Jan. 19 through the years …
1924
The Social Welfare Committee was composed of one representative from each of the area churches. The board was Rev. C.H. Phipps, chair, Mrs. S.S. Stephens, secretary; Mrs. J.W.S. Robins, Mrs. E.J. Davis, Mrs. F.P. Turner and Mrs. A.S. Gravely. The committee, part of the Henry County Red Cross, investigated “cases of need and suffering and to render assistance where it is needed, and the public is urged to report such cases”. On this day in 1924, the committee was sorting through donations after its Jan. 17 canvass through the town for worn clothing and bed clothes to give to the needy.
1949
Seventeen Martinsville and Henry County furniture manufacturing officials were at the Southern Furniture Manufacturers show which opened on this day in High Point, N.C. – from American Furniture Co., W.M. Bassett Furniture Co., Gravely Novelty Furniture Co., Hooker-Bassett Furniture Co., Martinsville Novelty Co., Morris Novelty Furniture Col, Bassett Furniture Co., Stanley Furniture Co.
Martinsville’s new $500,000 filtration water plant went into operation on this day in 1949. Water was filtered at the new plant on Jones Creek. It has five 1-million-gallons per day filters. The city’s plant was built in 1926, and eight years later a steel reservoir of one and a half million gallon capacity was built. In 1940 to more half-million-gallons per day filters were added.
1974
James E. Covington Jr., formerly of Beaver Creek in Henry County, bought the Patrick Henry Mall from Commercial Properties of N.C. for $1,849,111.47.
1999
The Harlem Globetrotters performed Jan. 19 at Bassett High School, where more than 2,500 watched. Among them were Noel Chitwood and his sons, Will and Alex. Children Brandon Martin and Rebecca Byrd were pulled onto the court to join in the play.
2024
American Legion Homer Dillard Post #78 seeks help in paving its parking lot, estimated at $45,000, the Henry County Enterprise reports. Formed in 1931, the Post has 182 members. It was founded on 4 Pillars: Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation; National Security; Americanism, and Children & Youth. Members make up about 70% of the MHC Honor Guard, which conducts 250 burial ceremonies a year.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfiche at the Martinsville Branch Library.