July 12
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 Years ago – 1924
Rexall had a 1-cent sale – buy something at the normal price and get a second for 1 penny: Liggett’s Opeko Tea, 200 cups worth, 61 cents; Georgia Rose Talc, two cans 25 cents; two bottles of Georgia Rose toilet water for $1.01; two jars Jonteel Vanishing Cream for 51 cents; two pounds of Cascade linen writing paper for 46 cents; two bottles Peptona, “Our best tonic for run-down conditions; enriches the blood and improves health generally,” for $1.01; two bottles Zinc Stearate, “The new dusting powder for babies,” 26 cents.
A free demonstration of “Beautiful – Sanitary Red Star” oil cookstove was given at T.E. Gravely & Co. in Martinsville. “Truly this is a great day for the woman who uses oil for fuel … Finished in beautiful white porcelain and black enamel ... And back of all of this the famous Red Start Patented Burner which burns the common kerosene, gasoline or distillate, YET COOKS AND BAKES WITH GAS. We are proud to show the women of this locality this newest product of modern ingenuity.:
75 years ago – 1949
The Globman’s building on Church Street was under construction. Proprietor Abe Globman announced that a beauty shop was added to the plans for the store. Work had been delayed by waiting for the delivery of stone to go around window frames. The store was expected to be finished and occupied by the spring.
1960
The Rev. and Mrs. j. Russell Mayhue were starting New Assembly of God Church in Brewers Body Shop off Route 220 behind Midway Auto Parts. They were looking for a piano and benches and asked that anyone who could help them out call them at MI 7-2661.
50 years ago – 1974
Pollution of the water and air was a big problem locally in the 1970s. In the first week of July in 1974 a haze of stagnant air had hung over the area. M.M. Clingenpeel, the assistant regional director of the state air pollution control board, explained that haze in a newspaper article: The pollution was caused by gaseous, rather than solid, particles. It was not dangerous to breathe, but people with respiratory illnesses might have found it more difficult to breathe. It could cause stinging of the eyes.
25 years ago - 1999
Carolyn Beale had just begun a job as assistant director of Reynolds Homestead. Before that, she had taught at schools and also worked at the W.C. Ham Center in Martinsville and for the Virginia Rehabilitative Services. She was a founding board member of Gateway Streetscape. In the 1990s Reynolds Homestead’s three yearly signature events were Victorian Christmas, Spring Frolic and Children’s Art Vacation, and it was getting ready to start Art and Jazz on the Lawn.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.