June 29
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 Years ago – 1924
Mr. W.H. Shultz, Martinsville’s passenger ticket agent on the Norfolk and Western railroad, was promoted to passenger agent for the Southern lines of the same railroad at headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C.
A modern, up-to-date three story brick building was being built on Franklin street, running back to the Danville & Western railroad tracks, by Banner Grocery Co. The first two floors would be of concrete and the top floor of brick. The first floor was being built so that it could be turned into a cold storage and refrigerating plant as the demand for produce grew. Officers of the Banner company were A.J. Lester, president; Whitney Shumate, vice-president; E.L. Turner, secretary-treasurer.
75 years ago – 1949
The Smith river was rising in Bassett to the extent that water covered Riverside Drive for about half a mile and had entered many of the houses along that road. Many Bassett residents were removing items from their home in preparation for evacuation.
A list of textbooks used in Virginia’s public schools was sent to the un-American Activities committee in Washington. The committee reviewed books to flag any with supposed un-American propaganda, a practice which drew a storm of controversy, especially from college administrators.
A 14-year-old boy was being observed in a hospital in Roanoke for potentially having polio. He first became sick four days before when at Fairystone State Park with friends.
Little 33-month-old Trevis Hughes, who had been missing overnight, was found along a dirt road near Stuart. Large search parties had been looking for her. According to Sheriff R.W. Fulcher, she and an older granddaughter were with their grandfather, starting to return to the home together several hundred yards away from the milking shed, when the man was stopped by neighbor Sam Howell for a chat. The two girls disappeared. The group who found the girl was made up of Winfred Huges, Clarence Williams, Casey Harbour and Carl Connor. The girl was part of a family visiting the grandfather from Arizona.
1960
A state-operated mobile X-ray unit, which last had been in Martinsville in May, returned to Martinsville to provide free chest X-rays. It was stationed at Jones Creek Grocery, H.L. Green Store on Franklin Street, then in front of Leggetts’ on Church Street and finally at Continental Can Co.
50 years ago – 1974
The County of Henry was taking the leap into the computer age: They voted to approve the purchase of a data processing system that would eventually computerize much of the county government’s record-keeping. Following the advice of a consultant, the board authorized the purchase of a Burroughs B-700 computer, which would be delivered to the county by the end of the year. It was announced that at some point all of the county’s tax records, purchasing and accounting records and payrolls would be computerized, and also that the sheriff’s departments and the courts also might computerize court documents. The Burroughs B-700 was capable of doing in 2 ½ days the tax-ticket preparation which took the county 3 months do with a bookkeeping machine.
25 years ago – 1999
Construction was set to begin on the new Lowe’s, in what was called (do we remember what that shopping center’s name is now?) Mountain View Plaza, on a 70-acre site. At the time there was a Lowe’s in Ridgeway.
Prices were raising and fees were lowering at Adelphia Cable: Broadcast Service (formerly Basic Service) remained at $11.40/month, and had broadcast networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Satellite Service cost $22.10, a $1.09 increase, and included networks such as ESPN, CNN and A&E. Those two services combined cost $33.50/month. Each of the premium channels – Showtime, HBO, Cinemax and the Movie Channel – cost $11.50 each.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.