Sept. 24, 1957: In a referendum, Concord voters decide to abandon manager-council government for a strong elected mayor. The margin is so thin – nine votes – that opponents demand a recount. The margin will shrink to five votes – 2,979 to 2,974 – but the result stands. To a call for further investigation of the vote, Mayor Herbert Rainie responds: “The people of Concord have spoken and we must accept their decision.” Almost exactly 10 years later, the city will impeach the mayor and revert to manager-council government.
Sept. 24, 1816: A few months after the Legislature confirms Concord as the state capital, the cornerstone of the State House is laid. To now, New Hampshire is the only state in the union without a capitol.
Sept. 25, 1955: Former New Hampshire governor Sherman Adams, now special assistant to President Eisenhower, learns that Ike has had a heart attack. Adams immediately flies home from Scotland, where he is winding up a visit to NATO bases. During Ike’s recuperation, Adams will run the White House.
Sept. 26, 1845: The New Hampshire Courier of Concord tells readers it’s willing to take payment in forms other than cash: “Those of our subscribers who are in arrears to us for the Courier and wish to pay in wood are reminded that cold weather is at hand and a few cords would be very acceptable about this time.”
Sept. 27, 1967: Disclosing a closely held secret, Gov. John King tells the Executive Council that the new $1.2 million state Supreme Court will be built on a bluff overlooking the Merrimack River on Concord Heights. Once the building is completed, the court will move there from its present quarters at Park and North State streets.
Sept. 27, 1985: The state braces for Hurricane Gloria, a huge storm on the path of the Hurricane of ‘38. Schools let out at noon. Most businesses close. Trailer parks are evacuated. Gov. John H. Sununu declares a state of emergency. The only thing missing is Gloria. Monitor reporter David Olinger writes for the next day’s paper: “New Hampshire residents went home early from the emergency shelters, knowing they had braced for the storm of the century and sat through a rainstorm.”
Sept. 27, 2001: Except for previously scheduled murder trials, superior courts across the state will hold no jury trials during five of the next 15 months, the Monitor reports, a cost-cutting measure that could delay justice for hundreds of litigants.
Sept. 27, 2002: Democratic strategist James Carville speaks at a fund-raising dinner for the New Hampshire Democratic Party at the Bektash Shriners’ Temple in Concord.
Sept. 28, 1987: Developer Barry Stem agrees to hold off on his plan to build homes and golf course on Broken Ground while the city council studies ways to preserve open space. Six years later, Stem’s land will be auctioned off, his giant plan dead.
Sept. 29, 1965: New Hampshire Attorney General William Maynard advises the state barbers licensing board that the operation of “a mobile barbershop which would be driven from town to town or around a city conducting the business of barbering” would be illegal. After all, he reasons, how would health inspectors perform mandatory spot inspections? A month later, he will use the same logic to kill plans for a ladies’ “beauty shop on wheels.”
Sept. 29, 2002: Records fall, footballs fly and the scoreboard veritably smokes from the dizzying pace as Concord High School beats Manchester West 42-20 at Memorial Field in Concord, the Monitor reports. In the single greatest rushing display in the school’s history, Ryan Dunlavey shatters the school record for rushing yards in a game, cranking out 263 yards on 34 carries. The old record of 221 yards was held by Mark Champagne since 1973.
Sept. 30, 1829: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ellen Tucker marry in Concord. The festivities last three days. The couple moves to Boston, where Emerson has just been ordained as assistant minister at the Second Church in the North End.
