May 1
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 Years ago – 1924
Miss Hattie Belle Graham of the Crippled Children’s Hospital of Richmond visited Martinsville to speak to several organizations. At a public meeting at the Baptist Church, she talked about the Red Cross’s three clinics, at which Dr. Graham provided his services and time for free. During the 4-year period, 22 patients were brought from Henry County to the hospital in Richmond, two still there as of the time of her visit. At the public meeting, a special committee was formed to raise funds for the clinics. Mrs. G.A. Brown was the chair.
75 years ago – 1949
“A dead ’possum was observed in the middle of Brown street near the H.I. Tuggle home this morning,” the Martinsville Bulletin reported in the “Briefs” section on the front page. “It had apparently been hit by a car.”
1960
Soft drinks advanced in price. Twenty-four bottle crates formerly selling for $1.12 rose in price to $1.40. Vending machine prices were soon to follow, with a rise from $.05 or $.07 to $.10.
Pulaski County had no black high school; students were sent to Christiansburg Institute in Montgomery County. Federal Judge Roby Thompson ordered Pulaski County School Board 30 to assign 14 black students to Pulaski High School, further specifying that any black student applying for a transfer by March 15 of each year be assigned to the school by April 15, with the transfer taking effect the following year.
50 years ago – 1974
Minimum hourly wage went up on this day to $2, from $1.60. That would affect an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 local workers. For the first time, domestic workers working more than 8 hours a week in a household also would be covered by minimum wage laws; there were an estimated 700 domestic workers locally, Virgil L. Thompson, manager o the Virginia Employment Commission’s Martinsville office told the Martinsville Bulletin.
A group was trying to get together a collection of art work for permanent display in Martinsville. It was the Piedmont Chapter of the Virginia Museum. The chapter already had a Dali etching, a Gerald Donato original and a poster from the museum in Richmond. It was trying to get together $142.50 to buy more art. Contributors would mail their contributions to Mrs. Carol Duga or Piedmont Arts Chapter. Until there was a big enough collection and a permanent location for it, the artworks could be rented by members, with rental income to be applied to buying more art.
25 years ago - 1999
More than 400 people walked around the Martinsville Speedway to raise $27,000 for the March of Dimes.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.