Feb. 11 through time
100 Years ago – 1926
The annual Two-Day Farmers Institute was held at Axton Agricultural High School on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 11 and 12. The event was sponsored by the Department of Schools, Department of Health, the Extension Force and others. Thursday’s programs were: Leadership, Vision, Agricultural Development Through Education, Home Grown Food and Feed Necessary for Economic Commodity Marketing, Eating Brains, and Home Development in the Five Year Program; then it was a lunch break. Programs after lunch were: Whole Dinner Cooked in Twenty Minutes, Lime and Its Relation to Crop Yields in Three, Four and Five Year Rotations; and Round Table Discussions.
75 years ago – 1951
Two toddlers were burned to death in a fire that engulfed their home at 604 Ruffin Street (off Dillard Street). The boys were in their bedroom and their mother and two siblings were in another bedroom when their father, R.G. Lankford, poured kerosene oil onto the coal stove. The stove exploded, and flames spread quickly across the wallpaper in the living room and into the other rooms. James Edward Lankford, 2, and Roy Lee Lankford, 5, were taken to the hospital but died shortly afterward in the hospital. Both parents were burned. Mary Ann Lankford, 4, was slightly burned, and baby Jerry Wayne Lankford, 8 months, was unhurt.
The March of Dimes campaign to raise money to help pay the medical costs for polio patients had reached $15,000. The total was expected to rise as more of the collection leaders turned in their collections.
50 years ago – 1976
The Arts and Crafts Club was starting on its 25th year. The club was formed in 1952 to provide young mothers a source of recreation, information and fellowship revolving around arts and crafts. Sixteen women attended the organizational meeting in the home of Mrs. J.R. Kirk, who was assisted by Mrs. Warren Haskins, Mrs. Victor Lester and Mrs. Carroll Craig. The club had organized numerous civic projects. The 1976 officers were Mrs. John D. Martin, Mrs. John T. Fulcher, Mrs. Walter Milstead and Mrs. T.S. Rothrock.
25 years ago - 2001
Linda Young opened Divine Essence hair salon at 912 Brookdale St., Suite No. 3. Stylists included Linda Wilson and MaCray Huff.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.