Oct. 22, 1938: Martin Gross is born. He will become a popular Concord mayor (1976-82) and serve as legal counsel to Gov. Walter Peterson and as special counsel to Gov. Hugh Gallen.
Oct. 22, 1965: J. Herbert Quinn, candidate for mayor of Concord, insists that he is a man of the people. “Contrary to the many rumors which have been circulating throughout the city, I have no millionaires or near-millionaires, either in or out of the city, contributing to my campaign,” he says. Quinn will eventually be elected – and then impeached.
Oct. 22, 2003: Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich demonstrates the emergency drills he had to do as a student during the Cold War in front of 500 students at Concord High. “So some of us had nightmares as kids, he says. “We had dreams that the missiles were coming in while we were at recess.”
Oct. 23, 1890: A statue of John Stark is dedicated outside the State House.
Oct. 23, 2003: Wesley Clark keeps his appointment at Concord High School, but a case of laryngitis forces him to leave the talking to the students. When one of them opposes the war in Iraq or supports high school sports, Clark tells them – in a whisper – that he agrees.
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 at 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, 1908: Young people fan out all over Concord to raise money for Mary Pillsbury Hospital. They pin red tags on donors to keep them from being asked to give again. By day’s end, the children have raised $2,300.
Oct. 25, 2002: Democrats across the state mourn the passing of U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Minnesotan who flirted with a presidential run before the 2000 election. Upon hearing of Wellstone’s death in a plane crash, Jean Wallin, a former Democratic legislator from Concord says “He was a liberal and it didn’t bother him that he was a liberal. And people respected him for that because you always knew that when he spoke he had the interest of the little guy at heart.”
Oct. 25, 2003: The Concord High girl’s 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 Walmart 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-lit 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.
