Monday, November 17, 2008
Looking back: Nov. 17
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The Roanoke Times
File 1933 This is the tombstone of Robert Denton, who died in 1805 at age 8. The tomb was added the Virginia Landmarks Register in 1977 and to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The grave is in Old Tombstone Cemetery on Plantation Road.
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More history stories
- Looking back: Nov. 23
- Looking back: Nov. 16
- Looking Back
- Looking back: Nov. 2, 2009
- Looking Back: Oct. 26, 2009
Archive
1998 (10 years ago)
n "Yet another miraculous football sermon by Virginia Tech on defense and special teams almost was over late Saturday night. But before the Hokies could say amen in the Carrier Dome, Donovan McNabb threw one last prayer. It miraculously was answered."
n "Roanoke, Roanoke County, Salem and Vinton are pooling their resources to build something the localities could not afford individually -- a fire and emergency medical training center." 11.19 "Nearly 50,000 people visited Explore Park in Roanoke County this past season, compared with 32,000 last year."
1983 (25 years ago)
n "National Business College, a fixture at 8 Franklin Road, S.W. in Roanoke for 67 years, may be moving - and it may not."
n "Roanoke College's basketball team has improved every year under Coach Ed Green, but to do so this year, the Maroons might have to be perfect."
n "Like a woman scorned, Virginia Tech took out its revenge on the innocent Saturday. The Hokies, assuming they had been ignored by the bowls and denied an opportunity to play on TV because of an opponent's decision, played as close to a perfect game as possible in crushing Virginia 48-0."
1958 (50 years ago)
n "A century-old letter by the English author George Eliot has been given to Hollins College for the benefit of students interested in English literature."
n An underdog Citadel team, high as a kite and playing a savage defensive game, turned two VMI fumbles into a pair of touchdowns and a 14-6 upset victory over the Keydets here today."
n "The 1958 hunting season got under way yesterday with no fatalities reported, but there were six woundings -- five men and a mule."
n "The Roanoke Ministers Conference elected a new president and named its first Negro member to a major office yesterday." Dr. S. Earl Mitchell was elected president and Rev. C.H. Pierson was elected corresponding secretary.
n "There are those who will moan, but the time has come, gentle readers, to take a peak at basketball. The nation's No.1 spectator sport is just around the corner. And a banner year it could be for college cage fans in this area."
n "The Norfolk and Western and Virginian railroads are studying a merger, the presidents of the two coal hauling lines announced last night."
n "A Piedmont Airlines F27 put down at Woodrum Field yesterday, marking the first time a turbo-jet airplane has landed at an airport in the Roanoke area."
n "Roanoke will become one of the 89 air pollution sampling stations in the United States, John B. Noftsinger, city air pollution engineer, said last night."
1933 (75 years ago)
n Peyton Welford, veteran member of the Roanoke First Aid and Life Saving crew, today requested a leave of absence during the winter to become trainer of the Baltimore Oriole Hockey Club squad."
n "The mercury dropped to a new low record for the fall here last night, registering 13 degrees above zero."
n "On a wind-swept hill, about a mile south of Hollins college, is perhaps the most unusual tombstone in all of Southwest Virginia. Its strangeness of design, its antiquity, and its remoteness combine to arouse at once a lively interest in the mind of the spectator. ... The stone ... marks the grave of Robert Denton ... who died September 9, 1805."
n "Roanoke's city schools may be closed from Thanksgiving until the first of the year unless funds are forthcoming from some source, it was made clear at yesterday's meeting of City Council."
n "Two spectacular scoring punches, crowded into the dying seconds of the first and second halves enabled the football warriors of the University of Virginia and Virginia Polytechnic Institute to leave the field this afternoon with a 6 to 6 tie . . . and sent 5,000 fans home to recover from as thrilling a bit of football as has been seen on a State gridiron in years."
n "A rattlebrained thief with a haphazard method broke into two oil company offices and a coal yard here Saturday night, left his loot from one haul at his last port of call, and making the night complete, robbed a night watchman of seven dollars."
n "A city in gala attire, a community in festive dress, a city gone wild with excitement will be the scene in Roanoke on Tuesday, December 5th, when a real Santa Claus with his real reindeer from the far Northland arrive as the guest of the city."
1908 (100 years ago)
n "At 4:20 yesterday afternoon the arguments in the Gregory case were concluded. ... At 5:25, after an absence of an hour, the jury returned, and amidst an intense silence, a verdict of not guilty was read."
n "V.P.I.'s game with George Washington here [in Blacksburg] Saturday was a great disappointment, and weather conditions were such that it should never have been played at all. ... Students with shovels and scrapers had partially cleaned ten inches of snow off the gridiron, but enough remained to make it almost impossible for men to keep their feet."
n "The people of this section [northwest] say if the electric light and sidewalk committee would only visit this section of the city once in awhile they would firmly see that lights and walks are badly needed. The people of this section have to walk and see as well as people of other sections."
n "Eighteen thousand five hundred dollars was the price paid by the State board of health for the Roanoke Red Sulphur Springs property."
n "There were only a few lawbreakers up yesterday morning in the police court, but as is customary they were fined and those who failed to produce the coin were sent back to the cooler until some good Samaritan could be found."
n "Everything from a business viewpoint in this city is encouraging. Many of the merchants report large sales of goods in different lines, and they are getting ready for the holidays."
n "There will be no more hazing at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute this session."
n "Roanoke will be the home of Colonel Francis Ferari's $110,000 collection of wild animals from now until next spring. The animals are now comfortably housed in the large exhibition building at the Fair Grounds.
