Jan. 17

1925

City Council agreed to use power, at the rate of 500 kilowatts day, from the soon-to-be formed Southern Virginia Power Corporation. However, the power company would need to get buyers for the rest of the 900 to 1,200 kilowatts per hour the dam was expected to produce, in order to secure financing. The proposed project was to build a dam 30 or 40 feet high, which would take 50 to 60 men 6 months to do, at Eggleston Falls 7 miles below the town.

1950

Local furniture makers just home from the furniture market in Chicago were excited that the new television was going to have a positive impact on their industry. First, television manufacturers would need the wooden cabinets to hold their equipment; but second, people staying home more to watch TV would want to spruce up their living rooms with newer furniture. D. Hurd Goode of Martinsville Novelty said his company already was cashing in on the trend through the sales of its small tables to hold TVs. Two million television sets had been sold in 1949 and 5 million were expected to be sold in 1950.

1961

City officials warned that this winter, Church Street Extension would no longer be closed during snows to allow for sledding. In previous years, that street had been closed and not plowed, and was a popular destination for children to go sledding. In 1959, people who lived on that road petitioned that it also should be kept open and plowed so that they could get in and out, and City Council heeded the petition and kept it open. In the winter of 1960, the street was closed because of heavier than usual snows. In the fall of 1960, the matter was studied again, and the decision made to keep Church Street Extension scraped and open to drivers. For 1961 City Council had instructed that sledding areas be provided in both Church Street Park and Community Park, but runways had not yet been created for the snowy months.

The Martinsville Fire Department was the first-place winner in the National Fire Protection Association’s Fire Prevention Contest. City insurance executive Shelton Scales said that Martinsville already had the second lowest insurance rate of any city in Virginia.

1975

The economy was bad, and vehicle sales were slow, so all the major vehicle makers except (so far) GM were offering rebate checks to customers who bought their 1973 and 1974 vehicles new from the lot. Ford was offering $500 ($2,955 in today’s money), which Mitchell-Howell Ford of Martinsville manager Emery Richardson called “a real fine rebate.”

Mrs. Mary Jane Moore Davis, 23, and her pet dog died in a fire in their home at 915 Cherry St. Fire Chief J. Lloyd Gregory attributed the cause of the fire to the cord of an electric heater in the bathroom shorting out.

2000

The area got 2 inches of snow. The City of Martinsville started clearing roads at 3 a.m. Jeff Joyce was the superintendent of Martinsville public works. The Virginia Department of Transportation had 25 trucks working to clear primary routes in Henry County.

Sen. Chuck Robb, D-Va., met with Henry County Administrator Sid Clower to talk about options for assistance for displaced textile workers.

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