April 15 through time
100 Years ago – 1925
The Henry Bulletin reported that all of the services at the churches in the city were well attended, in spite of the fact that hundreds left early during the morning for the Moravian services at Winston-Salem.
75 years ago – 1950
A committee of Brice Eggleston, Judge Kennon C. Whittle, W.M. Bassett, J. Frank Wilson and Sheriff Morton Prillaman were on a committee to study proposals to change the arrangement for Henry County special police. Judge Whittle had told the board of supervisors that he thought the county had too many special officers, whose salaries were paid partly by the large factories and partly by the county. There were five full-time special officers at Bassett and two at Fieldale and two part-time special officers at Stanleytown.
50 years ago – 1975
Henry County residents had until midnight to display 1975-76 license decals on their vehicles, and the county treasurer’s office was packed with people catching up. The $10 decals also were sold also at the Collinsville Volunteer Fire Department and at Jerry Young’s Grocery on Va. 57 east, by the Dyer’s Store Fire Department.
Patrick County Sheriff Calvin C. Harbour and 11 of his employees took lie detector tests as part of an investigation by the Virginia State Police. The VPS were investigating the disappearance of 49 pints of confiscated whiskey and a $400 walkie-talkie purchased with federal funds. The sheriff had said the loss of the walkie-talkie happened when it was sent to a radio repair shop in Wytheville and never returned. Some cans of salmon and beans were missing from the basement of the jail, too.
25 years ago - 2000
Nationwide Homes Inc., the first company to take advantage of the enterprise zones (1996), also was the first to participate in Martinsville’s free-land-for-jobs program. It would build a 200,000-square-foot building on 15 acres along Rives Road and add 170 new jobs over the next 2 years.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.