This Week in History (8/5 - 8/12)

10 years ago:
Wilmington resident Denise Langren was training for a triathlon at Mount Snow. Langren’s training partner, Olly, a 6-year-old Brittany spaniel, joined her on mile-long swims at Harriman Reservoir four to five times each week, and on runs along the Hoot, Toot, & Whistle trail. Langren described Olly as a “fabulous” training partner, and a “type-A personality with a lot of energy who never gives up.”
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, then home to an antique furniture store, burned to the ground early Easter morning.

15 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 two evenings.
Halifax sought an injunction against Honora Winery to enforce conditions of a zoning permit that limited their Art on the Mountain art sale and show to two weeks, rather than the four weeks that had been requested. Honora filed an appeal of the permit, which had been issued only days before the event, and continued to allow the operation of the show beyond the permit deadline.
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.

20 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.

25 years ago:
Town officials unveiled the 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.
A local businessman involved in a legal battle with the town of Wilmington revealed that he had hired a private investigator to report on the activities of two public officials.
The old Whitingham school district No. 9 schoolhouse was moved from Shippee Road to a site behind the historical society’s Green Mountain Hall. The building was moved in two pieces, the roof and the four walls.

30 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.
The NRC voted to allow Yankee Rowe nuclear power station to continue operation despite the objections of local residents, concerned about reports that the reactor vessel had become dangerously brittle.
Lunch specials at Grampy’s included two hot dogs or two cheeseburgers for 99 cents.

35 years ago:
Local farmers were sending a shipment of 1,200 bales of hay by train to farmers in the drought-stricken southeastern states. Bud Sprague, who organized the effort, said the hay would feed livestock belonging to farmers who were threatened with loss of income and bankruptcy thanks to the drought and extreme heat.
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.