Turning Back The Pages

100 years ago — September 1921

Miss Marian Burdick is teaching in the Undermountain district at South Canaan.

The week end auto travel was the heaviest thus far this season, the roads leading into the Berkshires resembled a procession those days.

Julius Dennis, the 11 year old son of John Dennis of Ore Hill, who was injured last Sunday morning when the horses of a milk team on which he was riding ran away, was able to leave Sharon Hospital on Tuesday. The team of John O’Holloran of Ore Hill became frightened at an automobile while passing under the railway bridge. Just what happened is difficult to learn but when the horses ran, young Dennis was thrown out, two wheels passing over the shoulder and upper part of the body, inflicting painful bruises, but it is not thought they are of a permanent or serious nature.

A.H. Heaton & Co.’s store is being improved by the construction of a cement front stoop to replace the former wooden one.

50 years ago — September 1971

Chief Circuit Court Judge John J. Daly notified selectmen in the towns of Salisbury and North Canaan Tuesday that local court sessions will end this month. The move stems from an effort by the Chief Court Administrator of the State of Connecticut, Justice John P. Cotter, to promote economy and efficiency by centralizing court functions.

For the first time, the Housatonic Audubon Society will have a hawk watch in its own territory. On Sept. 18, birders will meet at 9 a.m. at the town hall in Salisbury to proceed to Cooper Hill, right across the border in Sheffield, Mass., to observe and report on the migration of hawks. The choice of this location is experimental. It is believed that western Connecticut is a major migration route for hawks and the birds have been sighted from this vantage point.

Salisbury Cemetery had a strange appearance Wednesday morning. Resident State Trooper Robert Smithwick found gravestones overturned, stone ornaments and urns grouped in small clusters and the flags from veterans’ graves pulled up and planted in a Druidical circle around vandalized tombs. Trooper Smithwick is investigating the incident.

Michael Hickey of Lakeville was taken to Sharon Hospital in the Salisbury ambulance Sept. 2 after his car struck a deer on Route 41 near North Wales Farm. Mr. Hickey was treated in the emergency room for face lacerations but did not require hospitalization. The impact caused extensive damage to the front end of the car.

The road is roughed in at Rolling Hills, a subdivision of 52-plus acres off Route 41 between Lakeville and Sharon owned by Gordon Casey of Kent and Richard Schneider of Sharon. Subdivision approval was given to the owners last May by the Planning Commission for the land to be divided into 19 building lots.

Funeral services were held Friday from the Newkirk Funeral Home for North Canaan’s last resident physician and a longtime servant of the community, Dr. Robert Cowan Sellew Jr. of North Elm Street. Dr. Sellew died last Wednesday afternoon in Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington, the victim of a lengthy illness. He was born Dec. 10, 1907, in Mill River, Mass., the son of Harriet (Prout) Sellew of Canaan and the late Dr. Robert C. Sellew. He lived in Canaan most of his life.

Three Winsted men have purchased the 105-acre Canaan Country Club, according to a warranty deed filed this week in the North Canaan town clerk’s office. Former owner William Michel Jr. has sold the property to Earle Julian, Dr. Erly Paul Gallo and Dr. Francis Gallo.

Top drivers in the L&M Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park on Labor Day afternoon were David Hobbs of England who won the Formula A race, and Sam Posey of Sharon, who came in second after leading for the first 15 laps.

25 years ago — September 1996

After Oct. 4, Southern New England Telephone will not put through calls within Connecticut that have the wrong area code. For Northwest Corner SNET subscribers, this means the official end of “203” and its replacement by the call numbers “860.” The new call number has been in use since August 1995, but some subscribers have been reluctant to make the change involving as it does new business cards, new stationery and new fax numbers.

Daniel Ayers, a mechanic with Brewer Brothers Chrysler dealership in Canaan for 16 years, was honored recently for earning master technician status for the past five years. Mr. Ayers was presented with a mantel clock inscribed with his name and achievement.

North Star Video owners Dominic and Nettie Frasca this week purchased the former Watta Crete building on Railroad Street next to the Canaan Market. In a matter of weeks they expect to move and reopen as North Star Video Warehouse, occupying what was once actually used as a warehouse. Two office suites at the front of the building (one currently occupied by Alternative Employment) will be renovated to become a Chester Fried Chicken and Ribs franchise.