This Week in History (3/24 - 3/31)

10 years ago:
Gov. Peter Shumlin joined John and Patsy Reagan, owners of Dot's Restaurant in Wilmington, for their announcement of a project to restore the much-loved eatery after it was all but destroyed during Tropical Storm Irene. After surveying the damage shortly after the flood, the Reagans had initially decided not to rebuild the restaurant, citing the high cost of construction and flood hazard regulations. But they were surprised by the community's outpouring of support to rebuild. The Wilmington Fund VT, Friends of the Valley, The Vermont Preservation Trust, and hundreds of visitors and community members pitched in to help with the cost of the project.

15 years ago:
In a heroic effort, Wilmington Police patrolman Tyson Kinney and Chief Joe Szarejko rescued two dogs that had fallen through the ice on Harriman Reservoir. The dogs, Gracie and Tess, had been on a snowshoe trek with their owner Susan Spengler when a fox ran across the trail. The two dogs took off after the fox, chasing it onto the ice. But where the fox scampered across a thin spot, the dogs fell through. A passing motorist saw the action and called 911 when the dogs went in the water. Despite having been in the frigid water more than a half-hour, by the time they were back on shore, the dogs were fine after they warmed up from their ordeal.

20 years ago:
The town of Whitingham filed suit against their former treasurer, claiming that he was withholding financial records. The former treasurer called the action frivolous, and said the spreadsheet the town sought was little more than his own notes as he balanced the town’s checkbooks. He said there was no missing information.
At the invitation of Rep. Bob Rusten, Brigham attorney Bob Gensburg agreed to meet with local school and select boards for a dialogue about Act 60 and its effect on local towns.
The Deerfield Valley Health Care Volunteers announced that there would be no Art on the Mountain for the first time in 39 years. The popular art show did make a comeback, but has since closed again.

25 years ago:
Wilmington School Board members discussed an engineering report on the Wilmington Middle/High School. According to the report, installing a new roof on the building would cost about $100,000. Another $200,000 in repairs to structural supports, ceilings, and cracked walls would also be needed. The estimate didn’t include any upgrades, and board members wondered whether it would be practical to spend the money on a deteriorating building. Noting that Whitingham voted to explore a merger with Wilmington at their Town Meeting, board member David Wheeler said there could be a need for additional space.
Wilmington’s Memorial Hall had a new tenant. The selectboard approved a one-year lease with the nonprofit Memorial Hall Center for the Arts. Under the agreement, MHCA would pay $1 per year, 10% of fees from groups using the hall, and $1 from every ticket sold.

30 years ago:
Rep. David Larsen described the scene in Montpelier when the Winooski River overflowed its banks. “As I looked out from the State House, there was a swiftly flowing river and all of downtown Montpelier was under five to seven feet of water. By 10 am there were only 40 members of the legislature in the State House, and we needed a quorum of 76 to conduct business. The Speaker of the House arrived in the bucket of a bucket loader. Now and then a few additional legislators would arrive, having just walked a mile or two through a local park to get there. By 11 am, state employees were abandoning state office buildings in the downtown area. Many of them sought refuge at the State House. Most of them were transported out of the flooded area by National Guard trucks.”
Larsen also helped the Vermont Historical Society move boxes of century-old letters and documents out of the society’s flooding basement, and afterward watched as cars and debris floated down the street, followed by people in canoes and kayaks.

45 years ago:
The valley’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations started off with a parade down West Main Street. After turning onto South Main Street, revelers stopped at Poncho’s Wreck for complimentary Irish stew and entertainment. From Poncho’s, the crowd went to the Old Red Mill where the parade results were announced (Ken “Poncho” Cummings won for his “Tac-o the mornin’ to ya” float). After more musical entertainment, the entourage rolled north for Dover’s parade, starting at Andirons and moving north to Deacon’s Den. The troupe eventually made it as far as the Sitzmark, before returning to the Andirons for parade results (Cummings won Dover’s parade, too).