Jan. 18

1925

The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union celebrated the fifth anniversary of prohibition with a program at the Christian church.

1950

Adult Education classes offered at Albert Harris School were in Typing and General Education. A fee of $5 was charged for the typing class.

1961

Gravely Furniture Co. Inc. had closed its Martinsville plant, perhaps temporarily, affecting 125 jobs. Production, which had gone at a slower pace since before the holidays, would be consolidated at its Ridgeway plant. The furniture market had been in a general slowdown over the past several months.

1975

Classes offered at Patrick Henry Community College included Banjo Playing, Living Religion, Art for Adults, GED, Interior Decorating, National Electric Code. Virginia Tech offered the class Psychology of Math – Learning and Instruction, at 6:30 p.m. four Fridays in a row.

2000

Henry County Administrator Sid Clower met with at least 80 displaced textile workers in the morning. Then he talked with the Henry County Board of Supervisors, who authorized him to ask the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission to provide aid for the displaced workers and economic development funding for the area.

The national theme for Martin Luther King Jr. Day was “Remember, Celebrate, Act: A Day On, Not a Day Off,” and that theme was used also in local churches for teach-ins. Teach-Ins were held at Mayo Missionary Baptist Church on Horsepasture Price Road in Ridgeway, among other places. Two of the teachers were Rosabelle Holmes and Malisia Watkins.

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