100 YEARS AGO — 1917

Several times lately the people o Danville have seen the need of maintaining a good brass band. The Messenger begged long and loud last summer but all efforts fell down. Some energetic business men should take up the matter. The men are here and willing to give their time.

Do not decorate your Christmas tree with paper, cotton or any other inflammable material. Use metallic tinsel only; do not use cotton to represent snow, instead use powdered mica or asbestos fiber; do not permit children to light the candles while parents are away because they frequently set fire to their clothing, use electrical illumination since it is safer.

We shall depart from our regular custom and not issue any paper next Tuesday. While the country is engaged in the terrible war and many of those near and dear to all of us are engaged in this fearful conflict, ready and willing to sacrifice life, yet we have many things to be thankful for. The good Lord has blessed us beyond what we could reasonably ask or hope for. Wishing every one a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. — The Messenger Printing Company

On the screen in every moving picture show in the United States, this week, flashes out, between each performance, the figure of a soldier boy, desperately wounded, attended by a Red Cross nurse. It is a pathetic picture. Under it is the legend: “A heart and a dollar may save this boy’s life. A heart and a dollar” may save a life; and that life is being offered for you and yours, that you may live the life of a free man, that your children may grow up under the aegis of a safe and prosperous country, that the menace of Prussian domination,with its accursed rule, may be swept from the earth. You have the dollar; have you the heart?

75 YEARS AGO — 1942

The Danville City Council referred to the question of adjusting the city’s traffic lights to war-time conditions to the police and light committee for experimentation.

The annual Christmas party for community children was staged by the Rotary Club when 12 little girls from the city and county were entertained at a luncheon. Gifts of a new outfit of clothes, candy, nuts, a handkerchief, pen and pencil sets for the older girls and drawing sets for the younger ones. They were chosen partly on the basis of good behavior and school attendance. An individual present was given each child by an anonymous donor living at the Gilcher Hotel.

Civilians in Danville were requested not to make long distance telephone greeting calls during this holiday season, especially on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. The request was made because war and other vital calls must still be made during the holidays and may be heavier than usual at this time. In order that the operators may give these essential calls the quickest service over facilities that can’t be expanded because the needed materials are going into war weapons, it is imperative that greeting and other non-essential calls not be made.

A group of Danville stores will be closed on Friday and Saturday to give their employees a well-earned rest after one of the biggest Christmas shopping seasons ever rung up here. The stores will reopen on Dec. 28 as

usual. The stores that will be closed for two extra days include Chesnut-Salter-Best Hardware, Cinderella Shoppe, The Louisville Store, Veatch’s, Noel Sisters, Fashion Shop, Lucille Baldwin Gift Shop, Milady, Bryant Hardware Co., Globe Shoe Store, Morton’s, The Hub, Montgomery-Ward, O.A. Kays & Co., Kahan’s Jewelry Store, McAfee’s, Aaron Rubin, Flaig Jewelry Co., Baugh & Garner and Freeman’s.

Dec. 24 — The 16,000 fortunate residents of Danville and Boyle County finished preparations today for the celebration of the second Christmas Day since Pearl Harbor. Almost 1,000 families here have boys in the service of their country. Many have been able to come home on furlough, but many others are far away and will be missed. The sadness which is no doubt felt by the families is not allowed to show on the surface; certainly not when one remembers the boys in service are writing, “I like it fine here; my work is OK,” and that’s what they are writing everyday.

Dec. 27 — Observation of Christmas in Boyle County was generally quiet, marred only by the arrest of 17 persons who had over-imbibed and the arrest of another who was driving without an operator’s card.

50 YEARS AGO — 1967

Fire swept through four businesses in Harrodsburg leaving debris littering the former site of Harrodsburg Motors and leveling Pioneer Bowling Lanes, Gabhart Auto Sales and Mercer Auto Parts on Chiles Street.

Just received in time for Christmas are the Ray Harm Screech Owl prints for local people who have joined the National Audubon Society.

The winners in the annual Christmas home decoration contest, sponsored by the Danville Jaycees have been announced. First place went to Mr. and Mrs. Harold Kimberlin of 707 East Main Street. Second place went to Mr. and Mrs. Wiley Mowery of 217 Valley Road, and third place when to Mr. and Mrs. Ron McMahon of 342 Brookside Drive.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Rankin were hosts for a Christmas party in their home for the 13-year-old boy’s Sunday School Class of Lexington Avenue Baptist Church. Following the party, Steele Harmon, coach at Centre College and MR. Rankin accompanied the boys to Centre College where they played ball. Following their game they returned to the Rankin home for a spaghetti supper. Games were played and gifts exchanged. Those who attended were Mark Middleton, Allen Hunt, Mike Camic, Johnny Roberts, Steve Hamblin, Tommy Edwards, David Estes, Guy Fowler, Steve Lawless, Mr. and Mrs. Harmon and their daughters, Kelly and Tracie, Mrs. Rankin, and their children, Gwen, Bruce and Jennifer.

25 YEARS AGO — 1992

After several people spoke against removing existing trees on Main Street, Danville City Commission postponed making its decision for downtown landscaping until January. Mayor John W.D. Bowling pushed the commission hard to make a decision during the meeting. “There have been three public meetings… This process has been going on for 5 1/2 months,” he said. Bids for the total project were $226,507. “This is about ore than money,” Bowling said “Money is important, but this will change the positive image of this community for years to come.” The landscape plan was approved by the city’s beautification committee after talking with landscape specialists and viewing other cities. The downtown landscaping project includes: removing all existing trees, putting in new 12-foot tall trees every 50 feet from First Street to Fifth Street; installing brick planters; rebuilding sidewalks from Fourth to Fifth Street, making Main Street sidewalks accessible to the handicapped; replacing plants in front of city hall and putting utilities underground.

Police are investigating “mini-bombs” that spewed a highly acidic concoction at two Danville locations. The bombs, which combined two household products inside plastic two-liter pop bottles, exploded about 6 p.m. at Minit Mart on Lexington Avenue and at a residence  Navahoe Trail. They had been paced next to a gas pump at Minit Mart and in a mailbox on Navahoe. No one was injured.