Dec. 3, 1910: Mary Baker Eddy, Bow native and founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, dies in Chestnut Hill, near Boston.
Dec. 3, 1963: Gov. John King says he favors an appropriate memorial for the slain President John F. Kennedy but will oppose any effort to rename one of New Hampshire’s mountains after Kennedy.
Dec. 3, 2001: Manchester inventor Dean Kamen unveils the Segway Human Transporter on ABC’s Good Morning America. Formerly known as Ginger or IT, the one-person, battery-powered scooter averages a speed of 8 mph, but can travel up to 17 or 18 mph.
Dec. 3, 2003: Manchester’s new Double-A baseball team formerly (and briefly) known as the Primaries is now officially (and permanently) called the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. At city hall, team officials announce the results of the renaming contest begun last month, after fans gave the Primaries a resounding raspberry.
Dec. 4, 1900: In raids, 16 police officers from Manchester and Suncook bust 20 people under the state’s prohibition statute. Since bootleggers are still active, “there will be plenty to drink,” a Suncook villager says.
Dec. 4, 2000: Salisbury residents who helped douse a backyard fire say a ball of flames fell from the sky and theorize it was a meteorite. Although the cause of the mysterious fire will continue to be debated, experts will throw cold water on the meteorite theory.
Dec. 5, 1866: The Monitor reports: “A man who had assisted to empty several bottles of wine afterward took a walk. The pavement was quite icy, and he exclaimed, ‘Very singular, whenever water freezes, it freezes with the slippery side up.’ ”
Dec. 5, 1876: New Hampshire eliminates the provision that the candidates for governor, state senator and state representative must be Protestant.
Dec. 5, 1908: Fire Chief William Green sets out for the movies at Phenix Hall, but even though the same show played at the nearby Opera House for more than a year, the Phenix is filled. There are plans to convert yet another building in the Durgin block into a theater. “Verily, the people are moving picture mad,” Mayor Charles Corning writes in his diary.
Dec. 6, 1883: Morrill’s mill burns down in Contoocook. The loss is estimated at $10,000; it was insured for $2,000.
Dec. 6, 1991: The filing period opens for candidates in the 1992 New Hampshire presidential primary. First in line: the Rev. Billy Joe Clegg of Biloxi, Miss. “George Bush is a good president, but we need a great one,” he says.
Dec. 6, 2001: The New Hampshire Technical Institute has been accredited as a two-year community college by the New England Association of Schools and College’s Commission on Institutions of Higher Learning, the same group that assesses the University of New Hampshire and the state colleges in Keene and Plymouth, the Monitor reports. “This is one of the most significant moments in the history of NHTI,” said President Bill Simonton. “It will probably set the stage for the next 40 years of college.”
Dec. 7, 1941: The Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, forcing the United States into the Second World War. By war’s end in 1945, nearly 60,000 New Hampshire citizens will have worn the uniform. Battle deaths from the state will total 1,599.
Dec. 7, 1941: While dining with U.S. ambassador John G. Winant of Concord, Winston Churchill learns of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The silver lining for Churchill: The United States will at last enter the war.
Dec. 7, 1965: Concord’s new Douglas N. Everett Ice Arena on Loudon Road is dedicated. The opening event: a hockey game between Dartmouth and UNH.
Dec. 7, 1972: New Hampshire officials announce that elderly skiers will get reduced rates at two state-owned ski areas. Those 65 and older will get a discount at Cannon and Sunapee. Those over 70 will ski free.
Dec. 7, 1987: At a rally for presidential candidate Jack Kemp in Keene, much of the audience goes home disappointed because Kemp’s most glamorous supporter, Arnold Schwarzenegger, fails to show up.
Dec. 8, 1998: The federal government holds a hearing in Concord to discuss removing the peregrine falcon from the nation’s endangered species list. The raptor has made a remarkable comeback in New Hampshire, which boasts 12 nesting pairs.
Dec. 8, 1732: A royal grant establishes the township that will one day be Boscawen, although the name will not be bestowed for 28 years. In 1760, Royal Gov. Benning Wentworth will name the town for a British admiral, Sir Edward Boscawen.
