March 3 through the years
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 years ago – 1924
Pannill Post American Legion and Auxiliary had their “house warming” meeting on March 3, 1924 – their first meeting in their new club rooms over the H.A. Ford & Co. offices at the corner of Church and Walnut streets. The Shriners also meet there.
It was announced that Mr. Percy C. Winter, who is the manager of the Henry Hotel, will relinquish his lease on the hotel, effective April 1, 1924. Members of the board of directors of the hotel company reported that eight applications have been received for the management of the hotel.
The Henry County Tobacco factory and the basement floor which was used as a livery stable burned to the ground at night March 3. At 9 p.m. a passerby roused Jack Johnson, who lived in a room on the third floor. The fire had started on the second floor, where Mr. R.B. Semple, proprietor, had stored between $17,000 and $20,000 worth of cigars, cigarettes, plug tobacco and confectionaries, only insured for $4,250. The building also had 400 bushels of oats, wagons, buggies, harness and feed stuff. Mr. Johnson, of Mountain Valley, who had worked for Mr. Childress for 10 years, lost everything he owned, including 10 years worth of savings, which he had kept in a trunk. The 42 horses and mules in the basement made it out safely, thanks to Mr. Johnson, but they kept coming back and trying to get into their stalls.
75 years ago – 1949
Announcement was made that in the prior week, the Patrick County Board of Supervisors presented and adopted a budget with a county levy of $2. It would go for: schools, $1.50; general fund, 40 cents; sinking fund, 10 cents.
1960
The Southern filibuster continued in the Senate. Senator Lyndon Johnson began cobbling together a rough draft of a substitute measure to guard voting rights and assign penalties for hate bombings of schools and churches.
The 4 to 8 inches of snow predicted the day before exploded into 12 inches of snow followed by sleet in the area. Al local schools were closed, to the delight of students everywhere, and most secondary roads were closed. American, Gravely, Stanley and Hooker factories all closed. Mid-morning there was a warming trend, only to freeze again at night, with lows of 18 and winds up to 23 miles an hour.
Lucy Freeman, an Albert Harris High School student, was named fifth-place winner in the state essay contest conducted by the Governor’s Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped. Her topic was “Jobs for the Handicapped-Passports to Dignity”. She received a certificate from President Eisenhower for the quality of her essay.
50 years ago – 1974
Allan McClain warned local residents not to convert their automobiles to propane gas to beat the gasoline shortage. In the Stroller column in the Martinsville Bulletin, McClain, manager of Midway Bottled Gas Co., said a conversion would cost between $600 and $700, and plus, the cost of propane was going up quickly.
Willard K. Hall of Blackwell Road, Reed Creek District, announced plans to sue United Enterprises of MHC and National Housewares Inc. of Utah, claiming that the fire detectors he bought from them did not alert the family of fire. His daughter, Deborah Hall, 15, was injured in a blaze at the home.
25 years ago - 1999
Bassett-Walker announced that it would close its plants in Ferrum and Commerce , Ga., effective June, but that its 344 affected employees could transfer to Martinsville. Meanwhile, Pluma moved about 90 jobs out of its Martinsville annex to other facilities in the city and Patrick County.
PHOTO: Timothy Alan Slate of Patrick County packs tobacco. Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project collection, 1977-1981 (AFC 1982/009), Owen, Blanton, 1949-1998 (Research team member) Fleischhauer, Carl (Photographer); Library of Congress.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.