The circus, the fair, something in the air

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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 Hillsborough Gazette reported a Hillsboro man was “blown over” onto the sidewalk during a wind storm, fracturing his thigh bone. They described him as being “quite old and weak from disease, has a small chance to recover and will probably be confined to his chair during the remainder of his life.”

An unbalanced man arrested in Greenfield was lodged in the county infirmary until he became too violent to control. Judge Kelley ordered him transferred to an insane asylum.

Cloaks in grey, black, blue and tan were $12.50 at Charles Richards’ store near the courthouse square.

The Great Wallace Show, a “colossal English circus,” was set to come through town. An ad showed a woman leaping from a hot air balloon holding an umbrella as a parachute in what the paper called “the most sensational and terrific double balloon ascension and parachute jump ever attempted in the history of the country.”

In news from Petersburg, a reporter wrote that “the trustees are having the roads graveled under the new law — our town is improving some.”

This week in 1912, the Hillsboro News Herald reported Highland County had “two large and well managed farms that are a credit to the county.” The farms were the Dunlap Pony Farm and the White Dairy Farm near Greenfield.

Two men were injured in a motorcycle accident after the bike hit a dog and both were catapulted into the air.

“Practically all” of the businesses in Hillsboro were expected to close Thursday and Friday for the Hillsboro Fair, which the paper reported was going well. “Your friends and neighbors will all be there,” the article said. “It is the place to enjoy yourself.”

Hillsboro Ice Delivery advertised “prompt delivery, courteous treatment.”

From the opinion column came a comment from a reader in Leesburg which said “it is much easier to keep from coveting thy neighbor’s wife than it is his automobile.”

This week in 1953, the Hillsboro Press-Gazette reported 2,000 people attended the opening of the Highland County Fair, with the majority showing up for the horse-pulling contest.

Price support loans for the 1953 wheat crop in Highland County spiked to a little over $385,000, which officials said was an all-time high.

A covered bridge located on SR 247 south of Hillsboro was set to be demolished and replaced with a concrete structure. The paper lamented the loss of the historic bridge, saying that Highland County’s covered bridges were “rapidly disappearing.”

It was Lucky Buck Night with admission of $1 a carload at The Roselawn Drive-In Theater in Allensburg. On the big screen just off U.S. Route 50, Cesar Romero and Rod Cameron starred in “The Jungle,” and later in the evening was “Finders Keepers” with Tom Ewell and Julia Adams.

New and modern plastic drapes were 89 cents at the Famous Store, and stamped embroidery pieces were priced from 20 cents to $1.49.

This week in 1982, the Highland County Fair dominated the headlines in the Press-Gazette. Perfect weather had greeted fairgoers, and coordinators and vendors “couldn’t be happier.”

Grocery bargains at Great Scot included sirloin steaks at $2.68 per pound, chicken breasts were 99 cents per pound, cube steak was $2.29 per pound and ground chuck was $1.58 per pound.

“Don’t be late for work because the power went out,” an ad for Radio Shack touted. An AM/FM clock radio was advertised for $29.95, featuring a backup battery just in case.

The S.C. Sunshine Band, comprised of senior citizens, was shown in a photo entertaining fairgoers on stage.

If residents thought they smelled something funny in the air, it might have been the $10 million marijuana crop that had been discovered just south of the Highland County line. Law enforcement officials from several counties were in the process of destroying the field of weed.

This week in 2000, The Times-Gazette reported Bright Local Schools and Greenfield Exempted Village Schools opened their doors later than usual due to renovation delays and the county fair.

The Hillsboro Police Department won a grant for overtime pay.

In sports, the McClain Tigers trumped the Hillsboro Indians 27-12 in Friday night football action.

The Hillsboro Ghost Walk was coming up, with attendees being asked to show up at the Hillsboro Cemetery “with booted feet and a flashlight.”

A 16-year-old suspect was charged with arson following a car fire in Jackson Township. The sheriff’s office said a resident reported the fire after they heard an explosion and saw the vehicle on fire in a nearby woods.

Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.

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A look back at news and advertising items through the years

By Tim Colliver

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