July 27 through the years

100 Years ago – 1925

A three-story brick garage and filling station was nearly finished being built on the corner of Fayette and Moss streets. It was being built by experienced garage man O.V. Huskey and was heralded as one of the completest and best buildings of its kind in the state. [It’s no longer there now, though.]

75 years ago – 1950

Hustings Court Judge M. Ray Doubles ordered stays of execution for Joe Henry Hampton, Frank Hairston Jr., Booker T. Millner and Howard Hairston, who had been scheduled to be executed the next day. They were four of the “Martinsville Seven,” black men who had been convicted of raping and assaulting a white woman.

50 years ago – 1975

Charles Randolph Vernon, 6, was critically injured when his parents’ car rolled over him. The boy had gone into Clark’s store at the intersection of Virginia 653 and 661, then went back to the car where four other children were waiting. He climbed into the passenger side but left the door open. The door got knocked into gear and rolled backwards, throwing the boy out. The front tire rolled over the boy’s body. The car was a 1969 model. That was the last year cars were made in which the steering column and transmission shifter did not automatically lock up when the key was removed from the ignition. He remained in critical condition in Memorial Hospital for a month.

The annual block party was held on Whittle Road. The street was closed, and about three dozen families from Whittle Road, Whittle Court and White Oak Road joined the party which included a huge potluck lunch, hula-hoop contests, sack races and an egg toss.

25 years ago - 2000

The Axton Cannery opened for the season. From 6-11 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, through Dec. 19, people could take their homegrown foods there to preserve by canning. It was supposed to open earlier in July, but that was delayed for training a new worker and getting maintenance done on the equipment. The cannery was opened in 1947 as part of a school agricultural program which taught food processing methods, at Axton High School. It was destroyed by fire in 1976 and reopened in 1978 for Laurel Park High School students. There was only enough student enrollment for 3 years to keep it going as a school program, and then it became just for the community. In 1999 the cost to operate the cannery was $21,691. Cans were sold to customers at 50 cents each, which raised $14,380. In 1999 492 people used the cannery to can 15,948 cans of food: 15,948 vegetables, 6,267 stew, 1,133 meat and 5,412 fruit. Kenneth Barksdale and Hildred Moorman worked there in 2000.

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