June 29, 2002: In Laconia, two bikers are shot in an episode that police link to motorcycle gang violence. “It appears that it’s part of the ongoing feud between the Hells Angels and rival motorcycle gangs,” says Laconia police Sgt. John MacLennan. The bikers are treated at Lakes Region General Hospital and released.
June 29, 1835: Celia Thaxter is born. She will become a renowned Portsmouth poet.
June 29, 1873: The North Church burns. It will be rebuilt on the same spot – North Main and Chapel streets – and will open for worship less than three years after the fire.
June 29, 1992: The U.S. Supreme Court upholds Roe vs. Wade, the 19-year-old decision legalizing abortion. Though the vote is 5-4, Justice David H. Souter of New Hampshire and two other members of the majority state their opinion in strong terms, writing: “A decision to overrule Roe’s essential holding under the existing circumstances would address error, if error there was, at the cost of both profound and unnecessary damage to the Court’s legitimacy, and to the Nation’s commitment to the rule of law.”
June 29, 1864: The Legislature meets to hear Manchester’s case that it should displace Concord as New Hampshire’s capital. Speaking in Concord’s defense, John George wins the day by arguing that in addition to lagging behind Concord in railroad development, Manchester has a population that is “not steady and sober. Passions, excitements and tumults are likely to be generated at any time.”
June 30, 1944: More than three weeks after D-Day, dreaded telegrams reach Concord homes bringing news of casualties in the Allied invasion of Europe. They include a paratrooper and an Army lieutenant who are both missing and Lt. Guy Gowen, a 24-year-old infantry patrol leader who had reached Normandy by glider before being killed in action. Gowen had been a two-sport star at Concord High, graduating in 1937 and going on to UNH.
June 30, 1990: Hundreds – and over ensuing days thousands – of people come to pay their respects at the Moving Wall during its stop at the New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord. The wall is a portable replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
July 1, 2003: Attorney General Peter Heed says prison officials failed to investigate or react to clues that, in hindsight, foretold of last month’s prison break by three men at the state prison in Concord. A tip from another inmate and a pair of bolt cutters found thrown over a prison fence were among the clues that officials failed to react to, Heed says.
July 1, 1927: At nightfall, 2,000 people gather at the State House plaza to watch Mayor Fred Marden push the button that will illuminate Concord’s new “White Way” for the first time. Concord Electric Co. has installed 126 large bulbs to light the way, which runs more than mile along Main Street, from Kelly’s drug store to Larkin’s store. A Monitor reporter hears someone whisper in the crowd: “I hope they go on.” They do indeed, causing “a spontaneous uproar and the blowing of hundreds of automobile horns.”
July 2, 2003: Breathe a sigh of relief, New Hampshire. Companies here are cutting back on toxic emissions at a rate that’s nearly double the national average, according to a report issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Monitor reports.
July 2, 1976: Gov. Mel Thomson announces precautions are being taken to guard the State House and Bridges House because of reports of recent dynamite thefts from construction sites in Bow and Manchester.
July 2, 1976: Gov. Mel Thomson orders a full investigation into what happened to 1,500 pounds of chicken that never made it to a state worker picnic at New Hampshire Hospital. The birds, worth $780, were contaminated and disposed of.
July 2, 1776: Dr. Josiah Bartlett and William Whipple represent New Hampshire as the Continental Congress declares American independence.
July 3, 2002: New Hampshire lawyers representing about 100 people charging they were molested by Roman Catholic priests are talking to the church about a settlement, the Monitor reports.
July 3, 1869: The first train runs to the summit of Mount Washington.
July 3, 1989: Several thousand demonstrators sing protest songs and listen to anti-nuclear speeches at Hampton Beach State Park in the first of two days of rallies against the imminent start of low-power tests at the Seabrook nuclear power plant.
July 4, 1899: Ten thousand people attend the dedication of the Memorial Arch in front of the State House. Cut from Concord granite, it is 33 feet 8 inches high and 53 feet wide. Though built on state land, it was paid for by the city and commemorates Concord’s war veterans.
July 4, 1842: Hooligans set a barrel of tar on fire in the State House plaza. “The tossing of fire-balls had begun when the police of this town interfered,” according to a city history.
July 4, 1859: Austin Goings launches the 65-foot sidewheeler Surprise on Lake Sunapee. It is the first steamboat on the lake. Goings will soon leave to fight in the Civil War, and it will be 17 years before transportation on the lake begins in earnest.
July 4, 1985: A day after a trip to Paris, Vice President George Bush arrives in Bristol to lead an Independence Day parade. Ten thousand people turn out to see him. Later that day, 500 Republicans will spend $150 each to ride with Bush on the M/S Mount Washington across Lake Winnipesaukee.
July 4, 1827: Snow is reported in Gilmanton.
July 5, 2003: The first New Hampshire priest to stand trial for child sexual assault will head to court again, as he’s tried a second time on charges of abusing a 15-year-old altar boy in his Lake Winnisquam cottage nearly 20 years ago, the Monitor reports. The Rev. George Robichaud’s first trial ended in a hung jury and a mistrial, after jurors couldn’t agree on the boy’s age at the time of the alleged assault.
July 5, 2002: Ted Williams, the legendary Boston Red Sox outfielder, dies at the age of 83. Local fan Tony Heath, owner of Quality Cash Market in East Concord, reflects “We shared the same dream. That was to see the Red Sox win the World Series. It’s too bad he didn’t live to see that happen.”
