Published: October 29, 2006 11:45 am            

HISTORY: Grand Island history for week of Oct. 30

50 Years Ago

n Islanders and others still weren’t cruising down the 5-mile Grand Island stretch of Thruway that cost $4.3 million to construct, according to the Oct. 25, 1956 edition of The Island Dispatch. For weeks, the Thruway was rumored to be opening imminently as work seemed completed. State approval was still forthcoming and necessary for the transportation artery to flow.

n Although that part of the Thruway was closed, the cloverleaf to the south Grand Island bridge was open and unlucky for a 30-year-old Buffalo man and a hitchhiking 16-year-old when their vehicle left the road and rolled over repeatedly. Although complaining of chest pains, the man initially refused treatment at Kenmore Mercy Hospital and took a cab to Sisters Hospital in Buffalo.

n Amazingly, Halloween was just around the corner 50 years ago, too, and an advertisement from Lane Drug exhorted, "Be prepared with plenty of this wholesome and delicious candy that keeps pins out of doorbells and mischief from your door. Hurry in, get your Halloween insurance today!"

25 Years Ago

n A curve on Stony Point Road drew the ire of residents who said it was dangerous, according to the Oct. 23, 1981 edition of The Island Dispatch. Accidents were reported since the county road’s surface was changed o slow drivers down on Stony Point between Ransom and Huth roads.

n Island deer lovers "braved the choppy waters of the Niagara" to protest the shooting of those animals on Navy Island. Every year, the Ontario government allows eight or so hunters to thin out the deer population so as to conserve the island’s finite resources. But members of the Save-A-Deer committee, including skipper and lawyer Richard Couch, believed the herd would not starve during the winter. Shooting the deer on Navy Island, he said, was like picking them off at a petting zoo.

n Starting in November, stamps would cost 20 cents a piece.

10 Years Ago

n Fifth graders at Kaegebein were treated to a demonstration of cryogenics, which is the study of temperatures from -148 degrees to -459.7 degrees Farenheit.

Bob McCellan from PRAXAIR did the famous rubber ball in liquid nitrogen trick, resulting in a shattering display for the kids, according to the Oct. 25, 1996 edition of The Island Dispatch. McCellan also smashed frozen carnations as well as driving a frozen banana into a piece of wood.

n Despite delays in the state budget, paving was completed on East River Road between Ransom and Whitehaven roads.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.