April 10

100 Years ago – 1925

Prillaman’s Market paid 6 cents per pound for good fat beef cattle on foot, and it also purchased veals and dressed hogs from local farmers.

75 years ago – 1950

Ralph Edwin Shank was the band director for City schools. He taught six classes a day and sometimes eight. Band instruction began in the fourth grade. The high school band was started in the fall of 1947  through an appropriation by the Exchange Club of Martinsville, which provided all the instruments. Mr. Shank began instructing the original 30-piece band that year. By 1950 the band had 55 students.

50 years ago – 1975

The new Family YMCA on Cleveland Avenue (now part of Martinsville Middle School) was growing. About 150 to 160 people used the facility each day, and it could accommodate a maximum of 300 people. The building had a small basketball court, a game room with pool tables and a hockey table machine, a weight room, a women’s exercise room and an indoor swimming pool. It also offered classes such as karate and yoga. That building had started out as the Community Recreation Center, which was for whites only. The YMCA was integrated.

25 years ago - 2000

A new furniture company opened its sales floor for business at the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, N.C., and would open a location in Henry County soon after. It was Shenandoah Clocks and Curios. The company president was Richard Yang; the director of operations was Will Gravely; and the director of sales and marketing was Sonny Cassaday.

— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.