Feb. 21

By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion

100 years ago: 1924

Real estate transfers, reported in the Feb. 26, 1924, Henry Bulletin:

·        R.D. Trent to John Hall a house and lot in Ridgeway, $1 and valuable considerations, Feb. 21

·        J.M. and J.B. Davis trustee Superior Motor Co., trustee to A.W. Stanley lots 18, 19, 20 and 21 on Davis Street, $1,320. Feb. 21

·        C.F. and James W. Hall to Martin A Hall house and lot on Jackson Street, Feb. 23

·        Nannie E. Cheshire to George L. Houchins a lot on northside of Church Street, $2,250, Feb. 21

·        S.S. Stephens and wife, O.D. Ford and wife, M.R. Schottland and wife to William M. Whittle lots 37, 38, 39 and 40 of the sub-division of the Childress pasture lot. $420. Feb. 22

·        C.T. Womack to J.W. Jones a lot on west side of Franklin Street, $1,760. Feb. 22

75 years ago: 1949

Sale at Bondurant Furniture Corp., Main & Clay (Phone 3397), on the General Electric All-Automatic Washer: $369.95, with $70 offered trade-in for an old washer. Benefits of the G.E.: “SOAKS clothes automatically; WASHES with Activator action; RINSES to sweet-smelling cleanliness; DAMP-DRIES ready for ironing.”

1960

The Martinsville social scene was aflutter this day as Mrs. W. T. Setliff announced committees for the Spring Fashion Show sponsored by the Woman’s Club of Martinsville-Henry County. The annual event was scheduled for March 11, just a few weeks away. Committees for Tickets, Publicity, Dressing Rooms, Staging and Properties, Ushers, Script, Entertainment and Program and Ads were established.

The VFW Auxiliary to Ford Post No. 4537 met on Thursday night. They made plans for an upcoming visit of the National President.

Public Schools remained closed in Farmville, VA. Prince Edward County had abandoned public education rather than enter desegregation and became a testing ground of the South’s resistance to integration, as they set up a private school system for white children, offering to do the same for black children. The closure of public schools had dealt a devastating blow to some families who moved or sent children to live with relatives in other areas, while the private schools operated efficiently in churches and vacant offices and buildings.

50 years ago: 1974

The gas shortage continued to plague the area, and no gas stations in Bassett had any gas. Douglas Foley of Bullock and Foley BP Service Station told the Bulletin, “Bassett’s dry. The only thing wet in Bassett is Smith River.” He was not expecting to get any gas delivery until the start of March, 8 days away. Larry Shelton of 57 Kenco Station west of Bassett said he had been out of gas since Feb. 16.

25 years ago: 1999

The book “The Hairstons – An American Family in Black and White” by Henry Wiencek was released by St. Martin’s Press in New York.

PHOTO: 1933, store at the corner of Highway 58 and Preston Road: General interior view from the rear of the store: looking south from the top of the steps to the second floor. Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, John Atkinson, Benjamin Watkins, Paul Clifton, James Lester Roberson, John H Schoolfield, Robert A Schoolfield, et al., Ryan, Robert A, photographer. Horsepasture Store, U.S. Route 58 & State Route 687, Horse Pasture, Henry County, VA. Horse Pasture Henry County Virginia, 1933. translateds by Christianson, Justinemitter, and Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/va1719/.

— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.