March 9, 1973: Gov. Mel Thomson says the state’s boundary squabble with Maine isn’t just about water – it also concerns land. Thomson contends all of the Isles of Shoals belong to New Hampshire, including Duck Appledore Malaga, Smuttynose and Cedar, considered part of Maine since 1635.
March 9, 1964: Dr. Robert O. Blood, former New Hampshire governor and chairman of an uncommitted slate of GOP delegates on the next day’s presidential primary ballot, says he has contacted Richard Nixon to “ascertain the position” of the former vice president. Nixon tells him: “Although I have taken no part in the New Hampshire primary, I believe that all Americans will be watching the results there.” Nixon will receive 15,500 write-in votes.
March 10, 2001: Pembroke voters overwhelmingly reject a plan to share school board control with three towns that send their high school students to Pembroke Academy. Allenstown, Chichester and Epsom each sought a voice on the board.
March 10, 2000: A 7-year-old boy crossing Loudon Road on his way to Concord’s Dame School is struck by a pickup truck and seriously injured. The accident inspires residents of the Heights to press city officials for better traffic signals and more clearly marked crosswalks.
March 10, 1777: The Legislature orders the state’s first constitutional Fast Day, to be celebrated April 16. The holiday will not die out until the 1990s.
March 10, 1863: Ship owner Daniel Marcy, a Copperhead from Portsmouth, is elected to the U.S. Congress from the First District.
March 10, 1852: An amendment on the ballot would overturn the constitutional provision that only Protestants may run for political office in New Hampshire. Voters reject the amendment by a 5-4 majority.
March 10, 1978: The Executive Council approves 32-year-old Tom Rath of Concord to succeed David Souter as attorney general. Souter, 38, who held the job for seven years, is approved as a superior court judge. Gov. Meldrim Thomson Jr. made the nominations. Rath’s salary will be $33,500 a year.
March 10, 1853: The town of Concord holds its last town meeting – and then votes to become a city by a vote of 828-559.
March 11, 1734: Its right to self-government recognized seven years after the first white settlers arrive, Rumford in Essex County, Mass., convenes its first town meeting at 2 p.m. In time the town will be known as Concord, N.H.
March 11, 1989: Amid a recession, Barnstead school district voters kill plans to start music, art and kindergarten at the elementary school. Also killed is a gifted/talented program.
March 12, 1986: Gov. John Sununu signs into law a measure providing money to pay for placing children in group and foster homes. The measure provides money to cover court-ordered placements. It is a result of the state’s failure to pay for a law it approved the year before.
March 13, 1993: People hunker down for what television has hyped as the “storm of the century.” Concord gets 17 inches of snow. Most roads will be clear by morning.
March 13, 1782: The Legislature meets in Concord for the first time at the First Congregational Church. The building will burn in 1870.
March 14, 1968: Thomas J. Saltmarsh, a 19-year-old paratrooper from Concord, is killed in action near Saigon. He is the 16th local man to die in combat during the Vietnam War.
