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 1948, a front-page article in the Hillsboro News-Herald began with the headline, “Car hits train, not vice versa,” and explained how an accident involving a local insurance salesman “did not knock a B&O freight train off the track late Tuesday — but he made a stab at it.” The driver was uninjured.
In another auto mishap, a South Salem man got his truck stuck in a creek bed near Greenfield, and it was promptly washed away by a flash flood. The driver was uninjured. The truck had been carrying eggs and cans of cream. All the cargo was lost.
The county recorder did “considerable business” in the previous year, filing a total of 1,913 deeds from June of 1947 to June 1948.
A Dayton man was fined $5 for running a red light in Hillsboro.
A Schaefer’s Supermarket advertisement offered fresh ground hamburger for 55 cents per pound, smoked picnic hams for 53 cents per pound, bologna for 35 cents per pound and pure bulk lard for 27 cents per pound.
The Colony Theatre advertised showings of “Wyoming,” starring William Elliott and Vera Ralston.
This week in 1957, the News-Herald reported a crowd of about 25,000 people attended Hillsboro’s Sesquicentennial parade. “Take a good look at West Main Street,” said a caption beneath a photo of the throng. “You won’t see it like this again for a long, long time.”
A man was injured by an apparent ricochet near a shooting gallery in town. The man said he felt a “sting” on his chest, and physicians found a cut where he had been struck by a projectile. The shooting gallery was closed after the incident.
Firemen investigated a fire that occurred at a home on Bigelow Street in the early hours of the morning. The blaze reportedly damaged a cot where a person was sleeping. The cause of the fire was undetermined due to conflicting accounts from witnesses, the article said.
Serta-Lux advertised a “modern smooth-top mattress” for $44.
This week in 1972, the News-Herald reported a Greenfield man became trapped for some time in his own truck after he struck the side of Bob’s Super Valu supermarket in an alley, causing high-voltage lines to come down onto his vehicle.
A photo on the front page showed Mr. and Mrs. Tom Wilkin and their children, Cindy and Terry, dressed up as pioneers. The family was a member of the Highland County Muzzle Loading Club.
About 1,300 farmers in Highland County received farm set-aside program payments totalling $1,250,000. The payments were made by the government for farmers who agreed to set aside part of their land from production in order to meet a national objective of balancing supply and demand.
Attendance figures at Rocky Fork Lake showed a total of 55,610 people visited the lake over the weekend.
This week in 2001, The Times-Gazette reported the Highland County Sheriff’s Office had busted a meth lab. The lab was located in Clay Township, according to the article. A man was arrested and charged with manufacturing crystal methamphetamine.
Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Ralph Vanzant warned of a potential driveway paving scam in Highland County.
Hannah Rumpke, age 3, was shown on the front page holding her Bassett hound.
In sports, the Hillsboro volleyball program held a camp for its junior high and varsity players, and Hillsboro’s Tournament of Champions, a golf competition, was set to get underway the following day.
Vandals struck the Highland County Community Action Head Start Program on Elm Street in Hillsboro, spray painting orange graffiti on buses.
An open house was to be held for a new water tower in Leesburg, which was said to hold 300,000 gallons of water.
Super K-Mart Center in Hillsboro advertised corn on the cob for 5 cents, fried chicken for $3.99, Lay’s potato chips for $3 and Coke for 39 cents.
Reach David Wright at 937-402-2570, or on Twitter @DavidWrighter.
