This week in Concord history

June 4, 2001: The Concord School Board approves a policy prohibiting students on sports teams or in clubs from attending gatherings where other students are using alcohol or drugs. If students are caught – regardless of whether they were drinking or getting high – they, along with a parent or guardian, will have to meet with a school counselor to discuss the risks associated with alcohol and drug abuse.

 

June 4, 1819: A great parade of Concord citizens, soldiers, musicians and legislators escorts new Gov. Samuel Bell, on horseback, from Boscawen to the new State House. The procession is greeted with “bells, the thunder of artillery, and the gratulations of the thousands,” the Patriot reports. “The day was remarkably fine.”

 

June 4, 1776: From Philadelphia, New Hampshire congressional delegate Josiah Bartlett writes to his wife Mary in Kingston: “The Congress have determined to oppose Britain with all their power . . . Remember my Love to all the children.”

 

June 4, 1973: The Concord School Board votes to build a 450-pupil, $1.9 million school for grades 4-6 off Portsmouth Street. It will be known as Broken Ground School.

 

June 5, 2003: Just 29 hours after they cut holes in razor wire fences to escape from the North State Street prison in Concord, Philip Dick, Kevin Gil and Christopher McNeil at caught at a campground in Plymouth, Mass.

 

June 5, 2001: The Concord Quarry Dogs win their home opener, 2-0. A crowd of 1,850 attends the New England Collegiate Baseball League game at Memorial Field.

 

June 5, 1845: John Parker Hale and Franklin Pierce debate slavery before an overflow crowd at the Old North Meeting House in Concord. After one antislavery speech from Hale, a veteran known as Old John Virgin blurts out: “Give it to ‘em, Jack. Drive the poor vipers into their dens, and make ‘em pull their holes in after them.” In response to a pro-Southern argument from Pierce, Hale proclaims: “I refuse to bow down and worship slavery.” The site of the debate is now Walker School.

 

June 5, 1917: New Hampshire men between the ages of 21 and 30 join their counterparts around the country in registering for a draft lottery. A year later, the pool will be expanded to all men between 18 and 45.

 

June 5, 1934: New Hampshire enacts the country’s first state liquor monopoly system. Gov. John Winant argues for prohibition but says the Legislature (which wants booze) is more representative of the people’s wishes.

 

June 5, 1801: Isaac Butterfield dies in his hometown of Westmoreland. He was a major in the Continental Army who gained notoriety 15 years earlier when he surrendered his 390 troops to the British without a fight. Back home, he overcame his disgrace, with many believing he had acted to spare his men from slaughter by a vastly superior force. He served on many town committees and amassed some wealth. The cause of death: He was kicked by a horse.

 

June 5, 1989: Concord’s CAT buses roll for the first time. Rides are free for the first week. It’s the first public transportation available in Concord in 11 years.

 

June 6, 2002: The state Liquor Commission votes to prohibit the beer tents that sell alcohol to thousands of people during Motorcycle Week. The commissioners agree with Attorney General Philip McLaughlin that the tents pose a threat to public safety.

 

June 6, 1985: Congressman Bob Smith is the only New England congressman to vote against sanctions aimed at the apartheid regime in South Africa. He says they won’t accomplish their purpose.

 

June 6, 1944: At 3:55 on this Tuesday morning, Captain Leo F. Blodgett of the Concord Fire Department sets off Concord’s downtown fire alarm, sounding two “eights.” This is the signal that the Allied invasion of Europe has begun. All over Concord, lights blink on as residents rise to turn on their radios. Gov. Robert O. Blood declares that this is a day for prayer and hope, not for celebration. Special church services throughout the state are widely attended.

 

June 6, 1878: The Rev. Nathaniel Bouton dies at age 79. He was Concord’s Congregationalist minister for 40 years and the state historian for 11. In 1856, he published a history of Concord.

 

June 6, 1798: The Legislature opens a two-week session in Hopkinton. To be hospitable, the town issues five new liquor licenses to local taverns.

 

June 6, 1966: Assistant Attorney General Alexander Kalinski advises the state liquor commission that it may not use workers from its Berlin outlet to staff its new store in Gorham until it has tried first to hire residents of Gorham.

 

June 6, 1861: Harriet Patience Dame, a 46-year-old Concord nurse, enlists as hospital matron of the Second New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry Regiment. She will keep the job for the duration of the war without a day’s illness or absence.

 

June 6, 1925: Maxine Kumin is born. She will win the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

 

June 7, 2003: The Rev. V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay father of two, is overwhelmingly elected as the next bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire and the first openly gay Episcopal bishop in the world.

 

June 7, 2002: The state Supreme Court sides with the Hells Angels in a legal rumble that pitted the bikers’ desire to sell club-related merchandise at the heart of Weirs Beach against the city of Laconia’s fears over public safety. The court’s unanimous decision clears the way for the club to run 11 vending booths during Bike Week despite the city licensing board’s vote to deny them.

 

June 7, 2001: Warren Doane, who won two state championships in his 29 seasons of coaching Concord High baseball, dies at the age of 60. Doane, who was one of the most recognized sports figures in the city, also coached Concord’s American Legion team for 15 years and was the first general manager of the newly formed Concord Quarry Dogs.

 

June 7, 1765: The provincial government grants Concord a royal charter. Since 1733, the town had been called Rumford, and before that, under a 1725 Massachusetts charter, Penny-Cook.

 

June 7, 1965: To celebrate the city’s bicentennial, Concord leaders bury a time capsule in the State House plaza, to be reopened on June 7, 2015. Among the items inside: marble from the giant railroad station demolished in 1961 and wood from the State House dome.

 

June 7, 1900: Gov. Theodore Roosevelt of New York speaks to the graduation luncheon at St. Paul’s School. The future president tells the boys: “No fooling, no shirking, and hit the line hard.”

 

June 7, 1989: Concord area religious leaders take out newspaper ads condemning three recent anti-Semitic actions: graffiti on the bike path across Turkey Pond, newsletters on cars outside two supermarkets and a swastika painted on the roof of Temple Beth Jacob.

 

June 8, 2003: Bike Week begins. In leather chaps, sunglasses and baby strollers, thousands surge into the Weirs for the start of Laconia’s 80th annual motorcycle party.

 

June 8, 2001: Concord has won a $405,000 grant from the state Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, the Monitor reports. The money vastly improves the odds that a group trying to buy the orchard at Sunnycrest Farms will reach its $1.3 million fundraising goal.

 

June 8, 2000: With $240,000 in outstanding parking fines on record, Concord is looking for ways to beef up enforcement, the Monitor reports. The most drastic proposal is a boot-and-tow ordinance that would immobilize cars whose drivers owe more than $100 or have more than five outstanding tickets.

 

June 8, 1941: Yankee third baseman Red Rolfe of Penacook hits a homer in the first game of New York’s doubleheader sweep at Cleveland. Rolfe’s teammate, Joe DiMaggio, homers twice in the first game and has two hits in the second. His hitting streak now stands at 24 games.

 

June 8, 1798: State House chaplain Joshua Heywood is fired after two days on the job. His infraction: failure to pray for President John Adams.

 

June 8, 1774: Royal Gov. John Wentworth learns of the intention of the Assembly, forerunner of the Legislature, to send a delegation to an American congress. Finding this action “inconsistent with his Majesty’s service & the good of this government,” Wentworth dissolves the Assembly.

 

June 8, 1775: The Provincial Congress, assuming control of New Hampshire against the will of the Crown, resolves to seize the money in the royal treasury. Shortly it will do so, obtaining 1,516 pounds in cash from the royal treasurer, George Jaffrey of Portsmouth.

 

June 9, 2003: Dwayne Thompson, the man convicted of killing Robert “Cigar Bob” Provencher, will not get a new trial, the state Supreme Court rules. Thompson had asked the court to overturn his conviction because a lower court judge did not allow a hearing on whether to admit DNA evidence. The court rules that even if the hearing should have been held, the decision against it did not influence the outcome of the case.

 

June 9, 1909: The cornerstone is laid for the New Hampshire Historical Society’s building on Park Street. It will be more than two years before the building is finished.

 

June 9, 2000: The House Judiciary Committee releases thousands of pages of transcripts from closed-door interviews during its investigation into allegations of misconduct on the state Supreme Court. The bundle of documents, weighing nearly 10 pounds, is available to the public for $60 a copy.

 

June 9, 1846: The cannon on Sand Hill in Concord booms the news that John Parker Hale of Dover, an anti-slavery leader, has been elected to the U.S. Senate.

 

June 9, 1986: Gov. John Sununu vetoes legislation aimed at reforming divorce laws. He objects to the establishment of a $321,000 marital magistrate bureaucracy.

Author: Insider Staff

Share This Post On

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Our Newspaper Family Includes:

Copyright 2024 The Concord Insider - Privacy Policy - Copyright