July 21 through the years

100 Years ago – 1925

It was a dry spell, and low water in the river caused the Power Plant not to produce enough electricity. Town Mayor G.A. Brown and Superintendent J.R. Gregory put out notice that until further notice, the electric plant would not operate between 1-6 p.m. each day. Factories which desired electricity would be supplied with power between 6 p.m. and midnight. Residents were prohibited from washing cars and sprinkling lawns, gardens and flowers and were urged to make sure their plumbing systems were in good working order and not wasting water.

Members of the Leaksville-Spray Rotary Club entertained their wives and sweethearts – 71 people in total - at the Phospho Springs resort in Ridgeway. Several of the women gave short, clever speeches at this event, which was noted to be unusual, because women did not normally make speeches.

75 years ago – 1950

Marie Flood of Irisburg, 21, an employee of Jobbers Pants Co., had the second confirmed case of polio in the area. She went to a Richmond hospital for treatment.

The bones of Harry W. Alley, 45, of Mayodan, N.C., were discovered by loggers on Turkeycock Mountain, 5 miles from the nearest road or house. Alley was last seen in 1948 in Leatherwood where he was visiting a friend.

50 years ago – 1975

Grand jury returned six indictments – five for murder and one for rape – against Eddie Lee “Shanghai” Thomas, in the Dec. 26 murders of Sallie Davis Aliff and her four children, who had lived in Spencer.

25 years ago - 2000

The Salvation Army, of which Lt. Erik Nickel was the commander, had assisted so far in 2000 5,742 households. That’s more than double the amount of families it helped the year before, and was attributed to the loss of about 3,300 jobs in the area since September, with 1,100 of them from Tultex.

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