Nov. 27 1925, 1950, 1975, 2000
100 Years ago – 1925
Ad from Turner Brick Company on Fayette Street: “Give ‘Her’ a Buick Car For Everlasting Joy! A GIFT of the ages – one that will last and give joy when most other sentiments are forgotten – a BUICK automobile. Surprise ‘her’ Christmas morn with the keys to your new BUICK. Full Line of Open and Closes Models in Standard and Master Sizes. Convenient Easy Payment Terms to Those Who Desire Some.”
75 years ago – 1950
Christmas Cheer began its operations on this day, with Miss Mable Holt as a full-time worker charged with compiling a master list of all of the needy families in Martinsville and Henry County, working out of an office in City Hall. It was said that before this, some families received an overwhelming number of gifts and others were completely overlooked. Nearly every civic, church, social and fraternal organization in the City contributed food, clothing and other articles. Local residents were asked to mail the names of families deserving aid to the address Christmas Cheer, City Hall, Martinsville. Submissions should include the number in the family, the ages of children, the race and the sex of each child, along with a statement of the type of assistance each family needed most. The City and County Welfare Departments screened the list. The chairman was M.L. Carper; vice-chairman, Mrs. Ina McKee; secretary-treasurer, Mrs. Sue Matthews Davis; and on the board of trustees, Claude E. Taylor Jr., Dan A. Green and Robert Haskell. The group sought a slogan, and Globman’s Department Store offered a $15 cash prize for the best of the slogan suggestions submitted. F.W. Westfall, the manager of the Rives Theatre, said that free passes to either the Rives or the Rex Theatre would be added to any Christmas basket prepared by any group or organization for distribution to needy families.
50 years ago – 1975
Among local families celebrating Thanksgiving were two refugee families from Vietnam, those of Dang Tuong Ngu and Luong Thoan Nguyen. Both families had lost everything in the war and lived for two months in refugee camps before being given homes in Martinsville by local churches.
25 years ago - 2000
At Taylor’s Supermarket: cabbage, 29 cents per pound; lettuce, 99 cents a head; ground beef, $1.09 per pound; and boneless chuck roast, $1.79 per pound.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.