August 24 through time
100 Years ago – 1925
State Prohibition Officers E.C. Ramsey and B.A. Anthony seized a 300-gallon copper still near Figsboro, in Franklin County. It was a new outfit, just put together the week before, and not yet used. They destroyed about 2,000 gallons of beer and a qunaity of meal and malt there, and they brought the copper still to town to show around.
75 years ago – 1950
A heavy rain storm did between $20,000 and $35,000 (worth $265,400 to $464,400 today) in damage locally. The City Filtration plant recorded 2 inches of rain. The worse hit was Gravely Novelty Furniture Company on Lester Street, whose roof caved in, destroying more than 1,000 novelty tables in the drying room and another 2,000 already crated and ready for shipment. Several streets received major damage, with half of Clift street washed away and other streets covered in mud and debris; and the electrical system received minor damage. In Axton, a small store operated by J.B. Jaison had a fire set off by lightning.
The Henry County Industrial Exposition, held by the Kiwanis Club, had the theme of “Country Store Nite” for its third night, when 1,800 people attended.
50 years ago – 1975
The Mary Anna Jackson Chapter United Daughters of the Confederacy achieved the UDC’s A-1 status. Mrs. John D. Parker was the president.
25 years ago – 2000
The members of Altrusa International of MHC made plans to raise as much as $60,000 to buy state-of-the-art fire rescue technology that they saw demonstrated at the Martinsville Fire Station on Church Street. It included a thermal imaging camera that saw through walls, thick smoke and blackness.
Patrick & Henry Community College received $857,142 from the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission, part of $6 million of tobacco settlement money that went to seven of Virginia’s community colleges. PHCC proposed to use the money to help the 307 local tobacco producers and their families by advancing information technology, use seed money for regional programs in motorsports and furniture, and to use the money to support economic development. The president of PHCC was Max Wingett.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.