Jan. 26, 1839: In Concord, rain falls for 24 hours straight. The Merrimack rises 15 feet in 15 hours. Several bridges are destroyed.
Jan. 26, 1968: U.S. Sen. Eugene McCarthy brings his presidential campaign to Concord. He meets with Gov. John King, who is leading President Johnson’s campaign in the state, and says of New Hampshire: “It looks like Minnesota.”
Jan. 26, 1984: Webster Bridges, chairman of the state Sweepstakes Commission, brings a sample of the state’s newest instant lottery games to the State House. Gov. John Sununu buys a scratch ticket and promptly wins $2.
Jan. 26, 2002: Merrimack Valley’s Luke Norton finishes second in the long jump and fourth in the high jump at the Class I/M/S boys’ indoor track championships. Which isn’t really all that impressive – unless you take into account the fact that both events occurred simultaneously. In doing so, he also led the Indians to a surprise third-place performance.
Jan. 27, 1848: Franklin Pierce returns home to Concord after leading a brigade in the Mexican War. A crowd of 3,000 to 4,000 people meet him at the city’s new railroad station. Pierce has been gone eight months. In that time, the Concord town meeting has banned “bowling, saloons and circuses.” Among those present for Pierce’s welcome home is his old friend and Bowdoin College classmate Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Jan. 27, 1942: Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony for Concord Mayor John Storrs and the city’s aldermen, Gov. Robert O. Blood has this to say about the world war: “We will put an end to this conflict in two years.”
Jan. 27, 1943: An anonymous Webster man applies to the Concord War and Price Rationing Board for 600 pounds of sugar. “I make alky mash and need sugar to make it ferment and taste right,” he writes. The board rejects his request.
Jan. 27, 1965: Concord Electric Company asks permission of the Federal Power Commission to close down its only generating plant, located at Sewalls Falls on the Merrimack River.
Jan. 27, 1983: Concord native John Bluto makes a brief TV appearance on an episode of Cheers. He plays an insurance salesman, a role he played in real life in Concord for more than 10 years.
Jan. 27, 1992: The morning after Bill and Hillary Clinton’s 60 Minutes appearance, most people interviewed by a Monitor reporter on Main Street blame the media for excessive coverage of Clinton’s private life. “I think his wife made a clearer point than he did,” says Amy Menin. “She said she’s not just Tammy Wynette standing by her man – I thought that was great – that she really loves this guy. If she can say that, the rest of it is none of our business.”
Jan. 27, 1994: The temperature in Concord falls to 27 below zero, the city’s third record low in eight days.
Jan. 27, 2003: The Concord City Council votes to take the historic Rolfe barn through eminent domain, stopping Ken Epworth, the barn’s owner, from dismantling the building and selling the parts to an unnamed client. The Penacook Historical Society asked the city to step in so it can use the barn as a museum and community center.
Jan. 28, 1986: The space shuttle Challenger explodes 72 seconds after liftoff, killing all aboard, including Concord High teacher Christa McAuliffe.
Jan. 28, 2002: Convicted killer and Monitor columnist Ray Barham, 72, dies of cancer in the state prison infirmary. He was convicted in 1983 of first-degree murder after shooting his estranged wife’s boyfriend, and started writing for the paper’s editorial page in 1987. Editor Mike Pride will remember him by writing, “Ray joked about wanting to win the Pulitzer Prize. He said it was the only way to change the headline on his obituary. In fact, for many years it was his writing, not the killing, that defined him. He could not outlast the sentence he had brought upon himself, but his pen bore him through it.”
Jan. 29, 2002: Citing a lack of evidence, a Merrimack County Superior Court judge sends Richmond Co.’s supermarket and shopping center proposal back to the Concord planning board, overturning the board’s unanimous decision against the Massachusetts company and upsetting some South End residents.
Feb. 1, 1859: The Concord Railroad passenger station, including the offices of the Concord, Montreal and Northern railroads, the telegraph office and Depot hall, is destroyed by fire.
Feb. 1, 2003: News spreads through Concord that the space shuttle Columbia has exploded, reminding many of the space shuttle Challenger. “It’s amazing how it brings those feelings right back,” says state Rep. Jim MacKay, who was the city’s mayor when the Challenger exploded 17 years ago with Concord teacher Christa McAuliffe on board.
Feb. 1, 1992: Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton tells a Concord audience that ambition is no sin. “Some people are telling you you shouldn’t vote for me,” he says. “They say Clinton is too slick, he’s too glib, he’s always wanted to be president. Let me tell you something: Abraham Lincoln always wanted to be president, too.”
