Nov. 6 through the years
100 Years ago – 1925
The Boosters Club of Martinsville made an outing, taking seven cars, to visit Leatherwood, Mountain Valley, Swansonville, Sandy River and Axton. At each community, attorney John R. Smith and E.J. Davis, a tobacco man, talked to audiences about the importance of Martinsville as a tobacco market and trading center. Davis said that Martinsville had the only factory in Virginia where chewing tobacco was manufactured.
75 years ago – 1950
The Patrick Henry Music Association held a dinner meeting for campaign workers and other guests to kick off its fourth annual membership drive. The meeting was held at Club Martinique. Memberships only would be available from Nov. 9-11. The annual membership fee was $6.50 for adults and $3.25 for students.
Henry County Furniture Co. advertised Lane hope chests “for daughter, sweetheart, wife, mother, sister.” As advertised in Life magazine, the Waterfall Chest in matched walnut and New Guinea wood, cost $49.95 ($668 today). A mellow full-grained mahogany chest cost $59.95, and the “Miss America,” in finish of blonde oak, walnut, Cordovan mahogany and silver grey cost $69.95. The chests were lined in cedar. A chest could be put on layaway for $1.
50 years ago – 1975
Lake Lanier was partially drained, dropping the water level 3 feet, to allow for cleanup along the lake and some preventative maintenance on the spillway at the dam. Bottles, cans and other trash were being picked up. Once that was finished, the refilling of the lake was expected to take about a week. Henry C. Wall was the vice president and controller of Lanier Farm Inc., which was in charge of the lake.
25 years ago - 2000
Sara Lee Activewear announced that it would expand its distribution facility in the Patriot Centre rather than move operations to Florida. Sara Lee had bought Tultex’s former 512,000-square-foot building which Tultex used to use for a call center. Sara Lee was adding another 238,000 square feet onto it. The expansion would add 303 jobs on top of the 254 jobs that already were at that Sara Lee building.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.