100 YEARS AGO — 1919

The Club House at Camp Gravy was burned to the ground Saturday afternoon. The fire was started by the explosion of a gasoline stove. This is sad news to the young people of Danville, as the camp Gravy Club House was the only one on the river which could be rented for river parties, since the other houses were private clubs. It will be necessary from now on for the members of Danville younger set to “hang their clothes on a hickory limb” and hide behind a bush while getting into their swimming suits.

The picnic for colored people which is being given by the Doric Lodge of Masons, is being made a live and festive occasion. A parade passed through town headed by the Bardstown Military band, escorting the Bardstown and Danville baseball teams out to Cheek Field. A lively contest is expected after which there will be two speeches, King Swope, Republican nominee for Congress, and the Rev. B.L. Monday, of Henderson, who is the leading negro orator of the state, being the speakers. Right after the close of the last speech, the picnickers will proceed to the Masonic Hall on Second Street where the new building, which is a credit to the town, will be dedicated.

Capt. S.D. VanPelt is the proud owner of a duplicate of the first American Flag ever made, containing 13 stars representing the original 13 states. Capt. VanPelt had the flag made to order. He is a strong believer of old time patriotism and never misses an opportunity to impress its importance on others. He is very enthusiastic for the big Fourth of July celebration to be held in Danville next Friday.

75 YEARS AGO — 1944

Applications from high school girls for admission to Centre College next September have passed all previous marks at this time of the summer. If the applications continue to come in at the present rate, the college may be forced to reject applications for the first time since the consolidation of Centre and the Kentucky College for Women.

The sons of Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Adams, of Cecil Street, had the rare good fortune to be assigned leaves from service with the U.S. Navy during the same period, and are spending their free time at the home of their parents in Danville. Shelton and William Adams have both seen battle action.

All records were broken last night when a total of 5,625 surgical dressings were made in the Red Cross workman in the basement of the Young-Rodes library.

The Parksville and Perryville Farm Shops which have been operating for a long time will remain open for at least another year. The Parksville shop in the Parksville high school holds sessions on Thursday nights and Perryville high school is open every Friday night. Sessions last from 7 until 10 o’clock. Farmers are given the opportunity to repair equipment which might otherwise be discarded or irreplaceable, although needed to aid the war effort.

The largest fire in Boyle County this year virtually destroyed two fields belonging to Joe Irvine on Lebanon Pike. Between 40 and 50 men fought the fire for about six hours, plowing around the blazing grass to keep the flames from spreading to nearby farms.

50 YEARS AGO — 1969

The citizens of Danville, through the Model Cities’ Program, have been studying economic growth in this community, and are seeking ways to continue the growth. The study concentrated on commercial, industrial and labor force development. If business is to grow, particularly in the downtown area, they will have to do more to make shopping a pleasing experience for the buyer. For industrial development to grow, traffic congestion in the Lebanon, Perryville roads will have to be eliminated. Also the labor force in the community should be trained to work in or at jobs that pay a living wage.

An organized group of residents of the Henry Jackson Park area, with the support of other people, will be appearing before the city council to ask that maintenance provisions for the park be placed in the budget for 1969-70. Several speakers at an earlier meeting deplored the fact that previous city administrations provided insufficient or no funds for maintenance and care of the property. As a result, vandalism has been rampant and  weeds and poison ivy are overgrown.

Kentucky’s two Presbyterian Synods have dissolved their 150-year old union with Centre College. The vote specified that the two institutions would remain on friendly terms, but the college would no longer be included in the synods’ annual budget. It also means that Centre College Trustees will bear the full burden of governance and sustenance of the college and that the college president and a majority of its 27 trustees no longer will have to be members of some Presbyterian  or reformed church.

25 YEARS AGO — 1994

The Orchid Girls Club is celebrating its 45th anniversary. Organized by Carrie Gash in 1949, Susie Bailey and Annie Segar were also original members. According to Segar, Gash was lonely and wanted to get together with friends on a regular basis. She made a few phone calls and soon a group of 13 women were organized to meet two times a month to eat dinner and play whist, a card game similar to bridge. In addition to regular meetings and annual dances, the Orchid Girls traveled together as much as possible. Also, an Orchid Girl is an Orchid Girl until she dies. “We always send an orchid,” Bailey said.

About 500 graduates of old Danville High School gathered for a reunion this weekend. Pictures of operettas put on at the Walnut STreet school captured the attention of members of the Class of 1934 as it gathered at The Tea Leaf. Younger graduates, from 1959 to the last class in 1964, enjoyed a casual lunch at the American Legion post. The building housed the high school from 1918 to 1964 and was located where Centre College’s Norton Center for the Arts now stands. The oldest graduate at the reunion was Ethel Clark Lawrence from the class of 1920. Pat Johnson Russel of the Class of 1961 had Lawrence as her third grade teacher.

A new phrase is making the rounds that describes the direction that personal computers are taking — an information furnace. After 20 years as an independent box, the PC is evolving into a control center that will tie together the phone, TV, thermostat and other electronic devices in every room of the house. Like a furnace, the PC of the future will be hidden from view in the basement, closet or drawer.