July 13
100 Years ago – 1925
Baseball was a popular pastime. Each town had its team. The Martinsville base-ball (that’s how they wrote it then) was doing well with victories over the Bassett and Fieldale teams.
75 years ago – 1950
The Martinsville Draft Board was ordered to send 10 men for physical examinations at the Army induction center. The men would have to be supplied by July 21. The day before, Henry county had been ordered to send 52 men. H. Hurd Goode was the chairman of the city market. He was at the Summer Furniture Market on the day the draft was called. The other members of the board were O.R. Easley and Harry Nunn.
Martinsville City Council approved the purchase of a fire truck with a $2,000 down payment and total cost of around $15,000. The committee appointed to make the purchase decision was Chief James E. inter, Assistant Chief George Harrison, Purchasing Agent John H. Pharis, Fire Marshal Clay Easterly, Volunteer Fire Company Horace Dyer and Capts. J.R. Chapell, Fred Hensley, Frank Hairfield and W.O. Stultz. The truck would replace the 1925 American La France pumper.
Hanel’s Hobby Shop sold the Admiral walnut television console for $325: “Rectangular tube reproduces picture exactly as the camera sees it.”
50 years ago – 1975
Rudy’s Upholstery and Decorating on 334 Memorial Blvd. had been open since 1957. The labor costs for upholstering, using fabric the customer bought from Rudy’s, included couch, $48.50; sofa be, $28.50’ chair, $18.50; and hide-a-bed, $58.50.
25 years ago - 2000
Federal records showed that 5th District Rep. Virgil Goode, I-Rocky Mount, had received almost $30,000 in contributions from residents of Martinsville and Henry County, bringing the funding for his campaign to almost $500,000. He received donations of $1,000 or more from Ruth Chaney, John Clark, Jacob E. Frith, Mary Katherine Frith, Irving M. Groves Jr., J. Clyde Hooker, Billy Lawrence, David H. Lewis, William R. Martin Jr., Betty Jo Martin, Chris F. Mohr and Janet D. Mohr, Susan Pannill, William L. Pannill, Kennon G. Robertson and Lynn Robertson, Mattie Sheppard, Irma H. Short, Robert Spilman, Elizabeth Walker and the Virginia Reform Party.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.