June 4
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 Years ago – 1924
The Dick & Willie Railroad had petitioned the State Corporation Commission to discontinue passenger services at many of its stops, but people in Stella and Preston had petitioned to have it continue. Messrs. S.A. Thompson and W.L. Cogar met the SCC in Richmond to petition to have the freight and passenger train service to continue at those stops, and the SCC agreed to send a representative to investigate.
75 years ago – 1949
Prices at Collinsville Furniture Mart: mattress and box spring, full size, $39.95 each; solid pine bedroom suite in the colonial style, $429; Philco refrigerator/freezer, $199; low, sleek sofa and chair, $100 for both.
1960
Worker’s Garment Factory, owned by J. H. Baldwin and son, began manufacturing operations at 928 Danville Road. The 8,000-square-foot factory housed approximately 350 workers. They specialized in sportswear and men’s and boys’ outerwear.
Mrs. Lola Kesler, religious education teacher in Martinsville schools, announced her retirement. For the six years preceding, she taught Bible Study to over 500 fifth-, sixth- and seventh-grade students each year. As one of her final duties, she awarded diplomas to 225 students who completed the five-year course in Bible study, at various local churches.
50 years ago – 1974
Classes offered at Patrick Henry Community College included sign language and finger spelling, the Lamaze method of natural birth, adult beginning guitar and flower arranging. Also, a lecture on “Death and Family” was offered.
25 years ago - 1999
Irisburg Elementary School [which has since closed and now is the home of Compassion Church] was going through positive improvements. The building had undergone $2.5 million in renovations. Test scores were rising, too: on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, Irisburg students scored in the 28th percentile in reading in 1993, 54th in 1996 and 79th in 1993.
Henry Gilbert died at the age of 61, in the Ridgeway home of his son, Mark Gilbert. Henry Gilbert worked in local media for more than 25 years before becoming the local E-911 director. He had been a news director WHEE Radio and had done some correspondence work for WDBJ-TV in Roanoke and the Roanoke Times and World News.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.