Feb. 3 1925 - 1950 - 1975 - 2000

100 Years ago – 1925

B.W. Boulware, staying at the Henry Hotel, advertised “Chestnut Poles Wanted for Sanders Hydro-Electric Plant, Eggleston Falls. 30 feet long, 7-inch tip, and 40-feet long, 9-inch tip. Delivered along road.”

75 years ago – 1950

Chairman Claude E. Taylor Jr. announced that the March of Dimes campaign in the city and county had reached the $9,000 mark and likely was going to reach the $10,000 goal.

An automobile trailer in which a Philpott Dam worker lived was destroyed by fire. It had been parked near Shelton’s store on Highway 57. It was owned by H.D. Ward and valued at $3.400.

1961

The City school system offered adult classes, “General Education” for people who had not completed elementary school and “Speed Reading,” which had been requested by Martinsville clubs. The Speed Reading class was taught by Patric Henry School teacher Ruth Armstage.

These days, we just don’t go out in the snow and ice, but in years before, it didn’t slow people down as much. When is the last time you put chains on your tires? That used to be a common practice for icy roads, and the City of Martinsville recommended that residents put chains on their tires following a snow and ice storm, even as City workers were putting chemicals and abrasives on the primary streets.

50 years ago – 1975

Virginia Poytechnic Institute and State University (which we now call Virginia Tech) had just built a forestry research center at the Reynolds Homestead with a $200,000 grant from Nancy Susan Reynolds. It provided quarters for visiting VPS-SU students, a laboratory, two greenhouses, an experimental fish pond and, still under construction, a home for the manager. The resident manager at the time was Richard Kreh.

25 years ago - 2000

Metal detectors were used for the first time in a local high school basketball game, at Martinsville High School in the game against Laurel Park Middle School.

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