Farms get electric, first baby, Whiteoak Hornets

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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 1894, the Hillsboro News Herald had a commentary on recent arrests for cock fighting, saying that some prominent citizens who were present may have “to dance up in court with the why’s and wherefore’s” and that it could produce some sensational developments.

In news from Lynchburg, Ed Hawk enjoyed Monday with friends but got back home in time for a big house warming that night, and the livestock sale was quiet again with only 25 head of cattle changing hands for about $30 per head.

An advertisement from Garrett & Ayres Drug Store in Hillsboro was for fig syrup laxative, guaranteed to “restore control in the lower tract,” for 35 cents a bottle.

Prompt action by the Hillsboro Fire Department kept the Parker House from going up in flames, with a fire discovered in its eastern section. Damage was estimated at $50 to $75. Although the Hetherington grocery on the first floor was drenched, the fine and perishable goods weren’t damaged.

The celebrated Waldo Brown of Oxford would be the guest speaker at the Farmer’s Institute coming to Rainsboro, with the whole affair featuring “good home talent and enlivened by splendid music.”

In Dodsonville news, James Newton and his wife welcomed a baby boy into their home, Miss Katie Nice returned to Cincinnati after spending a few weeks with her parents, and Joseph Briggs Jr. was taking charge of the grocery at Harwood on March 1, 1894.

This week in 1936, The Hillsboro News Herald reported new mayor of Greenfield, John Mains, said that the village had no intention of doing a credit business, and those persons that are fined will be sent to jail unless those fines are paid.

Rural electrification was coming to Highland County, and the Inter-County Rural Electric Cooperative Association announced it was ready to build power lines right down to your farm. Two meetings were scheduled for area farmers, with utility representatives prohibited from attending.

At the New Bell’s Theatre, there was the “fastest, funniest, fight-to-the-finish love story you’ve ever seen” on the big screen, with Claudette Colbert, Fred McMurray and Robert Young starring in “The Bride Comes Home.”

Rothman’s Clothing Store was reopening, in the Kincaid Building next to the Regal Restaurant. Winter apparel was greatly reduced in the store “where women love to shop.”

In news from Frogtown, several attended a big sale in Allensburg, Miss Ruby Tucker was on a two-week vacation at her home before she started her new job at the Soldiers and Sailors home in Xenia, and Sherman Peterson of Mansfield called on his brother Morton Peterson and his family over the weekend.

In sports, Hillsboro was beaten by a score of 30 to 18 when Dayton Stivers gained revenge for a close game they lost three weeks earlier. The game was played at the Dayton Roosevelt gym, where Hillsboro had defeated the “Orange Crushers” 18-16.

The Marshall Independents remained undefeated in five games played in the season thus far, and were going to tangle with what the paper called “the fast stepping quintet from the Ft. Hill C.C.C. camp.”

Cold weather was upon Highland County, and Walker’s Coal Office had hard anthracite Blue Brooder Coal the size of chestnuts in convenient 100-pound bags.

This week in 1965, Hillsboro Press-Gazette reporter Sara McCann wrote a feature story about Guy Sams, a Boston area resident who was in the process of constructing a half-scale working steam engine, a photo of which appeared on the front page.

The apparent winner of the 1965 Baby Derby was Mona Bowen, who weighed in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces and crossed the finish line at 10:32 a.m. on Jan. 1 at Greenfield Municipal Hospital. Mona was the seventh child born to James and Ruby Bowen of the New Market area.

At the Colony Theatre, Peter Sellers and Elke Sommer were starring in the Blake Edwards film “A Shot in the Dark,” billed as “the picture that gets away with murder!”

You could start the New Year off right with something for the sweet tooth from Pence’s Bakery on South High Street in Hillsboro. The cake of the week was chocolate ripple, and the special of the week was their jelly roll, priced at 29 cents each.

The Hillsboro Auto Co. wanted its customers to start off the New Year with a good used auto, such as a 1960 Volkswagen bus with four on the floor, radio and heater and priced to go for $1,275; a ’59 Ford Galaxie with a powerful V-8 under the hood, automatic transmission, radio, heater and white wall tires for $745, or a 1963 Chevrolet Corvair Monza convertible for a low $1,395.

In sports, the Whiteoak Hornets had little trouble in rolling past the Peebles Indians in high school basketball, getting their 12th win in 13 starts by a score of 91-66. The homestretch was looming for the six teams in the Highland County Basketball League, with league leading Whiteoak at Fairfield, Lynchburg at Belfast and the two cellar dwellers, Buford and Sinking Spring, meeting on the Buford court.

This week in 1997, the Hillsboro Times-Gazette reported that the New Directions telethon in Greenfield raised a record $13,501 for operational costs of the Christian youth ministry.

Hillsboro Mayor Sandy Harsha and the city council were applauded in a letter to the editor section for recognizing the Hillsboro Lions Club with a Citizen of the Month award for its “dedication to improving the quality of life for the community.”

The schools in Highland County fared well on test scores, with the paper reporting that Fairfield’s scores toppled state averages on the proficiency tests.

The Black Swan Gifts and Antique Shop, located on SR 124 east of Hillsboro, celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Liberty Savings Bank advertised that if “you want to start out right in ’97, maybe you should check with us” and earn interest on checking when you maintain a $100 minimum balance.

Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.

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A look back at news items through the years

By Tim Colliver

[email protected]

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