A Look Back, Nov. 6

50 Years Ago

■Democrats cashed in on voter discontent with Republican scandals and the nation’s deepening economic ills and headed for a two-thirds bulge in the House, an expanded margin in the Senate and a near-record total of governorships.

■Fluoridation, approved here last year by 54 votes, was overwhelmingly defeated by Northampton voters yesterday by a margin of two to one. Anti-fluoride forces in the city had lobbied intensively against the introduction of the additive into the domestic water supply since city voters approved fluoridation in the 1973 municipal elections.

25 Years Ago

■Developer Ron Bercume intends to build at least 40 luxury homes in a 106-acre subdivision that would reach to the top of the Mount Holyoke Range. The entrance to the development, to be called Skinner Mountain Estates, would be near the intersection of Hockanum Road and Laurel Drive.

■The Chesterfield Road bridge at Northampton’s western edge was ordered closed Thursday for seven days pending a detailed inspection of the structure, which is similar to a bridge that collapsed in Lincoln last week. The one-lane bridge, which spans the Roberts Meadow Brook near the Westhampton border, connects Northampton with Westhampton and the Hilltowns.

10 Years Ago

■Two incumbent legislators who represent Hampshire County, state Rep. Ellen Story and state Sen. Donald Humason Jr., were re-elected Tuesday, and Democrat Eric Lesser of Longmeadow won the open 1st Hampden & Hampshire Senate seat.

■Northampton removed an old billboard near Interstate 91 in the Meadows last week in a move that would have pleased Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady who championed beautification of the nation’s highways by removing unsightly roadside advertising. The billboard on Dike Road was located on a new portion of the Historic Mill River Greenway that the city purchased in August.