A Look Back, Oct. 7

By JIM BRIDGMAN

For the Gazette

Published: 10-06-2024 11:01 AM

50 Years Ago

■Amid the crackle of musket fire, the pounding of cannon and patriotic music, nearly 10,000 people witnessed the Battle of Look Park yesterday. Under cloudless skies and bathed in warm sunshine, the program was organized by the Sixth Massachusetts Continentals, a Revolutionary infantry unit here, and the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce, to kick off the city’s Bicentennial celebration.

■Within 20 years, the French language in Easthampton will be extinct, predicts a member of one of the town’s older families of French-Canadian extraction. Though still referred to as “the French church,” Notre Dame parish on Pleasant Street no longer conducts masses in French. The language and ethnic identity of French-Canadian descendants in Easthampton is passing with the older generations.

25 Years Ago

■Nearly two years after the state provided teachers with low-cost Internet accounts, area educators say they still have problems getting on-line. Local subscribers of MassEd.Net, a program that provides teachers with access to the World Wide Web for a $25 yearly fee, say they continue to encounter busy signals when they attempt to activate their Internet accounts.

■The 176 members of the graduating class at Northampton High School posed for their senior class picture today outside on the auditorium steps in their newest head gear: hard hats. The hats were given to seniors especially for the occasion as a fitting gift for students who have lived through two, and in some cases, three construction projects during their school years.

10 Years Ago

■The Easthampton Chamber of Commerce has named Maureen “Moe” Belliveau its new executive director beginning Monday. She had 20 years of small business and entrepreneurial experience before starting her most recent position as executive director of the Westfield Business Improvement District.

■The Supreme Court unexpectedly cleared the way Monday for a dramatic expansion of gay marriage in the United States and may have signaled that it’s only a matter of time before same-sex couples can marry in all 50 states. Almost immediately, exuberant couples began receiving marriage licenses previously denied to them.