100 YEARS AGO — 1917

Easter Sunday falls this year on April 8, being neither late nor early. Last year it came on April 28, and next year it will fall on March 31. In 1913 Easter Sunday came upon the earliest date for it in this century, March 23. Last year’s Easter Sunday on April 23, was as late as it will be before the year 2000, when it again falls on that date. Easter is what is called a movable festival. It is always held on the next Sunday after the Vernal full moon, with the exception that if the vernal full moon should fall on a Sunday, then to avoid all conformity with the Jewish practice, Easter is not kept till the following Sunday. The vernal full moon is that which either takes place on March 21 or on the next date after March 21. If the vernal full moon falls on March 21 and that day happens to be a Sunday, then Easter cannot be held until April 25, which is the latest date on which Easter can fall, the earliest being March 22.

The new Hotel Gilcher was this morning thrown open to the public and although everything was new from cellar to garret the business moved off with perfect smootheness and there was absolutely no confusion among the many servants and other employees — the whole household working together as though they had been on the job for years. Constructed of steel and concrete, it is absolutely fire proof as well as sanitary. The rooms are amply large, every one an outside room. There is hot and cold water and inter-communicating telephones in every room. The dining room is large, airy and very attractive. A large elevator runs from the office to the fourth floor. The cigar stand is owned and operated by W.R. Pickett, who has a neat stand filled with the best brands.

Headline: Congress Backs Wilson: War Declared! 

Thomas A. Edison has announced that he has invented a plan to use electricity under the water which will destroy submarines. 

The Danville colored baseball team, considered as good as any in Kentucky, and the Lexington Hustlers will play a game on the College grounds next Monday afternoon. Admission is 25 cents and children 15 cents. As there is keen rivalry between the teams a hard fought battle will be staged.

75 YEARS AGO — 1942

Walter Dunn, chairman of the Salvage for Defense, or offense if you please, has perfected his organization for the scrap metals drive — old iron, steel, brass, aluminum, lead and zinc for Boyle County, no tin is wanted at this time, will be held on April 11. This is a state-wide movement to help win the war and it has been going over in a splendid way in other counties, and Boyle County of course, will be no exception to the rule, unless its collection shall overshoot some of the neighboring counties.

Plans were made at the Goodall clothing factory where by all 575 employees will purchase defense bonds by deducting a percentage of their earnings each week.

If you haven’t an old toothpaste or shaving tube around the house, you’re going to be out of luck. The War Production Board today prohibited retail merchants from selling these articles to any customer who fails to return some type of used collapsible tube for each new one purchased. Local druggists said that they have received no official notification of this new rule but would start enforcing it at once. One of them, O.R. Ware, said that he had been requesting customers to turn in used tubes for some time.

A called meeting of the Danville city council to decide whether the city should pay $5,000 for an addition to Bellevue Cemetery as ordered by a county court judgment in a condemnation lawsuit, the council ended a stormy session by voting nine to two to accept the court’s ruling. After most of the councilmen had termed the price “outrageous” the council voted in favor accepting the judgment.

50 YEARS AGO — 1967

150 years ago, April 3, 1792 — The 45 men who rode into Danville yesterday to represent their nine counties at the Constitutional Convention, having rested overnight from their long journeys on horseback, began to settle down to the serious business of drafting Kentucky’s first Constitution. Samuel McDowell of Danville, Mercer County, was elected President of the Convention.

The following list of articles to be seen at the exhibit of the antiques during the sesquicentennial commemoration, should interest many people: A compass used by Governor Shelby; a handkerchief carried by a bride in the 1880s and 50 years later at her golden wedding anniversary; a box which was cut to fit the end of a wagon which brought the possessions of a Danville family through Cumberland Gap; and two watercolor pictures painted in 1814 by a local school girl.

Three men were found guilty of taking fish contrary to law after two of them pleaded guilty to what the game warden said was, “the biggest case of its kind in Kentucky’s history.” When the three men, all of Lancaster, were arrested at Dix River above the backwater last night, they had in their possession 270 pounds of striped bass, ranging in weight from about a pound to over four pounds. The fish had come into the shallow water to spawn. The men, and three other car loads of men, were engaged in catching the fish with giggs and small mesh nets that entangled the gils and fins of the bass. The game warden said that when they came upon the illegal fishermen, there were so many lanterns that it looked like a small city. Warned by shouts of the first men caught the remaining men made their escape. Superintendent of Game Wardens said it would take the state years to replace the fish that were destroyed, not because of the loss of the hundreds of grown fish killed, but because of the loss of the thousands of eggs that were ruined.

25 YEARS AGO — 1992

Fowl play has left Danville city hall in shatters. A rogue chicken, seen wandering around city hall recently, crashed through one of the building’s front plate glass windows this morning. Mayor John W.D. Bowling said the chicken must have seen its reflection in the window, attacked and lost a game of chicken. The window was shattered and the bird died.

Because of fights in recent months between present and former students, athletic competition between Mercer County High School and Harrodsburg High School might be suspended during the next regular season.

About 50 Boyle County Middle School students roamed Main Street in Danville last weekend. They weren’t lost, they were looking for architectural treasures. The hunt was part of the school’s Soaring Saturdays, a series of trips and activities throughout the semester aimed at helping students who have the potential to succeed in class but need some extra time and attention. Funding for the program came from a $32,089 state grant from Extended School Services, part of Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990.