This Week in Danvers: The Mid 1970's

We can easily find out what was making the national headlines this week in world history.

But what about the important things happening this week in Danvers history?

Here are some fun tidbits of information from back in the day, found in the archives at the Peabody Institute Library. Let us know if you remember any of them, or feel free to share what your life was like back in the 70's in town.

1976

• The Ivan G. Smith School received two awards this week in 1976. Superintendent Eugene Crowell traveled to Atlantic City to accept them. The school, which opened in 1974, received an architectural award from the American Institute of Steel Construction and an educational award from the American Association of School Administrators.

• Similar to this year, Danvers experienced spring-like weather over Presidents Day weekend. The Herald wrote, "Monday, the holiday, found kids everywhere enjoying the beautiful weather. Mothers may not have liked the mud that was tracked in, but for the young it was a brief taste of the days to come."

• Robert David Wiegand wrote a review of the new movie flick "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother," and described it as 'a dismal bore.' At the time the film was showing at the Sack Cinema City in Danvers.

1977

• A report from the Danvers Police cited shoplifting as a main concern during the holiday season. "Ann and Hope up at the Mall got it the worst," Sgt. Robinson wrote in the report. "Leather jackets at about $70 or $80 is what they're really after this year." He also noted that record albums and CB radios were hot items stolen from Lechmere.

• A study was presented in the newspaper showing that children were healthier and more physically fit in 1977 than they were twenty years earlier, but the rate of improvement was dropping. Some of the reasons for the stand still, teachers suggested were because children had gotten lazier. "In the old days children walked to school. Now they're bussed," one Topsfield teacher said. Another stated "when I was growing up, we did heavy gardening, wood chopping, and snow shoveling. Kids don't do that anymore."

• Washington's birthday car sales flooded the paper's advertisements. Danvers Toyota was featuring the '77 Land Cruiser for $5404, the new '77 Cougar Wagon was featured at Commodore Lincoln Mercury for $4795, and Means in Ipswich had brand new Impalas for $4249.