Nov. 19, 1846: Three laborers on the Northern Railroad are buried when a sand bank near the railroad bridge in Penacook caves in. Two survive; one is killed.
Nov. 19, 1863: Lyman D. Stevens of Concord represents New Hampshire at the dedication of the national cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa. He is near Abraham Lincoln during the Gettysburg address. A prominent lawyer, Stevens will later serve as Concord’s mayor, a state senator, a school board member, a bank president and president of New Hampshire College at Durham.
Nov. 19, 1892: Concord’s Snowshoe Club, a men’s organization, has its first celebration at its new cabin at the end of today’s Via Tranquilla. Twelve members gather “in honor of Grover Cleveland and Ward 4.” E.W. Batchelder, apparently having “counted too heavily upon the strength of one Benjamin Harrison” in that month’s presidential election, pays for dinner.
Nov. 19, 2001: The Concord City Council makes a three-year, $150,000 commitment to the downtown, and on terms that downtown merchants want. The merchants hope to join the Main Street Program, an initiative to help preserve and sustain downtowns across the country.
Nov. 20, 1884: The Evening Monitor’s City Notes column reports: “One week from today is Thanksgiving. Let the turkeys paste that in their hats.”
Nov. 21, 1987: On a gusty day during which the temperature never hits 20 degrees, Concord High School defeats Salem 14-7 to win its first state football championship since 1974.
Nov. 21, 2000: Frank Monahan, a basketball coach revered locally and well-known nationally, dies of a heart attack at age 60. His coaching career included stints at Bishop Brady High School, Concord High School and Merrimack College and in the United States Basketball League. He also worked as an NBA talent scout in New England.
Nov. 21, 2001: The Brick Tower, the last independently owned motel in Concord, will close at the end of the month. The 47-room motel, which opened in 1958, could not compete with the newer hotels in the area.
Nov. 21, 2002: Seventy-five nonunion state employees gather at the New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord to voice frustration after discovering they must pay the state employees union for the cost of contract negotiations, and if the employees don’t hand over that monthly tithe, they could get fired.
Nov. 21, 2003: On the last day of the filing period, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich file for the New Hampshire presidential primary at the secretary of state’s office in Concord. At closing time, the office registers the nine major Democratic candidates, President Bush and 29 long-shot candidates hoping for a moment of national publicity.
Nov. 22, 2000: For the first time in recent memory, the tax rate in Penacook will be higher than in the rest of Concord, city officials announce.
Nov. 22, 2003: The 52nd annual Holiday Magic Christmas Parade in Concord goes to the dogs, the dogs on the Rolling Bones 4-H club parade float, that is. Joining the canines on the 2-mile route up Loudon Road are high school marching bands, children on unicycles, Shriners in tiny Jeeps, horses, Hooters girls and fire engines.
Nov. 23, 1911: The New Hampshire Historical Society dedicates its building in Concord. The building was designed by Guy Lowell, also architect of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and financed by philanthropist Edward Tuck. The society was previously housed on North Main Street in what are now the law offices of Gallagher, Callahan and Gartrell.
Nov. 23, 2002: The Holiday Magic Parade, which has marked the beginning of the holiday season in Concord for 51 years, marches up Loudon Road in Concord. The procession includes emergency response vehicles, floats, decorated vehicles, equestrian units, clowns, eight marching bands and Santa Claus.
Nov. 23, 2003: Six years after a landmark education lawsuit sought to level the playing field for struggling New Hampshire school districts, there remain vast differences in the salaries paid to teachers throughout the state, the Monitor reports. Teacher salaries cover a wide spectrum and tend to reflect the relative affluence of a community. The minimum starting teacher’s salary in Concord was $28,820 in the 2002-03 school year, according to the state Department of Education’s most recent statistics. Teachers in Allenstown started at $23,909.
Nov. 24, 1812: The first inmate, John Drew of Meredith, is brought to Concord’s first state prison. The prison was built near Washington Street after legislative approval in 1810. During a visit to the city, the Rev. Timothy Dwight, president of Yale, called it “a noble edifice in beautiful granite.” How Drew found it is not recorded. He was sentenced to four years for stealing a horse.
Nov. 24, 1989: The temperature in Concord falls to 5 below zero, making this the coldest November day of the 20th century.
Nov. 24, 2002: Manchester Central’s football team ekes out a 3-0 win for the Division I championship over Concord High at Gill Stadium.
Nov. 25, 1817: A fire consumes a large three-story house on Main Street in Concord. It will eventually be replaced by the Phenix Hotel.
Nov. 25, 1875: Although the building is not quite completed, the fire department occupies its new central station on Warren Street between Green and State streets.
Nov. 25, 2000: Interviews in downtown Concord find the public tiring of the never-ending presidential election. Speaking for many of his fellow city dwellers, Jerry Slaughter tells the Monitor, “I think they should just decide so we can get on with our lives.”
Nov. 25, 2001: Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, a consulting company hired by Concord City Councilors to study traffic patterns on Loudon Road, concludes that instead of more lanes for traffic there should be fewer and that some traffic should be diverted to alternate routes, the Monitor reports.
