100 YEARS AGO — 1917

On September 19, more than 100 members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy will hold their 21st annual convention in Danville. The sessions will be held in the First Presbyterian Church. The principle social features will be the reception tomorrow night at the Gilcher Hotel and the automobile ride given by the Woman’s Club of Danville tomorrow afternoon. The ladies of Danville have extended invitations to the members to make themselves at home and will do all in their power to entertain them and look after their comfort.

Edward White, one of the West End farmers, brought to town the largest sunflower bloom that we have ever seen. It is 18 inches across and is attracting much attention. The seeds were given to his daughter, Beulah White, by a colored woman who took them from some chicken feed.

From the Stanford Journal: Old fashioned rope is needed. Looking back over the several months we are amazed at the number of killings and other infractions of the law that have occurred in Lincoln County Something must be done to stay the hand of lawbreakers or we shall return to the terrible times that followed for yeas after the war between the sections. A few atonements for crime in the electric chair would bring lawbreakers to a realization that the good people of this county do not intend that its record for murders shall rival that of Breathitt and other counties.

75 YEARS AGO — 1942

Danville will probably have a trial blackout in the near future according to Mayor Henry L. Nichols, who reported that 10 members of the Boyle County Civilian Defense Council are working on the ideas and plans for defense, after after a conference with Judge Hamilton in Frankfort last week. The Boyle County council saw conditions in Franklin County, where first aid stations have been set up and practice blackouts have been held.

A gallery of pictures of Boyle County men in the armed service is being placed in the lobby of the Kentucky Theatre. Manager, Richard Pelfrey said he wants to place photos of all men in the service there and asked their pictures with their names and address plainly written on the back be left at the theater’s box office.

The course entitled “Study of the Bible” will be resumed in the Danville elementary schools as soon as a properly qualified teacher is secured to fill the position, formerly held by Miss Mary Hudson.

A nation-wide drive to collect old keys from every man, woman and child on this continent has begun. From today until Oct. 1 hundreds of thousands of ancient keys will take their first step in the flow toward fighting moral. A spokesperson for the drive said, “Uncle Sam needs metal for guns, ships and fighting machinery. He needs particularly nickel silver and 80 percent of the older flat keys are leaded nickel silver…a hundred pounds of nickel silver is worth as much as a ton of scrap iron.”

Mrs. John D. Parker, a native of Boyle County, died in Cleveland, Ohio. Her husband is a member and manager of the “Parker Gospel Singers” who are widely known throughout the United States and have twice toured Europe. Survivors include her husband and a brother, John L. Smith, who is a Danville contractor. Funeral services will be a Jackson Funeral Home.

50 YEARS AGO — 1967

It took two years to do it but Centre College’s cheerleader squad and Christian Association finally collected 825 Top Value Stamp books and exchanged them for a new nine-passenger Ford Club wagon.

The 310-acre blue grass farm, two miles north of Danville on Harrodsburg Road, was sold at auction by the heirs of the late Granville Cecil Sr. for $795 an acre for a total of $246,450. A group of Danville business men, consisting of the Gwinn brothers (Herbert and George), Billie Harmon and John Horky, purchased the property. The old house is solid brick and contains 10 or 12 rooms with ash floors. The rest of this estate, consisting of about 1,000 acres and known as the Salt River farm, will be sold in three more tracts next week.

An ice cream supper and party is being sponsored by the Toliver PTA at the school Thursday night as a fund raising effort for the organization’s yearly projects. Those who attend the affair may have all the ice cream and cake they can eat for 50 cents. The entertainment will feature Bingo, musical presentations and games.

25 YEARS AGO — 1992

Mother Nature threw a monkey wrench into the plans of the Forkland Festival folks in June and with a little over three weeks until the annual event, they’re still feeling the effects. On June 18 3.5 inches of rain fell within an hour on the Forkland community, sending the North Rolling Fork out of its banks and into the Forkland Community Center. Parts of the center’s basement had 5 feet of water in it by the time the rain stopped. The split rail fence surrounding the center was washed away and the bleachers in front of the center washed against the cabin. Volunteers have spent the entire summer and thousands of dollars cleaning and repairing the center for the upcoming festival.

Rastus Yankey of Henson and Yankey Construction is constructing a brick post next to Danville’s Centenary United Methodist Church as part of what is going to be small park with benches next to the church.

Opponents of the 1990 rezoning of the Minor-Hunt farm on Lebanon Road apparently have come to the end of the road in their lengthy fight to keep the property zoned agricultural. The Kentucky Supreme Court has denied a motion by the opponents for a discretionary review of a state Court of Appeals ruling that upheld the rezoning of the 400-acre farm to industrial. Jere Caldwell, a Lebanon Road farmer who led his family and a group of concerned citizens in the legal battle against the rezoning, has indicated that the controversy, which dates back to 1988, is probably over.