Bound Volumes
January 22, 2026
210 YEARS AGO
Gas Light—We learn by the late English papers, that Covent Garden Theatre, and a number of London streets, are now illuminated by Gas Lights. They are represented as being infinitely less noxious and lastly more economical that the common lamplight by oil. The gas burner is equal to 20 common street lamps, and the saving expense is considerable. A shop may be lighted by gas, for only 2d per night – the largest room, and even a street, proportionately cheap.
January 25, 1816
85 YEARS AGO
With his hand resting upon an old Dutch family Bible, his eyes squinting into the bright noon-day sun, Franklin D. Roosevelt slowly and thoughtfully repeated the Presidential oath of office for the third time Monday and asserted that the task of the times was to “save the nation and its institutions from disruption from without.” “Democracy is not dying,” he said with impressive solemnity, his head nodding emphatically to the rhythm of his clipped and spaced words. “We know it cannot die. We know it because we look below the surface, we sense it still spreading on every continent, for it is the most humane, the most advanced, and in the end the most unconquerable of all forms of human society.”
January 22, 1941
60 YEARS AGO
How safe is fluoridation? The people who live in such widely separated communities as Texarkana, Arkansas, Jacksonville, Florida and Aurora, Illinois, enjoy a standard of health generally on a par with Americans everywhere. But, they have one advantage. They have better teeth. The reason is that nature had fortuitously provided a desirable amount of fluorides in the drinking water. In the hundreds of communities where the phenomenon has occurred, residents have been studied for any signs that fluoridation might be harmful. The evidence attesting to the safety of the procedure is overwhelming.
January 19, 1966
35 YEARS AGO
You might say that Dr. Karen McShane, an obstetrician at Bassett Hospital, got a dose of her own medicine for the New Year. She and her husband, David Kent, had their first child, Brian, on January 1. Brian, who was born at 4:45 p.m. was the first baby born at Bassett in 1991. To welcome Bassett’s first New Year’s baby, seven local businesses and organizations had prepared a gift package, which Dr. McShane and her husband graciously accepted this week. According to Dr. McShane Brian’s arrival was “a remarkable miracle, completely unlike any previous experience. Caring for someone through labor and delivery is always very exciting and rewarding, but you really can’t compare other women’s birthing experiences to your own baby’s birth,” she said. “However, it gives me a whole new dimension to understanding what a woman is going through.”
January 23, 1991
20 YEARS AGO
Milford resident Kyle Liner, an eighth-grader at Cooperstown Central School, has been chosen to represent the United States of America and Milford as a member of an elite baseball squad venturing to Puerto Rico. As a member of Coast to Coast Baseball, Liner will spend a week playing against some of the best youth baseball teams Puerto Rico has to offer. “Traveling to Puerto Rico to play ball sounds like a great opportunity. Puerto Rico takes baseball very seriously. I can’t wait to check out the level of competition,” Liner said. Selected as a catcher, Liner is a hard-throwing right hander who swings a heavy bat from the left side of the plate. During the summer of 2004, he was selected as the recipient of the Laverne “Beanie” Ainslie Award.
January 20, 2006
