A Look Back, July 10

50 Years Ago

■Long-time Northampton residents Mr. and Mrs. Alexander W. Milne have sold the “Greetings” stationery store at 175 Main St. and are moving to Scotland. The Milnes spent 1972 and 1973 in Scotland and decided to move there now for an indefinite period.

A fire of undetermined origin destroyed the entire second floor of a business-apartment building at 87 Parsons St., Easthampton, last night and has left the occupants of six apartments homeless.

25 Years Ago

■Though he died in March 1998, Leeds resident Fred J. Whitburn’s love for animals will not soon be forgotten. The Western New England Animal Center in Springfield recently received a $115,000 gift from his estate.

■It’s now officials. At-Large City Councilor Phillip L. Sullivan is actively seeking re-election to the post of at-large city councilor. So far, his competition for the two at-large seats are James Dostal, a member of the School Committee and the Board of Public Works, and Ward 4 City Councilor Michael R. Bardsley, who decided to give up his ward seat to run for the City Council seat that represents the entire city.

10 Years Ago

■As a special 100-person railroad crew labors long hours this month to install new tracks for the Amtrak’s high-speed passenger rail service, a regional planner said Wednesday he is more confident than ever that the long-anticipated service will begin Dec. 29 as planned. “There’s not a place I can go anymore where someone doesn’t ask me about this project,” said Timothy Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission.

■In approving a grant Thursday night to pay for the use of herbicides on a batch of invasive plants at Fitzgerald Lake, the Northampton City Council at the same time threw its support behind the creation of a new task force to study reducing pesticide use throughout the city. The council awarded the Broad Brook Coalition $2,450 in CPA money to move ahead with a plan to eradicate the non-native plant called phragmites.