Oct. 22, 1987: After passing through a small crowd bearing signs reading “Run, Don, Run,” and “New Hampshire Needs Trump,” real estate magnate Donald Trump tells the Portsmouth Rotary: “This country is in trouble. It needs strength, competence and intelligence.” But he adds: “I am not a candidate for president.”
Oct. 22, 1770: The trustees of Dartmouth College hold their first meeting in Keene, inaugurating the administration of the new college.
Oct. 22, 1938: Martin Gross is born. He will become a popular Concord mayor (1976-82) and serve as legal counsel to Gov. Walter Peterson and as special counsel to Gov. Hugh Gallen.
Oct. 23, 1973: U.S. Reps. Louis Wyman and James Cleveland, New Hampshire Republicans, praise President Nixon’s release of the Watergate tapes. “Hastily initiated resolutions for impeachment should now be withdrawn,” Wyman says. Undaunted, Minnie Murray, wife of UNH professor Don Murray, has begun circulating a petition calling for Nixon’s impeachment. “He’s set himself up against any authority,” she says, “and this is not the way to run a democracy.”
Oct. 23, 1890: A statue of John Stark is dedicated outside the State House.
Oct. 24, 2001: After a field hockey match that lasts through regulation, two 15-minute overtime periods, four rounds of sudden-death penalty corners and a light drizzle, Winnisquam prevails over Derryfield to advance to their third consecutive Class M/S final against Mascenic.
Oct. 24, 1788: Sarah J. Buell is born in Newport. Widowed at a young age, Sarah Josepha Hale will turn to letters, writing the novel Northwood and becoming editor of the Lady’s Book, a magazine published out of Philadelphia by Louis Godey. In 1830, she will write “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and in 1863, she will persuade Abraham Lincoln to declare the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving.
Oct. 24, 1852: News of Daniel Webster’s death at Marshfield, Mass., reaches Concord at 2:38 p.m. Bells toll and flags are lowered to half-staff. At a memorial service the next day Gen. Franklin Pierce, just days before his election to the presidency, will be the principal speaker. Of Webster, Pierce will say: “The great heart of the nation throbs heavily at his grave.”
Oct. 25, 2003: The Concord High girl’s cross country team defends their title during the Class L state championship meet in Manchester. They claim the top spot, beating out Manchester Central 48 to 50.
Oct. 25, 1852: Following the lead of a Boston group, 50 young men of various Christian denominations meet in Concord to consider forming a local Young Men’s Christian Association. A committee appointed from this group will lead to the organization’s local founding.
Oct. 25, 1963: In Manchester for the annual New Hampshire Education Association convention, 4,000 teachers overwhelmingly approve a resolution asking the Legislature to enact a $4,500 minimum salary for teachers.
Oct. 25, 1986: A few days after Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle writes, “Stick a fork in ‘em. The Mets are done,” all New Hampshire stays up late on a Saturday night to watch game six of the World Series. The Sox come within one pitch of winning their first world title since 1918, but the Mets pull it out, 6-5 in 10 innings, on Mookie Wilson’s ground ball through Bill Buckner’s legs. The Mets go on to win game seven.
Oct. 26, 2000: As the clock strikes midnight, 33 lucky shoppers are allowed to buy the new Sony PlayStation II at Wal-Mart in Concord. Some have waited in line as long as 28 hours!
Oct 26, 1988: State officials break ground for the $1.8 million Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord.
Oct. 27, 2001: Eight months after it riled classical music fans by switching to and all-talk format during weekdays, New Hampshire Public Radio says more listeners are tuning in and contributing at greater rates than ever, the Monitor reports.
Oct. 27, 1986: Sherman Adams, former governor, former chief of staff to President Eisenhower, dies.
Oct. 27, 1659: Two Quakers, William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, are hanged in New Hampshire for “returning to the province after banishment.”
Oct. 28, 2003: About 700 people attend the unveiling of the new and improved Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord. The theater sports a three-story glass atrium, a new paint job and a refurbished conference room.
Oct. 28, 2001: A fire damages Little Saints Christian Preschool, dashing any hope that the school would open in the coming weeks.
Oct. 28, 1906: The New York World reports that Mary Baker Eddy of Concord is mentally and physically unfit to lead the 800,000-member Christian Science church, which she founded. Eddy is 85 years old. “Mrs. Eddy looked more dead than alive,” wrote two reporters who had never seen her. “She was a skeleton, her hollow cheeks thick with red paint.” Mayor Charles Corning visits Eddy after hearing this account and finds her “keen of intellect and strong in memory. A surprising example of longevity, bright eyes, emphatic expression . . . alertness.
Oct. 28, 1983: Gov. John Sununu debates California Sen. Alan Cranston over the safety of the Seabrook nuclear power plant, assuring his audience that an evacuation in case of an emergency is feasible. “We run an analogy of an evacuation experiment each summer evening,” Sununu says. “At 7:30 on the beach, that beach is crowded with all the people that are going to the beach. At 11 o’clock at night, the beach is empty. Taht same experiment is repeated day in and day out, at Hampton, at Rye and at all those facilities.
