There was a time decades ago when people greatly anticipated the delivery of their afternoon edition of the Concord Monitor Newspaper. I have very fond memories of my early years working as a newspaper boy, delivering the Concord Monitor during the late 1960s into the early 1970s. The Concord Monitor was not published on Sunday during this period so my afternoon paper route started on Monday and ended on Friday, with the Saturday Concord Monitor being a morning newspaper and delivery. My paper route was near the childhood home that I grew up in, surrounding the White Park area as well as the offices at the United Life Insurance Company on White Street, the old Durgin Silversmith location.
My career with the Concord Monitor lasted about five years and I enjoyed each and every moment. I delivered during the heat of summer as well as during the middle of winter blizzards. My customers came to know me and would welcome me with hot chocolate during the winter and cold ice tea during the hot summer months. The elderly people on my paper route were certainly eager for the news, but the friendly banter and afternoon conversations were enjoyed by me as well as my customers. I learned a great deal about people, heard some wonderful stories about the old days in Concord and heard sad tales too. To be a paperboy during this period was both profitable and enjoyable to everyone that had this opportunity.
The years prior to my days as a paperboy were similar but there was indeed a difference. The newspapers were delivered by paperboys but they were also sold from street corners, news wagons and outside our local churches on Sunday mornings. The local stores offered various newspapers but the others means of deliveries were still tried and true with the volume of news delivered to your doorsteps or acquired with a quick stop at the news cart. Local and regional news was sought by the people of Concord each day, the taverns and the sidewalks were the places that have been replaced today by the internet and television. The gossip of the day on the Main Street sidewalk was as colorful as the gossip found in social media today.
When my parents were young and living during the post-depression era the news buses were very popular. My grandfather would walk from his home on North State Street all the way to the news bus that was owned and operated by Paul Denning. The news bus was parked on State Street every day, near our state house annex. My grandfather would walk with my young father beside him and purchased his newspaper, magazines, cigars or cigarettes along with a package of gum for my dad. Paul Denning not only served the printed news, his daily banter with my grandfather is still remembered. The experience of purchasing from the news bus was very social and enjoyed by many men and women in Concord during the 1930s and 1940s.
Remarkably, I remember every customer that I serviced along my paper route. I remember their names and their habits and hobbies. I recall the activities they enjoyed as well as the careers they retired from. To this very day I find daily inspiration to write my weekly Sunday column for the Concord Monitor from the stories I heard so very long ago. My parents would always ask me why I arrived home late for dinner each afternoon, I’m sure they knew my gift of speaking and engaging the people that I enjoyed so very much. I heard many stories from retired gentlemen that served in both World War I and World War II. I listened intently as my customers told me of their sleepless nights worrying about their sons and daughters serving in the Vietnam War. Some of their children never returned from the war and the sadness they experiences was evident. I heard many entertaining stories and old jokes from a century before, I learned a few tricks and provided a shoulder to the lonely that were in need of a simple conversation. It was a different world back then, a world filled with compassion and kindness.
The world of news bridged all races, all denominations and ages. Our ancestors thrived on the words written in the daily Concord Monitor as well as other publications. I would be greeted at 7 a.m. on Saturday mornings by some of my customers, they waited for their Saturday Concord Monitor so they could enjoy it quietly with their first cup of fresh morning coffee. I learned many things during these young formative years delivering the Concord Monitor. Most importantly I developed my love for words and compassion for the people I visited each and every day.
Vintage Views is a local history column that explores Concord and its surrounding towns. It runs every week in the Sunday Your Life section. The author is a historian and not a member of the Monitor’s staff.