BY DAVE CHOATE

Back in its infancy in 1957, The Goffstown News cost $4 for a year’s subscription, was housed on Main Street and covered Francestown in addition to five other towns. On its 50th anniversary, many things have changed at the paper, but it still carries the same name.

The Goffstown News began its life on Main Street under the ownership of Norman Piper in August of that year.

Under Piper’s stewardship it became the paper that would persist for the next 50 years, covering Goffstown and surrounding towns. Piper sold the paper to Julian Crafts in 1967, who held The Goffstown News for one year before selling it to Thomas Walsh.

In 1977, George and Dee Little took over the paper and three others, renaming them The Little Newspapers Inc.

Valerie Stainton worked for the paper for more than 20 years and recalled her days on the Main Street office as a typesetter at age 15. She said she remembers Dee Little as the hardest- working person at the office as well as the somewhat limited technology at the time.

“After you typed for probably a half hour, you would ‘develop’ the paper that had been recording all the type as you went. The worst was when the paper got caught in the developer processor because then there was a risk that you could lose a lot of what you typed. All those words we typed couldn’t be retrieved so you had to type well as you went, or retype what was wrong later. My typing skills improved greatly that summer!” she said.

After 16 years under the stewardship of the Littles, the paper moved to Nackey Loeb, the president and publisher of the Union Leader. Loeb moved the paper from Elm Street in Goffstown, the current location of the Glen Lake Animal Hospital, to Bedford and renamed the papers Neighborhood Publications Inc.  The Goffstown News and other papers became Neighborhood News in 1999 and eventually moved to Elm Street in Manchester.

Ursula Dubreuil has worked for the paper for 23 years in positions from typist to advertising representative. She said the community surrounding The Goffstown News is as strong now as it was when she began the job.

“The funniest thing was the annual staff Christmas picture we take. In 2006, I had a lot of appointments on that day and couldn’t make it, and since I wasn’t there they forgot my name. I got many, many calls and people on the streets asking why my picture wasn’t in there. The community still embraces the paper,” she said.

Howe’s Pharmacy owner Mike Sakelarios remembers the days of the Littles and said he still reads the paper weekly.

“I remember them being really involved in the community. I still do read the paper all the time, just like I always have,” Sakelarios said.

In August 1957, the paper’s first edition had a note from Piper and his staff that sums up the paper’s humble beginnings.

“Thanks a million,” he wrote. “Getting this first issue out wasn’t easy, but you folks have been fine. God willing and advertisers cooperating, we will do our honest best to stay on the job.”