Nov. 3, 1908: Concord elects Democrat Charles French as its new mayor. At midnight, a cheering crowd carries him through the city streets. Outgoing Mayor Charles Corning, who did not seek re-election, disapproves of his successor. The result will bring about “a veritable misfortune unless French reforms his loud manners & modifies his coarse & nasty speech,” Corning writes in his diary.
Nov. 3, 1947: John G. Winant, former governor and former U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, commits suicide in Concord.
Nov. 3, 2003: Seven candidates show up at the secretary of state’s office in Concord, marking the first day that presidential candidates are able to file papers to enter January’s primary. The only one whose name carries any cachet in Washington is Dick Gephardt, who makes a lunchtime appearance between campaign stops.
Nov. 4, 1947: Concord voters apparently aren’t in the mood to have fun this Election Day. By wide margins, they reject plans to construct a man-made lake and to permit high school sports and recreational bowling on Sundays.
Nov. 4, 2002: Three dozen South Enders turn out to meet with city councilors about a few neighborhood hot topics: the Northwest Bypass, the Richmond Co. shopping center and the Interstate 93 expansion.
Nov. 4, 2003: After a four-year hiatus from Concord’s city hall, Allenstown Police Chief and former councilor Jim McGonigle wins a seat with 1,788 votes citywide, the highest of the three candidates running for councilor-at-large.
Nov. 5, 1991: While acting as a commentator on the local cable channel as the city election results are being counted, Concord Mayor Jim MacKay learns that he has been defeated for re-election to the city council.
Nov. 5, 1996: For the first time ever, Concord elects an all-female delegation to the State House. The members: Reps. Carol Burney, Jean Wallin, Mary Stuart Gile, Gloria Seldin, Liz Hager, Carol Moore, Toni Crosby, Marilyn Fraser, Katherine Rogers, Tara Reardon, Miriam Dunn, Mary Jane Wallner, Betty Hoadley and Sen. Sylvia Larsen. Come 1998, however, Rep. Dave Poulin will break up the old girls club.
Nov. 6, 1907: By a count of 2,281-2,034, Concord voters decide to stop licensing saloons and ban them. Manchester, Nashua and Portsmouth vote to continue licensing. Franklin, Laconia and Keene join Concord in prohibiting them. The measures will take effect May 1, 1908.
Nov. 6, 1947: The Concord Monitor’s editorial writer expresses disbelief at voters’ rejection of a plan to build a man-made lake. “The Concord Lake proposal had been developed out of the soundest methods of government administration now known. Known advantages of the plan far outweighed disadvantages. In spite of all this, Concord said ‘No.’ ”
Nov. 7, 2001: Concord parking enforcers give out the first boot, a metal lock that fits over a car’s wheel and prevents the vehicle from moving unless removed. It has been three months since the city announced that it would boot any car whose owner owed more than $100 in parking tickets.
Nov. 8, 1844: The local Columbian artillery turns out on Sand Hill in Concord to fire off a salute to the election of James K. Polk and George M. Dallas. As the cannon is being loaded, an explosion badly injures John L. Haynes, an officer in the unit. The explosion blows of Haynes’s left arm and shatters the bones in his right arm.
Nov. 8, 1983: On his eighth try, longtime city gadfly Bob Schweiker is elected to the Concord School Board. Even he is surprised by the vote. “I really expected to lose,” he says.
Nov. 8, 1991: In an interview with the Monitor, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton says that as president he would support a middle class tax cut. “To correct an imbalance hardly constitutes class warfare,” he says, adding that he would pay for the cut raising taxes on the wealthy or decreasing the defense budget.
Nov. 9, 2002: The Concord High girls’ cross country team, already owners of the Class L and state meet titles, adds a mud-caked New England championship to its cache in Portland, Maine.
Nov. 10, 1854: Concord’s Unitarian Church is destroyed by fire.
Nov. 10, 1995 :The refurbished Capitol Center for the Arts reopens on South Main Street. The opening show features folkies John Sebastian, Jonathan Edwards, Janis Ian and New Hampshire’s own Tom Rush.
Nov. 10, 2003: The Concord City Council votes to put an automated trash plan on hold until exact cost estimates are available.
