Looking back: Roanoke-area history, September 9 

1988 (25 years ago)

• “Pat Kelly, former coach of the Salem Raiders, has been named commissioner of the new East Coast Hockey League.”
• “Tim Smith considered the possibility of sloshing through overtime Friday and determined he did not want to keep his Salem teammates on the field longer than necessary.”
• “The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave engineers the go-ahead to draw up final plans for the Spring Hollow Reservoir, even though it is not yet known whether Roanoke and Salem will join in the project.”
• “Roanoke lost another corporate headquarters this week [Colonial American Bank] — but valley business and political leaders are not wringing their hands even though the steady drain of locally owned companies has become a major concern in recent years.”
• “Roanoke will get a major new look in downtown Christmas decorations this year that will be built around the theme of ‘the starlight City.'"

1963 (50 years ago)

• “Cave Spring, like a fighter staging a comeback, climbed off its back Saturday night and knocked out Northside.”
• “Two gifts have been donated to the Roanoke Transportation Museum at Wasena Park. One, a 1941 ambulance, was presented to the museum by the Fort Lewis Rescue Squad… The other, an American flag was presented by Steve Brody … known for his gifts of flags.”
• “A friendship lasting since World War II has brought a young Belgian student on a six-week visit to a Roanoke family.”
• “Elsewhere on the sports pages you will note that Andrew Lewis and Graham have switched their football game from Friday to Saturday at Salem. It makes sense, and also points out the obvious. There is too much football in Roanoke on Friday nights.”
• “Representatives from the staffs of Roanoke’s city jail, Juvenile Detention Home and nursing home are trying to get a full-time chaplain for their institutions.”
• “Residents in the Pinkard Court section of Roanoke County soon will begin a drive for money to finance a young people’s recreation program.”
• “Aero Lines, the Roanoke line which began service two weeks ago, has added a second daily nonstop flight to New York Monday through Friday and a Saturday flight.”
• “The heavens opened and the rains came and the fans stayed home as a majority of the Timesland scholastic football games went down the drain Friday night.”

1938 (75 years ago)

• “Sixty-one telephone numbers in Roanoke begin with ‘3,’ the latest bracket in service at the Roanoke office of the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone company of Virginia.”
• “The Grandin Court elementary school will not be operated during the school term which begins today, and the pupils who would have attended the school will be transported by special buses to the Wasena elementary school.”
• “Playing the best colored tennis ever witnessed in Roanoke, Nathaniel Jackson, local star who once held the national colored singles title and was co-holder of the doubles crown, yesterday defeated his brother, Frank, recent winner of the national colored singles, in a thrilling five-set encounter for the championship of the Olympian tennis club invitation tournament.”
• “The city farms have put up for use at the city home during the winter 600 No. 3 (full quart) cans of corn and 450 (short gallon) cans of tomatoes.”
• “Three thousand thrill seekers got one of the biggest thrills of their lives yesterday as Suicide Bob Hayes, handsome 28-year-old devil-may-care Hell Driver from Georgia, jumped his stock automobile over eight parked cars at Maher field, climaxing the 30th annual Roanoke Agricultural fair.”
• “Traffic over the old Wasena bridge will be stopped permanently at 7 a.m. Thursday, as work on the new structure progresses.”
• Professional football, which enjoyed a short spurt of popularity last year before gasping and dying, will be tried again in the Magic City this season.”
• “After conferring with a special committee of council yesterday, the library board concurred in an ordinance recently adopted which provides that the site of the proposed new library shall be in Elmwood park.”

1913 (100 years ago)

• “With thirteen less than 6,000 pupils at their desks, the 1913-14 term of public schools opened at 9 o’clock yesterday morning, and by noon routine work was progressing as though mid-winter had arrived.”
• “Last night gave Roanoke the first touch of Fall weather, the thermometer dropping to 60 degrees.”
• "Under a beautiful sky yesterday the Pirates and Tigers crossed bats in an interesting little bout, the Pirates playing indifferently with six errors piled up against them, made a gift to Mr. Pressly of a small game, score 7 to 2.”
• “Many wagons lined the curb around the market yesterday, and every one of them brought capacity loads.”
• “The Kindergarten for little children will be reopened October 1st, at the Second Presbyterian parish house, under two capable and interesting teachers.”
• “Yesterday’s session of police court was extremely dull and uninteresting, although running through the better part of an hour.”
• “The Tigers and Goobers gave a laughable exhibition of ball playing this evening. It was of the Alphonso and Gaston variety, both teams trying their best to let the other win.”
• “Taxi, Sir? Roanoke will hear the familiar metropolitan salute early next week when the Taxi-Cab Corporation … will place on the streets of Roanoke a dozen thoroughly modern, four-passenger taxi-cabs of the 1914 model.”

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