Jan. 10, 1942: City aldermen approve a $400,000 expansion of Concord Airport. The city appropriation for the project is $30,000.
Jan. 10, 1964: Paul Grindle, David Goldberg, Sally Saltonstall and Caroline Williams arrive in Concord from Boston. The four young people, all political amateurs, pay $400 to rent an empty storefront across from the State House for two months. They order a telephone and borrow furniture and folding chairs from state GOP headquarters. They will pay a sign-painter $162 to paint a sign for their storefront reading “Lodge for President.” Two months later, their candidate, write-in Henry Cabot Lodge, will win the New Hampshire Republican primary.
Jan. 11, 1943: Fred Currier, a well-known vegetable and fruit peddler in Penacook, is killed when his truck slides backward as he is unloading it and crushes him against a wall of snow on Elm Street.
Jan. 11, 1982: C. David Coeyman is elected to succeed Martin Gross as mayor of Concord. He beats Jim MacKay in a 9-6 vote of the city council. “We have not always agreed and we will not always agree, but I respect the man,” says Charles Vitagliano, on nominating Coeyman.
Jan. 11, 1993: A fire forces nine nuns out of the Carmelite monastery on Pleasant Street in Concord.
Jan. 12, 1952: The Monitor reports on plans to make Main and State streets one way, with one going north and the other going south. The idea is to relieve traffic congestion. (It’s never approved.)
Jan. 12, 1981: The low temperature in the state capital is 21 below zero. The next morning in Concord will be just as cold.
Jan. 12, 1989: Concord Sen. Susan McLane proposes a ban on jet skis on every lake in the state. “A jet ski is like a noisy buzz saw going in mindless circles,” she says. “It’s driving people crazy. This is a problem that isn’t going to go away.” No overall ban is imposed. Instead, lakes are considered on a case-by-case basis.
Jan. 13, 1891: Concord’s board of aldermen and common council appropriate $20,000 “for a Soldiers’ Memorial to commemorate the men of Concord who served their country on land or sea, in the several wars to establish, defend and maintain the unity of the Republic.” It is planned for White Park, then city hall, then the county building. It will be eight years before the Memorial Arch is finally dedicated in front of the State House.
Jan. 13, 1991: With placards proclaiming “No Blood for Oil” and other such messages, a peace group marches from the State House through the snow-banked streets of downtown Concord in protest of the threat of war with Iraq.
Jan. 13, 1943: Responding to the governor’s call for Victory gardens and home farming, Concord Mayor Charles McKee says: “Concord citizens can keep pigs and chickens in their backyards if they want to. There is no city ordinance to stop them.”
Jan. 14, 1824: The “other Concord” – in the North Country – officially changes its name to Lisbon, ending confusion with New Hampshire’s capital city.
Jan. 14, 1873: More than two years after Long Pond was recommended as Concord’s municipal water supply, the first water flows from the pond into city pipes.
Jan. 14, 2001: Concord’s Adam Young enjoys his view of the New York Giants’ 41-0 thrashing of the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC championship game. Although he’s only on the practice squad, Young is headed to Tampa for the Super Bowl.
Jan. 14, 2002: After hearing testimony from several people who think the buildings’ facades are worth preserving, Concord’s city council decides in a 10-3 vote that the dilapidated downtown Sears block will remain standing at least eight more months, despite warnings that it’s dangerous and could fall down. The block will be demolished in July.
Jan. 15, 1932: For the third day in a row, the temperature in Concord tops 60 degrees.
Jan. 15, 1965: Gov. John King announces plans to purchase Concord’s old post office on State Street and turn it into state offices. A new post office is under construction at Pleasant and South streets.
Jan. 16, 1874: Charles Low, Mexican War veteran, eccentric world traveler and erstwhile editor of the short-lived Concord Gazette, drowns in the Indian River in Florida. His obituary says Low was once robbed by Bedouins in the valley of the Jordan.
Jan. 16, 1944: All flying and ground school aviation training is suddenly called to halt at Concord Airport. A private flying school under contract with the government had turned out more than 650 pilots for the War Training Service.
Jan. 16, 1995: Springtime in January? The temperature in Concord tops out at 63 degrees.
