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Category: History
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Marine Training: Close-order drills and hand-to-hand combat
It’s quite strange how each day, filled with virtually the same routine -- early rising, cleaning barracks, breakfast, PT, classes, marching -- could still provide new and unexpected occurrences that all work in concert to make the days a blur. Close-order drill was a part of every day that we were on the Island. Column…
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Marine training: Weapons familiarization
After morning chow, we were usually marched back to the barracks to change into PT uniforms. These were issued to us at the same time as our other initial issue and consisted of a yellow, short-sleeved tee shirt with red piping at the neck and sleeves, and red gym shorts with yellow piping down each…
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Who Was Fielding Yost?
Several years before he passed away, the inimitable Mike Rowady told me that the famous University of Michigan football coach, Fielding Yost, lived in Winchester for a time. Mike asked if I could find out what he was doing here. Unfortunately, he could not remember any dates. Not knowing anything about Yost, I looked him…
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History of Clark County Courthouses
The first settlers in this area came out from Virginia and North Carolina in 1775. Led by Daniel Boone under the banner of the Transylvania Company, they formed a pioneer community on the Kentucky River at Fort Boonesborough. Settlement on the east side of the river, now Clark County, began in 1779 with the establishment…
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Celebrating the Engine House Deli and the Historic Building at 9 W. Lexington Ave.
This St. Patrick’s Day will mark the 40th anniversary of the Engine House Deli opened by Bob Tabor on March 17, 1984. Bob purchased the building at 9 W. Lexington Ave., remodeled the downstairs for a restaurant, and moved in upstairs. His Deli became a popular eatery, while Bob himself became a living legend in…
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Dinty Moore Beef Stew
Once awhile back, when I was at the library reading newspapers on microfilm, I ran across an interesting ad in the Winchester Sun for a local restaurant called “Dinty Moore’s.” Since restaurants often take the name of their owners, I wondered if a Winchester person named Dinty Moore was the inventor of the famous Dinty…
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Harrod-Early Chevrolet
Harrod-Early Chevrolet holds the distinction of being the longest running automobile dealership in Winchester: 62 years. The business began in 1935 as a partnership between L. L. Harrod, president, and C. C. Early, secretary-treasurer. They set up shop at 16 East Broadway and began selling Chevrolet cars and trucks. Lillis Lewis “Ike” Harrod (1900-1972) was born in Franklin…
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Fielding Lisle
I’m reminded of Lisletown every time I drive past the abandoned quarry on Athens-Boonesboro Road. Located on the plateau directly above the old quarry, the community was named for its founder, Fielding Lisle. Of the African American communities formed after Emancipation in Clark County, Lisletown is probably the best known. I have written about Lisletown…
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North Main Street Car Dealers
In 1909 Joseph R. Martin, who operated the Martin Coal and Supply Company at 33 East Broadway, expanded his operations, leasing a building at 7-9 North Main Street (until recently the home of D & S Hardware). Martin sold a wide variety of products in addition to coal: agricultural implements, field seed, fertilizer, animal feed, concrete,…
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Unusual Pastimes in Clark County
People over the centuries have always sought out amusements to occupy their leisure times. Many of these pastimes have long vanished, and some might seem a little surprising today. Games or contests were the most common amusements in early Clark County. Wrestling, running and jumping contests were commonplace at that time, and horse racing may…