West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 55 by Charlie Miller

THE MADISON PRESS: April 6, 1922 – The installation of a new $5,000 musical instrument in the Exhibit Theater is the latest improvement made by Mr. Kaho. The new “Fotoplayer” is 15’ long, 5’ high and 3’wide. It is equal to a 20-piece symphony or a 15-piece band. (Mr. Halley Kaho rented the upstairs of the Village Hall and showed moving pictures; it was also used at that time for High School plays and other uses. He later bought the old Methodist Church on Main St. and opened the Orient Theater. Your writer used to clean and post bills in it when I was 15 years old.) 

____April 20, 1922 – More than 500 people attended the service held Sunday afternoon in connection with the cornerstone laying of the new M. E. Methodist Church. Z. R. Taylor had the honor of placing the marker. The custom of placing a copper box containing interesting and essential matter in the cornerstone was followed. 

____The radio bug has bitten once again, but this time, more than one citizen of West Jefferson is feeling the effects of his bite. Several of the businessmen are forming a radio club and will install a large radio outfit at Headley & Maddux’s Garage on E. Main St. The outfit will be one of the largest in the County and capable of receiving messages and concerts from points as far east as New York City and as far west as Denver. 

____April 27, 1922 – The 1922 graduating class is the largest to graduate from the High School. It breaks the previous record held by the Class of ‘11. Twenty-eight are to receive diplomas. 

____May 2, 1922 – John H. Huhn, prominent Jefferson merchant, dies. He came to West Jefferson in 1917 and opened a department store with Ulysses Jones. 

____June 12, 1922 – Johnson Training Camp Near Here:---Local fans were given the opportunity to see Jack Johnson, former Heavy Weight Champion of the World. Johnson’s camp is located just east of West Jefferson on the National Pike. 

____September 11, 1922 - Plans are underway for the 44th annual reunion of the 40th O. V. I. Regiment, which is to be held in West Jefferson on Tuesday and Wednesday. The four surviving members residing in West Jefferson are Lawrence Englesperger, James Chambers, Elijah Spring, and Thomas Pearce. Thomas Pearce is President, and Pleasant Clarage of Five Points is Secretary of the Association. (Hurt Battelle Library has the picture of the reunion on its West Jefferson Remembers Site.) 

____October 9, 1922, The following schedule of the I.C.&E. (Interuban) is now in effect. Eastbound has eight trains between 5:01 a.m. and 12:30 a.m. Westbound six trains between 6:48 a.m. and 12:05 p.m. 

(The Interurban was an electric train that ran from Columbus to Springfield, constructed in 1901. more about it later.)