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The Roanoke Times

File 1960 This photo shows the "modern Oak Grove Elementary School on Rt. 119" in Roanoke County.

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1998 (10 years ago)

n "Yes, Roanoke, there is a Tanglewood movie theater. It's nine months late, but the Carmike Cinemas 10 multiplex is opening this week at Tanglewood Mall with the latest sound and projection systems."

n "Center in the Square, already looking at expanding into an empty downtown hotel, can now add the downtown Grand Home Furnishings building to its plans. The former flagship building for Roanoke's Grand Piano and Furniture Co. -- now Grand Home Furnishings -- will be given to the center next summer. The donation was announced Tuesday, when the center board voted to accept the gift."

n "Two Roanoke car dealerships donated four vehicles Tuesday to Roanoke's Community Oriented Policing Effort, helping in the unit's push to expand its visibility beyond the city's high-crime areas."

n "Although construction on a welcome center for the Botetourt Center at Greenfield is a while off, county officials already are collecting and storing artifacts to display in it. The artifacts, some dating back to 6,000 B.C., include arrowheads and spearheads, flakes, hammerstone pieces, pottery, bottle fragments and an 1889 Liberty Head nickel. They were unearthed by Preservation Technologies Inc., which conducted a cultural resource management study of the entire 922-acre proposed industrial park/ business complex that also will include an education and training center and historic preservation area."

n "Some of golf's stars of tomorrow will shine this week in Roanoke. Two hundred of the world's best junior players, representing more than 25 states and five countries, will converge on Roanoke Country Club for the 15th Scott Robertson Memorial tournament."

1983 (25 years ago)

n "The Roanoke Valley has been selected as the only Virginia area to participate in a $10 million nationwide cancer research program, the national Cancer Institute has announced."

n "The roof of the Vinton branch of the Roanoke County library collapsed during a gulley-washing thunderstorm that hit the Roanoke Valley Wednesday evening. County officials said it was a 'miracle,' that none of the two dozen people inside at the time was injured."

n "Roanoke Memorial Hospitals was one of two hospitals in Virginia selected to participate in a pilot program to prevent child neglect and abuse."

n "Project Recovery, a program run by Total Action Against Poverty in Roanoke, graduated its first class Wednesday in a traditional ceremony of pomp and circumstance."

n " 'Purlie,' Showplace at the Barn's first mainly black-cast musical, is high-stepping fun underscored by a message that emphasizes human dignity and equality."

n "A new Roanoke Valley congregation, Valley Word Ministries, is being formed under leadership of the Rev. Gerald Hollomon, the Rev. Carl Curtis and Carl Story."

n "They came from all over the country to Roanoke for the third reunion of Lucy Addison High School."

n " Roanoke has reached an agreement with Wometco Coca-Cola Bottling Co. on the details of a contract calling for a $13.5 million expansion of its plant in the Gainsboro neighborhood in Northwest Roanoke."

1958 (50 years ago)

n "Twenty-seven Roanokers are listed in the new soon-to-be-published volume of Who's Who in America, according to the publisher, Marquis Who's Who of Chicago."

n "The Roanoke chapter of the Order of DeMolay will be reinstated this fall. ... The chapter became inactive during World War II."

n "American Viscose Corp. announced today that it is planning to discontinue operations at its plant in Roanoke."

n "Some Roanokers apparently are doing their best to help the state make up the deficit in ABC receipts reported for the first six months of the year. Almost 70 persons have been tried in Municipal Court thus far this week on drunkenness charges."

n "If your name is Paul, the Roanoke Valley Drama Assn. folks would like you to be their guest Saturday night at 'Thy Kingdom Come.' The drama group is especially partial to anyone named Paul because their 'hero' in Dr. Kermit Hunter's stirring outdoor religious drama is St. Paul."

n " Roanoke area juvenile delinquency will be discussed by 20 men and women -- social workers, city and county officials and others at a Ponce de Leon Hotel meeting Aug. 15."

n " 'We wish we had more Roanokes,' the president of the Kroger Co. said here today. Joseph B. Hall, head of the big grocery firm, said the Roanoke division is one of the most profitable divisions in his company's setup."

n "A Salem native has been named coordinator of Negro elementary education for Roanoke County and principal of Hollins Elementary School. He is Rufus S. Dowe of Roanoke. He will also keep the post he had last year as principal of Vinton Elementary School."

n "Sometime with the next two years Roanoke will get close scrutiny by a group of geographers at Jeffersonville, Ind. The purpose will be the mapping of the area for the 1960 U.S. census."

n "Baseball fans were treated to a full dish at Salem last night. They saw a runaway 14-1 victory for the Rebels in the opener. And they witnessed an 11-inning thriller with Salem bowing 6-5 in the nightcap."

n "Sidney's Inc., a familiar name with Roanoke area women shoppers for more than 30 years, has completed a $200,000-plus expansion, refitting and face-lifting project."

n "Roanoke County School Board members inspected the new Oak Grove Elementary School yesterday and announced that it will be accepted after a few minor changes are made."

n "When Comdr. William B. Bagbey of Roanoke tells about his latest assignment, he makes a civilian want to go out and join up -- almost. He has just returned from Germany where he had a major part in helping train the men of the new navy of the Federal Republic of Germany."

1933 (75 years ago)

n "Five classes of retail business in Roanoke will begin operating next Monday on a 52-hour week, in conformity with the provisions of the National Recovery Act, and the majority of them will observe uniform opening and closing hours."

n "Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt this afternoon was wired an invitation by the rural life organizations meeting at Virginia Polytechnic Institute to visit here the exhibit of handicrafts made by southern mountain people."

n "A battling veteran and a game youngster who only this year graduated into the ranks of senior play yesterday blasted away the hopes of two seeded stars in the Roanoke county tennis tourney."

n "The Big Bend baseball team will play a double-header with the team from the convict camp on Bent Mountain Saturday afternoon."

n "Ben F. Moomaw, secretary of the Roanoke chamber of commerce, yesterday was appointed by President Roosevelt as a member of the Virginia state advisory board of public works."

n "The barbers of Salem have agreed to operate their places of business on uniform hours."

n "The new Vinton high school which is completed, with the exception of the gymnasium, will be open to the public this afternoon."

n "A transaction of interest in Southwest Virginia has just been closed by which the 'Norwood' home passes to Radford State Teacher's College, thereby becoming the property of the state."

n "Dick Tracy, a cartoon of action and thrills, begins today in The World-News, replacing the Bungle Family strip."

n "The Blue Hills golf club today was added to the list of concerns which plan to open beer gardens as soon as the lager is legalized by the State legislature."

n "Under the caption, 'Time to Live,' a number of books dealing with ways of profitably passing leisure were put on display at the Roanoke public library."

n "The City of Roanoke's five-year lease on Cannaday field as an airport expires next July 1 and it is taken as a foregone conclusion that City Council will not wish to take up its option to buy the tract at that time at $700 an acre."

1908 (100 years ago)

n "Saturday afternoon about 5 o'clock an alarm was turned in ... caused by the burning of the interior of the St. James M.E. church, corner Fourth avenue and Park street, n.w."

n " 'Botetourt has more tomato canneries than any other county in the State, there being close to two hundred of these enterprises scattered through the county,' says J. Lucian Moomaw, of Botetourt."

n "The old Thrasher home that has stood the storms of more than one hundred years, was recently razed to the ground. This residence was erected near Vinton by Paul Thrasher, when the country around was inhabited by Indians, bears and wolves."

n "The [Salem] Town Council is arranging to have Main street paved in vitrified brick from Broad street to Union and in the near future the work will be extended up Broad street."

n "Today will be children's day [at the baseball game], and all the girls in short dresses will be admitted to the grand stand free, while the boys in knee trousers will be admitted at the gate free."

n "Yesterday evening about 6 o'clock Salem was visited by a terrific electrical storm, accompanied by a very strong wind, which blew down a number of trees in town and tore tops out of others."

n "The Truckers kept up their heavy hitting defeating the Highlanders yesterday by the score of 9 to 0. The locals played like a lot of amateur and back-lot teams. The visitors on the other hand hit like fiends and fielded well."

n "People who travel to Mountain Park tonight -- and there doubtless will be several thousand of them -- will witness a new lot of free moving pictures on the lawn canvas."

n "Andy Lawrence's bunch of pennant chasers who won eight straight games didn't look so warm in yesterday's game. Shaffer's Colts put it all over them and in such a fashion that anyone could notice it."

n "A serious and fatal accident occurred early this morning at 7 o'clock on the narrow gauge railroad that leads from the Roanoke and Southern Railroad to the Rorer mines."

n "The park yesterday afternoon was the scene of much enjoyment for the Rachel Rebekah lodge No. 4, which had gathered its members for a social occasion in the shape of a picnic."

n "It would seem from the improvements going on in this city, that if there was ever such a thing as depression, it has been forgotten or has departed."