August 20

100 Years ago – 1924

The American Legion, at the Hamiton Theatre, showed War pictures on Aug. 20 and 21. They were said to be the only official and authentic ones released by the U.S. War Department, and shown only by veterans organizations. “Many of our local boys are seen doing their bit in their fight for the freedom of the world,” the announcement states.

75 years ago – 1949

J.H. Norman of the Bassett post office was asking the public to help rebuild the swinging bridge over the Smith River in Bassett. The bridge, which connected the business section with Riverside Drive, had been washed away on June 29.

1960

The Martinsville-Henry County Emergency Polio Drive began, an attempt to pay $28,600 in debts from the previous years. The local chapter of the National Polio Foundation owed $22,000 to the Medical College of Virginia, $4,000 to Roanoke Hospital and $2,600 to Georgia Warm Springs, in caring for local polio patients. In all, 39 local people, mostly children, had been struck by polio, with total hospital costs of $60,000. In the fall of 1959 the chapter had raised $12,000 in an emergency campaign. Local chairman Marvin Hill said that a bill for polio treatment could cost about $6,000.

50 years ago – 1974

President Gerald Ford, who just had taken over the presidency from the disgraced Richard Nixon, nominated Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller as vice president.

25 years ago - 1999

Gateway Streetscape Foundation Inc. had hanging baskets and pots of flowers uptown and 45 planted sites around the area. It was so hot and dry that summer that Gateway’s executive director Lois Christensen was spending about 4 hours a day keeping everything watered, using about 1,500 gallons of water each week.

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