March 24

100 Years ago – 1925

This ad: “STOUT WOMEN – Slenderize Your Figure By Wearing a Comfort Corset-Brassiere … adaptable to every woman, whether of slender, medium or full figure. It is designed and fitted to give beautiful unbroken lines and affords and ideal gown foundation, is adjustable to fit perfectly, and will not ride-up over the corset.”

75 years ago – 1950

The Martinsville Jaycees had a goal to raise $12,000 for the construction of the Community Hospital for Negros. It had just raised $1,550 on its first day. Mr. and Mrs. O.D. Ford had pledged half of the $12,000 as matching funds if a first $6,000 was raised.

50 years ago – 1975

A tornado touched down in Leatherwood. Junior Bates saw it and ran to Bates’ Grocery on Route 57 to warn his mother, Mrs. A.R. Bates. From the back window of the store, they watched the tornado tear through trees, and it also tore off the store’s tin roof. Carroll Bates described a rolling black cloud filled with lounge chairs and tree limbs. Minnie Rumley’s trailer was thrown off its foundation and landed backward, and luckily she was at her doctor’s office in Martinsville at the time. Lewis Eanes’ barn was torn down, but the equipment remained OK. Mrs. Wayne Harris said the tornado ruined a swingset and a chimney on a neighbor’s property and she saw the roof come off a tobacco barn. Her grandfather, Walter E. Likens, saw logs thrown 30 to 40 feet. At Anna Belcher’s house, porch supports were knocked out and parts of a metal roof blew away.

25 years ago – 2000

Penny Decker and Glenda Inman, owners of Muzik Box & Co., started the area’s first string orchestra for children at the Collinsville YMCA. Their students included Celena Hobbs, Allie Hylton, Benjamen Westphalen, Kailey Cline and David Shelor.