1911
It is to the credit of members and friends of Salem Baptist Church, on Scrub Grass Road, three miles south of Mitchellsburg, which with cash subscriptions amounting to less than $100, have their new church ready to dedicate next Sunday. The people have gone into the woods, cut and sawed the timber, and put up the building with comparatively little expense except for the incidentals. They have had to go in debt for siding and sealing lumber to the extent of $105.89. They also have yet to purchase window sash and doors. The people of the community are very poor and were sadly in need of a church. An effort will be made to raise the money necessary to complete and paint the church house by next Sunday.
Real estate man Col. I.M. Dunn has sold 20 acres in the west Danville area to B.F. Adcock of Paris. The land is just north of the Lebanon Pike settlement and will be opened up into a subdivision for colored people. It understood that no lots will be sold to anybody but colored people.
William Camp, the local pump dealer, has placed a pump in a well at the home of Flem Gibson in the battlefield section of Perryville, one and a half miles northwest of the town, and discovered what seems to be a fine flow of oil. The well is 150 feet deep, and was drilled by Jerry Wilkerson, who formerly owned the farm, but has not been much used for some time on account of the oily taste and appearance of the water. It is less than one mile from the 750-foot well drilled for oil by Pennsylvania parties in the late 1860s on the farm of the late H.P. Bottom.
1936
A meeting to organize a Boy Scout drum and bugle corps will be held in the Danville High School gym. Those in charge of the arrangements for the organization and operation of the scout music organization expect to have more than 50 Boy Scouts enlisted in the unit. Members of the three Danville Boy Scout troops are eligible for membership.
County and city officials, and area businessmen from Boyle and five other counties in central Kentucky, have been participating in a 150-mile goodwill tour and inspection trip to 17 outstanding Works Progress Administration projects. The tour included works in Boyle, Mercer, Washington, Marion, Casey and Lincoln counties. Projects inspected in Boyle included the jail, workhouse, courthouse, Perryville-Parksville Road and the Perryville-Mackville Road. In Mercer County, the men toured the Kirkwood bridge, the VanArsdale bridge, the quarry and garage, and the courthouse, all built or improved with WPA work.
The right of the city of Danville to levy an occupational tax on members of the Danville bar was upheld by Circuit Court Judge Kindrick S. Alcorn after a special hearing. The city’s right to levy occupational taxes on lawyers was upheld when Judge Alcorn sustained a demurrer filed by City Attorney P.J. Clarke. The suit, filed by Edgar C. Newlin on behalf of the Danville Bar Association, sought to have the city tax declared invalid. In his suit, Mr. Newlin pointed out the state Court of Appeals controlled the members of the state bar, and that because of payment of his state fees, he was not responsible to city for occupational levies.
1961
A new organization to restore and use Kentucky’s famous Pleasant Hill village called Shakertown was announced to a special committee reporting to the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation. This committee submitted a report saying a charter of incorporation will be filed creating a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation called “Shakertown at Pleasant Hill, Inc.” The two general purposes of this new body are to secure, preserve and maintain the property; and to utilize the property and facilities to improve the quality of contemporary life. Specifically, the new group will acquire the village proper, restore the town to accurately represent Shaker life and culture of a century ago, and at the same time, institute a varied program of cultural, educational and recreational activities such as seminars, conferences, festivals and tours. They also plan to sponsor creative activities in the fine arts, and establish a press that will publish historical and other studies.
In a project of the Perryville Lions Club, several thousand souvenir 50-cent coins were struck and are being distributed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Perryville on Oct. 8, 1862, and to call attention to that event during the current Civil War Centennial. The coins can be purchased for 50 cents each. It is understood that several Perryville businesses are accepting the souvenir pieces as legal tender and can be redeemed by all holders for a conventional half dollar at the Old Bank in Perryville until Oct. 8, 1961.
1986
The “outstanding” success of a makeshift heat-relief project in Danville has convinced its coordinator that the program should be made permanent. Sherry Jo Carey, Boyle County director of the Bluegrass Community Action Agency, said the air conditioners and fans distributed to more than three dozen people in the last few weeks will be picked up next month and stored for use next summer. Carey said, “We had no money from the state or any other government. It was an entirely local program of by and for local people, and it proves what can be done if people get together. Something like this needs to live on.”
Stanford Mayor Kevin Stewart plans to submit his resignation to the Stanford City Council. Stewart, who took office in January, said a combination of factors prompted his decision. “City business is just taking up too much of my time,” said Stewart, a State Farm Insurance agent in Stanford. “People just don’t realize what this job is. It’s a strain on you.”
The operators of the Herrington Lake marinas are careful in their methods of dispensing gasoline, but the marinas’ outdated method of storing gas could prove to be dangerous if there was a dock fire, an official in the state fire marshal’s office said. Following a July 28 gasoline fire at Gwinn Island, a state field inspector of the hazardous materials division of the state fire marshal’s office began an immediate inspection of the safety practices of marinas in this area. “Presently, we’re looking at the floating tank structure to see if it meets the present-day safety codes.”
