April 1
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 Years ago – 1924
Front-page article in the Henry Bulletin, “4.H. Club Notice – New Home Demonstrator – Plant Tomatoe Seed – Write for Seed.” “Miss Emma Bratten, the new county home demonstrator, will arrive on Monday, April 14th. You are going to like Miss Bratten, and she is coming to see you, but remember there are a great many of you and it may be several weeks before she gets to your home. In the mean while your State Home Demonstrator, Mrs. M.<. Davis, suggests one girl plant enough tomatoe seed for all the canning girls in your club. If you haven’t the seed and can’t get them, write Miss Julia E. Self, Martinsville, and she will mail them to you.”
75 years ago – 1949 The price of milk in Martinsville dropped 1 cent per quart, in keeping with a temporary order entered the previous October 16 which increased the cost of milk by a penny. That meant that whole milk delivered to homes would go down from 14 to 13 cents a quart and buttermilk from 14 to 13 cents a quart, and the wholesale price of milk in pints would go down from 12 to 11 cents. Williard Smith was the chair of the local milk commission, and C.D. Weaver was the manager of the Martinsville Creamery. The Martinsville Milk Market had petitioned the state commission for that fall-through-spring price increase of a penny to cover high feed and labor costs.
City Sheriff Morton Prillaman reported that the daily cost of lodging city prisoners was increased to $2.10 per day, leading to a cost to the City of more than $1,000 a month.
1960
A 25-year-old motorist was found guilty here of driving in excess of 105 miles an hour. The driver was sentenced to a fine of $500 and costs and received a suspended jail sentence, with the understanding that the speeder was not to drive an automobile for the next five years.
The A to Z Book Club voted to start a Club fund for the new Martinsville Pubic Library, with the accumulated money to be turned over to the Library Board when construction on the new building got underway.
Mrs. George Pace enjoyed her 80th birthday while Libby Craddock enjoyed her 6th. Both were treated to lovely parties where they enjoyed delicious treats and received many gifts!
50 years ago – 1974
The family of Beverly Marie Hairston, 19, offered a $1,000 reward leading to the arrest of the person who shot and killed her on March 17, 1974. That is in addition to the $1,000 reward offered by the City. Her aunt, Elizabeth Hairston Stockton, 27, also was killed. Both lived in Axton.
25 years ago - 1999
The furniture industry was looking good, as American of Martinsville was planning to add 200 jobs, and Stanley Furniture was planning to add 300 jobs when it opened a $15 million home office – furniture plant.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.