March 19 through time
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 Years ago – 1924
Negotiations were concluded on Wednesday, March 19, for a new $300,000 manufacturing plant which would be the fourth largest furniture concern in Martinsville. The proprietors are Messrs. J.D. and C.C. Bassett and Clyde Hooker, all of Bassett. Negotiations were led by Mr. H.A. Ford, chairman of the new Enterprise Committee of the Kiwanis Club. R.A. James of Danville donated the 17 1/2 acres with an option on additional land, and R.S. Brown agreed to build 25 or 30 operatives houses on adjacent property to be leased to the company at a 6% rental. The plant will be on that 17.5 acre tract on the north side of the Danville and Western railroad just west of the “dry bridge” on the Leatherwood road over the tracks of that railroad. Work will begin with 60 days. (A correction in the newspaper the following edition listed Mr. John D. Bassett as one of the Bassett men promoting and directly connected with the new company was an error.)
75 years ago – 1949
A full-page ad announced that “The Hormel Girls are coming to town for Hormel Day. They’ll have valuable prizes for you!” The Hormel Girls’ Corps would visit food stores to give away whole hams, quarter hams, Spam and other Hormel foods. To win a prize, look for the sign in a store, take a picture of a Hormel girl, and “the girl whose picture you get will be your Lucky Hormel Girl;” keep her picture in your purse, and bring it to the grocery store on the day the Hormel Girls are there. The Hormel Girls had a radio show each Saturday morning. Under a picture of women in uniform marching, the caption reads “The smart-stepping Hormel Girls’ Corps has paraded its way to fame across the nation. 60 ex-GI girls – former Wacs, Waves, Spars and Marines to entertain you.”
1960
Many high school juniors gave up the pleasure of sleeping late on this Saturday in order to take the National Merit Scholarship Test, part of a nationwide search for students who demonstrated exceptional ability to benefit from a college education. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation was an independent organization sponsored by business and industrial organizations.
50 years ago – 1974
The gas shortage had made gas stations run out of gas before the end of months prior. Mervin Joyce of Direct Oil in Collinsville and Buck Wells of Martinsville Coal and Oil Co. told the Bulletin on March 19 that it was still too early to tell what would happen by the end of March.
Students in Mrs. Linda Cox’s fifth-grade class at Spencer Elementary School released helium-filled balloons. Each balloon had a postcard with information. Anyone finding one of those post cards was asked to bring or mail it to the school. The group whose balloons had traveled the farthest would get 100 books for its class.
25 years ago - 1999
Collinsville Furniture Mart had a sale: a four-drawer chest for $34.99 (one per family); set of Queen Anne sofa, chair and loveseat for $400; 15-cubic-foot refrigerator for $368.99; recliner sofa with two Wall-Away recliners in sofa for $468.99; daybed with bed springs, mattress, cover, shams and pillows for $158.99.
A ground-breaking ceremony was held at Albert Harris Elementary School for a $9.1 million renovation. It had undergone a $6.7 million renovation from 1995-1997. Joan Montgomery was the principal during both renovations.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.