August 10
100 Years ago – 1924
In the Henry Bulletin’s column on Dyer’s Store community news: “Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Mitchell, of Snow Creek, visited her sister, Mrs. A.C. Minter, and attended services at the school house Sunday last. – Mrs. J.F. Adkins is in Martinsville. – I wonder what has become of the threshing machine. August almost here and no threshing music yet.”
75 years ago – 1949
It was announced that Mrs. Norman Mahon would open a new kindergarten at her home in Chatham Heights. Twelve children between the ages of 4 and 5 would be accepted, and classes would begin Sept. 1.
Sheriff Morton T. Prillaman started a police school for Henry County officers. Instructors were from the Virginia State Police, and speakers included Judge Kennon C. Whittle, Attorney M.H. MacBryde and Prosecutor Cary Randolph. Sessons would continue at intervals through Aug. 18.
1960
Mrs. Fred Barrow of Sunset Drive in Chatham Heights took her twin sons, Stewart and Stephen, 14 months old, to the annual Twin’s Contest at Mill Mountain in Roanoke. Mr. and Mrs. Roy W. Fulcher also brought their sons, Bruce and Grady, age 3.
The “Rocking Chair” trials started on this date. They covered 13 warrants against four people and two charges against a female employee of Martinsville Cotton Mill who was charged with failing to report money she had earned while she was drawing unemployment compensation. One charge accused the woman of accepting a state check for $18, stating that she had earned $8.37 in the two weeks before that payment. In the second case, she was accused of accepting a state check for $36 while having earned $25.10 by working.
50 years ago – 1974
The annual celebration closing the Martinsville-Henry County Public Library’s summer reading program was held.
25 years ago - 1999
Residents in the southern and western part of Henry County, along the U.S. 220 corridor and along U.S. 58 toward the county line, were asked to restrict water use to ease the load on the Marrowbone Water Plant. This covered 2,800 customers, including industries in the Martinsville Industrial Park.
Judy Philpott, 54, the daughter of the late speaker of the House of Delegates A.L. Philpott and Katherine Philpott, left her home in Richmond for a 27-month tour of service as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.