Monday, June 01, 2009
Looking back: June 1
Photo courtesy of Bertha Roupas Angel Rosson
This photo shows the 1944 senior class of Jefferson High School on June 6, 1944. The junior-senior prom, scheduled for June 6 that year, was cancelled because of the D-Day invasion.
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More history stories
- Looking back: Nov. 2, 2009
- Looking Back: Oct. 26, 2009
- Looking back: Oct. 19, 2009
- Looking back: 10-12-09
- Looking back: 10-07-09
Archive
1999 (10 years ago)
"Roanoke lawyers have joined the effort to raise Roanoke elementary pupils' scores on the Standards of Learning tests. The Roanoke Bar Association announced Tuesday that it will begin a 'Barrister Book Buddies' program to provide volunteers to read to elementary classes this summer."
"The Mill Mountain Star may be well known to anyone who's been in Roanoke for any length of time, but soon it may be recognized nationally as well. In honor of the star's 50th birthday on Nov. 23, the city wants to have it declared a historic landmark."
1984 (25 years ago)
"Debbie Reynolds is expected to add a dash of glitter to the Roanoke Valley Horse Show and receive a classy gift in return."
"Fire burned the wood-and-asphalt roof off the old federal building in downtown Roanoke Friday evening, causing several hundred thousand dollars in damage and yet another setback in the city's often-delayed renovation plans."
"Roanoke Valley Kicks, an all-women's soccer team made up of mothers, college and high school students, will compete Sunday in a state championship match at RFK Stadium in Washington."
"People started arriving at Elmwood Park Saturday at 7:30 a.m. As the morning turned hot, thousands streamed in ... Saturday's estimated crowd of 100,000 was the largest single-day figure in the 15-year history of Roanoke's Festival in the Park."
1959 (50 years ago)
"W.S. (Smokey Joe) Woods has completed the baseball pentathlon. In his 50-year association with the sport, he has been a fan, player, coach, umpire and executive. At one time, he has been all five simultaneously."
"Roanoke City and County, like a shipwrecked sailor, were feeling the effects of too much water today."
"Teeth and throat defects are the big troublemakers for Roanoke's pre-school youngsters."
"Minnie Pearl, Grand Ole Opry entertainer from 'Grinder's Switch,' will visit Roanoke Friday."
"Roanoke police did themselves proud last month. They recovered more property than was stolen."
"There's a new political group called the Independent Citizens Committee of Roanoke County."
1934 (75 years ago)
"A class of 436 seniors ... will be graduated from Jefferson senior high school at commencement exercises tomorrow evening."
"When Blanche Calloway, the Harlem queen of syncopation, appears in the staid Academy of Music at a midnight show Saturday, history will be in the making. For it will be the first midnight show in the city's oldest playhouse and the first colored band to play from the stage."
"Honey dew melons and wax cherries appeared on the market today for the first time this season. Corn on the cob can also be had for five cents an ear."
"A proposal to codify ordinances of the city of Roanoke will cost $1,100 if a proposition submitted yesterday by a committee from the Roanoke Bar association is accepted."
"Donkey baseball -- termed one of the nation's most hilarious sports -- will be unveiled before a Roanoke crowd on the night of June 11 at Maher Field and will continue each night of that week."
"Judge Benjamin Haden today announced the appointment of Mrs. Mary Painter, of Fincastle, as trial justice of Botetourt county."
"When Roanoke College confers the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (L H.D.) upon David W. Flickwir ... it will be giving an honorary doctor's degree to a Roanoke business man for the first time."
"Farmers and hucksters on the city market are of the opinion that business is better than in the last three years, and that there has never been so large a business in snap beans and hams."
1909 (100 years ago)
"The commencement at Hollins is in full blast. Friday night the seniors had their reception and this function was followed by an amusing ceremony, namely, the burning of the various text books which during several years have given these 'sweet girl graduates' so much trouble and vexation of spirit."
"The Crystal Spring Laundry gave away many megaphones to the fans so that they can root in the real fashion. It is a clever advertisement as well as a big help towards encouraging the local team."
"Boys and young men who bathe in Roanoke river are warned that there is an ordinance that requires all parties who bathe in the river within the corporate limits to wear a bathing suit of some kind."
"Mountain Park is wide open for the summer, and yesterday large crowds of men, women and children went to the resort to get a good cooling off."
"While the story of yesterday's game can be quickly told, the sensational features of it might be put into a volume; for it was full of stirring moments and was distinguished by some great stunts."
"The man behind the picture machine is busy again at Mountain Park. The free moving pictures which have delighted thousands of park visitors in the past will be put on every night during the remainder of the summer -- Sunday nights excluded, of course."
"Plans are on foot for establishing a union church at Midway, which name is suggestive of 'not in Roanoke,' and 'not in Vinton,' where churches abound."
"A steady downpour of rain very noticeably was a barrier to good congregations at the different church affairs last night."
"For the purpose of putting on the market a new device on which a cigarette is rolled and made ready for use without burning the paper wrapper, a company has been formed in Roanoke, and it will be know as the Anti-toxic Cigarette Machine Company."
"While it has not become addicted to the habit of smoking cigarettes, a horse owned by one of the leading business men of the city shows much delight in smelling the smoke coming from cigarettes smoked along the streets by the passing men."
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