June 2 through the years

100 Years ago – 1925

The members of the local order of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics had a special initiation ceremony in the Farmers Warehouse. About 70 new members were initiated into the Martinsville Lodge.

75 years ago – 1950

Henry County Training School students James Finney, 15, and Henry Holt, 16, testified about the school bus wreck which occurred the week before on Route 57 at Beaver Creek Hill. They said that the driver, James Herbert Hilton, 19, picked up students from the Henry County Training School headquarters at Paradise Inn, and at first the brakes worked fine. Then, as he applied the brakes at Beaver Creek Hill, they failed to hold, and he threw the truck into gear and the clutch was broken.

50 years ago – 1975

The City of Martinsville’s electric department was one of 80 utilities that signed up to cooperate with NASA’s 5-year program to use windmills to produce energy. The first place NASA was building windmills was in Ohio. If it worked as expected, other windmills would be built and connected to more than a dozen electric utilities across the US, including perhaps Martinsville.

25 years ago – 2000

Bruce Dallas, a City Council member and local Democratic activist, in support of 5th District U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, surrendered his credentials to the Virginia Democratic convention. Goode, a former Democrat, recently had left the party to become Independent.

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