100 YEARS AGO — 1912
David Davis, of Danville, brought to the newspaper office a pair of mongrels — half chicken and half turkey. The fowls have chicken bodies and turkey heads. They make a noise during the day of a chicken and at night they sound like a turkey. The fowls are five months old, but are very small for their age. They are just as tame as can be and are playful too. They frequently ride the back of Mr. Davis’ dog, with which they have been raised.
Mr. Hankla, of Perryville, having heard of the success of the Harrodsburg people in securing markers for the graves of Confederate soldiers buried there, came in to town to see Mr. Meriwether Smith to enlist his services on behalf of the residents in Perryville who are making an effort to secure markers for the graves of Confederate soldiers who died at the Goodnight Hospital.
Mr. Hankla says there are over 100 graves on the old Goodnight farm for which markers should be secured under the act passed by Congress several years ago.
One of the best measures adopted by the Kentucky Legislature was the Douglas bill permitting Danville to use the profits of the water plant to improve the city’s streets. All people pay taxes toward the water system, yet a large percentage of the people are unable to take advantage of this splendid public utility and therefore have had but little use of the expenditure in taxes. In fact, the fire protection is all they get. The use of water profits to improve the streets for everyone is reasonable.
75 YEARS AGO — 1937
The Biology Department of the Junction City High School has been presented with a baby alligator by Tommie Burke. On a recent trip to Florida he came across the animal and brought it home intending to present it to his grandmother. But, to his disapointment she would not accept it. No official name has been given to the alligator yet.
A drive to rid Danville of the spring and summer infestation of mosquitos is on. The Danville Rotary Club and the Red Cross Sanitation Committee will be searching for the pests’ breeding places so that they can be cleaned out. Two particular breeding places include a large lot on South Second Street where water stands at long intervals; and the sewage disposal plant at Sixth and Earl streets.
Also, there were 30 cases of malarial fever in the Parksville area, so apparently a dangerous mosquito breeding spot is there too.
The Bate High School Bulldogs will be playing a post-season basketball game to raise funds to send the team (runners up in the recent state championship tournament) to the national tourney in Gary, Ind.
The local school finds it necessary to raise $100 for the team expenses. The faculty has already raised $15 of the sum.
The contract to locate the Goodall Company’s manufacturing plant for Palm Beach suits has been signed.The new plant will employ about 600 people with a payroll over $1,000 daily.
The two-story factory building should be erected by July 15 and will be located on Stanford Street on land recently acquired for that purpose from the state. It was formerly part of a pasturage for the Kentucky School for the Deaf and adjoins the Bate Colored grade and high schools.
50 YEARS AGO — 1962
The Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling of the Boyle Circuit Court that the City of Danville can erect a building for the Fram Corp. in Junction City. The friendly suit had been brought by Iren and margaret Norvvell vs. the City of Danville, The City of Junction City and The Fram Corp.
The higher court’s ruling means that Danville can now legally go ahead and finance and build the Fram building in Junction City.
Centre College’s old Boyle-Humphrey Gymnasium, where the first Kentucky state high school basketball tournament was held in 1918, has undergone a $300,000 complete rehabilitation and is now a beautiful, modern student center. It is the first such student center or union ever on the historic 143-year old campus.
The building will be named Sutcliffe Hall in honor of Centre alumni Mr. and Mrs. Elbert G. Sutcliffe of Harrods Creek and Danville. (She is the former Edith McClure of Danville and a sister of Dr. George McClure Jr. of Danville.) The student center was made possible by a gift to Centre from the Sutcliffes.
The Earl Butcher family of Stanford has been named “Family of the Year” in the Danville District of the Methodist Church, which will then be the 14-county district’s nominee for the Church’s “National Family of the Year.”
Mr. and Mrs. Butcher, both of whom are school teachers, have two daughters, Jane Marie and Rosanne.
25 YEARS AGO — 1987
Completion of the U.S. 127-150 bypass around Danville is one of the major highlights of the proposed revision of the county’s Comprehensive Plan for the next 20 years. Concerning the proposals for road improvements, the existing leg of the bypass was built in the late 1960s but has yet to be completed. Under the revised plan, Goggin Road would be extended westward from its intersection with Ky. 34 (Lexington Road) to connect with the bypass at a point just north of Argyll subdivision, and Goggin Road would be extended southward from its intersection with Ky. 52 (Lancaster Road) to connect with U.S. 150 south of Danville.
The Danville school board is considering making a $500 donation to the high school seniors’ first effort at a Project Graduation Party. The legality of the donation must be considered said board member James McAfee. The seniors hope to raise $2,000 to be able to hold the drug and alcohol-free party at Centre College.
Although the search is still in its early stages, a Garrard County farm owned by Nelson Bunker Hunt ranks as one of the top prospects for the site of a University of Kentucky agricultural experiment station. The 2,000-acre Hunt farm, which is at the corner of Ky. 34 and U.S. 27, is an excellent farm that meets all of the criteria said a UK spokesman.
