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The Roanoke Times

File 1938 Miles Stadium, in use as a baseball diamond, is in the upper left of this photo. It was torn down after the 1964 football season and replaced by Lane Stadium, which was completed in 1968. Miles Stadium was named for Tech's athletic director, C. P. "Sally" Miles, and dedicated in 1926.

1998 (10 years ago)

"Nearly three years after Roanoke school officials began talking about middle school football, the teams have been organized and the games have started. "

" 'The Promise' is both a play and a vow. It's Blacksburg's bicentennial musical, a home-grown production that runs this weekend and concludes the town's official 200th birthday celebration."

"Virginia Tech's Merryman Athletic Center, a new $10.7 million all-purpose facility, was dedicated in a ceremony Saturday morning in Blacksburg. The facility is named for the Merryman family of Rustburg."

1983 (25 years ago)

"The crowds were rather enthusiastic at the Seventh Annual Southern Living Cooking School ... at the Roanoke Civic Center. In fact, some of them were downright overzealous."

"Page Moir is moving from one end of Virginia Tech's basketball bench to the other. ... He's joined his father's coaching staff."

"The name of Roanoke's Woodrum Field will be changed to reflect its status as a regional airport that serves a wide area of Western Virginia." The name was changed to Roanoke Regional Airport.

1958 (50 years ago)

"Hollins College's first graduate study program is under way and the innovation has brought to the campus something that has been absent a century: Full-time male students. Three of them, in fact."

"The 1958 Virginia Tech football team required only 14 seconds last night to score its first touchdown.

"VMI students under the direction of Smithsonian Institution representatives will excavate further the Indian burial ground discovered in development of Interstate Highway 81 near Draper."

"A recreational center of which the Roanoke community can well be proud is opening next month. I'm referring to the All-Star Lanes for tenpin bowling. ... The elaborate layout is designed to attract the whole family."

1933 (75 years ago)

" 'Proud Horns,' a book of verses published during the spring by Carleton Drewry, Roanoke poet, has been cordially received throughout the nation."

"The Roanoke All Stars, champions of the Magic City League and claiming the negro championship of southwest Virginia, will engage the Petersburg Giants, champions of the Tidewater section, in an inter-sectional series."

"Liquor runners have resorted to the practice of pulling large paper bags over their heads in an attempt to shield their identity."

"The sun was shining vigorously and a balmy summer breeze was blowing across Miles Stadium as the several thousand students and football fans gathered to see last year's state champions open their 1933 campaign."

"It isn't often there's a real roundup in this neck of the woods, but one was going on last night and today in the wide open spaces southwest of the city. The object of the search ... was a longhorn steer which has twice been caught and has escaped both times."

"The base warehouse and general offices of Advance Stores, Inc., will be located here, it was learned yesterday as remodeling of a store building ... formerly occupied by the Cawley Furniture Company, began."

"Many Roanokers are planning to attend the concert ... at Hollins College, by the Boston Sinfonietta, an ensemble composed of prominent members of the Boston Symphony orchestra. The group will appear under the direction of Arthur Fiedler."

1908 (100 years ago)

"Several Roanokers, who are owners of automobiles, got into trouble yesterday in the town of Salem. It seems that Salem has a law against running an automobile through the town at a rate of speed faster than six miles an hour."

"The Hippodrome is Roanoke's latest modern pleasure place. The large building on Commerce street formerly used as a skating rink has changed hands and under new ownership has been transformed into a Hippodrome."

" 'Molly' McMahone, the idol of the Roanoke fans, became a victim of Dan Cupid last evening at the parsonage of Reverend Neighbors of the Greene Memorial church. The popular short stop's wife is Miss Mae Cooper."

"Last evening, soon after nightfall had drawn down her sable curtain and pinned it with ten thousand stars, persons were seen coming in from every direction to the lovely home of Mrs. Ella B. Cabaniss ... where two, already united in heart and thought, were waiting to be united in the holy bonds of matrimony."

"Today is one of the greatest occasions in the history of the Great Roanoke Fair. A vast concourse of people, estimated far into the thousands, is on the grounds, and every building, every side show, every refreshment booth, the grand stands and in fact, every feature of the big undertaking, is receiving liberal patronage."

"Seldom in its history has Roanoke been more profoundly stirred than it was yesterday afternoon, when the report reached the city that one of the bleachers at the fair grounds had collapsed and killed and seriously injured scores of persons."

"Booker T. Washington, the Southern colored educator, arrived in Roanoke early this morning."