100 YEARS AGO — 1918

The business people of Danville and Boyle County are certainly loyal and patriotic, and no sacrifice is considered too great when it will aid in any way to win the war. When the order came to close up shop every Monday for 10 weeks, not a word of complaint was heard. Yesterday was County Court Day in Boyle, and ordinarily our merchants do an immense business, but every business house in the city was closed. Groceries and meat stores are not required to close any part of Monday, yet they were all closed for the entire afternoon and evening. You could not get a beefsteak or pork chop any place. The Danville Laundry and Dry Cleaning Company, which was not required to close, did no business at all.

In Perryville, the electric lights will go out at 10 o’clock instead of 11 to help relieve the coal situation for the present. And on Mondays the garages and dry good stores will close to comply with orders from the federal government.

Mrs. E.L. Grubbs, the Boyle County agent of the Girls’ Canning Clubs, reports a few more cases of canned tomatoes, beans and soup mixtures are still on hand which the girls are anxious to dispose of in the next two weeks. Quart size tomatoes and beans are $2.25 per dozen; soup mixtures are 25 cents a can; pint size is $1.75 per dozen. Call Junction City No. 46 and leave an order with Mrs. Grubbs, which will be much appreciated and delivered promptly.

Never before probably were so many farm sleds and slides, as some call them, have been seen on the streets of Danville, as has been witnessed in the past few days. They seem to have almost supplanted the wheeled vehicles from the country, because of the deep snow. A great deal of tobacco has been brought to the local markets in this manner, with the loads being carried on wagon beds mounted on slides or runners. Many have used this means of coming to Danville to do their shopping. One of the oldest residents here said it looked, “like the good old times away back yonder when I was a boy.”

Mrs. G.M. Treadway, of Paint Lick, had the narrowest escape of her life on Thursday afternoon when she attempted to cross the railroad bridge and was caught by an approaching train. When she saw there was no means of escaping, except by jumping, she had the presence of mind to lie down. But in some way was not able to escape completely, for it seemed that the steps of each car seemed to strike her and finally she was knocked off the bridge and fell about 15 feet.

75 YEARS AGO — 1943

“When I arrived in Danville Saturday night, I was indeed a happy sailor!” said Stanley “Firpo” Mynes, electrician’s mate, United States Navy, as he began to recount his dramatic experiences upon his return from nine months in service to Uncle Sam. 

Mynes was once reported missing after the sinking of his ship. However, he had been transferred to another ship which was hit, but not sunk. The sailor returned to Danville not only very much alive, but appearing healthy and happy and ready to return to duty on Feb. 12. 

He is visiting his mother, Mrs. A.C. Cassity and sister, Mrs. John W. Farmer. 

Firpo, as he is affectionately known since his days as an athlete here in high school said, “…During my stay in Africa, I had the honor of seeing two more Danville boys, Jackie Sewell and John Joiner. I found them well and happy…On Nov. 7, a date all will remember, most of the crew saw its first real action of this war…At about 10 Sunday we had a bombing attack on our ships, which cost the enemy several planes…Then our troubles started! 

The harbor at Algiers surrendered, other ships moved in but our ship was crippled, and we had to stay out about five miles from the others and fight it out. The night and following morning passed calmly but at 1 p.m. the bombers came again. We fought them off but a submarine had slipped through to our starboard side. It sent two more torpedoes to our midship. The ship slowly began to sink. 

We abandoned ship, went to shore about three miles away on a life raft, and almost everyone survived. Here I lived for two days with American soldiers. One asked me where my home was. When I said Kentucky, he told me he thought so having noticed my bare feet…” 

Mynes went on to say an American ship picked them up and took them to Gibraltar where the crew was divided and assigned to different ships. “But again, after going only 150 miles on our way our ship was hit! Put out of commission, a Norwegian destroyer rescued us at day break and back to Gibraltar we went…”

50 YEARS AGO — 1968

Building inspector R.L. Farris has issued a warning that city ordinances prohibit removing condemnation notices from buildings found unfit by his department. The maximum fine will be $100.

The K-T Real Estate Development Company, of Danville, has been advised that its $4,000,000 resort complex on the shores of Norris Lake in Tennessee, has been approved for development. R.A. Chinn, of Danville is president of the company, and the two other Danvillians who are members of the company are pharmacist George Grider, and George Barker. The proposed resort, which would be known as Tanglewood Shores, would be built on about 2,000 acres of a peninsula between the Clinch and Powell Rivers in the vicinity of the Central Peninsula State Forest.

Danville’s Super-X “shopper style” drug store will have its formal opening in its new building this week. Lee Garnett, manager, came here from Harrodsburg where he had managed a similar store. Garnett said that surveys of women, who do most of the drug store shopping, show that they want friendly, interested clerks, prompt and reliable prescription service, low prices and convenient location with plenty of parking. The store is self-service and is only a cash store. There are no deliveries.

Danville city council gave unanimous endorsement to a resolution giving support to the Community Action Promotion of Danville corporation, being set up here to devote effort and encouragement for private citizens to construct low-cost housing. The organization, a non-stock and non-profit company, was set up by Eben Henson, William Harmon, Arnold S. Gregory, J. Sterling Towles and James Norvell.

25 YEARS AGO — 1993

Chuck Stallard likes to kid his agriculture students that they now have their very own catfish herd instead of cattle. Stallard’s ag students at Garrard County High School are learning the basics of fish farming by raising 200 channel catfish this semester. “As far as I know, we are the only agriculture department in the state that has a working aquaculture tank,” he said.