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The Roanoke Times

"A charter of incorporation has been granted to John M. Oakey (Incorporated), a well known undertaking establishment of Roanoke." The charter was granted in 1910. At that time, Oakey's was at 124 W. Campbell Ave. The Roanoke Times' office was next door.

2000 (10 years ago)

n "Hokie spirit was in the air Sunday and on its way to the Big Easy as an exodus of Virginia Tech fans boarded flights at Roanoke Regional Airport bound for the Sugar Bowl."

n "Four agencies that serve disabled adults in the Roanoke and New River valleys and Franklin County have merged to form Goodwill Industries of the Valleys. It will be one of the top employers in the Roanoke Valley with revenues of more than $15 million. This is the state's first merger of its kind."

n "Roanoke native and Roanoke College alumnus Henry H. Fowler, who was Treasury secretary in the Johnson administration, died Monday at a nursing home in Alexandria. He was 91."

n "The number of railroad retirement pension checks lost in the mail has climbed to 500 -- about four times the number originally thought missing. ... The Roanoke and New River valleys are the only areas in the country having this problem."

n "Tanglewood Mall is going to change hands, but it could mean new stores, fewer vacancies and a fresher look."

1985 (25 years ago)

n "A 129 percent increase in insurance rates is blamed for the liquidation of General Motor Lines, a Roanoke general commodities trucking company for 40 years."

n "Roanoke College ... will buy most of the property owned by the Lutheran Children's Home about a mile east of the campus, college officials announced Thursday."

n "The Boiler Room, an East Campbell Avenue restaurant for 35 years, will live on, after all."

n "Progress Press, a family owned and operated business started in a Southeast Roanoke attic more than 50 years ago, has grown to be one of the largest commercial printing companies west of Richmond."

1960 (50 years ago)

n "Being a major league baseball player is not all sweetness and light. ... Ask Charlie Maxwell, slugging outfielder for the Detroit Tigers. Maxwell, who performed for the old Roanoke Red Sox during his climb to the big show, married a Roanoke girl."

n "The day of the Chinese laundry has ended in Roanoke. Jan Lee Laundry at 114 E. Campbell Ave., after more than 40 years of operation, is selling its equipment and going out of business. It is the city's last Chinese laundry. There were once four here."

n "Miss Katherine Lawson, a Roanoker, was on hand last Friday for the celebration -- and violence -- attending the birth of a new nation in Africa." The new nation was Cameroon.

n "The city's plans for a civic auditorium bogged down in a prolonged discussion yesterday at City Council's meeting and the matter was carried over until next Monday."

n "Virginians today were digging out of a heavy snow that dumped as much as eight inches in the southwestern part of the state. Roanoke got three inches, its first in nearly a year."

n "It has no plot and is completely spiceless, yet a new book on sale in Roanoke will probably be a best seller -- at least for the next three months. The book is the 1960 edition of "Your Federal Income Tax."

1935 (75 years ago)

n "On January 10, 11 and 12, residents of Roanoke and Salem will have the opportunity of participating in a State-wide campaign, now being conducted by the Boy Scouts, the object of which is to supply men in transient shelters and camps with books, magazines and games."

n "What threatens to be an epidemic of influenza is gaining ground in the town of Salem and is becoming noticeable throughout Roanoke county."

n "Cooperation of citizens in putting a curb on the practice of begging in the town of Salem is being solicited by the municipal government and social agencies."

n "Six massive pieces of wrestling machinery will appear at the Roanoke auditorium tomorrow night to inaugurate the 1935 wrestling season under the regime of Promoter Pete Moore."

n "The opening of the Jefferson Theater will increase by between 900 and 1,000 the capacity of theaters in Roanoke."

n "Spectators at City League basketball games at the market Auditorium have been asked to refrain from smoking."

n "A live turkey, who fluttered his wings as if in glee over not having played a principal role in a New Year's or Christmas dinner, was seen proceeding northward on Jefferson street this afternoon in the arms of a small boy."

n "Seven seniors on the Roanoke College football squad will be accorded an honor none in recent years has had. The college student body voted this morning ... to present the gridders ... with gold football charms."

1910 (100 years ago)

n "Two of the girls connected with the company that performed last night at the Academy showed their pluck yesterday evening when they each severely pummeled two mashers who insisted on flirting with them at a table in one of the hotels."

n "Humphries and Webber have opened the prettiest drug store in Roanoke. It is located at the northeast corner of the City market Square."

n "Guards of the chain gang had the liveliest chase of their experience the other afternoon."

n "A charter of incorporation has been granted to John M. Oakey (Incorporated), a well known undertaking establishment of Roanoke."

n "When all others were being remembered with Christmas treats, the inmates at the County Almshouse were in no way overlooked."

n "A big bay horse belonging to J.E. McHenry fell into the cellar at F.E. Brown's place of business on Campbell avenue yesterday morning at about 10 o'clock and was not removed till late in the afternoon."

n "It is reported that a well-known resident of this section has given an order for the construction for his own use of an airship, the machine to be an aeroplane, built along the lines of those which the Wright Brothers have developed."