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 1901, the Hillsboro News Herald reported a Lynchburg youth’s foot became accidentally entangled in the ropes of a hot air balloon. Twelve-year old Grant Hopkins was carried 2,000 feet into the air at the Lynchburg Fair, dangling under the gondola upside down. He was brought back to the ground unharmed.
The B & O railroad advertised reduced rates for Hillsboro departures. For the Friends Yearly Meeting in Wilmington, round trip tickets were $1.40, and a round trip to the Ohio State Fair was $3.90.
A former Highland County resident who lived in Madisonville survived an attempted poisoning, with the paper reporting that “some miscreant” threw a quantity of blue vitral into the cistern of Harley Ladd. Ladd was the county surveyor from 1880 to 1883.
Hillsboro was about to have another hardware store. J.A. McCoppin was joining forces with C.S. Bell to open the new Hillsboro Hardware Company in the opera house block in the rooms of the recently vacated Hub Clothing Company and Stanley’s Jewelry Store.
The Faris-Gossett reunion, which was held at Fort Salem the previous Thursday, eclipsed the former ones in attendance and interest. The paper reported that upwards of 2,500 people were present.
This week in 1922, the Hillsboro News Herald reported that with the new school year, two new teachers had been hired by the Hillsboro Board of Education. Miss Dorothy Scarborough would teach English and biology, and Miss Marjorie Reed would be teaching English, Latin and dramatics.
However, money woes were making the opening of schools in Highland County uncertain. According to the county school board, there was only enough money in the bank to guarantee operations for three or four months.
One case of typhoid had been reported in the city, and the health commissioner cautioned against drinking any well water in Hillsboro unless it had been been boiled for five minutes.
A unique honor and gift was given to former county resident Wilbur Carr of Taylorsville. Carr was the U.S. assistant secretary of state and was presented with an album with 1,300 signatures of well-wishers from around the world after his retirement.
Plans were being made to secure federal funding for the construction of new Hillsboro High School. The writer pointed out that the Washington building would not be sufficient to accomodate students in the next few years.
Pricetown held a big homecoming at the Old Home Church, with crowds estimated at nearly 500 to hear former pastor John Faris bring a message as he used to do some 30 years earlier.
Local trapshooter Joe Hiestand won the amateur championship of the world in the feature event of the annual T. Clarence Marshall trap shooting classic in Yorklyn, Deleware. He shot 497 of 500 clay birds out of the sky.
Dragoo Motor Co. at 120 W. Main St. in Hillsboro advertised a way to spend less on motoring. Buy a new 1922 Chevrolet, base priced at just $445.
This week in 1966, the Hillsboro Press-Gazette reported that with the passage of a bond issue in the Bright School District, plans were moving forward for a new high school building.
At the Colony Theatre, Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra were starring in “The Wild Angels,” along with the teen tune flick “Out of Sight,” featuring Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Turtles, Dobie Gray and more.
It was back to school time, and Litt’s air-conditioned children’s shop was Hillsboro headquarters for back to school clothes for those kids who wanted to be “on the well-dressed honor roll.”
The slo-pitch softball team from the Moore Drop Forging Co. was on its way to the state district finals after winning the District 8 Tournament for industrial teams at Wellston.
Ohio candidate for attorney William Saxbe was planning a campaign stop in Highland County at month’s end. Following a trip to Pike County, Saxbe would be at the Highlander Restaurant in Hillsboro for a coffee hour meet ‘n greet.
This week in 2002, the Hillsboro Times-Gazette that the Panhandle Dairy Bar was opening in the old former Gold Star Chili building at 1105 N. High St. in Hillsboro. Dave Inman said the location became available when Gold Star moved its restaurant to Harry Sauner Road.
In remembering the death of “the king of rock ‘n roll,” Elvis Presley, columnist and pastor Chuck Tabor posed the question “are we praying like Elvis or Elijah?” He contrasted the lyrics to an Elvis hit “one night with you is what I’m praying for” to the prophet Elijah, who the Bible said prayed down fire from heaven, and also for a drought that lasted three and a half years.
AEP asked how a person would know if they had come in contact with a power line. In the ad promoting safety and caution, the answer was “let’s just say, the answer can hit you like a bolt of lightning.”
The Lady Indians tennis team notched its first ever victory against a tough New Richmond squad. Hillsboro won 4-1 for its first win since joining the Southern Buckeye Conference.
On the other side of the world, a Lynchburg-Clay soccer player offered a unique perspective on schooling in other countries. Christian Myers was pictured with his mother and brother standing in Moscow’s Red Square.
Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.
