Thirty years ago — 1994

The Gowanda Nursing Home will be expanding with the addition of a 40-bed wing. The project is slated for mid-May construction. The wing will be built off the front of the existing facility into what is now parking space. Gowanda Village Board members unanimously approved the building permit.

Forty years ago — 1984

From the Reporter’s Notebook: Contrary to popular belief in the community, the wooden flagpole that formerly graced Dunkirk’s Memorial Park was not the largest in the world. The one-piece wooden flagpole measured 132 feet; it was given to the city in 1927 and lasted 44 years until 1971 when its decaying condition made city officials reluctantly raze it. New information tarnishes the record, however. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the tallest flagpole ever erected was outside the Oregon building at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Trimmed from a Douglas fir, it stood 299 feet, 7 inches.

Fifty years ago — 1974

Chautauqua County Legislature Chairman Joseph Gerace recently expressed disappointment that progress has stopped on the Chautauqua Lake bridge.