Dec. 10

100 Years ago – 1924

Mrs. Edwin Penn was the chairman for Henry County’s Annual Sale of Christmas Seals, to benefit the International Union Against Tuberculosis and the National Tuberculosis Association along with its 48 state associations and 2,000 local associations. The seal, shaped like a rectangular stamp, showed a winged woman in a golden robe, holding a torch up high in one hand and a white shield with a double cross in the other, with the words “HEALTH Christmas 1924.” These seals were to be stuck on the back of a Christmas card envelope.

75 years ago – 1949

Gum machines operated by the Lions Club around Martinsville were taking in an average of $50 a month, which was used toward the club’s sight conservation program.

1960

Southern Bank of Commerce was located at the corner of Main and Walnut streets.

Wise Homes of Danville, which had a Martinsville post office box (2161), was running a “Special Christmas Offer”: 1,000 square feet of sheetrock free with every purchase in December. Anyone with a deed to their own property could get a house for $5 down and payments of $32 a month. The custom-built houses came with aluminum windows, insulated walls and lifetime asbestos shingles.

50 years ago – 1974

Housing sales were in a slump. Mr. and Mrs. Hyman Sater put their house at 709 Craig St. up for sale in June and still had no luck. At first they asked $24,000 for the 35-year-old house with five rooms, a partially finished attic and a finished basement, but they reduced the price to $18,500. They left their house and moved into an apartment in Danville, paying $155 in rent. Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Patton had moved to Martinsville in July. Their house in Monroe, N.C., was up for sale at $22,800, then lowered in price to $20,500. They were stuck paying a mortgage of $136 a month with a loan that had 8% interest, and they were also paying for three-bedroom, $32,500 house in Hillcrest Park, which they financed with a 9% loan after putting down a 20% deposit.

25 years ago – 1999

Charlie “Junior” Lynch Jr., 23, was honored with the Bassett Volunteer Fire Department’s Fireman of the Year award – for the second time in his 3 years in the department. He accepted the award eith bandaged hands. His face, hands and legs were covered in third-degree burns he received during a Dec. 2 fire at the J.D. Bassett manufacturing plant. It happened while he was working there as a Bassett employee, doing regular maintenance with his father, Charlie Lynch Sr., and another man. The men spotted a fire on a roof and while Junior Lynch was preparing the fire house, sawdust nearby ignited. Lynch Senior was a member of the fire department and the chief of the J.D. Bassett Fire Brigade, where Lynch Junior was assistant chief.

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