March 31
100 Years ago – 1925
Classified Ads: FOR RENT – Store Room 30x70 feet in old Brown Warehouse, now occupied by Bassett and Motley. Apply to P.D. and P.L. Hodnett. . For Sale or Trade – Two good work Mules Wagon, plows and other farming tools. Apply to C.J. Cheshire, Martinsville, Va.
75 years ago – 1950
Attorneys for the neighbors of West Fayette street asked attorneys to prepare an injunction to present to the City Circuit Court in an effort to present a trucking terminal on Fayette street between First and Second streets. Fayette area neighbors offered the property owners $31,000 to buy the property. The cash offer was rejected, with the owners holding out for $35,000. The owners, Mr. and Mrs. Roy C. Stone and James C. Stone, had bought the property the year before for $26,200 and had done $3,000 worth of grading. A trucking terminal was built, and neighbors reported being bothered by the noise and other matters. In November 1996 the City of Martinsville, with the assistance of the Martinsville Bulletin and an anonymous donor, purchased the property, and Environmental Transportation Services moved out in January 1997. Later, houses were built there.
The Bassett Council of Garden Clubs presented its annual flower show at Pocahontas Bassett Baptist Church. Bassett clubs participating were Bassett Garden Club, Pocahontas Garden Club, Bassett Garden Club Auxiliary and Garden Gate Club. Other participating clubs were: Martinsville Garden Club, Beaver Creek Garden Club, Colonial Garden Club, Garden Study Club, Old Dominion Garden Club and Mountain View Garden Club, all of Martinsville; and three from Roanoke and one from Danville.
50 years ago – 1975
Bobby Pendleton of Stuart won World Champion Fiddler for the third straight year at the 51st Old-Time Fiddlers Convention in Union Grove, N.C. The 39-year-old postman performed “Katy Hill”.
The Spencer-Penn Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association was planning a basketball tame at 8 p.m. Friday, April 4, featuring female teachers versus mothers, as a fund raiser. Meanwhile, the Irisburg Ruritan Club was sponsoring a softball tournament, and interested teams were to call Brenda D. White.
Larry & Alley had a 1-day sale: a 19-inch Solid State Zenith color TV for $349.95.
Robert E. “Buddy” Phillips succeeded Postmaster J. Herndon Clarke Jr. as Martinsville Postmaster.
25 years ago - 2000
Debbie Hall resigned as executive director of the Martinsville Uptown Revitalization Association (MURA) and would go on to become a trust administrator for Crestar Bank in Martinsville.