Selected from the pages of the Windsor Locks Journal and lightly annotated by Wendy Taylor, Kent Memorial Library.
December 12
Charles A Wright & Son of Springfield have been given the contract for widening the road at the top of the West Suffield mountain. This road has been dangerous since the advent of automobile traffic, being only fourteen feet wide.
Monday brought the best tobacco damp of the season and considerable of the crop was taken from the poles.
The Travelers Insurance Co. of Hartford has opened a Rest Home which will be maintained for its employees at the newly remodeled place of Mr. and Mrs. John O’Malley on Grand street. The company will have twenty or more patients in the home at all times.
The place will be maintained along the lines of a private sanitarium, with a house doctor and nurses in attendance for ill employees and for those needing rest in the country. The home has been remodeled with large, airy rooms, sun porches and sitting rooms for convalescents and is one of the sightly places of the town.
December 26
The home of Antonie Novak… was raided…and about seven gallons of moonshine liquor found on the premises… There was no evidence to convict Novak of illegal sales, but Mrs. Novak, through her counsel…pleaded guilty to keeping with intent to sell.
A large community Christmas tree has been placed on the park in the center and was lighted for the first time… The tree is the largest ever placed there and when lighted is very attractive.
January 2
The farmers and the ice men will start harvesting the ice crop next week if the weather continues cold. It is said that ice on the ponds is about eight inches in thickness and of the finest quality.
January 9
An Americanization meeting for the benefit of the Polish residents of the town was conducted…in the Town hall and was attended by about 100. The meeting was for the purpose of making those seeking citizenship papers familiar with the naturalization laws.
January 16
The lake House, the principal hotel at Congamond Lakes, was burned to the ground at an early hour Thursday morning and twenty-six people were forced out into the cold… The guests were mostly employees of the Berkshire Ice Company, helping to harvest the ice crop. The fire started shortly after mid-night and made quick headway. With the flames racing from the basement to the roof, the halls filled with smoke and quickly cutting off the several exits, the occupants were obliged to jump from their beds, leaving all their personal property behind and dash to safety. Several persons sleeping on the third floor were rescued by employees. The shivering guests were taken into the offices of the Berkshire Ice Company and to nearby homes.
The hotel was built nearly fifty years ago when Congamond was a popular New England resort and three or four steamers carried hundreds of people from one resort to another about the lake… The Southwick [fire department]…was unable to save any part of the building or its contents.
January 23
Considerable interest has been manifested in the eclipse which takes place Saturday and…places of business will…be closed in order to give the employees an opportunity to observe the eclipse.
January 30
An auto truck driven by John Wyniski, a Warehouse Point milk dealer, skidded on the pavement in front of the post office…and the truck turned over, about two hundred quarts of milk being distributed about the street.
A socialist meeting has been advertised to take place in Academy hall.