LOOKING BACK: From Our Files for June 17

100 years ago — 1912

A number of baseball enthusiasts are jubilant over the possibility of organizing a ball team to play during the summer here. It is the intension of the managers to get the best possible material, none of the players to receive compensation, but to play for their love of the game. Several players of exceptional ability who reside in neighboring cities said they will play for the Danville team one or two days a week. Under this arrangement contests with some of the surrounding teams can be scheduled. Mr. Henry Silliman will manage the local team and several of the old players are hard at work on the proposition. Only two games a week will be played.

Sam Pittman, a machinist at the roundhouse in Danville was waylaid last night. He was walking home and had reached the point where College Street turns off of Walnut when he was attacked. Pitman resisted the assault but was soon overpowered and was relieved of the $60 he was carrying. This is the first offense of the kind committed in this city with in some time.

It was reported to police officers recently that several “hop joints” are still being operated in Boyle County. The new law prohibiting the sale of any drink having alcohol in it, regardless of how little, went into effect June 14. No cream of hops or similar drinks can be sold in a dry territory. This law sounded the death knell of the hop joints throughout the state.

75 years ago — 1937

Harrodsburg celebrated its 163th anniversary on June 16 with the Harrodsburg Historical Society celebrating with a motorcade to historic spots in and near the city, especially the springs as the abundance of water was a factor in determining the pioneers to locate a settlement at this point.

Harrodsburg was laid off June 16, 1774, by Captain James Harrod and 30 settlers. They had stopped in the vicinity in May and began surveying the site for their town. Each settler was given a half acre “in-lot” within the limits of the settlement and a 10-acre “out-lot” for cultivation. Daniel Boone was here for the surveying and shared the land equally with the settlers. A historic granite marker on Lexington Avenue indicates where Boone’s cabin once stood. It was burned by the Indians in a raid on the settlement in 1779.

When Harrodsburg was 149 years old, a large celebration was held and this was followed by successive big celebrations on June 16, which resulted in the creation of the Pioneer Memorial State Park and the appropriation of $100,000 by Congress for a national sculptured memorial in the park.

Danville police and deputies from the Boyle County Sheriff’s office joined efforts in nearby counties in a search for a trio of bandits who held up the People’s Bank of Dunnville, a community 10 miles south of Liberty. They made away with between $2,500 and $3,000 in cash. W.A. Hammond, cashier of the bank, stated in a telephone interview that two men apparently middle-aged, entered the bank after 1 p.m. and one of them drew a pistol and stated they would not harm him if he would remain quiet. They scooped up the available currency and fled in a black Ford coach, in which a younger man was driving.

50 years ago — 1962

The Moreland First Baptist Church broke ground for the church auditorium to complete the new building begun in 1960 with an educational building. The Moreland church, which was started as a mission of Hustonville Baptist Church in 1954 under the leadership of Mr. and Mrs. William Bogie, now has a Sunday school enrollment of 152. The first pastor of the church was the Rev. Ernest Martin who served until 1958. The incumbent pastor is the Rev. James Spaulding.