July 19

100 Years ago – 1924

The Barrow’s Mill 4-H Club held a box party and ice cream supper at the Barrows Mill school house, at 8 p.m.

75 years ago – 1949

It was raining for the tenth day in Martinsville.

Ayers Skating Rink on River Hill offered the “Finest Floor!” and “Best Equipment” – “All New!” Children could skate in the afternoons for 25 cents.

1960

All eight Bassett Furniture Industries plants, as well as Bassett Mirror Corp. and Valley Veneer Corp., were closed in honor of the funeral of Bassett Furniture Industries head W.M. Bassett. The First National Bank of Bassett closed at 11 a.m. – after meeting its legal requirement of being open (from 8 a.m.). Most of the stores in Bassett also closed. His funeral was held at Pocahontas Bassett Baptist Church, the church names for his late mother, Nancy Pocahontas Hundley Bassett.

50 years ago – 1974

The U.S. 220-58 Martinsville bypass was expecting to cost between $40 and $45 million, a significant increase above the $12.6 million it was expected to cost when plans for it were announced in 1951. Project Director W.B. Hutchins said the increase was largely due to rising costs of asphalt and steel, with also some increases in concrete.

25 years ago - 1999

It was the first day of the bank being BB&T – the former Piedmont Trust Bank and its parent company, 60 Main Street Financial, closed on the prior Friday and reopened Monday, July 19, as a branch of BB&T. About 60 employees made the transition.

— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.