20 Years Ago
Week of April 15, 2004
Three Veterans Receive Circleville High School Diplomas
Henry Ford Ruddle, Melvin Clyde Ruddle and Jack Dempsey Warner are U.S. Armed Services veterans.
In fact, they were students at Circleville High School who left their schooling behind to serve their nation during times of war.
Henry Ford Ruddle served in the U.S. Army during World War II. A U.S. Air Force veteran, Melvin Clyde Ruddle served in Korea. Warner was in the Air Force for 26 years and saw action in Korea and Vietnam.
Diplomas were presented to the veterans by Bob Thompson, a graduate of the class of 1950 and the last principal at CHS before the school was lost to consolidation, and by Ken Price, the current Pendleton County superintendent of schools.
“Melvin Clyde Ruddle drew laughter from the crowd when he observed, “It took me so long to get my diploma because my wife home-schooled me.”
Not to be outdone, Warner said, “Well, I got my college degree 33 years ago, and tonight I finally received my high school diploma.”
30 Years Ago
Week of April 14, 1994
World War I Vet
Ona B. Propst
Receives Medal
World War I veteran Ona B. Propst of Brandywine was surprised on his 98th birthday last week when he received a remembrance of his military service during the 75th anniversary of the secession of hostilities in World War I.
Propst was presented a 75th Anniversary of World War I Commemorative Medal provided by the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The presentation was made by Senior Chief Neil Senatro of the Naval Radio Station Sugar Grove.
Propst, now 98 years of age and clear of mind and memory, remembered that he celebrated his birthday 75 years ago by taking a boat ride down the Rhine River to Cologne. The war had ended and he had stayed on in the Army of Occupation.
DAHMER
Town of Franklin
Burned
Seventy Years Ago
Seventy years ago on a Thursday just before Easter in the evening of April 17, 1924, was the night Franklin burned. Most of the folks in this small town of Franklin were calling it quits for the day and heading for supper. It was just an ordinary day, nothing more than a typical day—or so people thought.
By midnight that night, the entire business section of Franklin was devastated by a fire that raged through the four main blocks of Franklin. According to accounts, the blaze started in the Pendleton County Times Office when a gasoline engine to run the printing press exploded. The fire that followed destroyed just about all of Franklin’s businesses and left 19 families homeless. Both banks were gone and all of Main Street retail stores were leveled. Daughtery and Florentine Hotels were reduced to crumbling walls and the Pendleton Courthouse was the last to burn.
40 Years Ago
Week of April 19, 1984
A VIEW FROM SENECA
Littering Spoils
West Virginia’s Beauty
By: Raymond Blum
Spring is a beautiful and refreshing time of year—a time to rejoice in the many happenings of nature and enjoy our slowly greening landscapes. There is one thing that spoils the view, though, and that’s trash and litter.
I have to admit that I do not feel comfortable writing on the subject. One reason is that I really don’t think I can change the problem. Those of you who don’t litter might read this column and agree that litter is a problem that needs to be corrected, but others will likely disregard the message. There has been much written on the subject, especially on the cost to the taxpayer; but will that modify or change behavior? I don’t think so! Let’s face it, litter clean-up costs West Virginians a considerable sum of money. But would it bother you if I told you it costs $100,000 a year or even $100,000,000? Probably not, since you don’t feel the cost personally. If the state sent each household a bill for $100.00 for litter clean-up—now, that might strike a nerve! You would see $100.00 of your hard earned money go towards cleaning up after irresponsible people. You would be personally involved whether you wanted to be or not.
We have heard about how important tourism is in West Virginia. Should we clean up our act so that visitors will come to our state, enjoy the experience and spend money? If you own a motel or restaurant you might think so, but it probably doesn’t mean much to the rest of us. So why should we keep West Virginia clean? Pride — pride not only in the land, but in ourselves. How we maintain our property reveals much about what we think of ourselves. I happen to love West Virginia and am proud to be here. West Virginians have always been proud, but until recently have been quiet about it. Not long ago, people voiced their opinions concerning a proposed landfill at Mount Storm from the Washington, D.C. area. The project was stopped. Why? Pride in wanting to maintain our mountain state’s reputation for beautiful country.
Before the problem of littering can be solved, attitudes will have to change. I’ve heard several folks comment that the road crews will clean up the trash, so there’s really no incentive to stop littering. This is an irresponsible and lazy attitude similar to a child who won’t clean up the dinner table or room because “mom” will always clean up after him. The days when road crews will pick up after us is quickly coming to an end as budgets become more restrictive. The roads might get cleaned up once a year, but what happens in between those times? We can either watch the trash build up or we can get involved and at least clean up along our property lines. If we all did that, then litter would probably not be a problem. I used to litter without even thinking about it until I picked up trash daily for four years. That broke me of the habit. I’ll get off my soap box now, but this is a subject that really bothers me. Let’s make a personal commitment to improve the place in which we live. Let’s take pride in West Virginia and show everyone WE CARE!
76 Years Ago
Week of April 15, 1948
Franklin’s
Disastrous Fire
24 Years Ago This Week
______
On Thursday evening, April 17, 1924, occurred the great fire which devastated so much of Franklin’s business district. We reproduce herewith, word for word, an account of the fire as it appeared in the April 25 issue of The Times, which was published in Harrisonburg. We reprint the article because we think it will be interesting not only to those who lived through this catastrophe, but also for the benefit of the younger people.
______
FRANKLIN NEARLY WIPED OUT BY VERY DESTRUCTIVE FIRE
The great fire of Thursday night, April 17th, that swept the heart of the town of Franklin, will live as long as memory lasts in the minds of the eye witnesses.
The fire started at 6 o’clock by backfire from the gasoline engine in the plant of The Pendleton Times. The regular weekly edition of the paper was being printed, about all of the usual number having been completed and the mail for the town had been placed in the post office.
The fire could have been controlled within the limits of the printing office had the town had any water system at all, but as the reservoir had been practically worthless for many months and gradually growing worse during the winter and spring, there was absolutely no pressure and when the hose was turned on proved futile and flames spread throughout the two-story building, the second floor being occupied by the family of the editor. From the building it spread to the Simmons Brothers garage, formerly occupied by Fleming’s Restaurant on the one side and the store of Arlie C. Byrd and Company and the feed store and pool room of R. M. Hiner in the rear.
It spread rapidly in both directions and from Back street to Back Alley, this taking in and consuming everything on either side of Main Street from the court house on the south to the homes of Byron and Mason Boggs on the north, except the old Presbyterian church, the homes of Early Ruddle and S. G. Judy. There was a steady gale from the south which made it exceedingly hard to keep the fire from burning the entire north end of town. A most determined fight was made at the home of Byron Boggs, and the south side of this building now shows the heat to which it was subjected. In fact it is burned almost to coals. But for the heroic effort that was made at this point, it is doubtful if the ravages of the flames could have been stopped until they reached the extreme northern limits of the town, and this would have wiped out practically the entire residence section.
In addition to the many buildings totally burned, probably as many as twenty other buildings were on fire one time or another, several of them being in flames many times. Valiant fighters with pails of water were to be seen on housetops throughout the town, and but for this, the fire could not have been controlled.
It is seldom that every place of business in a town is destroyed, but it seems in this instance that every single one was wiped out except the drugstore. Among places of business destroyed we may mention Dr. Thacker’s dental parlors, the stores of Bowman Bros., R. M. Hiner and Byrd, all of the law offices except one, Dr. Lambert’s medical office, both banks, including the building of the Farmers Bank that was not yet completed, both garages, the Florentine and the Daugherty hotels and the restaurant, movie hall, both blacksmith shops, both barber shops, James Skidmore’s cabinet shop, the post office, the office of the Sheriff, Superintendent of Schools, Town Council, and Board of Education, the lodge rooms of the Masons, Odd Fellows and Modern Women, besides rendering homeless nineteen families.
While the Court House was totally destroyed, the records had previously been removed, and thus our records, which are one hundred and thirty-six years old, remain intact.
It is impossible to estimate the property loss, and while some parties are fairly well protected by insurance, yet many are totally without insurance, and not a few of the sufferers find themselves at middle age compelled to start life over.
The one happy thought is that no one was seriously hurt and no lives lost, and when one thinks of that terrible night and the experiences that cannot be described, it is hard to realize that there are no casualties to report.
Many hundreds of people from nearby and far away have visited the ruins day after day and continue to pour into town, all expressing deepest sympathy for the suffering. Petersburg and other nearby places immediately tendered aid, but our people were in position to take care of the situation themselves.
A citizens meeting was held in the Methodist church Monday morning at eight-thirty and lasted about two hours. The outstanding features of the meeting, coming as echoes of the fire, were that the town council was requested to immediately take steps to furnish the town with an adequate and complete water system that could act as protection and as a guarantee against a future conflagration like this one; the appointment of a committee on building permits; and a resolution appointing a committee to contract with Paul R. Priest to furnish lights for a period of five years from the termination of his present contract, which carries with it the implied notice that the people of the meeting were not in favor of spending any more money on the dam in the gap.
At this meeting, Dr. Dyer and Mrs. W. B. Anderson donated $1,500 toward the necessary water works.
The numerous business people who have been burned out have practically all resumed business and the principal ones are quartered as follows: The Franklin Bank, in the Methodist parsonage; Farmers Bank, post office and H. M. Calhoun in the Frank Anderson house, M. K. Boggs and Co., first floor of the E. P. Simmons shop; Grover Evick, building in Frank Anderson house, M. K. Boggs and Co., first floor of the E. P. Simmons shop; Grover Evick, building in Frank Anderson’s yard; Fred Calhoun, Mason Boggs’ garage; Fleming Restaurant, under canvas in the court yard; the Clerk’s office, is the jail; B. H. Hiner, in home of Mrs. Moomau; R. M. Hiner’s feed store in C. D. Bowman’s barn; and Dr. Thacker at his home.
Many of the parties are planning to rebuild this year and some of them will do so at once. R. M. Hiner commenced work on his feed store Tuesday.
Following is a list of families whose homes were destroyed: Forrest Hammer, J. E. Mullenax, Arlie Mullenax, L. R. Byrd, Russell Dice, Ernest C. Bowman, John Lambert, M. Mauzy, D. M. Byrd, William Fleming, Fred Calhoun, Van M. McMains, A. M. Lukens, T. W. Pennybacker, William Crigler, William McCoy, Ed Simmons, Sam Simmons and Eston Simmons.
Joe and Max Rubin, whose store was completely destroyed by fire, arrived here from Baltimore Monday and arranged to resume business in the store of J. E. Moyers, and expect to have a stock of goods here next week.
