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Big party celebrates Keene’s 250th year

SENTINEL STAFF

Nobody threw a party in 1753, when Keene was founded.

Or in 1733, when the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony opened “ungranted lands” to settlement, including a tract on the Ashuelot River above Northfield, Mass.

Or in April 1734, when prospective settlers, or “proprietors,” of what would become Keene met in a tavern in Concord, Mass. Presumably over cups of grog, each posted a bond of five pounds and drew lots for rights to property they’d never seen, but that had been mapped the previous fall by Bay Colony engineers.

Or in September 1734, when Keene held its first town meeting — attended by the community’s first six citizens.

Certainly no one held a party when the residents of Upper Ashuelot, as Keene was called back then, had to flee in 1746, after frontier warfare killed several citizens and others were captured.

When people finally trickled back to Keene in about 1750, they applied for a legal charter as a township. They finally succeeded April 11, 1753.

That’s the occasion that prompted this weekend’s party, which is celebrating 250 years of Keene.

Keene, by the way, is Sir Benjamin Keene. He never actually saw the place that bears his name. Rather, Benning Wentworth, the British royal governor of New Hampshire, affixed the name when he granted the community its charter. Wentworth owed a favor to Keene, who’d been the British minister to Spain, and tried mightily — although without success — to help Wentworth collect on his bill for timber he’d shipped to Cadiz.

Keene’s 250th birthday party has been in  the planning stages for nearly a year. Evelyn Hubal of Keene, who’s the Cheshire County register of deeds, chaired the organizing group, and credited Linda Bourque of the Keene City Clerk’s Office for doing a tremendous amount of work in planning and tracking what was going on. Many others chipped in, including Roe Ann Tasoulas of Center Stage Cheshire County; Lorie Rogers of the Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce; John Byrnes, a volunteer fund-raiser; Dottie Byrnes, a graphic artist; and Jocelyn Kimball Franks, the planning committee co-chairman with Hubal; and countless others. Franks is the great-granddaughter of Keene’s very first mayor.

The committee had a lot to work with. Keene’s history is quite well-preserved, in the vaults of city government and in the files of the Historical Society of Cheshire County. Local historian David R. Proper has written literally thousands of Sentinel columns about Keene’s history; The Sentinel’s own files date back to the newspaper’s in 1799; and manuscripts of local residents reveal what life was like in Keene’s earlier times.

Plus, “Upper Ashuelot: A History of Keene,” published in 1967, is a guide to local landmarks, buildings, businesses and residents. And Keene’s Heritage Commission has been inventorying nearly 200 historic buildings near the center of the city.

All that history helped to frame the 250th party, because “we wanted to make sure children growing up would understand how Keene got started, as well as what we are and who we are,” Hubal said.

The committee brainstormed a bunch of ideas; some worked out, but others did not. For instance, Keene’s 200th anniversary 50 years ago and The Sentinel’s 200th in 1999 featured huge parades, and a parade was envisioned for the 250th, too. But the parade was dropped because the celebratory nature of the event might have detracted from Memorial Day observances — including a relatively solemn parade. The committee initially wanted to create a time-line of Main Street, but things did not work out that way.  There was talk about giant parades and many other ideas.  It became apparent that festivities needed to be fit within a certain time frame, yet without slighting the separate Memorial Day festivities.

“We didn’t want anyone, especially Keene’s veterans, to think we were stealing their holiday away from them,” Bourke said.

The planning culminates Saturday with a full day of activities connected to Keene’s history.  Local businesses, civic organizations and churches are all participating.

This week, historian David Proper has been conducting tours, from riding trolley cars to walking along Main Street, comparing modern life to 1753.

“Anything you want to know about Keene, David knows. If he doesn’t know, he’ll darn well find out,” Hubal said.

Assisting Proper with research have been Alan Rumrill of the Historical Society of Cheshire County and Tom Haynes, who is historical education director and helped elementary schoolchildren design banners now posted along Main Street.

Students also produced the logo for the 250th anniversary. Aja E. Anderson designed the winner, selected through a contest involving Keene High School graphic arts students. The logo is on the banners lining Main Street, and also on T-shirts, hats, mugs, commemorative plates and limited-edition coins being sold throughout the festival.

Also available will be a book with more than 80 pages  of old and new photos of Keene, plus information about the community. On the cover is a photo of  the Keene railroad depot that shows a train pulling out, with the station prominent in the background.

The centerpiece features photos from Keene’s 1953 celebration, when the city was officially 200 years old.

A first printing of 1,500 books will be available locally, distributed by Toadstool Bookshop.

Other organizations have also jumped in:

The Colonial Theatre at 95 Main St. will show “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” continuously; it was the first film ever shown at the Colonial. 

Also being shown on Friday is “Lost Boundaries,” a story that follows the Johnston family in Keene.

The Keene State College Film Society is showing “The Jonathan Daniels Story,” about Keene’s civil-rights martyr, and a 20-minute documentary about life in Keene in the early 1920s, which longtime KSC film professor Larry Benaquist has worked on.

Larry Sportello of Surry will conduct a Revolutionary War re-enactment with his family, walking around town and talking with people.

George Chapman from Fitzwilliam will re-create life on the plains, circa 1860, and Benjamin Franklin Stickney, who is a direct descendant of Ben Franklin, will pay homage to his namesake.

Luca’s Restaurant in Central Square will convert, for the day, to Pete’s Restaurant, a Keene fixture that closed in 1969.

Luca Paris, who owns the restaurant, has been tracking down pictures and stories and recipes about Pete’s, finding the special ingredient for the spaghetti sauce and the cooking technique that made the chicken special. The restaurant interior will be redecorated with antique pictures, and red-and-white checked tablecloths.

"Anyone who grew up in Keene in the ’40s and ’50s remembers Pete’s.  It was a sad day when the doors closed.” Hubal said.

So, for one day, Pete’s will be open again.

Enjoy the party.

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