100 YEARS AGO — 1919

National headline: Death of Theo. Roosevelt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt, for seven years President of the United States, statesman, soldier, author, explorer, sportsman and red-blooded American, died suddenly at his home in Oyster Bay on Jan. 6. He had been sick for several months but had been under treatment. His family, friends and the country were entirely unprepared for his sudden passing. There had been no indications that the end was so near. His death was due to a blood clot on the lung, which was due indirectly to an attack of inflammatory rheumatism and to a fever which he contracted during his exploration in the South American jungles. There is a growing demand that a public funeral for Col. Roosevelt be held in order that the nation may pay homage to the great American. The plans of the family for the funeral provide for no music, no eulogy, no honorary pallbearers and a quiet service.

Mr. A.L. Gates will move his barber shop between now and February to the Silliman storeroom on Main Street between Third and Fourth streets, where Nick London will within the next few days open an up-to-date billiard room. The barber shop and the billiards will be in the same room, but ample space will be provided for both and the room will be remodeled and placed in first-class shape.

J.E. Carpenter of Perryville struck a musket ball in the heart of a log from a giant Oak tree on the old Perryville Battlefield. The ball had been in the tree for nearly 60 years. He estimates the tree was about 75 years old when he cut it down.

Finis Bonta has been elected chief of police of Perryville and is straightening things out by arresting several “wild horses” and bringing them to justice. His brother Joe is chief of police of Junction City and their cousin, B.M. Bonta, is chief of police in Harrodsburg. Perryville for many years was considered the model moral city of Kentucky, if not the United States. It was there in the early 1870s that the great temperance crusade started that spread over nearly the whole world. A citizen of Harrodsburg decided Perryville would be a good place to start a grog shop and he opened one there. Soon a delegation of ladies protested, which he ignored. That afternoon a number of women appeared and brought their knitting and stayed. The next day a sewing society held their meeting at the bar. This continued for several days until he loaded up his wagon and returned to Harrodsburg, where everything was wide open. Later, a bootlegger was apprehended in Perryville and this time the men took a hand. They led the whiskey vender out to the cemetery, laid him across a flat tombstone and whipped him.

75 YEARS AGO — 1944

A bicycle stolen on Wednesday from Raymond Kirkland, 14, while he was in school, was recovered on Friday at a service station and returned. The bike was valued at $20. Acting on information given to him by a person who had seen the bicycle, a state highway officer found it at the filling station of Robert Gilbert of Danville. He said Gilbert had bought the bike from an unidentified person for $10 the day it was stolen. The police are seeking the thief.

Judges in the “First Father of 1944 in Boyle County” contest will announce their final decision on Wednesday following a re-check of the city and county registrations of infants born after 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1, 1944. The nearest contender for the title today is George Tate of the northwest end of Boyle County whose daughter, Bertha Mae, placed him in the limelight by being ushered into the world at 5:10 on the morning of Jan. 1. Dr. J.L. Putnam of Marion County was the presiding physician at the home of the child’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Tate. Merchants in Danville have offered attractive prizes to the “First Father” who is ordinarily the forgotten man on the occasion of the arrival of a new member of the family. Baugh and Garner’s will give the first father a smoking set, Danville Motor Company will contribute a car wash. Other suitable gifts will be contributed by the Freeman Furniture Store, the Milady Shop, the Hub and Montgomery-Wards.

A total of nearly $7 million — an increase of more than $1 million over the previous year — was on hand in Danville’s two city banks at the close of business on Dec. 31, 1943, according to financial statements of the Farmers National Bank and the Citizens National Bank. The figure is the largest in the history of the local banking institutions.

50 YEARS AGO — 1969

The Danville Development Corporation has bought from the Cincinnati Milling Company a tract of 76 acres that lies partly on the Lebanon Road and adjacent to the Industrial Park. The Cincinnati business bought the tract 11 years ago.

Corning Glass Works has installed an IBM Computing System in its Danville plant. The IBM 1130 has the capability to print reports at a speed up to 110 lines per minute, read about 600 cards per minute, and punch cards at a rate of 120 cards per minute. The Danville plant will use the computer to maintain accurate inventory information, prepare production reports, develop manufacturing schedules process its payroll and prepare invoices. The new department is headed by Ray Kendall, programming will be maintained by Phillip Dean, Rex Edwards Jr. and James Roberts, all of Danville. Mrs. Mary Alice Bottoms, Mrs. Gloria Pittman and Mrs. Vivian Cooper will perform the secretarial, clerical and keypunch operations associated with the installation.

The monthly premium older people pay for the voluntary medical insurance part of Medicare will remain at the present $4 for the period July 1969 through June 1970, Robert Anderson, officer in charge of the Danville Social Security Office said. The premium covers half the cost of protection that helps pay doctors’ and surgeons’ bills, and a variety of other health care expenses. The other half is paid out of Federal general revenues.

25 YEARS AGO — 1994

Three teenage boys have been charged with grabbing a woman’s purse from her in the Kroger parking lot on the Danville bypass. The boys, ages 17 and 15 allegedly took the purse at about 9:30 p.m. from a woman as she pushed a cart of groceries to her car. She fell to the ground trying to retrieve the purse. The boys were caught a few minutes later dividing a small amount of money in the nearby parking lot of Jackson of Danville. They were charged with second-degree burglary.

Working for a regional park with a swimming pool tops Danville commissioners to-do list. During a four-hour work session, parks and keeping Danville attractive were the most discussed topics. When it came time to rank projects, a regional park and pool, done in partnership with the Boyle County Fiscal Court, ranked first. Other projects that ranked in the top three with the majority of commissioners were reviewing the city’s policy on building sidewalks, beautification of Main Street and making planning and zoning user friendly. The commission also decided to explore whether to keep Jackson and Sixth Street parks if a regional park is developed.

Bus No. 379 travels around Boyle County three days a week, bringing school to preschool aged children. Seats were removed to make room for five preschool play areas — a wood shop, building blocks, kitchen, art and music. Instructional assistant Becky Slone parks the bus at homes, country stores and churches throughout the county. The bus provides an hour-and-a-half of preschool for 3-year-old children screened by the Boyle County Family Resource Center, which funded the bus renovations with a state grant. The bus makes 12 stops a week for about 16 students, many of whom are developmentally delayed. The goal of the mobile preschool is to prepare children for the regular classroom.