The following events occurred during the week of June 3-9:

1890: The City Council voted to purchase a cart and mule and hire a man by the month to remove garbage. Editorial comment in the newspaper: “…the removal of garbage from the streets and compelling citizens to keep their premises clean…is a subject of vital importance to our city and all ordinances bearing on the matter cannot be too rigidly enforce.”

1895: Fern Lake Fishing Club was organized and ten boats ordered.

1906: The Middlesboro baseball team played the Nebraska Indians of Omaha, Nebraska, at East End Park, which could seat 500 in the grandstand.

1914: The Salvation Army opened a bathhouse on 19th Street. Tuesday and Thursday were reserved for women while men could utilize it Wednesdays and Fridays. “These baths are only intended for the worthy poor of Middlesboro.”

1918: Alien German females were required to register as such at the Middlesboro City Hall on order from the War Department.

1929: Montgomery Wards opened on the northwest corner of 20th and Cumberland. Opening day the store had a sales force numbering 100. Specials included men’s overalls for $.98, ladies’ house dresses for $.98 and an all electric radio for $73.95.

1936: Ballard Cardwell, truck driver for Sterchi, won a Ford V-8 sedan in a drawing sponsored by Motch Motor Company of Middlesboro.

1940: Col. Ike Ginsberg was heading a drive for Jewish relief. He stated that it was definite that Jews were suffering and that Hitler and his government “has one aim: to exterminate Jews.”

1947: Sgt. James Spurlock of Jonesville visited the local recruiting station. He was a member of the airplane crew that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

1950: The census reported the total population of Middlesboro was 14,412. This represented a 22.58% increase in ten years. The total population of Bell County was 43,812.

1965: The Middlesboro Art Club’s sixth annual Sidewalk Art Exhibit served as the “Kick-off” for Middlesboro’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration. 125 artists displayed their works on Fountain Square.

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.