100 YEARS AGO — 1916

There will be a community Christmas celebration on Dec. 25 from 5 to 6 o’clock p.m. in front of the courthouse. This will be a real treat with good music and pictures. Free for all. Come and help us celebration.

The Fair Store, located on Main Street opposite of the courthouse in Danville is having a great cash raising sale for 13 days only. Everything must be sold, one by one, day by day, item by item, everything in the store will be offered and sold without regard to former cost or selling price. Ordinary sales come and go like changes of the moon, but this sale is different. Examples include: a large assortment of ladies’ boudoir caps in magnificent colors, 50 cents; variety of handkerchiefs in beautiful boxes, three to six in a box, 10 cents and up; give your little boy a cash register with three beautiful handkerchiefs, 25 cents; men’s fleece-lined shirts and drawers, 45 cents.

In a talk with several of Danville’s merchants, a Messenger reporter learned that Christmas business has been far better than was expected and everybody is satisfied. The merchants brought on a better class of goods and these have found ready sale. While no one is overstocked with money, yet everyone seems to have a little pocket change which they are letting go very freely. The Christmas spirit is running high and all seem determined to enjoy the holidays. A look into the local stores will dispel any thought of hard times. All are crowded and every clerk is busy.

The gas was out of order Sunday night, and at the Second Presbyterian Church, old-fashioned lamps had to be used during the services. All the coal oil lamps in the neighborhood were borrowed and the sight reminded many of the good old days.

No trace has been found of Nora Combs, the white woman who abandoned her baby at the home of O.D. Coleman early this week. She had been cooking at the Coleman home for several months. On Wednesday she hired a buggy going to Burgin and Harrodsburg where all trace of her has been lost. The child is only five weeks old and the Coleman family is caring for it while police try to find the mother.

75 YEARS AGO — 1941

Mrs. Hattie Stevens of Danville has received word that her son, William Jack Stevens, 18, stationed on the Destroyer St. Louis at Pearl Harbor, survived the Japanese attack on that port and is safe and well. Mrs. James Breeding has received word that her husband, stationed with the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor is safe and well. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. S.J. Breeding of North Second Street. Jimmie Horner, who left the Advocate-Messenger news staff last September to accept a job with the F.B.I. in Washington, won’t be home for Christmas as planned. His father, W.D. Horner said the war caused the cancellation of his Christmas leave.

Now, can you imagine a jail being beautiful? Well they have one in Stanford that looks most inviting and it is really a beautiful building and has the appearance of a Fifth Avenue mansion. It is really homy-looking, but would not advise a stay there of duration. Only inspect it and go away.

Danville and Boyle County’s Civilian Defense Council, organized last week, will be working at full speed within the next few days. One of the prime functions of the Civilian Defense Council is to be prepared when an emergency arises and to avoid confusion and disorder when time for action comes. This council is headed by Danville Mayor Henry L. Nichols.

Elmer Walters, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Walters of Wilmore, formerly of Harrodsburg, informed his family that he is safe and well, contradicting reported received on Dec. 10, that he had been killed in the raid on Pearl Harbor. It was thought that he was either missed in the confusion following the raid, or that notice of the death of a man with the same name had been sent to his home address.

50 YEARS AGO — 1966

For the third consecutive year, children in the Sunday School of Centenary Methodist Church have received small half-pint milk cartons, which are distributed about two weeks before Christmas, to be used as little banks to hold any coins they may wish to contribute. The project is called the White Gift Milk Fund and is believed to be unique in this area. On Christmas Day, which will be Sunday, Dec. 25, the young people will take their milk carton banks filled with coins to their churches. The money will be given to the Boyle County Family Welfare Association for the purchase of milk to be given to a family.

The Danville Historical Area Urban Renewal Project, more commonly known as the Second Street Project, is the best idea which has proposed for the improvement and development of the city since the Main Street storekeeper, Walker Daniel, first got the idea for laying out the town of Danville in 1784. It is an area of about 15 acres. The completion of this project, carefully planned and well executed would, in effect be a restoration and remodeling of the City of Danville.

Pfc. John Lynch Jr., of the U.S. Marine Crops, son of Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Lynch of Old Lexington Road, is serving in the Dong Ha area of Vietnam as a member of Headquarters and Service Company, Third Battalion, Third Marien Regiment, Third Marine Division. As a member of this unit, Private Lynch is participating in day and night patrols, ambushes, and extended search and destroy operations against the enemy.

25 YEARS AGO — 1991

Lena Kelley of Lincoln County, is the recipient of the Kentucky Farm Bureau’s fifth annual public relations award. Only one award is presented in the state each year. Kelley is the third Lincoln Countian in a row to earn the honor. County agricultural agent Dan Grigson received the award last year, and the former county home economics agent Dorothy Camenisch received it the year before.

The Mercer County Clerk’s office was given permission by the Fiscal Court to purchase a facsimile machine (FAX). Clerk Larry Short said it was inconvenient and costly to use the machine of a nearby business.

Faced with the rising cost of running the jail, the Casey Fiscal Court has recommended the jailer to save money by making biscuits from scratch instead of purchasing them in a can. County Judge-Executive David Johnson wrote jailer Mildred Buis Brown to say that the jail costs are far beyond expectations and must be readjusted. “We can make biscuits cheaper than 65 cents per can,” the letter said. Other suggestions for the jail to save money include using more commodity foods, getting inmates to raise a garden, and purchase gasoline only at self-serve stations and not full-services ones.