Jim Bridgman

50 Years Ago

  • While many shoppers say they miss the old McCallum’s department store, Floyd Andrus, Jr., owner of the McCallum’s building, is finishing renovations to the interior. Sometime this fall, Andrus hopes to reopen the building as The Main Place, with some 10 shops inside, probably including clothing, shoe, furniture and food shops, as well as a restaurant area in the basement.
  • A state special education official and the former principal of St. Michael’s High School were appointed last night to administrative positions by the Northampton School Committee. Paul Caouette, 43, of Easthampton, was named to direct the city’s special education programs, and Sister Mary Magdalen Ward, 48, of 64 Gothic St., was appointed vice principal of John F. Kennedy Junior High School.

25 Years Ago

  • A “Molotov cocktail” damaged a vacant two-story farmhouse owned by Smith Vocational and Agricultural School at Elm and South Main streets over the weekend. The incendiary device blackened and contorted new, white vinyl siding on the building, which students are renovating. Damage was estimated at $500.
  • The highest-ranking female administrator at the University of California-Berkeley is the new president of Smith College. Carol Christ, 57, former executive vice chancellor and provost at Berkeley, on Monday was named the 10th president of Smith. She succeeds Ruth J. Simmons, who became president of Brown University on July 1.

10 Years Ago

  • Kali Robinson, 21, a member of the Amherst College chapter of Black Lives Matter, led a small group of protesters Friday evening in a trek from Hadley to Northampton. Armed with cardboard signs, the group — white and Asian college students, two young black men, and white parents with their two black boys — marched to combat racism and police brutality.
  • Sarah Cunningham, of Northampton, who is an LPN at CareOne rehabilitation center and nursing home in Northampton, was among those honored Thursday for their efforts to protect and move patients during a fire at the facility in May. Cunningham was said to have played a key role the night 41 residents had to be relocated.