This Week in History: August 6-12
10 years ago:
In a bid to allay the concerns raised during their Act 250 master plan approval process, Hermitage officials sold two properties, including the so-called “East Tract,” located between Coldbrook Road and Old Ark Road in Wilmington, as well as the adjacent Mount Snow Airport parcel. The airport and airport lands were sold for $2 million to 4V8 LLC, and the East Tract was sold to Comtuck, LLC. Comtuck attempted to revive a development plan for the land that was once part of the 1970s Stratfield Associates development plan at Haystack. No development has yet taken place, however.
15 years ago:
State and local officials were on hand for the formal dedication of Wilmington’s award-winning River Bank Park during the Blueberry Block Party. The park, with its unique pergola, was constructed on the site of the 1853 Wilmington Savings Bank, later Vermont National Bank. In 2007, the building, which was then home to an antique furniture store, burned to the ground early Easter Sunday morning.
20 years ago:
Whitingham’s centennial Old Home Week celebration was a hailed as a resounding success. Although organizers were unable to provide a total number of people who attended the three-day event, co-chair Linda Corse noted that about 1,100 people attended the Old Home Week Variety Show over the two evenings it was presented.
A group of Whitingham and Wilmington voters formed an ad hoc committee advocating the dissolution of the Twin Valley School District. At that time, the joint school district included only middle and high school grades. Proponents of the dissolution were concerned about issues of local control and the prospect of paying for a new school.
25 years ago:
Whitingham and Wilmington were involved in a (friendly) dispute over their common border. In correspondence with the US Census Bureau, Whitingham Town Clerk Bud Holland submitted a map of Whitingham revised to show what he believed was the correct historical border. Early maps show the borders of Wilmington, Marlboro, Halifax, and Whitingham meeting at a “four corners.” Later and current maps, however, show the border between Wilmington and Whitingham shifted slightly to the south of Halifax and Marlboro’s common border. Holland said Wilmington’s charter supported the “four corners” boundary, and he could find no legislative change to the border. Wilmington officials disagreed with Holland’s conclusion, but couldn’t provide any information explaining the apparent change.
30 years ago:
Whitingham unveiled their recently renovated offices at the Whitingham Municipal Center in Jacksonville. Before the town carried out the $50,000 renovation, the town offices were located in the basement of the building, and Windham Southwest Supervisory Union occupied the main floor. Whitingham artist Martha Phelps painted a mural depicting life in Whitingham and Jacksonville at the turn of the century.
35 years ago:
Workers were preparing to move a house and its attached outbuildings farther back from Route 100 in Dover. The house, along with the construction of two new buildings, would become Tollgate Village.
Dover’s board of civil authority was facing 500 tax appeals after property in the town was reappraised. The number was about half that of the more than 1,000 grievances the town’s listers were hit with earlier in the process.
40 years ago:
Leon Carpenter was preparing to portray Chief Sadawga in Whitingham’s Old Home Week parade. Carpenter first led the parade as the locally legendary Native American resident of Whitingham, after whom it is said Lake Sadawga is named, at the town’s second Old Home Week in 1916.
Readsboro celebrated the bicentennial anniversary of the town’s charter. Unlike many surrounding towns, Readsboro (originally named Readesborough after grantee John Reade) was granted the charter by the governor of New York. As a settler under a New York grant, Reade went north to fight Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, whose land was granted by the governor of New Hampshire.
50 years ago:
Haystack Corporation was in involuntary bankruptcy; tentative buyers had faded into the woodwork; building lot owners filed a class action suit against Haystack, American Mortgage Investors (majority owners of Haystack), and Haystack’s lenders; and the town of Wilmington took 301 Haystack lots at tax sale.
The Wilmington Recreation Commission sponsored a ‘50s dance at Memorial Hall. According to their announcements, “Little old ladies from Pasadena” would be admitted free.
55 years ago:
Two local businessmen, Al Wurzberger and Ed Barber, announced they would run for president of the chamber of commerce. At the same meeting, chamber members discussed their plan to convince the state to build a covered bridge “somewhere” within view of Route 100. Three sites were mentioned: Higley Hill Road, Cross Town Road, and East Dover Road.
