Sept. 8
100 Years ago – 1924
Circle No. 1 of the Baptist Aid held a sale of cakes and other nice things in the window of Central Drug store.
Martinsville Public Schools opened, with 561 students and 13 teachers in the Grammar School [that’s 1 teacher for 43 kids!) and 171 students and 21 teachers in the High School. High school subjects were listed as English, Modern Languages, History, Science, Math, Home Economics and Science.
75 years ago – 1949
An emergency fundraising campaign for polio victims opened, under chairman Harry Fusfeld. Mr. and Mrs. Richard P. Gravely II, whose 12-year-old son, Richard P. Gravely III, had died of polio just two days before, asked that instead of flowers for their son, people send donations to the emergency polio drive. The fund raised $1,000 in the first day.
Betty Jean Owen, 12, of Keel Street, was struck with the fifth case of polio of the season in the city. She was taken to the Medical College of Virginia. The so-called fourth case had not been confirmed as polio – it was of Elsie Millner, 21.
1960
Shumate & Jessie Furniture, 108 E. Main St., was advertising stoves for sale. Monogram Oil Heaters cost $114.95 and up, and the “Magic Mixer” Burner “actually turns ordinary fuel oil into gas – without soot – without smoke – without smelly odors! You get safe operation too – with the new Mongram Safety Limit Valve!” TVs were on sale too: A Sylvania 23-incvh TV lowboy cost $269 with trade. It was “smartly styled to look proper for traditional or modern settings. Mahogany, blonde oak or walnut grained finishes. Hardwood base, grained overhanging top.” There also was a remote control model: “Sylvania Danish modern TV with Magic Touch Remote Tuning. Turn the set on or off or change channels, from as far as 25 feet away. Lighted channel number, automatic fine tuning, and speaker jack. Mahogany, blonde oak or walnut grained finishes. 277 square inches of viewing area.” The cost was $319.
A film showing how a landfill works was shown at City Hall in Council Chambers in the morning for the general public to see. City Manager Kent Mathewson invited Attorney Wiliam F. Carter, Commonwealth’s Attorney Cary Randolph and County Health Officer Dr. E.M. McDaniel to see it. City Council was looking at an alternative for garbage disposal other than the city trash dump and incinerator in Chatham Heights.
50 years ago – 1974
A “large giant size” 3-pound, 1-ounce box of Tide detergent cost 89 cents at Cooper & Ratliff grocery store. Five cans of Campbell’s tomato soup sold for 99 cents. You could get three 1-pound cans of White House applesauce for 79 cents, four Morton pot pies for $1 and three packs of Pringle potato chips for 99 cents. Cooper and Ratliff has stores in River Hill, Collinsville, Brookdale Road and Bassett.
25 years ago - 1999
Pluma announced that it would close, and the 375 employees in the Martinsville-Henry County area would lose their jobs over the following 13 weeks. Jim Wigodsky was the company’s president and chief executive officer. The closing of Pluma would add at least four vacant buildings to those local officials were marketing to industries and businesses. It had one building in Bowles Industrial Park and leased two others in that part from Stanley Bowles.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.