ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 15, 1996 TAG: 9602150021
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-11 EDITION: METRO
10 years ago (1986)
Feb. 4: Sadie V. Lawson, a pioneer black teacher and administrator in Roanoke schools, dies at the age of 90. A building at William Fleming High School is named after Lawson and her brother, Fred Lawson, also a teacher and coach.
Feb. 7: Mill Mountain Theatre presents a musical history of Henry Street, once the commercial hub of Gainsboro, Roanoke's oldest black neighborhood. City officials had talked of restoring the street.
A recently proposed Henry Street revival plan has drawn criticism from blacks who say they have been excluded from the planning.
Feb. 4: Miller and Rhoads, a large downtown Roanoke department store that featured a tea room where customers dined after or during shopping, closes. The building on the corner of Campbell Avenue and First Street now houses offices.
Feb. 19: Harold and Shirley Fisher finally get one address and no longer will have to pay taxes to two localities. Part of their house sits in Vinton and the other part in Roanoke. They asked to be a part of Vinton, and Vinton Town Council and Roanoke City Council finally agree.
25 years ago (l971)
Feb.11: Several white students, protesting a comment by a white coach at formerly all-black Addison High School, leave school after the coach tells a school pep rally that white students don't fully support the school's team. On Feb. 12, about 22 students meet with school officials at Booker T. Washington Junior High while a smaller delegation meets with Addison's principal and the coach.
Feb.12: A Roanoke County dog warden reports that a Vinton service station operator killed a rabid fox on Feb. 4, the first rabid animal in the county in 16 years. Another rabid fox was killed in Salem on Jan. 1O, leading authorities to quarantine animals in parts of Salem and Roanoke through Jan. 26. A fox killed in the Bonsack area during the quarantine period turned out to be non-rabid.
Feb. 25: Delegations representing Oakland Elementary and Woodrow Wilson Junior High schools ask the Roanoke City School Board for more space. Oakland students offer $152.97 that they have raised for a multipurpose room at their school.
50 years ago (1946)
Feb. 3: Three people are killed when an Army plane crashes near the top of Green Ridge Mountain, about a 1 1/2 miles north of the Roanoke Municipal Airport. The plane, en route from a Rome, N.Y., army post to Knoxville, Tenn., developed engine trouble.
Feb. 9: A long line forms in the rain outside a ladies shop, apparently because of a false rumor that the shop has "nylons." A sales lady says a line forms nearly every day and no one in the shop could explain it.
Feb.11: Roanoke City Council OKs immediate rat extermination at the city dump and says it will establish a general rat control program.
Feb.12: Salem's old town clock works perfectly after being electrified. The 36-year-old clock was losing time and striking inconsistently. It no longer requires servicing and will be interrupted only when the electricity is turned off.
Feb.14: Virginia K. Rowland, a widow and mother of four boys, is the sole beneficiary of the estate of Marcus Samuel Gross, a 76-year-old penny pincher. Rowland took Gross into her Church Avenue home in May 1945 and took care of him. At the time, Cross told her he would make his will out to her, but didn't say how much he was worth. He had about $20,000 in securities in three safety deposit boxes.
Feb. 20: Frank Cook, owner of Castle Rock Dairy, the principal supplier of raw milk in Roanoke city, announces he's quitting milk delivery because a recently enacted ordinance prohibits the sale of raw milk within the city. However, he will continue milk production on his farm on Cave Spring Road.
Feb. 28: Donald E. Rowe, president of the Rowe-Jordan Furniture Corp., announces the construction of a new plant in Salem. Upholstered living room furniture will be made there and distributed throughout the country.
PAST TENSE is a monthly feature compiled by Melvin E. Matthews Jr. to help readers recall past events in the Roanoke Valley. Information is gathered from past issues of the newspaper.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 linesby CNB