Monday, November 09, 2009
Looking Back
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.
Photo courtesy of Stefon Walker
This 1929 photograph shows Salem Presbyterian Church, which opened in 1831 and moved to this building at Main and Market streets in 1852. The church building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.
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More history stories
- Looking back: March 22
- Looking back: March 15
- Looking back: March 8
- Looking back: March 1
- Looking Back: Feb. 22
Archive
1999 (10 years ago)
n "Exotic birds seem to be flying out of Roanoke pet stores. The problem is, their wings are already clipped. At least five exotic birds -- some worth thousands of dollars and with bigger vocabularies than a linebacker -- have been stolen from Roanoke pet stores over the last few months."
n "Parents can help improve safety and security at Roanoke County schools by becoming volunteers in a 'school watch' program that has been developed in the wake of the fatal shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in April."
1984 (25 years ago)
n "Roanoke will invest between $125,000 and $150,000 in the next two years at the Roanoke Civic Center to make the auditorium and other sections accessible to handicapped people."
n "Ernest Arthur has threatened it before, but this time he talks as if he really means it. He says he is getting out of business -- shutting down the Boiler Room that has become a landmark on East Campbell Avenue."
1959 (50 years ago)
n "A group of state education officials -- who this summer made a study of Roanoke County's school building needs -- say five new elementary schools should be built in the county 'as rapidly as possible.' "
n "A group of Dallas businessmen has purchased the Dr Pepper Bottling Co. plants in Roanoke and Staunton, it was announced yesterday by J. W. Davis, owner and president."
n "Quarterback Pete Cartwright engineered three first-half touchdown drives as Virginia Tech's freshman team toppled VMI's Rats from the unbeaten ranks, 24-6, yesterday at Victory Stadium in the ninth annual Shrine Bowl."
n "American Bridge Division of U. S. Steel in Roanoke began re-opening its plant today. It was closed 117 days ago by the nation-wide steel strike."
n "Henebry's, half-a-century old Roanoke jewelry store, and another Henebry outlet in Salem, have been bought out by Reliable Stores Corp. of Baltimore, Md."
n "It was like pulling teeth. But the Roanoke County School Board has finally decided that its school children can visit the dentist during school hours."
n "The battle of the luckless is slated for Salem Municipal Field tonight at 8 when Andrew Lewis clashes with William Fleming."
1934 (75 years ago)
n "The police faced a new problem today -- how to get a skunk out of a Tazewell avenue basement -- and they passed the job over to the game warden."
n "Two turnips weighing about six pounds each were brought into the World-News office today."
n "The first full carload of loaf cheese ever shipped into Roanoke arrived here last week ...The large supply was received in preparation for national cheese week, which begins tomorrow."
n "The gloom of a dreary day was deepened in the Jefferson high school football camp yesterday afternoon when a crack band of ball carriers from Woodrow Wilson high handed the Magicians a 19-0 defeat, toppling them from the ranks of the undefeated and squelching their hopes for a state championship."
n "The mercury fell one degree below freezing as Roanoke experienced its first snowfall -- only mild flurries -- last night."
1909 (100 years ago)
n "Fifteenth avenue promises to present a fine appearance when the work of paving it is completed ... Concrete is being used, which is a kind of street paving which has not been used very extensively in Roanoke heretofore."
n "Theatergoers who appreciate stage pictures with all the beautiful electrical coloring that modern stage mechanism has made possible, have a rare treat awaiting them in that piquant musical mixture, 'The Isle of Spice,' which is to be presented at the Academy on next Friday night."
n "There will be a lively time for The Roanoke Times and Evening News sales boys in Roanoke, Salem and Vinton, beginning with November the 15th and lasting thirty days. Each boy who sells three hundred copies of The Roanoke Times and Evening News between these dates will receive free a nice new Ingersoll watch worth $1.50."
n "Roanoke city will get $11,360 and Roanoke county $9,861 from the amount appropriated by the State to the public schools from the assessment for the year 1909."
n "At a meeting held last evening in the offices of the Chamber of Commerce, final steps were taken for the organization of a company, whose purpose is to build an incline railway to the top of Mill Mountain."
