A Look Back: April 11

50 Years Ago

■The City Council has voted to close the Leeds fire station and some of the people in Leeds are hopping mad. Leeds residents say that some of the fire chief’s statements about the condition of the station are false, and insist that other problems have been caused by the fire department’s own neglect.

■The April meeting of the Bay State Village Association was held Monday evening at the German Hall. The following officers were elected: president, Fred Nehring; first vice president, Walter Boucher; second vice president, Dick Denno; treasurer, Robert Patenaude; assistant treasurer, Eileen Diggins; and secretary, Karen Ahearn.

25 Years Ago

■The growing popularity of programs offered by the Center for New Americans in Northampton is squeezing the agency out of its current space. For four years, the center has helped newcomers to the U.S. by providing training in the English language and preparing immigrants to take the test to become naturalized U.S. citizens. The center operates from a two-room space at Hampshire Heights.

■A new permit that limits performances on city sidewalks to musicians was approved Wednesday night by the Board of Public Works. Officials said that in the past, city sidewalks have played stage to clowns, mimes, jugglers and other performers, and large crowds have sometimes blocked the sidewalks.

10 Years Ago

■It will soon be easier for homeowners and small businesses to go solar in Northampton. That’s because the city has been accepted as one of 10 communities to participate in the latest round of Solarize Massachusetts, a state program that helps homeowners buy small-scale solar photovoltaic systems at a discounted price.

■A well-preserved skeleton of a dinosaur that lived in North America approximately 150 million years ago will soon have a new home at Beneski Museum of Natural History on the Amherst College campus. The skeleton has been donated to the museum by 1977 Amherst graduate John Middleton.

]]>