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 years gone by.
This week in 1901, the Hillsboro Dispatch reported that the question of arson was being raised in connection with a fire that destroyed a downtown Hillsboro business. The paper queried whether those who held fire insurance policies were about to “cash in on their investment.”
“Quo Vadis” was going to be on stage at Bell’s Opera House on March 29, with the reporter writing that it was a masterpiece of Rome’s splendid decadence.
Revivo restored a man’s vitality, or so the ad for W.R. Smith & Company druggists claimed, guaranting to produce quick results in 30 days or your dollar would be cheerfully refunded.
Household necessities available at The Famous Store in Hillsboro included potato mashers for 3 cents, a 40-count box of moth balls for 4 cents and darning needles were 3 cents per dozen.
The Elk Barber Shop was simply described as “the swellest,” and Joe Winegardner said he gave the best haircuts and shaves in town, directly opposite the Parker House in Hillsboro.
The reporter of the happenings in Elmville said that Tom Gall, a lumber dealer, made a business trip to Hillsboro Saturday, William Hottinger moved to Adams County to take care of his mother and work at his trade, and the Elmville postmaster was hard at work in the woods, “grubbing and clearing, and laying in his firewood for next winter.”
This week in 1927, the Hillsboro News Herald reported that Marshall High School lost the state Class D championship by the narrowest of margins, losing to Kent State by one bucket 20-18.
Weather permitting, the county commissioners and the Ohio Highway Department said work would commence on rebuilding state roadways in the county. Construction would begin on the Samantha to Highland line, the stretch of roadway extending from Sugartree Ridge to the Adams County line, and from near Rainsboro through Carmel to Stultz’s Corner.
Highland County Farm Bureau Chairman F.G. Lyle was the featured guest on WAIU Radio in Columbus. He spoke for 10 minutes on co-operative marketing in Ohio, since he was president of the Ohio Live Stock Co-operative Association.
Major Roy Haines of Hillsboro was named the chief of prohibition under a new federal reorganization plan, in a selection seen a big victory for the anti-saloon league and prohibition leaders.
A barn on the farm of Mrs. A.J. Winegar at New Petersburg burned to the ground Saturday morning, but neighbors were able to prevent the flames from spreading to the nearby house and garage.
This week in 1949, the Hillsboro Press-Gazette reported that 75 Highland County students were slated to graduate in May, with Lynchburg having the largest graduating class of 23 seniors, Mowrystown second with 20 graduates and Fairfield third with 18. Hillsboro and Greenfield were not part of the county school system.
The Rocky Fork dam and reservoir in southeastern Highland County had been taken off the list of projects in the upcoming House Appropriations Committee of Congress.
A mild epidemic of three-day measles continued at Greenfield, but very few cases surfaced elsewhere in the county. It was reported that up 20 percent of the pupils and teachers in the Greenfield schools were absent.
William Hapner was the new postmaster of the Hillsboro Post Office, having been confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
A magic show was coming to the Marshall School auditorium March 8, sponsored by the Home and School Association.
Why drive when the Greyhound bus terminal was in the Parker Hotel? One-way bus fare to Cincinnati was $1.25, you could go to St. Louis for $7.05 or all the way to New York for $11.85.
Local law enforcement captured three escaped prisoners from the Chillicothe Federal Reformatory. All three were serving prison sentences for automobile thefts, and were captured without incident by Highland County Sheriff F.F. Gustin and patrolman Walter Reffitt.
Wainscott Buick in Hillsboro advised motorists to give the new Buick Roadmaster lots of room on the highway if they saw it in their rear-view mirror, since it was 18-feet long, weighed 4,400 pounds and sported a 150-horsepower Firebird engine. Meanwhile, Hillsboro Auto Company encouraged customers to “drive a Ford and feel the difference” in its new Ford Tudor Sedan for 1949, sticker priced at $1,492.25.
This week in 1973, the Hillsboro Press-Gazette reported that Mildred McCloskey, head of Hillsboro High School’s English program, announced that instead of the typical English class, 121 students had volunteered for a new nine-week program with an expanded list of contemporary book titles such as “The Cross and the Switchblade” and “Catch-22.”
Developers were continuing to work on the as-yet unnamed shopping center on U.S. 62 north of Hillsboro. Kroger, Revco and G.C. Murphy were confirmed as tenants.
Moore Drop Forging Company was changing its name to fit the changing times. Company president John Geary announced that effective April 2, 1973, the manufacturing plant on Moore Road in Hillsboro would be known as The Moore Company, Inc.
Glenn Hook announced his resignation as superintendent of Greenfield Exempted Village Schools. Hook had been in public school work for 39 years, and was leaving in the middle of a five-year contract.
At the Hoagland General Store on U.S. 50 west of Hillsboro, head lettuce as 39 cents, Cedar Hill cottage cheese was 69 cents in a one-pound carton, eggs were 59 cents a dozen and 8-track stereo tapes were $3.95.
State Representative Joe Hiestand advised Greenfield leaders to sign petitions and submit them to the state in connection with the decommissioned Ohio National Guard Armory. A bill to sell the armory was before the state legislature.
Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.
