Feb. 29

By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion

100 years ago, 1924

The Kiwanis Club of Martinsville held a meeting at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29, at the Municipal Hall, to consider the question of creating a “Co-operative Building & Loan Association” to help in meeting the need to have more homes in Martinsville. The notice was signed by club president K.C. Whittle and secretary Owen R. Easley.

75 years ago, 1949

On Monday, Feb. 28 [1949 was not a leap year, so no Feb. 29, 1949], the Henry County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution requesting that Lee Telephone Co. extend its telephone lines up Barrow’s Mill Road so that Commonwealth’s Attorney Cary J. Randolph could have telephone service at his house. When law enforcement officers had to talk with him off-hours, they had to drive out to his house, when usually a phone call would have sufficed.

1960

The Supreme Court Upheld key sections of the 1957 Civil Rights Act. This supported the Justice Department’s efforts to enforce voting rights in Georgia. The senate held around-the-clock sessions on Civil Rights legislation being considered at that time.

Two busloads of seventh-grade students at Joseph Martin Elementary School were on a three-day trip to Richmond and Williamsburg, to enhance their study of Virginia history. The teacher/supervisors were Bill Smith, Everett King and Barney Walker. Senator Williams F. Stone hosted a tour of the State Capitol. The students also visited the State Museum of Natural History, the Confederate Museum and the Valentine Museum. They planned to enjoy tours of St. John’s Church, Yorktown, Jamestown, and Colonial Williamsburg after visiting Richmond.

50 years ago, 1974

There was no Feb. 28 in 1974, so here is a notice posted in the Martinsville Bulletin on Feb. 28: Since its last circulation increase in May 1971, the newspaper was raising subscription rates again: daily newspaper price to 15 cents, up from 10 cents; the Sunday newspaper to 25 cents, up from 20 cents; and the weekly subscription rate for delivery up to 70 cents, a 10-cent increase. The announcement attributed the increase to substantial increases in the costs of gas, paper, printing supplies and postage.

25 years ago, 1999

There was no Feb. 29, 1999, since 1999 was not a leap year, but to have an entry for today, here’s what was showing at the movies that week: Playing in MovieTown: “Blast from the Past,” “My Favorite Martian,” “Shakespeare in Love,” “She’s All That,” “Payback.” At the Rives Cinema: “Message in a Bottle,” “Office Space,” “The Prince of Egypt.”

PHOTO: Tim Slate on his family tobacco farm in Patrick County, 1978. Photo by Carl Fleischhauer, Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project collection, 1977-1981 (AFC 1982/009)

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