A Look Back, Sept. 17

50 Years Ago

■Samuel H. Lovejoy, the 28-year-old Amherst College graduate who last February claimed he toppled a 500-foot Northeast Utilities weather tower in Montague as an act of civil disobedience, goes on trial tomorrow in Franklin County Superior Court for “willful and malicious destruction” of property.

■Family members of Northampton artist Charles C. Burleigh Jr. were present at Sunday’s opening of the Burleigh exhibit at the Northampton Historical Society. Artifacts of his life have been given to the historical society by his daughter, Mrs. Gertrude Burleigh Coffin and are now on permanent display at the Damon House.

25 Years Ago

■A new Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus route between Holyoke and Northampton was christened Tuesday, when Northampton Mayor Mary L. Ford passed out free tickets for the express trip connecting the two cities. Ford said the new route, the first in the area in 10 years, will provide a new access to jobs as well as possibly reduced traffic congestion on the roads.

■A lawyer challenging Northampton’s policy of offering insurance to the domestic partners of city employees says he has the ten plaintiffs from the city required for him to file a lawsuit against the city. Vincent P. McCarthy, an attorney associated with the American Center for Law and Justice Northeast Inc., is challenging several towns and cities in Massachusetts that offer their employees’ domestic partners health insurance.

10 Years Ago

■The planned merger of Greenfield Co-operative Bank and Northampton Cooperative Bank moved a step closer this month, with Northampton Cooperative depositors’ approval of the consolidation plan. It had already been approved by the boards of directors for both banks.

■Efforts are underway to raise money to restore and preserve the 1880s Hotel Bridge that spans the Mill River between Main and Water streets in Leeds. The single-lane iron truss bridge, constructed in 1880, was named after the Leeds Hotel, which was built next to it in 1885 to accommodate the village’s growing population.