The following events occurred during the week of May 20-26:

1889: First printing of “The Cumberland Gap,” a newspaper edited and published by E. C. Colgan. (The Bell County Museum has copies of this newspaper in our archives.)

1891: An electric car line was being laid down 19th Street. This will be the first electric streetcar west of Washington, D.C.

1894: Graduation exercises were held for the first class from Central High School. The class motto was “Rowing, not drifting.” Valedictory was given by Julia Moore.

1917: The Equal Rights Association of Middlesboro was asking all the women of Bell County to help in knitting sweaters and jerseys for the men of the Battleship Kentucky.

1929: The ice plant took delivery on modern electric delivery trucks which will be able to go 14 miles an hour.

1931: Walter Johnson, 17, a 1931 graduate of Lincoln School, won $100 cash in a state wide essay contest on “The Value of a High School Education.”

1941: The New York Restaurant on Cumberland Ave. announced that it will be open day and night with meals served at all hours. A complete country ham dinner was $.50 while a fried chicken dinner was $.60 and a plate lunch $.30. The restaurant also offered fresh seafood including Capetown lobster tails and Florida frog legs.

1942: Enough scrap iron was shipped from Bell County to produce 300 heavy bombs.

1965: Chester Wolfe defeated Mayor McCauley in the Republican primary 1010 to 875. (Mr. Wolfe was to serve as 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.