25 YEARS AGO — 1986
▶ The seventh-annual Blue Grass Fall Finale was held just outside of Keeseville at the Knights' family farm. The festival featured performers Smokey Green and the Boys, Mardi Gras, Pleasant Valley Bluegrass, and Green Mountain Blue Grass.
▶ Robert and Carol Wallett cut the ribbon at the grand opening of their new business, Gold Street, in Plattsburgh. Gold Street, a restaurant bar located above Peabody's, serves soups, salad and sandwiches.
▶ Three hundred farmers gathered at the Franklin County Fairground in Malone and listened to several speakers, including farmers from neighboring states, Joe Paris of the National Farmers Organization and Assemblyman Chris Ortloff of Plattsburgh. The speakers encourage farmers to increase production and marketing of their dairy products.
▶ Saranac Lake's 90-mile Adirondack Canoe Classic presented more of a challenge to its 93 participates than in years past. Competitors, ranging in age from 9 to 67, paddled their way from Old Forge to Saranac Lake in choppy waters and mostly cold weather. The times were added up after the race was called off two days into the three-day competition.
50 YEARS AGO — 1961
▶ Plattsburgh held a commemorative ceremony for the designation of Plattsburgh Bay as a national historic landmark. Several people spoke at the ceremony, including Vance Macdonough, great grandson of Commodore Thomas Macdonough, who said, "If Philadelphia is the birthplace of American liberty, then Plattsburgh and Lake Champlain may be considered the preservers of American Liberty."
▶ Clinton County's 4-H square dancers proved that they certainly are not squares by taking second place at the State Fair's Square Dance Contest, receiving rave reviews from judges.
▶ After a spike in enrollment, Plattsburgh High School may make it necessary for higher level students to change their schedules to half a day. The board is looking at other options.
▶ A polio outbreak has stricken northern New York, totaling in 57 cases and two more deaths in days. The illness has not spread to Clinton County yet, but there is a serious risk, and it is highly suggested that the public get polio vaccines as quickly as possible.
75 YEARS AGO — 1936
▶ Eighteen thousand young rainbow trout will be brought into Massena to be released into the St. Lawrence River. The fingerlings are being used because the eggs released in the previous years yielded no results.
▶ Professor Albert Einstein and his wife closed up their summer home and left Saranac Lake Thursday and began their long drive back to Princeton. The pair had moved to Saranac Lake seeking refuge from the curious, who tended to peer into the windows of their Princeton home.
▶ William Young, 38, of Crown Point, was shot in the leg by a game warden for supposedly having venison while fishing in a boat with his friend in Ticonderoga and is in Moses-Ludington Hospital. The incident is under investigation.
100 YEARS AGO — 1911
▶ When passenger train No. 108 collided with the rear of a freight train just outside of the Plattsburgh station the back wheels of its caboose derailed, throwing about local Fireman Arthur Belden and breaking his leg. No passengers were hurt.
▶ Stackpole's Shoe Store is having a special on all low shoe stock this week, featuring men's shoes for $1.49, Ladies for $1.98 and low shoes and slippers for 97cents.
▶ A parade and concert were held in Lake Placid in celebration of the arrival of Plattsburgh Barrack's 5th Infantry.
▶ The Albany Perferated Wrapping Paper Co. will open a new manufacturing industry in Plattsburgh, creating at least 30 jobs for local men.
— Compiled by Contributing Writer Kaitlyn Wait
