Oct. 11 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago
100 Years ago – 1925
Automobile dealer Gerard W. King of J.H. Clift Garage on Bridge Street left town, and the week ahead of his leaving he held a sale of automobiles including Fords, Dodges and Buicks, as well as automobile accessories including Weed tire chains, Buckeye bumpers, Motor-meters, tire covers, running board mets and a few Firestone tubes.
75 years ago – 1950
Insurance agent William Francis sued the Martinsville Coca-Cola bottling plant for $10,000. His claim was that his sense of taste was permanently destroyed by hydrochloric acid which was in the bottle he got from a Coca-Cola vending machine. The bottling plant and the Martinsville Ice Company were co-defendants in the case.
50 years ago – 1975
Globman’s had a bathrobe trade-in: Bring in our old bathrobe, regardless of condition, and receive $5 off a robe priced between $20-29 or $7 off a robe priced between $30-40. Robes came in velveteen, quilt, Shelvelva, Veluelour, corduroy Vellure and Poodle Pile.
25 years ago - 2000
Natalie Ann Beard, 18, of 1507 Meadowview Lane, and Shannan Faye Bridges, 21, of Martinsville, died in a wreck on U.S. 58.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.