May 14 through time
100 Years ago – 1925
The Patrick Springs Hotel was sold by auction. The May 5 ad by sales agents H.A. Ford & Co., Inc., described the hotel as a 127-acre “health spot” and “fountain of youth” property with a hotel that accommodated 80 guests. The property was 2 ½ miles off the Danville & Western Railway and the Danville & Wythville Turnpike in the Blue Ridge Mountains. “… and for a person who likes to work four or five months out of the year, we honestly believe that this place will be a GOLD MINE As it has been operated for many years by Mr. Morrison who has each year netted a handsome income.” Will Hamilton of Martinsville bought it for $17,050.
75 years ago – 1950
Mitchell Tractor Co. on Lester Street sold the Ford Tractor, “The All ’Round Tractor – All ’Round the Farm, All Year ’Round.” Terms were one-third down and equal monthly payments, or 40% down and two crop payments.
50 years ago – 1975
Henry County had a high technology way of law enforcement communications. It was headquartered in a small room beneath the Henry County Jail. The flashiest part of it was a large back-lighted translucent map of the county that sits atop a console. At the top of the map was a series of lights, each one with the number of a deputy, and controlled by switches. When a deputy goes on duty, the dispatcher flips a switch to turn that deputy’s light green. When he is sent on a call, an IBM time card is punched on a time clock and inserted into the numbered slot on the console, which turns off the green light and on a red light to show the deputy is busy.
25 years ago - 2000
Diana Echols of Axton and her husband, the Rev. Thurman Echols, and their daughter, Cecily, attended the graduation of their son, Phillip Echols, from Hampton University. Cecily, 26, was in the master’s degree program at Christoper Newport University and in her fourth year as a teacher in Hampton. Apart from having two children of her own, Mrs. Echols had mothered dozens of children over the past 30 years. She had taught school for 30 years, most of them at Mt. Olivet Elementary School, and won one of Girl Scouts’ highest awards, the “Thanks Badge for Girl Scouting.” Her husband was the pastor of Moral Hill Missionary Baptist Church.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.