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, 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.”
September 19, 1991: In a telephone interview with the Monitor, Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton says: “I can win New Hampshire.”
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, 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 fields 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, 1991: Refurbished and restored through a community effort, the 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, 2000: James Skinner, a state prison inmate who was acquitted of a murder charge stemming from a brawl with another inmate, has asked a judge to eliminate the arrest from his record, the Monitor reports. Under state law, anyone whose arrest results in a not-guilty verdict may ask a judge to expunge the arrest from his record. Even if his request is granted, Skinner will remain in prison for a Massachusetts murder he was convicted of committing.
