As many of you know, PDF versions of The Hinesburg Record are available online at hinesburgrecord.org/about/past-issues. Until recently, the issues available there went back to 2004. We at The Record are now working on digitizing much older issues.
The first issue of The Record was actually called “The No-Name News” because a name hadn’t been decided upon yet. Readers were invited to submit suggestions for a name. This first issue was published in October 1987. The November 1987 issue was the first to be called The Hinesburg Record.
As of now, the first six issues of The Record are available online: October, November, and December of 1987, and January, March, and April of 1988. More will be added regularly, until they are all there.
On page 2 of the Sept. 29, 2007 issue of The Record (tinyurl.com/HR-09-29-07), a history of The Hinesburg Record, and The Hinesburg News which preceded it, is given. It gives some great context to these old issues, and how The Record came to be.
For readers lucky enough to have been born and raised in Hinesburg, much of what’s in these early issues may seem like old news (which, technically, it is). But for those who are more new to Hinesburg (I’ve lived here almost 20 years), or perhaps for young people who weren’t born yet or couldn’t yet read in the late 80s, there are some fascinating tidbits.
The November 1987 issue discusses the traffic light being installed at Route 116 and CVU Road, and the addition to the elementary school which was almost completed. The under-construction Lyman Meadows development is discussed in the Planning and Zoning Notes. Lyman Meadows comes up again in a letter to the editor in the January 1988 issue. Debate about development in Hinesburg is apparently nothing new!
The retirement of Doug and Betty Lantman is mentioned in the November 1987 issue, and in the December 1987 issue, there’s an in-depth article about them, and a history of Lantman’s Store.
The December 1987 issue again talks about “The Light” and it’s a humous little piece about the adjustment Hinesburgers had to make to this traffic light. There’s also an article about the pharmacy which had just come to town June 1, 1987. The pharmacy had many ads in The Record, starting with the first issue.
The March 1988 issue discusses the creation of The Chittenden Regional Solid Waste Disposal District. In the “Board of Selectmen” article, Andrea Morgante is mentioned, crusading for recycling.
So, if you have any interest in the history of Hinesburg, dive into these original issues of The Record. The PDFs are searchable; in most PDF software, there is a way to search (Ctrl-F often works, to open a search box) and you can type in words to search for. Feel free to write a Letter to the Editor telling us of any interesting things you find, or any other comments.