Oct. 26, 2001: Patricia Cloutier of Concord, believed to be a founder of Classy Touch Enterprises, a Penacook prostitution business, turns herself in at police headquarters. According to police, Cloutier founded the business with Amy Sullivan and allegedly ran the business out of Sullivan’s home.
Oct 26, 1988: State officials break ground for the $1.8 million Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord.
Oct. 27, 1908: A throng fills Concord’s Phenix Hall with hundreds standing as the state’s two U.S. senators campaign for the November election. “What a whirlwind (Sen. Joseph) Gallinger is for incessant work, work, work,” Charles Corning, the city’s mayor and the emcee for the night, writes in his diary.
Oct. 27, 1951: State Sen. Winnifred Julia Wild marries state Sen. George Wesley Tarlson – right in the Senate chamber.
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. 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.”
Oct. 29, 1795: Concord Bridge, the town’s first span across the Merrimack, opens with a party and parade. It is near the site of today’s Manchester Street bridge. A second toll bridge will be built to East Concord in 1796.
Oct. 29, 1792: The first issue of The Mirror is published in Concord. The cost: 5 shillings per year.
Oct. 30, 1862: Twenty-five Black sailors from the USS Minnesota arrive in Portsmouth. The ship has come north after being damaged in the Merrimack-Monitor duel at Hampton Roads, Va. The young ladies of Portsmouth step up to help the formerly enslaved men learn to read, and townspeople gather to hear their views on slavery and secession and to hear them sing gospel songs.
October 27, 2023
What fun to read these pieces of Concord history. As author of, 21st Century Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: A modern version of Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health, I was particularly taken with Mayor Corning visiting Eddy to report correctly on her “keen intellect.”