A Look Back: Nov. 24

50 Years Ago

■A slightly used Model T Ford, built two years ago by students in the metal and wood shops of the industrial arts department at Northampton High School, was recently put out to bid and the high bidder, according to high school principal John Feeney, offered $1,125. Awarding the bid is expected to come up at the next School Committee meeting.

■Construction of streetlights and traffic islands along Main Street from Market Street to Florence to improve traffic circulation and safety may begin this spring. Mayor Sean M. Dunphy said there would be a loss of approximately 55 parking spaces along Main Street and side streets as a result of converting angular parking to parallel parking.

25 Years Ago

■Easthampton senior Tiffany Lee Tauscher tap-danced her way to victory Sunday afternoon, capturing the 1999 Greater Easthampton Junior Miss title. Tauscher, a student at Holyoke Catholic High School, became the 33rd to win the title, when her name was announced before a nearly sold-out crowd at the Academy of Music.

■A fast-moving early-morning fire that threatened a Main Street commercial block shot flames through windows of a third-story apartment today and pushed clouds of thick smoke high above downtown. Three people in the third-floor apartment where the fire started, above 279 Main St., fled in their nightclothes after they awoke to find their living room ablaze.

10 Years Ago

■L-3 KEO announced Friday it is laying off 19 employees from its Northampton plant at 50 Prince St. “This difficult, but necessary action was taken to maintain the division’s overall competitiveness and improve its ability to win and execute new business pursuits in a declining defense budget and sequestration environment,” a company spokesman said Friday.

■Bank of America closed its King Street branch Friday, urging customers to visit its lone remaining city office on Main Street downtown. The move was expected, as Realtor Patrick Goggins has been planning to redevelop the one-acre site at 79 King St. for more than a year.