June 16
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 Years ago – 1924
The Henry Bulletin reported on June 17 about a June 16 Ku Klux Klan meeting in Danville: “A score or more of Martinsville people, among them several alleged klansmen, motored to Danville yesterday afternoon, to witness the big Ku Klux Klan parade and ceremonies last night, forming, it is said the most spectacular and impressive demonstration ever witnessed in Danville. There were probably one thousand white-robed klansmen in the procession mounted and on foot, marching along Main street from down town to the rendezvous in the vicinity of the old West End baseball park, where, in a ravine forming a natural amphitheatere, the ceremonies were performed by the great company of ghostly figures gathered about the fiery cross, while the vast throng of spectators looked on from a short distance.” [That is the entirety of the article.]
Martinsville mothers were invited to enter their babies, younger than age 4, in the “Healthy Baby Contest,” arranged for by E.R. Squibb and Son, New York manufacturing chemists. Judges included a U.S. senator from New York, a writer of books on care of infants, a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and the chair of the Division of Health of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. The mother would enter a child by filling out an entry blank available at a druggist, giving details of age and weight and sending a picture of the baby. The top prize was $100 and a silver loving cup (a drinking vessel with two handles, one at each side), and silver cups and monetary prizes would be awarded to 25 mothers. In Martinsville, forms were available at the stores of C.P. Kearfott and Sons and Roberts Drug Co.
75 years ago – 1949
Members of Starling Avenue Baptist Church voted to construct an educational building addition, with an estimated cost of $75,000.
1960
The City Recreation Department reported that all City Park day camps were full. City playgrounds that were open for use through Aug. 12 were Patrick Henry, Druid Hills, Clearview and North Martinsville, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Albert Harris, 9 a.m. to noon and 3-7:30 p.m., and East Martinsville, 9 a.m. to noon and 4-8 p.m., all weekdays. July 4 would be a holiday for all playgrounds, but day camps would remain in session. [Each city park back then was staffed with an attendant.]
50 years ago – 1974
[How’s this for 1970s style:] Lou Harris Inc. in an advertisement announced “the opening of There’s a Unicorn in My Cellar, a new boutique featuring handpainted bird cages, watering cans, flower pots, rugs, murals, headboards, needlepoint canvases and handmade pillows.” The shop of Lou Harris, Interior Designer, was at 18 Sterling Ave. and featured antiques, fabrics and wallcoverings.
25 years ago - 1999
The 5 B’s embroidery firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed its plant in the Beaver Creek Industrial Park. The closing was 2 years after the company got hundreds of thousands of dollars in incentives to come to Henry County and nearly $9 million in bonds to build here. It had promised to employ 1,000 people. County officials estimated that the county would have to come up with $750,000 in losses suffered by bondholders when 5 B’s failed to make payments for three months.
Electrician Wayne Goins, 28, died at a jobsite in Franklin County, working for Martinsville Concrete Products, when the boom he had been using touched power lines, carrying 7,200 volts of electricity. He had been using the boom to unload blocks.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.