Oct. 12, 2002: It used to be that Concord has an affordable housing shortage, the Monitor reports. Today, it simply has a housing shortage – one that’s hitting every income sector, from minimum wage workers to wealthy executives.
Oct. 12, 2000: The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce refuses to allow Independent Mary Brown to take part in a debate among candidates for governor. “It’s demeaning,” she says after being forced to leave the building where Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Gordon Humphrey both speak.
Oct. 12, 1853: Fourteen New Hampshire leaders, including Sen. John P. Hale and Amos Tuck, meet in Exeter to organize a new anti-slavery party. They call the party “Republican.”
Oct. 13, 2000: Concord developer Steve Duprey announces the new conference center at Horseshoe Pond will be named for the Grappone family, who “stood out among all our wonderful donors.” The Grappones donated more than $700,000 to the project.
Oct. 14, 1846: A Northfield girl, Susan Maria Hills, is killed when her clothes catch fire from an open fireplace.
Oct. 15, 2003: Hillsboro’s famous stone arch bridges are nationally recognized as historic civil engineering landmarks. They join the Mount Washington Cog Railway and the Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge as the only New Hampshire landmarks to receive the engineering honor, which is awarded to structures that are unique and have national and local importance.
Oct. 15, 2000: About 1,800 people take part in Concord’s leg of the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. The local event raises $157,000 for research.
Oct. 16, 2001: Citing safety concerns relating to the Sept. 11 attacks, the Steeplegate Mall cancels its annual trick-or-treat night.
Oct. 16, 2000: Seismic experts confirm that, yes, there was a “very minor” earthquake the night before near Moultonboro. It is the third quake recorded in New Hampshire this year; all have been minor.
Oct. 17, 2003: A five-day search by hundreds of volunteers ends tragically when a 10-year-old Massachusetts boy is found dead in the forest in Lincoln, likely the victim of exposure.
Oct. 17, 2001: Dixville Notch resident Neil Tillotson dies at the age of 102. He invented the latex balloon, chased Pancho Villa with Pershing’s Cavalry, and cast the first vote in U.S. presidential elections for more than four decades.
Oct. 17, 1908: Robert Abial “Red” Rolfe is born in Penacook. He will play baseball with the New York Yankees from 1934 to ’42 and be hailed by many as the team’s best third baseman ever. His career will bridge those of Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio. He will bat .293 lifetime and play in six World Series. After retiring as an active player, he will coach baseball and basketball at Yale, coach professionally in both sports, manage the Detroit Tigers and serve as athletic director at Dartmouth College.
Oct. 18, 2002: The Union Leader reports that a woman who worked for the head of the Fish and Game Department says he repeatedly made explicit sexual remarks to her and touched her sexually. In a written complaint to the state Human Rights Commission, the woman says Wayne Vetter twice exposed himself to her and once rubbed himself against her. She also says he retaliated against her when she eventually protested.
Oct. 18, 1988: Attorney Ray D’Amante announces the name of Concord’s soon-to-be-built mall: Steeplegate. Concord, he says, is a city of steeples and they will be incorporated into the mall as a prominent design feature.
Oct. 18, 1983: Gov. John Sununu says he would hire more women to important jobs in state government if more qualified women applied. “Maybe it is a problem of finding conservative women to leave the private sector. But we have had difficulty.”
