A Look Back: Jan. 27

By JIM BRIDGMAN

For the Gazette

Published: 01-27-2023 7:00 AM

50 Years Ago

■Officials of the merged Northampton School for Girls and Williston Academy of Easthampton are “reasonably pleased” about proposed plans for an interim rental of the property next month by local mental health officials. State purchase of the property has been pending for about two years.

■Births recorded in Northampton last year fell about 17 percent from 1971, according to statistics from the city clerk’s office. Marriages, on the other hand, jumped more than 6 percent over the previous year.

25 Years Ago

■Local lawmakers are divided on whether President Clinton should try to reach out to the American people before tonight’s State of the Union address with a frank talk about the scandal swirling around him. All agreed, however, that the allegations of a White House tryst with a 21-year-old intern and the attending controversy threaten to undermine whatever messages he hopes to advance.

■Prospective developers of the Northampton State Hospital grounds disappointed members of the Citizens Advisory Committee last night by offering proposals that were high on ideas, but low on detail. Most members expressed disappointment over what they called a lack of details — particularly construction costs and financing — in the proposals.

10 Years Ago

■After more than four decades, including 18 years at its 67 Main St. address, the Daily Hampshire Gazette will close its Easthampton bureau Monday. The decision is a sign of the times, as more newspaper readers submit community notices, letters to the editor and pay bills online with their computers and smartphones, said Publisher Jim Foudy.

■Students in Easthampton High School art teacher Jimmy Ilson’s class have been stenciling messages — quotes, song lyrics or thoughts of their own — on the walls of the school as a way to say goodbye to the old building, which will be demolished later this year when the new high school building next door is open.

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