September 5 through time
100 Years ago – 1925
A Get-together meeting was held in the Court House for the Girls’ Room Improvement Contest, in which 10 girls from across the county participated. State Clothing Specialist Miss Oliver had visited the girls’ rooms twice, once starting in May for initial inspections and again just days before the Get-together to see how they had made their rooms more attractive and comfortable. At the Get-together, the Rev. C.M. Wales opened the context with a talk to the girls on “Preparedness.” Then each girl told what she had done to make her room better and how much money she spent. Gussie Price, a member of Fontaine 4-H, won first place, with the prize being a vanity dresser donated by Miss Loula Carter. Other prize winners were Mary Adams, second; Ethel Witt, third; Bernice Doyle, fourth; and Thelma Weaver, fifth. Some of the things the girls said they did to fix up their rooms included boiling tree bark to get stain for the floors; building tables, desks and closets; dyeing rags for rugs; and putting up ceilings.
That Get-together was held in the courthouse in the morning; and in the afternoon, the Democratic Precinct Mass meeting was held, with delegates appointed to the convention.
Hotel Hamilton’s central and rear portions were destroyed by fire. Hotel worker John Stephens woke up the guests in time to escape the flames; several of them had to get out through the windows. The fire department got to the scene in 3 minutes and put to use its new fire engine and fire-fighting apparatus, which gave two streams of water. Occupants of the Carter-Gravely law building, C.W. Holt & Co. and other nearby buildings got out as much as their stuff as they could because it looked like their buildings might catch on fire.
75 years ago – 1950
A black Martinsville attorney won a law case which opened the door for black students to attend the University of Virginia’s School of Law. The attorney, Gregory Swanson, had sued to be able to enroll in the school. A three-judge federal court issued an injunction directing the university to admit not only Swanson but all black people “similarly situated,” following a proceeding that lasted only 30 minutes.
Dr. and Mrs. Herbert Fusfeld and their son, Alan Roy, of Philadelphia, were in town visiting Dr. Fusfeld’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Fusfeld. Dr. Fusfeld was the guest speaker at the Lions Club dinner at Club Martinque. His topic was “High Speed Photography in Industry.”
A meeting was held at the courthouse to discuss the arrangement of the Henry County Demonstration Yearbook for 1951. The committee consisted of Mrs. Morris Eggleston of Fieldale as chairman and Mrs. G.E. Rea of Spencer and Mrs. J.D. Calloway of Pleasant Grove. The Bank of Fieldale sponsored the yearbook.
It was the Tuesday after Labor Day, and all schools opened for the year. The $500,000 Henry County Training School for Negroes near Fieldale had been nearly finished and opened for the year. The school accommodated between 90 and 100 black students from Patrick County, who would be transported by bus, because Patrick county did not have an accredited high school for black students. The white elementary schools had 788 boys and 708 girls registered, and the white high school had 323 boys and 360 girls. The schools for black students had 404 boys and 418 girls in elementary and 96 boys and 146 girls in the high school. On the next day, another 3 dozen students enrolled across the schools.
Romey Brame, white, of the city was sentenced in City Police court to serve 45 days at the City Prison Farm on a charge of petit larceny. He had been accused of stealing two cans of meat valued at less than $1 from the Twin City Grocery Co. on Franklin street.
50 years ago – 1975
It was revealed in court that no attorney was present to advise Eddie Lee “Shanghai” Thomas when he was questioned about some aspects of the Dec. 26 Aliff murders, even though he had asked for one. Sheriff C.P. Witt said he had been questioning Thomas about the results of an autopsy showing that the four Aliff children had been beaten, not shot to death.
25 years ago - 2000
Cogentrix Energy Inc. held a public meeting at Mount Calvary Pentecostal Holiness Church to describe the $400 million to $600 million power plant it was intending to build in Axton. About 75 people attended. The power plant would be gas powered and would provide energy to wholesale customers using an AEP transmission line.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.