A Look Back, May 10

50 Years Ago

■Modular homes, once touted to be the housing wave of the future, have not proved very popular in the Northampton area. Friday, Fontaine Modular Structures Inc., in Northampton, suspended operations due to lack of business.

■Navy S.CPO Larry Desmond recently relieved CPO Robert Petersen as the recruiter in charge of U.S. Navy Information Team, 68 Masonic St. Desmond comes to duty in Northampton from the U.S.S. Intrepid, a submarine search aircraft carrier, home-ported at Quonset Point, R.I.

25 Years Ago

■The first visible sign of the Northampton High School project appeared this week, when contractors installed fencing around the area where site work is planned. Richard Aquadro, of Aquadro & Cerruti Inc., the Northampton contractor hired to do the $26.2 million project, said the fencing went up around the parking lot and field areas.

■Two weeks ago, Registrar of Voters Patricia Shaughnessy opened her offices in the Puchalski Municipal Building as an official passport acceptance facility. Since then, she said, employees in the office have processed 14 passports, and she expects the numbers will only increase.

10 Years Ago

■Parents and teachers seeking advice about how teens use the Internet can hear from a national expert Monday when author Rachel Simmons speaks on Girls and Social Media at Northampton High School. Simmons, who lives in Northampton, became widely known as an expert on girls and bullying following the publication of her 2002 book, “Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls.”

■Gray skies and a light drizzle couldn’t dampen the spirits of the ebullient crowd at the 144th University of Massachusetts undergraduate commencement ceremony Friday evening. Approximately 5,500 students donned caps and gowns and said goodbye to the place they called home for four years or more and can now call their alma mater.