July 26 through the years

100 Years ago – 1925

The Forest Park development, which included Lanier Farm, had just been started. Lots were being purchased for the construction of houses.

75 years ago – 1950

Mrs. Adie M. Davis, of 10 Cheshire St., received a telegram advising her that her son Corporal Kavange Eddie Davis was Missing in Action in the Korean War. He was the first Martinsville man to be reported MIA in that war. He was born in Axton in 1913 and worked at Bassett Furniture.

50 years ago – 1975

Fieldale Police Officer J.A. Stegall turned 70 years old. He was the oldest active police officer in Henry County. Stegall had been a special police officer for Fieldale ever since giving up professional baseball in 1934. He was responsible for crime prevention, law enforcement, directing traffic and administering the picnic shelter and ballpark. Stegall was 11 in 1916, when his family moved from Martinsville to Fieldale. Within a couple of years, he drove a team of horses for his father, who was working on the construction of the Fieldcrest towel mill. Next he worked in the weave room in the mill during winters and played baseball in the summers.

Several break-in attempts had been made at Richard H. Clarke Elementary School, so Henry County deputies held a stake-out there. They caught a 22-year-old man and teenagers aged 14, 14, 16 and 17.

25 years ago - 2000

Quality Farm and Fleet at 2775 Greensboro Road near Martinsville started the process of closing, which would last for 2 months until it was totally closed. Those 8 weeks were dedicated to the liquidation of merchandise. The building was owned by Earle Greene. The store had between 15 and 20 employees.

The Henry County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the construction of a $400,000 to $600,000 power plant fueled by natural gas, on 250 acres near Axton, in Aiken Summit. It would have been located near Va. 610 and 620 and would have employed between 30 and 40 people at salaries of more than $50,000. First, though, it had to be approved by regulatory agencies.

Timothy Craig, an employee of Asplundh Tree Experts, was shocked as he was pruning trees from a bucket raised above a truck. It was thought that he had bumped into a power line. He recuperated at North Carolina Baptist Hospital.

— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.