March 1 through the years
100 Years ago – 1926
A traveling salesman from Philadelphia was arrested on charges of using abusive language in addressing the telephone operator. He “claimed to have been a genius in the use of the telephone in forty-two different states,” an article in the March 2, 1926, Henry Bulletin states, and “had become peeved at the Long Distance operator because she insisted on him giving his name when he put in a call to Danville.” Officers were sent to the hotel and asked him to post bond or be hauled to police headquarters. He refused, and then he “put up a good fight requiring the assistance of a third party to take him out of the hotel.” On the sidewalk he kept refusing to go so one of the officers hit him over the head with a gun. “After a good nights rest on the soft comfortable cot of the cell he seemed less obstreperous, though still protesting his innocence in having resisted the officers,” the article continued. The mayor fined him $31.80.
75 years ago – 1951
The city’s rock quarry on Mount Olivet Road had been out of operation for about a month because a conveyor belt had broken. It would be at least another 10 weeks to get a new belt, because non-defense orders were significantly slow in being filled. Other shortages faced by the city included cast iron pipe, with a 6-month wait, chlorine for the water plant and copper wire.
50 years ago – 1976
Local historian Virginia Windle of Mulberry Court had an exhibit of American clothing and accessories from 1800 to 1976 in her basement. She was the bicentennial chairman of the Gen. Joseph Martin chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The display was her DAR chapter project for February. Every item in the collection came from members of the chapter. [That collection now belongs to the MHC Historical Society, which has most of the items in careful storage, and some of them on display.]
25 years ago - 2001
The county was working to create a new economic development organization, with the first step in planning a committee about it. The City, under Mayor Mark Crabtree and Vice Mayor Gene Teague, decided it wanted to investigate the idea also, so Teague suggested the City plan a committee to look into the matter as well.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.