hawk helicopter. Merrimack Valley loses to Goffstown, 31-7.
Sept. 22, 1849: Asked to change Concord from a town to a city, local voters say no, by a vote of 637 against and 183 in favor. Four years later, they’ll change their mind.
Sept. 22, 1991: Refurbished and restored through a community effort, the Concord City Auditorium re-opens with a gala variety show.
Sept. 22, 2001: The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests announces the most ambitious statewide conservation project in a century. The plan would protect an additional 1 million acres from development by 2025, nearly doubling the amount of space already set aside in New Hampshire.
Sept. 23, 1972: Attorney General Warren Rudman testifies in favor of tougher laws for convicted felons including, in several specific categories of murder, the death penalty. Usually, he says, a life sentence means parole in 12½ years. “That’s appalling,” he says. “That’s just not right.”
Sept. 23, 1987: After allegations that he misrepresented his past and plagiarized speeches, Sen. Joe Biden drops out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
