The following events occurred during the week of Oct. 28-Nov. 1 in Bell County:

1891: The population of Middlesborough was reported to total 4,097, of whom 2971 were Caucasian and 1125 were African-American. Of these, 1267 were school age children.

1893: The American Association, Ltd. went into receivership (bankruptcy).

1904: There were 481 white students and 172 African-American students, with the number exceeding the seating capacity of the schools by 140.

1926: Hoe Brothers Foundry was erecting a new building. Business in the mine car department was increasing due to improvements in the coal business and they had 40 regular employees.

1928: An announcement made that Montgomery Ward, one of the largest mail order houses in the U.S, would build a store in Middlesboro. The decision came after an extensive investigation revealed that Middlesboro was the center of a trade radius of approximately 135,000 people.

1949: Charles Blakeman left for Amsterdam where he would be a Fulbright Scholar.

1953: Dr. Stellio Impresia bought the 50 bed Evans Hospital in Middlesboro for $100,000.

1965: The GPO swept city and county elections. Chester Wolfe became mayor of Middlesboro by a vote of 2362 to 1351 for his opponent. Wolfe was to be mayor for 16 of the next 20 years.

To learn more about local history, visit the Bell County Museum, located just north of the Middlesboro Post Office, Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.