70 YEARS AGO
Directors and stockholders of the Durham and Southern Railroad were planning to modernize its steam engines with diesel engines. The Durham and Southern line ran from Dunn to Durham with a roundhouse and shops located in Dunn. The roundhouse and shops were set to move to Apex if the company decided to go with diesel engines.
The Rev. Bane T. Underwood, pastor of Gospel Tabernacle, was elected to serve as chaplain of the Dunn Fire Department.
The new Pope’s Department Store opened in the new Blalock-Stanfield shopping center on East Broad Street. It was located between the Sears Catalog Sales Office and Walgreens Drug Store. A newly remodeled and enlarged Stanley Jewelers was also set to open at 214 E. Broad St., Dunn.
Dunn was set to get the area’s first concrete plant to be known as Ready Mixed Concrete of Dunn. It was set to produce a maximum capacity of 250-300 cubic yards of concrete a day.
The Rev. Bob Insko, pastor of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Erwin, started a library in the church that was set to be open to the entire community. Insko said Erwin “badly” needed a good library and the church hoped to be of service in that manner.
50 YEARS AGO
With “scores of persons on welfare and more and more being added each day,” local businesses were having trouble finding laborers. Kelly-Springfield Tire Company in Fayetteville needed workers along with Bonders, H.P. Cannon and Son and Perla Company. Even the employment security commission put out a call for workers who would be bussed to work for free.
Frances Creel and Evelyn Myers returned to Dunn High School after “educational” stints as pages in the North Carolina State Senate. Both Dunn ladies were appointed by Sen. William W. Staton of Sanford.
Chip Johnson, Anthony Tart, Peter Tart, Robert Uzzle, Bobby West and William Godwin, all members of the Dunn High School Band, attended a band clinic at the University of South Carolina conducted by Jazz musician Stan Kenton.
40 YEARS AGO
Wallace Wade Dixon, of Dunn, was named as a full-time United States magistrate by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The appointment was for an eight-year term.
The Rose’s Store in Dunn’s Plaza Shopping Center completed a major remodeling project and was planning a grand reopening ceremony. Remodeling of the 35,000 square-foot store resulted in the most modern facility available said C.D. Gullion, manager of the store. A totally new merchandising concept was followed in the $300,000 project.
Simple mathematical errors were leading to delays in tax refunds. Glenn Jones, IRS public affairs officer, told The Daily Record that more than a million returns were filed from North Carolina as of March 14, 1983, which was almost 100,000 more than at this point in 1982. However, at least 12 of every 100 returns were incorrect which was slowing down processing by several days.
Burlington Industries was preparing to officially open its new $55 million denim weaving plant at Erwin in May 1983. The company was planning an open house for active and retired employees and their families, representing both the new plant and the manufacturing facility in downtown Erwin on May 1.
Gasoline was on sale for 98 cents a gallon at the Short Stop pumps on South Clinton Avenue in Dunn on March 16, 1983.
— Compiled by
Emily Weaver
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