Looking backward

10 years ago

April 25, 2013: They don’t have leaves yet, but trees have returned to downtown Canton. Several new trees were planted Wednesday along both sides of Main Street, replacing older trees that were cut down last May when state highway workers started the Route 11 reconstruction project. The fledgling trees, about 12 to 14 feet tall, were planted by crews from North Country Garden Center, Plattsburgh, the subcontractor hired for thr project’s landscape work.

25 years ago

April 25, 1998: More than $40 million will be spent on highway improvements in St. Lawrence , Jefferson, and Lewis counties this construction season, according tot he state Department of Transportation.

50 years ago

April 25, 1973: Tax payers in Carthage will feel the pinch of pollution control and environmental protection costs when the 1973-74 village budget is approved next week, if figures in the West Carthage budget are any indication. The 1973-74 budget adopted by West Carthage Monday night totals $403,973 or $185,740 more than the 1972-73 budget of $218,233. The total increase can be accounted for in two new major items amounting to $210,537.

75 years ago

April 25, 1948: Rural residents are urged by the Potsdam post office to repair their mail boxes as soon as possible. The local office is seeking to have patrons on the rural delivery routes replace makeshift or obsolete boxes. A regulation requiring approved rural mail boxes was not entered during the war years, because of the scarcity of materials. Now that metal is again available, patrons are being asked to get their delivery boxes in good shape.

100 years ago

April 25, 1923: After 60 years in the dry goods business in Ford street, D. McGruer will retire on July 1 when the lease of his store in the Gilbert block, now owned by the National Bank of Ogdensburg, expires. He is disposing of his stock and will be ready to hand over the store to the new owners on the above date.

125 years ago

April 25, 1898: Carthage: As soon as it is possible to do so, the village board will prepare an ordinance in regard to bicycling, which will doubtless be satisfactory to most of the wheelmen. It will probably say that during wet weather certain sidewalks maybe used by licensed wheelmen, who shall be distinguished by a metal number attached to their wheel. At other tines they will be permitted to ride only in the roads.

150 years ago

April 25, 1873: The offering of cheese at Little Falls Monday last amounted to 1,500 boxes of factory and 200 or 300 of farm dairy. Considerable activity was exhibited, and the sales were made early in the day. The quality was poor. Factory bought 13 1/2 cents, 14 cents, and farm dairy 7 to 13 1/2 cents, with one lot of very fine at 14 1/2 cents.

The world

1901 – New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.

1915 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins: The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by British, French, Indian, Newfoundland, Australian and New Zealand troops, begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.

1945 – Liberation Day (Italy): The National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy calls for a general uprising against the German occupation and the Italian Social Republic.

1953 – Francis Crick and James Watson publish “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid” describing the double helix structure of DNA.

1954 – The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.

1959 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.

1982 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula per the Camp David Accords.

1983 – Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto’s orbit.

2004 – The March for Women’s Lives brings between 500,000 and 800,000 protesters, mostly pro-choice, to Washington D.C. to protest the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and other restrictions on abortion.

2007 – Boris Yeltsin’s funeral: The first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.

2014 – The Flint water crisis begins when officials at Flint, Michigan switch the city’s water supply to the Flint River, leading to lead and bacteria contamination upon the citizens.

2015 – Nearly 9,100 are killed after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal.