October 25 through the years

100 Years ago – 1925

Dr. E.B. Culler of Martinsville was saved in the nick of time from death by spider-bite. He barely felt the bite, but his arm began to swell up immediately, and then he became very dizzy. He made a tourniquet of his handkerchief, then called a friend for help. His friend did as he requested: Split the arm with a knife and suck the poison from the wound. This action was credited with saving his life. He recuperated well.

75 years ago – 1950

City Council approved a request by the Danville and Western Railway Company to abandon its depot on Franklin and Depot streets. It planned to build a new depot on Old Danville Road.

50 years ago – 1975

Martinsville High School students received the highest awards for four publications: the Mavahi, the annual; the Barker, the newspaper; Perspective, the news magazine; and Horizons, the literary-art magazine.  

25 years ago - 2000

Lois Christensen, executive director of Gateway Streetscape Foundation, was awarded with Keep Virginia Beautiful Inc.’s Distinguished Service Citation, honoring the King’s Mountain Road beautification project. That included the planting of 250 trees and 50 shrubs along 2 miles of the road, near the Henry County Administration Building and the Patriot Center. The project began in 1993. Gateway was formed in 1991 and ended in 2020, when the County and the City each assigned landscape work to one employee.

— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.