Jim Bridgman

50 Years Ago

  • A local group which is trying to start a combination soup kitchen/crisis center for Northampton’s unemployed and destitute hopes to begin its effort with a free public dinner sometime early next month. Peter Thews, a University of Massachusetts student and a member of the Hampshire County Unemployed-Employed Council, said that the group is trying to arrange space and food supplies for the public dinner.
  • Ellen Eaton, the hat-check woman at the Wiggins Tavern, has been helping people with their coats for the past 20 years. Some famous customers Mrs. Eaton has met are John F. Kennedy and his family, the Richard Nixon family, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, Sen. Mike Mansfield, Mr. and Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Sen. Edward Kennedy.

25 Years Ago

  • Miss Florence Diner took center stage in the January 7-13 Northeast edition of American Profile magazine. Former local resident Richard Matthews, editor of American Profile’s Northeast regional edition, felt that Miss Flo’s was ideal for the “Hometown Spotlight,” one of American Profile’s regular features.
  • While homeowners and would-be homeowners in Northampton bemoan ever-upward valuations of residential property, the value of commercial property has stayed relatively stagnant. That means tax bills have shrunk for owners of commercial or industrial property in the last four fiscal years, as homeowners have shouldered more of that tax burden over the same period.

10 Years Ago

  • After a Black Lives Matter banner was hoisted at City Hall last week, the Northampton Police union had an idea — ask Mayor David J. Narkewicz for a banner of its own. Officer Joshua Wallace, president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers 390, sent a letter Tuesday to Narkewicz asking him to fly a banner at City Hall recognizing National Peace Officers Memorial Day during National Police Week in May.
  • As planning for next year’s budget begins, Mayor David J. Narkewicz said the city can be proud of its economic growth and, though finances remain tight, expect relative fiscal stability for the next several years. But state education aid is a particular problem, he said, and addressing the cost of charter schools remain a thorn in Northampton’s side.