A Look Back, Nov. 7

50 Years Ago

■Eight new tennis courts will be built by the end of next summer behind Northampton High School, city officials said yesterday. The announcement came from Northampton Recreation Department Director Patrick Goggins as he unveiled a 10-year master plan for recreation facilities here.

■Ryback’s Pastry Shop, located at 140 Main St. for the past 14 years, may move from its present location as of next January. Slated to replace the bakery is Beardsley’s Café Restaurant, now located at 11 Button Street.

25 Years Ago

■A new traffic bureau should be created to centralize information on accidents and other road problems in an effort to improve the safety of city streets, Ward 5 City Councilor Alex Ghiselin says. Ghiselin told the Board of Public Works that the bureau should become a division within the Department of Public Works.

■The position of deputy water superintendent at the Department of Public Works, vacant for 18 months, has now been filled by a man who managed the water distribution system in Stockbridge in Berkshire County. David Sparks began working as the deputy water superintendent Oct. 25, assisting Water Superintendent Charles Borowski.

10 Years Ago

■Florence resident Jonathan Foster-Moore, 24, a member of the Peace Corps in the Kyrgyz Republic, won third place in a photography contest sponsored by the volunteer program with a photo he took at a culture day celebration. The picture is now being featured in a new Peace Corps public service announcement released on Wednesday.

■Three weeks after delaying a vote on the mayor’s plan to reorganize city government to give the City Council more time to digest public reaction, councilors will once again consider the proposal at their meeting Thursday. The plan dramatically alters the Board of Public Works by removing its power as a decision-making body and turning it into adviser to the Department of Public Works. It would be renamed the Public Works Commission.