August 22 through the years
100 Years ago – 1925
About 3,000 people attended the Farmers Picnic and Rally at Hairston’s Spring, on Figsboro Road 2 miles up from Martinsville. There was a line up of speakers including Miss Bratten, who gave an interesting program. The Chase City Quartette sang several songs. The picnic was arranged by Co-operative members. The schedule was: 10:30 a.m., prayer by Rev. Chas. M. Wales of Martinsville; 10:40 a.m., poultry demonstration by Grace Doyle and Florence Grogan of Ridgeway 4-H Club; 11:10 a.m., address by Mr. Chas. Warren of Chatham; 12:20 p.m., address by Mrs. Marshall of Appomattox; 1-2 p.m., lunch;2 p.m., address by Dr. J.Y. Joyner of Raleigh, N.C. The message of the speakers was that belonging to a tobacco cooperative would give farmers bargaining power for higher prices.
Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the cooperative matter, 80 or 90 people attended a meeting in the courthouse which started at 2 p.m. on this Saturday, organized by N.P. Turner of Box Wood. His notice for the meeting, which called for dissatisfied Co-ops, described it as a time to sign “a declaration of independence to deliver themselves from under the bondage of the Co-op Management. We cannot longer make tobacco, pay our taxes and support our wives and children on broken promises, P.C’s and propaganda.” He gave a lively speech, with humor, urging the Co-op farmers there to adopt a resolution pledging that they would no longer deliver tobacco to the Co-op warehouses, but no one signed it. Speaker W.P. Lawrence gave a speech with the point being that the problems tobacco farmers faced were due to the heavy federal tax on tobacco, and it was the farmers’ fault for voting for representatives in Congress who didn’t do anything to get rid of that tax.
75 years ago – 1950
The Henry County Industrial Exposition was held Aug. 22-26. Miss Effie Jane Dalton headed the Hostess Service Group, which would look after children and women who needed rest or attention during the exposition. She was the executive secretary of the local red cross chapter. The City Fire Department, in cooperation with the Safety Committee of the Henry County Red Cross chapter, presented a program on safety precautions. Horace Dyer, president of the Volunteer Fire Company, headed the Fire Patrol committee. Assistant Fire Chief George Harrison was in charge of the First Aid station.
Boaz Dairy advertised “Farm Fresh Boaz Milk Delivered At Your Door. Try our milk – you’ll like it! Boaz rich ice cream. Drive out today or this evening for one of our sundaes or milkshakes. Boaz Dairy Inc., Collinsville; Dial 9506.
The Martinsville Kiwanis Club’s second annual Henry County Exposition was held Tuesday, Aug. 22, through Saturday, Aug. 26, at the New Farmers Warehouse on the Old Danville Road. The main attraction of the opening night was a beauty pageant (and, yes, they were actually called “beauty pageants” back in 1950). Juanita Slaydon won, and other participants included Maxine Cannaday, Patsy Hensley, Jingle Carter, Pat Scott, Shirley Cline, Margaret Scott Hooker, Barbara Markham, Joy Pharis and Lilly Mae Pritchard. John Yeaman was the chairman of the beauty contest. The winner would represent the City and County at the Tobacco Festival in Richmond. One thousand seven hundred people attended the first night.
Du Pont’s plant manager W.D. Hartford announced that the company would build a new 100,000-square-foot addition to its nylon plant, adding 300 jobs. The plant without the addition already had 500,000 square feet and employed about 2,700 people.
50 years ago – 1975
Marie Jamerson Handy of Collinsville was promoted from loan interviewer and teller to general operations supervisor of Virginia National Bank – Henry County.
25 years ago - 2000
School started back in Henry County and Martinsville. One difference that affected schools across the state was a 60-second moment of silence at the start of each day. Some county schools, such as John Redd Smith Elementary School and Drewry Mason Middle School, did not have air conditioning, and school officials were planning to monitor how hot it was in the schools and make schedule changes as needed. Both the Martinsville and Henry County school systems did not allow students to bring pagers or wireless phones to school.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.