August 8 through the years MHC

100 Years ago – 1925

 The Martinsville and Bassett baseball teams faced each other in a game played in the fair grounds.

75 years ago – 1950

Henry County had an unusual number of men who failed the physical examinations required for being sent to fight in the Korean War. Col. Asher Harmon reported that in 1948 80% of the men who were examined were rejected for service, which he called an unusually high number. Thirty-nine percent were rejected for physical reasons, and 49 for mental; the other 3% were rejected for miscellaneous reasons. In Martinsville, 79% were rejected, and in Patrick County, only 52%.  Because of the area’s high failure rate, more men were drafted here than elsewhere, to get the required minimum.

50 years ago – 1975

Williams and Williams Enterprises Inc. of Stuart filed suit to stop the R.J. Reynolds-Patrick County Memorial Hospital from signing a contract with its rival, Clark Brothers Company Inc., also of Stuart. Williams and Williams’ bid was for $1,148,880.54 as a minimum cost plus $69,998.98 contractor’s fee for the new wing of the hospital, and Clark Brothers’ was $968,482 with a $34,000 fixed contractor’s fee. However, in initial documents Williams and Williams bid $1,148,880.54 and Clark Brothers, $1,175,000. The discrepancies were attributed to irregularities in bid documents.

25 years ago - 2000

Citizens Against Family Violence held regular meetings of a self-esteem support group at 13 Cleveland Ave.

A senior citizen dance was held at the Best Western with music by Johnny Moran and The Country Hillbillies.

About 2,000 people attended the 13th annual Patrick County Peach Festival at Rotary Field in Stuart.

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