April 20
100 Years ago – 1925
A bill in chancery was filed in the Clerk’s office of the Circuit Court, seeking to annul the contract entered into by the Town of Martinsville with the Southern Virginia Power Corporation for a supply of electric power from a hydro-electric power plant proposed to be built by that company at Eggleston Falls on Smith River about 7 miles below the municipal electrical plant. The suit was brought about by T.G. Burch and 28 other businessmen and citizens.
75 years ago – 1950
Postmaster J.R. Gregory announced that soon residential mail service in Martinsville would be reduced. Carriers had been delivering mail twice a day, mostly first class and newspapers in the morning, and magazines and second and third class mail in the afternoons. It was going to switch to just one delivery time for everything.
Trout season opened at 5:30 a.m., and an estimated 4,000 fishermen in Patrick County went fishing starting that early, estimated Patrick game warden Sam Dobyns. An estimated 1,200 were fishing on the Dan River in Kibler Valley, and a large crowd also was at Big Ivy; he personally examined 300 licenses there. Some reports came from Martinsville of people catching 20-inch trouts. Dobyns said he saw one 17-inch catch. It was a Thursday, and John Woodall of Stuart had asked permission to arrive late to work at Sale Knitting plant. The permission was granted, but he made it to work by 7 a.m., after already having caught the maximum number of trout allowed.
50 years ago – 1975
Eight hundred DuPont workers who had been on short time, working every other week, returned to full-time employment. A week later, DuPont called back 175 workers who had been laid off on Jan. 18 to return to work on May 5; and 300 more workers who were still on short time would return to full-time work on June 1, and engineering employees would return on June 16.
25 years ago - 2000
Joann Fabrics at Liberty Fair Mall collected knitted and crocheted squares from area residents to assemble into afghans to distribute at local nursing homes. They ended up with 17 afghans made of 49 squares. People involved included Diane Kester, a member of the Needlework Guild of First Presbyterian Church; Joann Fabrics Manager Betty Lowe; Hairston Home for Adults Director of Nursing Barbara Mabe; sewing volunteer Jean Chitwood; and Blue Ridge Rehab resident Daisy Walker.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.