Dec. 4

100 Years ago – 1924

Ad: “Upholstering and Repairing – Secondhand sewing machines bought and exchanged. All kinds talking machines repaired. D.H. HODGES, Ground Foor Jones Bldg, Martinsville, Va.”

Ad (and in this case, “muffler” means “scarf”): “It Will Please Him. A Muffler selected from our present showing will prove a gift that will please him more than any other thing you can give. Fulcher’s, Inc. ‘The Man’s Shop.” Walnut St., Martinsville, Va.”

75 years ago – 1949

The average hourly wage of the local furniture industry was 90 cents an hour. A new minimum wage law going into effect on Jan. 1 would raise minimum wage to 75 cents. Nine percent of area workers earned less than 75 cents an hour, and almost 25% earned $1 or more an hour.

1960

Mrs. W.C. Washburn of 201 Fairy St. and two of her three children – Becky, 10, and Danny, 6 (Billy, 14, was in Roanoke) got to speak with their husband/father, the Rev. Bill Washburn, who was in Africa. He was a Presbyterian missionary in the Kasai Province of the Congo. They talked with him over ham radio, thanks to another missionary who had been evacuated to his home in Charlotte, N.C.; that missionary contacted Rev. Washburn at a radio station in Lubondai, Kasai Province, and then called Mrs. Washburn in Martinsville so she could talk with him.

50 years ago – 1974

Martinsville and the counties of Franklin and Patrick had just received $2,000 each from the federal government to go toward the purchase of “jaws of life.” The jaws of life is a spark-proof metal shredder used to cut a person loose from a vehicle damaged in a crash. The tools cost $2,000, and the difference in cost would be made up by the county or city. Before the jaws of life, rescue squads would have to use saws which generated sparks, which is a fire hazard around leaking gasoline.

25 years ago - 1999

Tultex Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations Kim Adkins said that after its 1,100 layoffs, Tultex expected to employ 450 people in Martinsville, about one-fifth of the 2,000 employees Tultex used to have locally. Tultex was making a shift to be a clothing marketing company instead of a manufacturing company.

— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.