March 13
100 Years ago – 1925
The two brick store buildings being constructed by T.W. Carter on Broad street, next to Weaver’s old stand, were nearly finished. Residential apartments were above the stores.
75 years ago – 1950
The Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the convictions of Frank Hairston Jr., Joe Henry Hampton, James Luther Hairston, John Clabon Taylor, Francis DeSales Grayson, Howard Lee Hairston and Booker T. Millner, collectively known now as the Martinsville Seven. They were black men accused of raping a white woman on Jan. 8, 1949. Their counsel had asked the Supreme Court for reversals of the verdicts, on the grounds that the men did not get fair and impartial trials in the Martinsville court. Other claims of error in the case included the trail court asking prospective jurors if they had conscientious scruples against capital punishment without asking if they were against the minimum penalty; using as evidence confessions gotten without due process of law; that people were swayed by stories in the local newspaper; and that the court decided the admissibility of evidence while in chambers away from the defendants. They had been scheduled to be electrocuted in the previous summer, but now a new date would be set, most likely during the next term of the local court, which would begin on April 10.
The actual construction of the Philpott dam started on this day, after 10 years of planning and 2 years of extensive preparations. The project was expected to cost $13 million. The first action was at around 6:50 p.m., when a huge bucket swing northward along a 1,500-foot cable to dump 16 tons of concrete to the base of what would be a 920-foot long dam across the Smith river. About 100 people gathered at the observation platform at 5 p.m. to watch it, but only about half of them stuck around until it actually happened. By midnight it made 2 ½ feet of concrete. That concrete would form one of 22 monoliths at the base. Concrete would be poured each day from 4:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., and the project was expected to be finished by December 1951.
A meeting was held at First Baptist Church to determine whether or not the Charles B. Keesee Educational Fund could give $1 million to the Southern Baptist convention to establish a seminary in Martinsville. A discussion lasted about 2 hours. After that general conversation, the Board of Trustees held an executive session. They determined that under the conditions of Mr. Keesee’s will, establishing the fund, the fund could not turn over its money to any other organization; that the money had to be used as intended, for the education of boys and girls from Virginia and North Carolina, with priority to those from Henry County and Southwest Virginia, at established schools. It had given scholarships that year to 175 students. The trustees were Dr. J.P. McCabe, Dr. F.W. Boatwright, W.R. Broaddus, W.M. Bassett and J. Conrad Kearfott.
50 years ago – 1975
Robert McReynolds, 36, was paralyzed from the chest down in June 1972 after stepping backward into an unmarked 15-foot-deep hole at the Bassett Superior plant. He sued, and a Henry County jury awarded him $1 million in December, thought to be the highest verdict ever of its type in Virginia. On March 13, 1975, Martinsville Circuit Court Judge Frank I. Richardson ruled that the size of that award was “manifestly unfair” and “so excessive as to shock the conscience of this Court.” He ordered that McReynolds forfeit $450,000 of that ward to Bassett. McReynolds’ attorneys said they would file an appeal with Virginia Supreme Court.
Realtors in Martinsville and Henry County were renting garden plots. Anyone wanting one only had to pay $5, which went toward the cost of preparing the soil for planting.
25 years ago - 2000
The Job Prep Resource Center opened. It had an office at 204 Starling Ave. and took applications for former Tultex workers at the Adult Learning Center at 1024 DuPont Road. The center was funded by a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Its staff included training coordinator William H. Pierce and training support technician Sonya M. Sessons.
BB&T officials offered the City to rent the third floor of its building at 1 Ellsworth St. for $1. The City then could sub-lease the 9,000 square feet of office spaces to an information technology systems business.
Fire damaged five apartments at Northview Gardens, and firefighters pulled one woman to safety. Rodney Howell was the Henry County Fire Marshal.