Halloween, elections, ‘Beauty and the Beef’

0

Editor’s note — We’re continuing our tradition of taking a look back each Saturday at some of the important, interesting or even odd events as they were reported during the same week throughout the years, along with interesting advertising features from back in the day.

This week in 1892, the Hillsboro Gazette reported that with election day approaching, the Highland County sheriff was required to give notice that the day for casting ballots had been established as the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

The Democratic-leaning local newspaper urged its readers to elect Grover Cleveland and Adlai Stevenson as president and vice-president of the United States.

Cold weather, snow, rain and mud were coming, or so said the advertisement from Chas. Haynes Clothing Store, and they had blankets for 85 cents and up, wool shawls starting at $1.25 and special prices on women’s and children’s hosiery.

Over at the Bee Hive Store on North High Street, good substantial footwear and clothing for the cold winter months ahead was on sale, with “good goods at low prices.”

In news from Lynchburg, Alvin Cloud of Crawford County was visiting relatives, Charles Troutwine had returned from Illinois and was looking up friends from long ago, and William Malone and Kate Chaney were married.

At A.K. Kelly, two doors north of the town clock, jelly cake tins, scrub brushes and lamp chimneys were a nickle; hatchets, lunch baskets and feather dusters were a dime; and flour sifters and cuspidors were 15 cents.

This week in 1920, the Hillsboro Dispatch, being a Republican newspaper, urged voters to elect Robert Schweinsberger as Highland County sheriff, Clark Holladay as prosecutor, and to put a check mark next to the names of Ruble, Mullenix and Smith for county commissioners.

In Leesburg news, school superintendent W.H. Vance of Hillsboro and E.E. Richards visited the public school, and Walter Cunningham purchased the Anders property on Railroad Street and would be moving in the first of November.

At the Forum Theatre, “the home of all that’s best in photoplays,” was showing the comedy drama “Two Weeks,” starring Constance Talmadge in a tale of Broadway chorus girls and their adventures with three country bachelors.

There was a big promotion in the paper, with subscribers urged to enter a contest to “ride on the wings of opportunity in the lap of luxury.” Lucky readers could win a new 1920 Chevrolet touring car, sticker priced at $1,463.

At Cline’s Five and Dime Store, jet oil shoe polish in the big eight-ounce can was 11 cents, women’s winter union suits were 99 cents, and slop jars, a necessity in every home, were priced to go at 98 cents complete with lid.

In the classified ads, Miss May Cummings of Hillsboro had a 1920 Ford sedan for sale, with an Atwater Kent ignition system, Schebler carburetor, new tires and extra equipment, for $750.

This week in 1947, the Hillsboro Press-Gazette featured a front page picture of the Hillsboro High School homecoming queen and her court. Queen Jewell Penn was shown with attendants Wilma Whisman, Ann Roush, Barbara Prodmore and Mary Alice Bennett.

Everything was in readiness for what the paper called a “huge Halloween parade and Lions Club celebration,” which was set to start Friday at 7:30 p.m. with the lineup continuing around the courthouse to a platform on the public square.

The cast had been named for the Hillsboro High School junior class play, scheduled for Nov. 21 in the school auditorium. The play was entitled “The Beauty and the Beef,” with a cast of 25 students, starring Mary Kesler, Grant Layman, Helen Head, Gene Morrow, Bill Siddons, Frances Bryan and Duane Miller as “Beef.”

The Colony Theatre in Hillsboro was in the Halloween spirit with a midnight “Spook Show,” featuring the chiller “The Missing Corpse” plus Laurel and Hardy in “Me and My Pal. All seats were 50 cents.

Four area Ashland service stations advised motorists to make their car “ship-shape” for winter driving with Ashland’s changeover service. You could stop into Shaffer’s Service Station at Main and Oak or visit Earl McComas on South High Street in Hillsboro.

In news from Pricetown, it was reported that there were 133 in Sunday School the previous Sunday morning, with an offering of $9.98, and the Win-A-Couple Class was sponsoring a Halloween social Friday night, Oct. 31 with lunch and refreshments served.

This week in 1985, the Hillsboro Press-Gazette reported that five of the Hillsboro city council candidates participated in the local firemen’s union “Meet the Candidates” forum. Pictured on the front page was Phil McElwee, Sam Barnhouse, moderator Bill Couch, Jay Cooper, Russell Lowell and Jeanne Whitley.

At the Colony Theatre, it was the last week for “Godzilla 1985” to make way for Pee-Wee Herman in “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.” Thursday was Bargain Night with all seats $2.

The writer of the weekly “Smoke Signals” column for the school year, Sean McDonough, said the rowdy pep rally held the previous Friday in the Hillsboro High School gym was the reason the Tribe defeated the McClain Tigers in the annual football rivalry.

The Hillsboro Jaycees haunted barn at the fairgrounds was guaranteed to “scare the YELL out of you!” Admission was $2 for the fright of your life.

Christmas was coming and “The Saving Place,” the Hillsboro Kmart, had artificial trees for $29.96 and all the decorations budget priced. You could also get an early jump on the holiday shopping season at Fairley Hardware, “where the ‘T’ stands for True, and that means Value.”

Yvette Zimmerman of Hillsboro had been chosen as a Morehead State University student alumni ambassador for the 1985-86 school year. The Morehead senior was chosen through interviews and academic achievement.

Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.

https://www.timesgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2019/11/web1_f-look-back-logo-new.jpg
A look backat news items through the years

By Tim Colliver

[email protected]

No posts to display