June 3 through the years
100 Years ago – 1925
A crew of about a dozen men was installing telephone lines between Bassett and Rocky Mount, with the eventual goal of connecting Martinsville to Roanoke through Rocky Mount. Within 3 months, it was expected, the Stuart telephone system would be connected. This was under the supervision of B.L. Fisher, manager of the Franklin County Telephone Company. He had just bought a carload of copper wire to be used for completing the through trunk lines.
75 years ago – 1950
A prominent black professional, Dr. Luther A. Vickers, died suddenly from a heart attack, at his desk in his dental office on Third Street. His family found his body at 3 p.m. after they had become alarmed that he had not answered the phone. The 49-year-old was a native of the West Indes, a graduate of Tufts College in Massachusetts and had practiced dentistry in Martinsville for 21 years. He had a wife and five children.
John Frank Jr., 24, of Martinsville was found shot to death in a rooming house in Washington D.C. Frank was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Frank of 417 Watt St. and the brother of Robert Frank. He was a Coast Guard veteran and had worked as an engineer at radio station WMVA for 3 months before he moved to Washington for post-graduate studies.
50 years ago – 1975
The City had 317 employees. Councilman Morton Lester wrote City Manager Tom Noland in a letter that a 10% reduction in the city’s workforce would help save the City some money. He recommended letting 31 employees go.
A couple of brief items in the Bulletin’s Stroller column shows us how life was different 50 years ago, and how times have changed. One was a suggestion from a man in Druid Hills: To avoid trash bags being torn open by dogs, people should keep their dogs in the house or penned until after the trash collector has picked up all the garbage. Then the dogs could be let loose. These days, dogs aren’t supposed to be allowed to roam outside their properties. On another matter, telephones, 1975 must have been around when companies started having their own internal phone services that included hold, call transfers, etc., according to this entry that read: “Fellow in the office placed a telephone call to a business firm here the other day and the girl who answered placed him on ‘hold’ to wait for his party. He was intrigued by the music that followed – chimes playing ‘The Bells of St. Mary.’ Later he said it was his first experience with one of those privately-owned telephone systems which can be purchased outright from communications firms and which technically are not part of the telephone company. He figures it has its drawbacks. ‘How long can you endure,’ he asks, ‘listening to ‘The Bells of St. Mary?’’”
Daniel L. Edwards operated a fruit stand in Bassett Forks on U.S. 58. He was staying the night to guard the place when a 19-year-old and two 17-year-olds broke in to rob the place and shot him. He shot back but did not get them. They ran off, leaving their car, and were arrested later. He ended up in serious but stable condition in the hospital.
25 years ago - 2000
The Mary Anna Jackson and Mildred Lee Chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy held a ceremony at Oakwood Cemetery to mark the graves of 75 Confederate soldiers.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.