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The Roanoke Times

File 1930 Crystal Spring Elementary School was built in 1922. The school celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1999.

1999 (10 years ago)

"Nearly 50 children who will enter kindergarten next year have applied for admission to the first public Montessori school in Western Virginia."

"Kroger, the region's dominant grocery chain, last week announced -- drum roll, please -- a new apple. With much fanfare, including a full-page color newspaper ad, Kroger unveiled the Cameo at a 69-cent-a-pound introductory price."

"The party's over for motorists. Gas prices are starting to rebound from a historical low. ... Tuesday, regular gas at the Exxon station was going for 92 cents a gallon."

1984 (25 years ago)

"Five buildings in a historic district on Warehouse Row, once proposed for an entertainment-retail-office complex, will be offered at auction at 11 a.m. March 31."

"Pretty, it wasn't. But Virginia Tech won't NIT-pick about it. After another of those gut-wrenching affairs that makes Maalox the best-selling refreshment among coaches, the Hokies are going to take a bite out of the Big Apple."

"Democratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, carried by an unprecedented surge of support from blacks, won an upset victory in Saturday's party mass meeting in Roanoke."

"After a two-month search, the grave of Nathaniel Burwell, a prominent Roanoke County plantation owner in the mid-1800s, has been found not far from the site of his home in east Salem."

"The Pet Dairy Division has closed its milk distribution point at the old Garst Dairy location in Roanoke on Salem Avenue Southwest, ending almost 60 years of operations there."

1959 (50 years ago)

"Roanoke Linen Service will officially open its new $750,000 plant at 3401 Shenandoah Ave., NW, on Thursday."

"Stepped-up operating efficiency is credited with boosting 1958 Norfolk & Western Railway earnings to the second highest figure in the company's history -- despite a 10 per cent drop in revenue."

"A man's attempt to help a stranger yesterday boomeranged into a spectacular traffic accident that sent one man to a hospital, demolished a car, damaged two other vehicles, and destroyed almost $1,000 in cash."

n "Seven boys playing in a Gold Medal Basketball tournament game at the Salvation Army gymnasium last night literally lost their pants. A thief got them."

n "A lonely dog that chose Evergreen Cemetery as its adopted home more than a month ago is still hanging around."

1934 (75 years ago)

"The weather man reached into his grab-bag this morning and dished out some genuine old-time March weather that included rain, snow, sleet and hail, accompanied by freezing temperatures."

"Motorists proceeded with difficulty much of yesterday, the chief trouble arising from ice-covered windshields. The usual measures to keep ice from forming were of no avail and filling station attendants were kept busy much of the time helping remove the coat which formed every few miles."

" 'That's great, wonderful,' exclaimed T.R. Parker, principal of Addison High school, when informed by a World-News reporter today that he and his partner, Dr. W.P. Yancey, a colored physician, had won State honors in the World Bridge Olympic held on February 1."

n "Delinquent taxes in Roanoke already exceed a million and a half dollars and the total is steadily mounting each year, causing much concern to City Council and to city officials generally."

n "Nelson Eddy, popular American baritone, who is famous in opera, in concert, and in the movies, will give the fourth and final concert of the Community Concerts series on April 7 at the Academy of Music."

"The nursery school at the Viscose plant and the school for colored children on Patton avenue will open Friday, if enough supplies and equipment are donated by that time."

"Beginning Monday afternoon, 'What's in Fashion,' a strikingly illustrated daily article by Amos Parrish, outstanding fashion authority, will appear exclusively in the World-News. ... In connection with the daily feature in the World-News, this newspaper opens at the same time the World-News Fashion Bureau at 500 Fifth avenue, New York city, in charge of Mr. Parrish."

1909 (100 years ago)

"Mr. J.M. Hancock ... is the owner of a beautiful center table that was once the property of Thomas Jefferson, president of the United States."

"A.N. Walkup, of Richmond, has been awarded the contract for the erection of the new passenger station for the Virginian Railroad in this city. The structure is to cost about twenty-five thousand dollars."

"The new [baseball] uniforms have arrived and they are pippins."

"That Roanoke will have a wireless telegraph system in a very short while is stated as a fact."

"The [state] supreme court today refused to grant a writ of error in the case of Joel Payne ... who murdered his father-in-law. ... Payne will, therefore, die by the rope in Bedford county. He will be the last man to be hanged in Virginia."

"The large glass in the windows of several houses in town [Salem] were blown out and shattered this morning as the result of the extreme high wind which has prevailed since the early morning hours."

"It is stated that the arsenic mines in Montgomery county have resumed operations."

"The First National Bank is advertising for bids for the purchase and removal of the buildings at the corner of Jefferson street and Salem avenue. ... This step is preliminary to the erection of a splendid modern structure in which the bank will make its future home."

"At the meeting of the public property committee of the councils on Thursday night bids were opened for the erection of the building at the almshouse for tuberculosis patients."