1962
Duke Ellington and his orchestra played a one night engagement at the New Bedford High School Auditorium |
|
1962
The statue that today is in Tonnensen Park on William Street in New Bedford, is in the historic district that was donated by Ana Hyatt Huntington. The statue was offered as a memorial to seamen who died and were buried at sea.
The city publicly dedicated it as a memorial to the whalemen and fishermen.
The statue depicts a mythical sea god holding a codfish in one hand and a sturgeon in the other.
The statue also has depictions of a lobster, an octopus, a sea turtle, a scallop, a lobster, and a clam. |
|
WHALE or the Waterfront Historic Area LeaguE was founded. |
|
November 17, Mayor Harrington, William H. Potter, chairman of the New Bedford-Fairhaven Hurricane Protection Project Committee, Representative Hastings Keith (R-Mass), State Senator Antone D. Silva (D-New Bedford), Colonel Peter C. Hyzer, division engineer, New England Division Army Corps of Engineers, and the late Charles J. Lewin, editor and general manager of The Standard-Times each turned a shovel full of earth to commence the building of the hurricane barrier. See 1966 for finalization..
See the page for a picture of the hurricane barrier. |
|
1963
Palmers Island light was deactivated in 1963 and wasn't re-activated until 1999
It had been built in 1849, and made to run automatically in 1941.
It is 24 feet tall and made of stone, with a fifth order fresnel lense, made in 1857. |
|
1963
WTEV-TV began broadcasting television locally on New Years Day of 1963 on channel 6 from its studio at 430 County Street on the corner of Union Street in New Bedford. |
|
1963
"Chubby and the Turnpikes" release the record "(I Know) The Inside Story." They went on to become the band "Tavares." Here is a site about Tavares |
|
1963
The New Bedford YMCA bought a 25-acre day camp called Camp Massasoit in Mattapoisett.
The Sharp-shooters club (Franc Tireurs) sold the Orpheum Building to an individual. |
|
1964
In January Irv Vermilya committed suicide. In 1921, he was the first person to bring radio to New Bedford and started the first station.
He got a radio station license1ZE, and began doing radio broadcasts to entertain his neighbors in and around New Bedford and over into nearby Cape Cod.
In 1922 he made a deal with Slocum and Kilburn Company, and Irv was hired to build and run a station in the radio department of their store.
By the middle of 1922, it went on air as WDAU. That station has evolved to become WNBH.
The name change came because the studios were then located in the New Bedford Hotel.
He went on to stay in the broadcast business for many years, but after his wife died and his physical and mental health were not good he called it quits and committed suicide. |
|
1964
The city's parks organized sports games and had competitions.
In this year, Leo Dumas and a partner won the city wide horse shoe throwing "doubles" championship competition.
The film "Rising Tide" was made about New Bedford hosted by Chet Brinkley
|
|
1964
American Cordage company was sold.
It had been founded in 1842 by a few New Bedford whaling agents.
The company was incorporated 1846.
At first the company specialized in whale line, used to connect harpoons to the ship. They became the leading supplier of that kind of rope. They also made other kinds of line. Sales increased in the later 1800's because pleasure boats had become more popular.
The company earned bigger profits so that by 1888, there were employed 250 people at the New Bedford factory. The company was sold in 1964 to Phillips Petroleum. |
|
1964 - 1965
The Hurricane Barrier was built to protect the city and commercial areas from hurricanes and storm surges. |
|
1965
New Bedford military men who died in the Viet Nam War :
Sgt. William "Willie" J. Wright, 40, of New Bedford, killed Dec. 5, 1965
Pvt. Edward J. Almeida, 18, of New Bedford, killed July 8, 1965. |
|
Whale and the City Planning Dept cosponsor an 18 month study for an historic and commercial revitalization plan in the Waterfront Historic District.
US immigration act was amended that removed the barriers for southern and easter Europe resulting in an influx of nearly 500 immigrants in it's first three months of people mostly from Portugal and the Cape Verde Islands.
Between 1965 and 1981 WHALE spent nearly 3 million to rehabilitate some historic buildings.
|
|
New Bedford population was 100,176
|
|