March 14 through the years

100 Years ago – 1926

The governor signed into law a gas tax bill which put a 4.5 cent tax on gasoline. Half a cent of that was to fund roads. The new gas tax was an increase of 1.5 cents over the previous 3 cent tax. (The current gas tax in Virginia is 31.7 cents.)

75 years ago – 1951

Martinsville Judge Kennon C. Whittle was sworn in as an associate justice of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. He was appointed by  Gov. John S. Battle, to succeed the late Justice Herbert B. Gregory, who had died the week before. Whittle, 59, was the son of Stafford Gorman Whittle, a former president of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Kennon Whittle was born in Martinsville in 1891 and was educated in the Martinsville schools. He was a 1914 graduate of Washington and Lee University with a Bachelor of Laws degree. He volunteered for service in World War I and was discharged with the rank of sergeant in January 1919 with the Sixth Virginia Coast Artillery. Then he became one of the organizers of Pannill Post, American Legion. After the war, he practiced law with his brother, Stafford G. Whittle Jr. under the firm name Whittle and Whittle. That continued until the brother died in 1940. Then he became senior member of Whittle, Whittle, Joyce and Stone, until he was named judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Virginia in 1944. The circuit covered Martinsville and the counties of Henry, Patrick and Pittsylvania. He had other involvements in the law also. He had two large beef cattle farms; had served as director of several leading business and financial institutions; was a Pythian, a Mason and a Kiwanian; and was a junior warden at Christ Episcopal Church. He and his wife, Mary Holt Spencer Whittle, had three children, Stafford G. Whittle III, Mrs. Mary Holt Whittle Woodson and Kennon C. Whittle Jr. The family lived on Starling Avenue.

Grading on Rives Road Extension south from the W.M. Bassett Furniture Office was almost finished. Another 1,500 yards of material were needed to fill a portion of the road bed, expected to arrive within a few weeks by train.

50 years ago – 1976

Giles H. Martin returned from the hospital – after being badly injured in October in a motorcycle crash. Martin was a Martinsville fireman and he played the role of Sparky the fire prevention dog. When he came home to 906 Vine St. with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Martin, a crowd of about 50 people cheered him, and a brass band of former Martinsville High School bandmates saluted him with music.

Martinsville Speedway Owner Clay Earles, 63, was back at the racetrack for the first time since having a heart attack in October.

25 years ago - 2001

Clyde Williams, 85, died. He had been a vice mayor of Martinsville and a principal of Martinsville High School. The Danville native came to Martinsville in 1948 to teach at Albert Harris High School. He served three terms in City Council until he retired in 1996. As a councilman he stood for issues such as increasing minority hiring in the city; improving the advertisement of city jobs and the promotion of uptown rehabilitation; and putting a stop to the use of the R.P. Thomas Trucking Terminal on Fayette Street as a stopover for trucks hauling hazardous materials. For 17 years he was the head coach of the Albert Harris Yellow Jackets football team, raising it up to be a significant player in the Virginia Interscholastic Association sports conference.

Bassett Furniture was undergoing a restructuring which included the layoffs of 100 employees.

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