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 1879, the Highland Weekly News reported that ex-Lt. Gov. Hart and J.J. Pugsley, esq. would be addressing the people at the Highland County Courthouse on Oct. 10, and that Judge Thompson would be in Leesburg and New Lexington (now Highland) the following evening.
There was a big boom at the sign of the big boot, and bargains galore at John Rittenhouse’s Palace Boot and Shoe Store. They advertised all kinds of boots and shoes at prices way down at the store, that was located on High St., between Main and Walnut.
In news from New Market, the weather was described as hot and dry and “rather uncomfortable for loafers,” and that about 250 of the village’s nearby residents visited the Winchester Fair by taking the narrow-gauge railroad.
The “oldest inhabitants” of the county said they couldn’t remember when the weather had been so hot in early October, with the paper reporting that the mercury stood at 90 degrees in the shade.
The Rocky Fork Flouring Mills introduced a “new process” to make patent flour, claiming that they were the only mill outside of Hillsboro and Greenfield that could make the unique blend.
This week in 1922, the Greenfield Republican reported that all schools had to teach a weekly fire prevention course, with the law enacted by the Ohio legislature providing for 40 weekly classes for public, private and parochial schools.
The second annual meeting of the Highland County Beagle Club opened in Greenfield at the Motor Inn Garage, drawing breeders and trainers of beagles from all over the country.
Mr. F.W. Coyner received at his saw mill what he thought was one of the biggest sycamore logs he had ever seen, measuring 12-feet in length, 54-inches in diameter and producing nearly 2,000 feet of lumber. He said the tree came from the banks of Rattlesnake Creek.
Jamra’s Grocery in the Elliott Hotel Building offered a 3-pound tin of Golden Sun coffee for 99 cents, 25-lpound bag of pure cane sugar for $1.70 and a two-bushel bag of red potatoes for $3.50.
Washington C.H. capitalists were on the move, the paper reported, to build a dam across Paint Creek near the mouth of Rocky Fork, with the erection of a power plant that would produce 2,000 electrical horsepower to neighboring towns. An engineer said it would cost about $150,000 (nearly $2.2 billion today) to build the 150-foot long dam.
This week in 1964, the Hillsboro Press-Gazette reported that due to water shortages in Hillsboro and Greenfield, county commissioners drafted a letter to Gov. James Rhoades asking for piping and pumps to lay supplemental lines for piping water from an old stone quarry to Greenfield, and from Mason’s Stone Quarry to Hillsboro.
The Academy Award-winning movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” starring William Holden and Alec Guinness, was showing at the Colony Theatre over the weekend.
Meanwhile, it was Lucky Buck Night at the Roselawn Drive-In at Allensburg for Stanley Kramer’s “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” which featured a huge lineup of popular comedy stars.
Holding hands for 50 years were Mr. and Mrs. C.O. Charles of Sinking Spring. The parents of five children, eight grand-children and six great-grandchildren tied the knot on Oct. 14, 1914.
Magee’s Bakery in Hillsboro was featuring a special on cake donuts and potato bread. One dozen assorted cake donuts were 39 cents, and a loaf of home-baked potato bread was 30 cents.
Hillsboro Auto Co. said it was loaded with trade-ins on their sensational line of new cars for 1965. A 1962 Ford Galaxie two-door hardtop with radio, heater and white-wall tires, V-8 engine and automatic transmission was $1,675, or a 1957 Ford two-door sedan with a retractable top, six-cylinder motor with automatic transmission, radio and heater was $595.
Miss Tamara Rogers was heading up the new team of Hillsboro High School majorettes for the 1964-65 school year, with the squad performing three shows during the football season under Mr. George Miller’s direction. Senior Anne Kincaid, junior’s Diane Hopkins, Sharon Hughes, Ellen Lafferty, Pam Limes and Mary Parr, and sophomores Sharon Bays and Susie Buck were the other members of what the paper called “an impressive majorette line.”
The Hillsboro Junior Women’s Club sponsored a sock hop and brought one of the WSAI Cincinnati “Good Guys” to the Hillsboro Armory. “Trusty” Dusty Rhoades spun the hot wax for more 300 teenagers who “jumped and jived as he revived another 45!”
This week in 1981, the Hillsboro Press-Gazette reported the Hillsboro Indians were set to play their second SCOL game of the season, against arch-rival Greenfield. The paper reported that the Tribe was traveling to Greenfield to take on the smaller but shifty Tigers, who surprised the league the week before with a 12-0 upset of Washington C.H.
In Buford news, Jim and Vickie Fetters announced the birth of a son. Mr. and Mrs. Herman Fetters were the paternal grandparents of Barth Adam, who was born Sept. 29 at Clinton Memorial Hospital.
Bill Murray was starring in a movie billed as “the story of a man who wanted keep the world safe for democracy… and meet girls.” “Stripes” was showing at the Colony theatre and co-starred Harold Ramis, Warren Oates and John Candy.
Hillsboro Western Auto had the new Magnavox 19-inch color portable TV set with automatic fine tuning, a 100 scan-line picture tube for a better picture and weighing less than 30 pounds, for $399.
Highland County viewers were watching the top 10 shows for Oct. 1981, which included “Hart to Hart,” “Three’s Company,” “The Jefferson’s,” “Dukes of Hazzard,” and “M-A-S-H.” Rounding out the top 10 was “Monday Night Football,” “Alice,” 60 Minutes,” “Trapper John M.D.” and “House Calls.”
Cincinnati children’s TV legends Uncle Al Lewis and Captain Windy helped Hills and Dales kick off its annual cookie sale, buying the first Currier & Ives tin that contained two pounds of cookies.
Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.
