As The Times-Gazette celebrates its 200th anniversary, we’ll take 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 1937, the Hillsboro Press-Gazette reported several chickens were stolen from a Highland County farm, and an area man was arrested for stealing a steam locomotive. The Highland County Sheriff’s Office was investigating both cases.
A local reverend was installed at the First Presbyterian Church in Hillsboro “in an unusually fine and impressive service,” as a church choir sang following an organ prelude.
One report said floodwater from the Ohio River had displaced a load of soil along its banks weighing more than all the corn raised in the state in the last 75 years.
One of the county’s oldest homesteads located south of Greenfield was destroyed by a fire.
The paper reported the McClain factories in Greenfield were producing 12,000 horse collar pads daily.
Subscriptions to The Press-Gazette were on sale for $1.75 per year.
A Hillsboro man being held at the Lima state hospital for the criminally insane was released from the institution after a court ruled he was, in fact, sane.
This week in 1964, The Hillsboro News-Herald reported Ernie “Stringbean” Blankenship, who would become a beloved local sports radio personality, walked away from a bowling meet with both high series and high single game honors.
Elsewhere in sports, the Hillsboro High School track team beat McClain by two points at a meet.
A two-gallon can of paint was $4.95, a 1.5-gallon pressure sprayer was $5.97 and an 11-quart house pail was free with a purchase of pig feed at Landmark in Hillsboro.
Attendance at the Fairfax Methodist Church was 53.
Five Martinsville youths were rounded up after stealing five tires and a hydraulic jack at the Burton gas station in Lynchburg. All the stolen goods were recovered.
Improvements to boat ramps at Rocky Fork Lake were announced.
Seven people were injured in a string of weekend accidents throughout the county.
This week in 1998, The Times-Gazette reported Weastec was set to expand in Greenfield.
The Easter bunny was shown in a front-page photo giving out treats in front of Bob and Carl’s Finer Foods in Hillsboro.
A Lynchburg-Clay student was suspended for having an unusual haircut — buzzed everywhere but the front, which grew in a long “flap” down his forehead — and the student’s father said he would remove all of his children from the school if it did not reverse the decision.
In sports, McClain’s Zach Thompson was shown preparing a pitch in a baseball game against Fayetteville. The Tigers led 7-5 when the game ended due to darkness after three innings.
Hillsboro City Council approved by a split vote an American Electric Power proposal to stretch new power lines across the city.
The Greenfield Fire Department issued a fire warning after responding to seven field fires in the previous two weeks.
This week in 2008, The Times-Gazette reported a two-year drug investigation in Highland County yielded eight arrests in one of the largest drug-related takedowns in the county in years.
A Sardinia man was arrested for burglary after an apparent home break-in in Mowrystown.
A Rocky Fork Lake-area woman published a science fiction book entitled “The Mourning.”
Front-page photos showed traffic cones dotting North High Street as cars plugged along the route. An accompanying article said heavy road work in the area caused delays.
Highland County was allotted $172,000 from the state to upgrade its 911 system, which at the time could not pinpoint the location of the caller or display cell phone numbers.
In sports, Hillsboro High School beat out Washington Court House and Greenview in a track meet, with a final score of 57, 53 and 53, respectively. Images showed Jasmine Cumberland winding up for a shot-put throw and Leon Smith stretching for extra distance in a long jump.
Reach David Wright at 937-402-2570, or on Twitter @DavidWrighter.
