West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 63

West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 63 by Charlie Miller

___February 23, 1928 – Plans are being made to make Federal Route 40 a four-lane highway through Ohio. 

___April 12, 1928 – Land has been leased from R. R. Sidner two miles south of town, along the Lilly Chapel Road, for use as an airfield. 

___April 19, 1928 – A Greyhound track is to be built on the farm leased from Anthony Frey. It will give a grandstand with a capacity of 5,000 people. Work will start on construction on June 30th. (This track took in the west end of Fellows Ave. and most of the Merriman Addition.) 

___May 10, 1928 – Ray Miller, Frank Kaufman, and Robert Boyd are the incorporators of the Hi-Grade Milk Company. (The company later moved to Columbus.) 

___The Farmer’s Co-op Cream Station run by Lem Gregg, has moved to the brick building back of the Town Hall. (It actually sat on the northwest corner of Walnut and Town Streets.) 

___June 1, 1928 – A new Drug Store, owned and operated by Merrill H. (Doc) Mellott, has opened up. (This sat on the northeast corner of Main and Walnut Streets. The original building was a grocery store and was torn down in the 1940s, and the present building, now occupied by Dr. Garwood, was built. There is a picture of the original building in the Library on the “West Jefferson Remembers” website.) 

___July 4, 1928 – The Greyhound races opened today with a crowd of 7,500 people attending. 

___July 8, 1918 – An old and prominent citizen, Henry Brown, 74, died. 

___July 12, 1928 – Work has started on the new village sewage plant. (This was at the end of the Mill Road) 

___August 30, 1928 – Another old settler passes away. Luther Johnson, father of Frank, Howard, and Walter Johnson has died. 

___October 18, 1928 – The new beacon light on the Lilly Chapel Road is now in operation. 

___March 1, 1929 – Gene Compton and Lon Campton have opened up a garage on N. Walnut St. 

___May 1, 1929 – Air and Army maneuvers were held in the West Jefferson area. A company of men was stationed at Lilly Chapel. 

___May 16, 1929 – Dr. Kerr has installed a new emergency hospital in the Kuehner Building on W. Main St.