Monday, August 10, 2009
Looking back: Aug. 10
The Roanoke Times | File
This undated photo shows Don Reno (clockwise from left), Red Smiley, John Palmer, Ronnie Reno and Mack Magaha. They played on WDBJ television's "Top o' the Morning" from the mid-1950s to 1964.
Click the button above to see all of our community coverage, or go straight to your community's homepage with the menu below.
More history stories
- Looking back: Nov. 23
- Looking back: Nov. 16
- Looking Back
- Looking back: Nov. 2, 2009
- Looking Back: Oct. 26, 2009
Archive
1999 (10 years ago)
"The Rev. Charles Fuller, who for 38 years led the region's largest church and whose "God's Minute" broadcasts on radio and television made him known to those who never set foot in his church, will retire."
"Federal authorities are investigating reports that Javier Cruz -- a Roanoke-based cocaine kingpin turned government informant -- has been killed in his native Colombia."
1984 (25 years ago)
"Northside High graduate John Phillips is the first recipient of a scholarship awarded by the Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame in memory of Scott Robertson."
"A double dose of rock -- Huey Lewis and Stevie Ray Vaughan -- came to the Roanoke Civic Center last night. It was as fine a double bill as Western Virginia has seen in a long time."
"A bluegrass show to benefit Don Reno, a banjo picker who lived in Roanoke from 1955 to 1964 and went on to make a big name for himself in bluegrass, will be held at the Iroquois Club on Salem Avenue in Roanoke Aug. 23."
"The City market continues to be downtown Roanoke's most volatile area, with most businesses prospering and hanging in there, others moving in and out and changing locations."
1959 (50 years ago)
"State Board of Nurse Examiners has informed Burrell Memorial Hospital that its school of practical nursing meets all state requirements and has full approval for its second year of operation."
"It's been a long time since ore mines in the Roanoke area employed some 400 men. ... The Rorer Iron Co. began 19th century operations on a tract of land between what is now U.S. 220, State Rt. 789, Chestnut Ridge and Prospect Hills."
"Roanokers are apparently becoming vultures for culture. That is, if you can judge from the sales here of a book that Pulitzer Prize winner Archibald MacLeish calls 'one of the most important works of fiction of the century.' The book is 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' and it's selling like hot dogs at a county fair."
"Mrs. Samuel Jackson Snead turned the tables on her famous golfing husband yesterday. Instead of packing him off to another tournament, she picked up her own clubs and tooled into Roanoke for the Country Club's annual women's member-guest golf spree."
1934 (75 years ago)
"Shorts for women on the golf courses are favored by the feminine divot diggers of Roanoke, if expressions heard from several players here offer any indication as to which way the wind blows."
"The school board set September 20 as the date for the opening of the fall session of the city schools."
"A survey to determine the volume of noise at various points in Roanoke will be conducted here soon by F.B. Haynes, associate professor of physics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, it was announced today."
"An 'All-Southern Fiddlers' Convention' will be sponsored here at the City Market Auditorium September 28 and 29 by Roanoke Lodge No. 3, of the Maccabees. ... An invitation has been extended Henry Ford to attend the convention and bring some of his old-time musicians."
"More than 22,650 head of cattle from the drought-stricken areas in the West have been shipped over the Norfolk and Western railway to pasture lands in West Virginia, Virginia, North and South Carolina."
"It is entirely possible for Roanoke to lose its opportunity to be on an important mail and passenger air line if steps are not soon taken to provide a municipal airport."
"An epidemic of bad colds swept Roanoke today like Sherman marched through Georgia, leaving a trail of weepy, watery eyes, reddened noses, and a general conviction that Sherman's famed remark as to war applied equally to bad colds."
"Organization of the Old Colony Box Company, Inc., in Roanoke with a factory at 208 Fourth street, S.W., was announced yesterday."
"The first dial directory in Roanoke, Salem and Vinton is being delivered to subscribers."
1909 (100 years ago)
"Contract has been let for the erection of the Federal building in Roanoke to replace the postoffice building at the corner of Henry street and Church avenue. The price contracted is $87,279."
At the common council meeting -- "As to removing the dead from the city cemetery to Fairview, several of the councilmen had something to say and the consequence was that the subject is probably buried more deeply under the table, than any of the corpses in controversy."
"A mink entered the poultry house at Mr. W.H. Tinsley's [in Salem] at an early hour this morning and killed seven fine fowls."
"The ladies, who have the free use of the bowling alleys in the big pavilion at Mountain Park, were present in large numbers yesterday and entered into the game with much enthusiasm."
"A new feature, and one that will be hailed with delight, at the seventh annual exhibition for the Great Roanoke Fair, September 21-24, will be an emergency hospital on the grounds."
"T.H. O'Brien, who represents the Cleveland baseball club, has been in the city for several days. He saw the games of Monday and Tuesday. ... Mr. O'Brien is what is known as a 'scout.' "
"At about 8:30 o'clock this morning, a report was received over the telephone at police headquarters stating that the body of a murdered man had been found on the banks of Roanoke river near the Narrow Gauge bridge."
"Roanoke Aerie of the Order of Eagles has purchased an automobile. It is a brand new proposition, sparkling with paint, brass and nickel, and it's a beauty."
"Work is to be begun in the immediate future on the new building for Roanoke College."
Have a historic photo you want to share? Your community, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, VA 24010 or e-mail yourcommunity@roanoke.com. Please put Looking Back in the subject line.
