Photo courtesy of Charlotte Allman

This 1943 photo shows National Business College students attending a dance at the Hotel Patrick Henry.

2001 (10 years ago)

-- "The old Sears building on Williamson Road will be renovated for a new Roanoke Health and Human Services complex."

-- "Advance Auto Parts, the nation's second-largest auto parts retailer, is getting bigger, and its parent company is going public."

-- "Roanoke Mayor Ralph Smith's first state of the city speech Tuesday mixed tones of Tony Robbins, Billy Graham and Bob Dylan."

-- "They won gold in Atlanta and Sydney. Now they want to win a few games in Salem. The Women's Professional Softball League Gold team, featuring eight members of the U.S. team that won the gold medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, will face the WPSL All-Stars at 9 tonight at Kiwanis Field in Salem."

-- "The former two-way Wiley Drive in Southwest Roanoke will reopen next week to one-way eastbound traffic on one side -- the right side, heading east through Smith Park toward Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital -- and as a greenway on the other, said Chris Slone, Roanoke's public information officer."

1986 (25 years ago)

-- "Former basketball star Rick Barry will be taking his clubs out of storage to play the links at Countryside Golf Club in the Third Annual Old Milwaukee Celebrity Golf Tournament on Monday and Tuesday."

-- "The Salem Redbirds delivered what manager Mike Bucci wanted -- good hitting and good pitching in the same game -- as they defeated Peninsula 6-3 Saturday night at Salem Municipal Field."

-- "At a time when interest rates are down and the stock market is hard to figure, some people are willing to risk their dollars in shares of Doublespur, a Roanoke Valley country band that hopes to make it big in Nashville."

-- "The Scottish Society of the Virginia Highlands will hold its first Blue Ridge Highlands Scottish Festival at Glenvar High School in Salem on Saturday. "

1961 (50 years ago)

-- "A war-time friend of President John F. Kennedy was sworn in Monday afternoon as United States attorney for the Western District of Virginia. Thomas B. Mason of Lynchburg, in ceremonies held in the Roanoke federal courtroom, was administered the oath of office by Judge Ted Dalton."

-- "Wrestlers of all sizes, shapes and sex will be on display Thursday night in Victory Stadium."

-- "The old struggle between the 'country boys' and the 'city boys' in the General Assembly dominated a public hearing in Roanoke Tuesday."

-- "Achoooooooo! Roanoke hears a lot of that. And Roanoke also claims -- unhappily for hay fever sufferers -- a high spot on the Allergy Foundation of America's list of places NOT to visit during sneeze season."

-- "Hotel Roanoke, the Patrick Henry and Ponce de Leon hotels and the Holiday Inn are booked to capacity in anticipation of the Baltimore Colts-Pittsburgh Steelers football game and the American Legion convention in Roanoke this weekend."

-- "Title to the closed American Viscose plant in Roanoke changed hands for a total of $950,000 Thursday."

-- "The Norfolk and Western Railway showed off its new $2 million yard expansion project near Shaffers Crossing Thursday."

-- "The Pittsburgh Steelers stunned the Baltimore Colts with two touchdowns in the first two and a half minutes of the second half and staved off a late Colt rally to win the Sandlot Benefit game between the two National Football League teams, 24-20, Saturday night at Victory Stadium."

-- "A record breaking opening of new schools, both as to number and costs, will take in Roanoke Valley next month when the fall terms begins in public, private and parochial schools. Nine new schools will be ready for occupancy and entail an overall outlay of almost $7,200,000."

1936 (75 years ago)

-- "At a special meeting of the Y.W.C.A. board of directors yesterday, preliminary plans were made for the construction of a swimming pool at the Y's Camp Tree Top, near Glenvar, before the opening of the next camping season."

-- "Police radio cruiser cars traveled 20,252 miles and officers operating them investigated a total of 767 citizens' calls during the month of July."

-- "League leading Cold Spring will take the field against Veteran's Facility in the nightcap of a dual bill offered by the city loop this afternoon at Maher Field, while Textile will oppose the N. & W. Skippers in the opening tussle."

-- "Work was begun last week on a well in the alley alongside the Patrick Henry hotel to supply the hostelry with sufficient water for laundry, washing of automobiles, and other large quantity demands."

-- "As evidence that home building sites in the suburbs are coming into general demand here, 71 acres of property known as the Deyerle Farm at Garst Mill, about one-half mile from the city limits at the end of Grandin road ... were sold within a short time yesterday afternoon when placed on the auction block."

-- "Drunken driving was a popular pastime over the week-end, if the number of persons who appeared in police court yesterday morning on that charge offers any index."

-- "A sharp difference of opinion among Southeast residents over value of tent revivals to the area and the question of whether or not the noise attendant upon such meetings can be termed a 'nuisance' was brought to attention of City Council yesterday afternoon."

-- "Bottling of the first beer legally manufactured in Roanoke since 1916 began yesterday morning at 9:30 o'clock when a 40-spout filler ... was put into operation by the Virginia Brewing Company, Inc."

1911 (100 years ago)

-- "A storm, short in duration, swift in destruction and unusual in many of its accompanying features, broke over Roanoke last evening a few minutes past six o'clock. Large trees were twisted from their trunks. Poles and wires were blown down and tin roofs were torn from buildings by the violent winds."

-- "The finishing touches upon the Jefferson are now being made and Monday afternoon the playhouse will reopen with every nook and corner as spick and span as a new piece of china."

-- "If we have to lose [baseball] games we'd rather lose them to Danville than Norfolk or Petersburg or even that Lynchburg crowd."

-- "A petition for a writ of error in the case of the commonwealth vs. Joel H. Cutchin, mayor of Roanoke, was received by the supreme court of appeals today."

-- "Produce at the city market yesterday was scarce and in most cases high."

-- "The first concert of the Roanoke Machine Works Band at Elmwood Park will be given Monday night, August 14."