March 9 through the years

By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion

100 Years ago – 1924

At the latest meeting of the Mildred Lee Chapter United Daughters of the Confederacy, Miss Judith Hill requested a picture of the Confederate monument on the courthouse square to be used in the history of Henry County that she was writing [this has become one of the two or three main history books of this area], and the chapter also agreed to share its history with Miss Hill for the book.

75 years ago – 1949

M.L. Carter was unanimously elected as superintendent for Martinsville schools for a 4-year term beginning May 1.

1960

To date in 1960, the area had received 30+ inches of snow as the third major snowstorm blew into town since February 14. Six inches or more of the white stuff was expected before the storm did its worst; more than a foot was expected in the mountains. Schools that had opened, closed early; hazardous roads were once again the cause of a spate of accidents and some injuries were reported. 

City Council decided that moving forward, no more streets would be closed to allow for sledding. The decision was made to build runways in Church Street and Community Park by removing trees, to begin as soon as the current snow cleared. The proposal was made by Councilman Thomas J. Burch.

50 years ago – 1974

In order to conserve gas for local residents, most local gas station owners planned to close their stations on Sunday, when race fans would be in the area for the Dogwood 500 classic automobile race, and sell at a $3 limit on Saturday. About 20,000 people attended the race, an increase of 2,000 over the prior year.

25 years ago - 1999

Akers Supermarket of Stanleytown was offering Big Value bread at 79 cents a loaf, Crisco oil for $1.99, a dozen eggs for 89 cents and a 12-oz. package of Jesse Jones franks for 99 cents.

PHOTO: Dutch Inn, 1978, Library of Congress

— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.