Oct. 6 through the years
100 Years ago – 1925
The Martinsville Parent-Teachers Association took on the goal of getting a lunch counter at the public school. The lunch counter would provide hot soup, sandwiches and milk at the cost of 10 or 15 cents. Potential supporters were asked to join the Association and pay a small fee which would be used to purchase equipment for the lunch counter.
75 years ago – 1950
“Crusade for Freedom,” a drive against Communism, started in Martinsville and would soon extend to Henry County. Nick Prillaman was the City-County Chairman, and S.S. Flythe was the head for the City. Residents were urged to sign scrolls that were distributed in businesses and manufacturers across the area. People also were asked to make financial contributions “to help life the iron curtain everywhere.” Money raised mostly would go toward the State Department’s Voice of America broadcasts that were played in eastern Europe. Those broadcast were sent from Radio Free Europe, a station in Western Germany.
Also that day, two buses carried 81 Martinsville men to Roanoke for draft examinations for the Korean War.
50 years ago – 1975
Martin Processing Co. Inc. formed a subsidiary company, Temple Machinery Inc. in Martinsville. Temple was working out of a 55,000-square foot building in the Industrial Park in the city. It started with 15 employees but was expected to grow to 125 by the end of 1976. It was expected to make $5 million in machinery sales within 2 years. Martin Processing had two plants, one near Fieldale with 400 employees and undergoing an expansion, and the other in Rocky Mount with 800 employees.
25 years ago - 2000
A blood drive in honor of Martinsville High School wrestling coach Spencer Lee Chang was completely full of people donating out of support for him. Coach Chang had had pancreatic cancer so had to retire the year before. He had an experimental procedure done at the Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis, and it worked to cure him.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.