Feb. 9 through time

100 Years ago – 1925

C.W. Holt ran a sale of 400 Happy Home House Frocks for $1.19 each: “The daintiest styles – the most charming patterns and color combinations – by far, the best values in house frocks ever presented.”

75 years ago – 1950

The Martinsville Volunteer Fire Department voted to solicit contributing and associate members. Their membership dues would go toward the purchase of a panel truck or similar equipment to transport raincoats, boots and helmets to the scenes of fires. Dues would be $5.

1961

The Associated Press reported that bootleggers in Georga and South Carolina were using plastic squeeze bottles for whiskey, because of a fruit jar shortage in their area. However, local bootleggers still were using the half-gallon fruit jar and gallon jugs, the local office of the federal Alcohol & Tobacco Tax Division reported.

50 years ago – 1975

In a contest sponsored by Frith Construction Co. on what the Native American fish dam would have looked like when in original use, Jeff Hankins of 1242 Lanier Road won first place ($100) and Jane Pilson of Ridgeway won second place ($25) with their paintings. The fish dam on the Smith River south of the city was discovered in 1972 or 1973 by R.O. Gravely Jr., president of the Patrick Henry Chapter of the Archeology Society of Virginia, who lived in the area. He had said he had been walking from Winn-Dixie to his car in the parking lot when he looked down at the river and the dam just seemed to jump out at him. The dam is near a large Indian excavation site from the 1959s. Radio-carbon tests placed the time of the village there to be around 1330 AD, plus or minus 30 years. The local Archeology chapter asked the landowners adjacent to the part of the river to donate their interest in the river and 10 feet of bank to the Archeology Society, and both agreed. They were Frith Construction Co. and Bassett-Walker Knitting Co.

25 years ago - 2000

Law enforcement officers and apparel industry officials raided a building in Ridgeway and discovered $300,000 in suspected counterfeit clothing and merchandise. The clothing was discovered during an undercover operation at The Eden Flea Market, and it was traced to a screen-printing operation on Main Street, next to the mayor’s office, in Ridgeway. Items included T-shirts, sweatshirts, pants, jackets, coats, sunglasses and other items with names such as Nike and Tommy Hilfiger.

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