Feb. 22
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
1924
The American Legion Auxiliary of Pannill Post No. 42 had a sale Friday, Feb. 22, in connection with its Moving Pictures Benefit. The sale would be of articles by blind ex-servicemen at Davis Clinic. The Benefit Picture was Milton Sills in “Skin Deep” at the Hamilton Theatre. Proceeds were to benefit the Community House for Martinsville. The description of the movie was “a thrilling melodrama without the taint of sensationalism, telling the story of a master crook whose outlook on life undergoes a complete change following the remoulding of his features by a skilled plastic surgeon.”
1949
City Council voted on Feb. 22 to eliminate 12 committees and seven city commissions now that the first city manager, Kent Mathewson, would start his role on March 1: Airport, Building, Charter and Code, Finance, Fire, House, Insurance, Nominating, Ordinance, Purchasing, Street and Sewer and Utilities; of boards and commissions, Traffic, Tax, Recreation and Police, Library Board, the Board of Health and the Housing Authority.
Contractor M.F. Mason of Feb. 22 receive authorization to start building an office building and other auxiliary buildings at the Philpott Dam site.
1960
On this date, the County Board of Supervisors meeting was home to over 60 county residents voicing their complaints over the rate hike in property assessments. The assessment of 17,000 parcels of property had just been completed. The raise from 10% to 20% was not a popular item, especially among owners such as Norfolk and Western Railway and Appalachian Power. Supervisor Sam Moran suggested that disgruntled property owners should ask for a reassessment of their property. Public Utility property had to be reassessed by the State Corporation Commission; private properties had to be appealed directly to the board of supervisors. The prior date of public utility assessment was 1919.
Martinsville Glass Company enjoyed its new location at 408 Memorial Blvd.
Ms. Sue Setliff hosted the Hill and Dale 4-H Community Club this week. The business meeting was followed by a presentation by Ms. Joan Ricketts, Home Agent. A delicious dessert was enjoyed by all.
1974
Ad for Martinsville Drive-In Theatre: Rated X movies starting at 7:30 p.m., free in-car heaters and must show I.D. to enter: “‘Junior Comes of Age,’ and Sassy Sue makes him love it!” Also, “‘The Initiation’ – She wanted to be in and she was willing to pay the price.”
1999
Alfred Odell Martin III was released from the Martinsville City Jail after 78 days. In a case that made national news, Alfred Odell Martin, who had escaped from Martinsville Prison Farm 25 years prior, was given 10 additional days on top of his original 1-year sentence on a drug conviction. In 1973 he had been convicted of selling $10 worth of marijuana to a coworker at Globman’s Department Store. He walked off an outdoor work site just one day after he entered jail the first time and moved his family to Detroit, where he worked for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, then opened a mortgage company.
PHOTO: 1933 - “Looking northwest at the ‘community’ area at the center of the store, and beyond at the main sales counters along the west wall; metal sheathing to protect the wood floor from the former heating stove can be seen in the foreground, and a wooden drawer unit for seeds is beyond the chairs” - Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, John Atkinson, Benjamin Watkins, Paul Clifton, James Lester Roberson, John H Schoolfield, Robert A Schoolfield, et al., Ryan, Robert A, photographer. Horsepasture Store, U.S. Route 58 & State Route 687, Horse Pasture, Henry County, VA. Horse Pasture Henry County Virginia, 1933. translateds by Christianson, Justinemitter, and Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/va1719/.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.