Sept. 18
100 Years ago – 1924
Automobile advice in the Henry Bulletin, Sept. 16, 1924, edition: “Knocks are often very difficult to locate in an automobile engine. Various devices have been used to locate the trouble, but a good a one as is to be had can be made in a few minutes from an old horn and a rod. All the horn but the bell and diaphragm should be removed. A screw should be placed through the diaphragm and screwed into the end of the rod. When the other end of the rod is places against the engine the knock can be heard very plainly in the bell. By removing the rod to different points on the cylinder block or crank-case the exact location of the trouble can be discovered.
75 years ago – 1949
A “Negro Ball Game” between the Black Giants of Martinsville and the Greensboro (N.C.) Hawks was held, organized by black residents, to benefit the emergency polio campaign.
The fifth confirmed case of polio to hit the city was diagnosed at the Medical College of Virginia, with 15-year-old Robert Shelton of Mulberry street. He had the Bulbar type, which strikes the lungs. Meanwhile, other polio patients were recovering: Betty Jean Owen, 12, of Keel street, was being able to use her affected left leg; Jerry Mays Doss, 4, of Ellsworth street, was receiving orthopedic treatment in his two legs; and Lora Labovsky, 3, of Finley street, was being trained to walk again. Richard P. Gravely III, 12, died on Sept. 5, 11 days after he got polio. Meanwhile, Martinsville was not considered to be in an epidemic: Dr. John Shackelford said that to be counted as an epidemic, there must be one case for every 1,000 population. He said he, Dr. Fred T. Renick and Dr. Mason C. Rowe had been monitoring the situation. Schools would not close.
1960
Sale at Ward’s, 20 Church St., Phone 2-2129: “Top quality 3-piece bath set in white. Sleep modern design in gleaming white. Set includes roomy tub, vitreous china lavoratory, wash-down toilet. Stain resistant.” $119.88.
50 years ago – 1974
Restoration of the Jack’s Creek covered bridge near Woolwine was beginning. The $5,000 cost of the project was split between the county and the federal government.
25 years ago – 1999
Goody’s in Liberty Fair Mall was a popular clothing store, and it had a sale of many items 50% off but some even more discounted. Day beds were popular home furniture, and you could get a full set with bed, spring, mattress, two pillows, two shams and one comforter all for $199 at Collinsville Furniture Mart.
Several hundred former employees of the former Pannill Knitting Co. held a reunion at Southside Park in Martinsville. Pannill formed in 1928, was sold to Sara Lee Knit Products in 1988 and closed in 1994.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.