August 22
100 Years ago – 1924
A new police regulation was decided upon by a Norfolk & Western Railway representative and Martinsville Mayor G.A. Brown, and put into effect at once: All jitney and bus drivers were required to park their cars to the left side of Broad street and would not be allowed to cross the street to solicit patronage; private cars and hotel busses would be allowed to park at the station shed as usual; all passenger trains must stop at the station to give a clear railroad crossing for Broad Street traffic. These regulations were adopted to relieve congestion and confusion in handling passengers and other traffic at train time. (“Jitney” was slang for a nickel. A jitney was a short, open-air bus, unregulated, which would give rides for a nickel.)
75 years ago – 1949
Lora Labovsky, 2 ½, of Finley street, was slowly but surely recovering from an attack of infantile polio, recuperating in a Richmond hospital, where she had been since Aug. 8. She was struck in her right leg and left foot but was undergoing training to begin walking again.
The Commerce Department announced that individual income had reached a new high, $1,410 per person, a 7% increase over the previous year’s $1,319.
1960
Dr. Marion Edmonds, Martinsville-Henry Health Director, advised the Henry County Board of Supervisors by letter that a survey conducted by William James of the State Health Department said the county needed at least five public garbage dumps. At the time, citizens were throwing out their trash at more than 100 uncovered roadside dumps in Henry County. Dr. Edmonds recommended that the dumps at Bassett and Axton be maintained and that dump sites be put in the Collinsville-Villa Heights area and in Spencer. She recommended that the County hire a full-time employee to maintain the dumps and to buy at least one bulldozer and a low-boy truck to move it from site to site.
50 years ago – 1974
The late State Sen. William F. Stone of Martinsville had bequeathed $25,000 to Patrick Henry Community College for improvements to the school library. The money would be used for the purchase of Southern literature. Stone, a Democrat, served in the House of Delegates for 4 years and was instrumental in establishing PHCC, which was first chartered as a branch of the University of Virginia.
25 years ago - 1999
Advertisements announced that the JC Penney Outlet Store was opening soon. “It is a totally different JCPenney! We sell overstocked and discontinued merchandise from our distribution network at 20% to 60% off the original price,” they said.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.