50 Years Ago
- Staff members of the city’s planning department and the Northampton Redevelopment Authority will be working on the preparation of guidelines for the reuse of the Leeds fire station, with an eye toward selling the building to a private buyer. The turn-of-century building on Main Street in Leeds has been vacant since the fire department moved into the new Florence station in 1973.
- A new social service for young women, age 13 to 19, in Hampshire and Franklin counties, has been in operation at 39 Main Street since early last month. Called Sojourn Inc., it is funded by the Department of Youth Services, the juvenile criminal justice system, and is available to those already receiving services from DYS or referred to the corporation by the court.
25 Years Ago
- A Boston film crew will use various downtown locations this week as backdrops for a documentary about the life of legendary bank robber John Dillinger. Laura Longsworth, association producer with Ben Loeterman Productions of Boston, said the crew will use sites in downtown buildings to re-recreate scenes from Dillinger’s life in the Midwest.
- Preschoolers will learn to negotiate the streets of a miniature version of Northampton next summer, with work under way on a permanent site for Safety Village, a camp that teaches youngsters how to get around in a world of cars. Recreation Director Ray Ellerbrook said work was started this summer at Arcanum Field to build the village, which will include seven mini-buildings arranged to resemble the downtown area.
- 10 Years Ago
10 Years Ago
- Dozens of people from around the Valley turned out Thursday afternoon on the steps of Northampton City Hall to celebrate Medicare’s 50th birthday, or the anniversary of the day President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the program into law in 1965. “You know it’s there, so you don’t hesitate to go for help when you need it,” said one attendant.
- Local and state officials got a firsthand look this past week at the bounty of cannabis that will serve state-registered patients at medical marijuana dispensaries in Northampton and Brookline later this year. Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg and state Sen. Karen E. Spilka toured New England Treatment access’ cultivation and production center in Franklin last Friday, while Northampton Mayor David J. Narkewicz made a similar visit Tuesday.