Novembers past, 75 years ago.

From the LaGrange Daily News, 1940.

Front Page News

Seven Thousand Celebrate Christmas Season Opening — Seven thousand people at the least swarmed into a seasonally decorated and colorfully lighted downtown LaGrange on Nov. 28 to attend one of the largest and most spectacular celebrations in the history of the city’s observance of the opening of the Christmas season.

The formal opening began at 6:30 and lasted until about 8 p.m. when people gathered outside the store windows and inside stores in search of the “treasure” waiting to be claimed by those holding winning coupons.

A concert by the Callaway 60-piece All-Girl Band and the Sons of Legion Drum and Bugle Corps set-off the night’s activities in the Court Square park, with beautiful and enjoyable arrangements of popular Christmas and patriotic music.

Mrs. Alvin Davis gave a program of Christmas carols at the organ of the First Baptist Church brought to the public by an amplifier and marked up another successful promotion that was beneficial in many ways to the visitors and to the city alike.

Call Letters Granted For Local Radio Station — WLAG will be the call letters of the radio station to be operated here by the LaGrange Broadcasting Company.

Permission to use the call letters was granted by the Federal Communications Commission in Washington. Officials of the new station expressed a desire for the letters stating they were more euphoniously in keeping with the name of LaGrange than any other combination considered.

The station will broadcast with a carrier frequency of 1210 kilocycles with a power of 250 watts.

Work Started This Week on New Recreation Building — Work was begun this week in an auditorium and recreation building for southwest LaGrange following the recent award of the contract by the trustees of Textile Benefit Association to Newman Construction Company.

The building is so designed that it may be used either for basketball and other athletic events, or for stage shows, musical performances and other assemblies of recreational nature sponsored by Textile Welfare Association Inc. in the communities of Southwest LaGrange.

The building will be located in the north side of Dallis Street directly across from the baseball stadium. It will be a valuable addition to the entertainment and educational facilities of the entire city, making possible larger gatherings and more varied activities than afforded by any structure now in LaGrange.

Callaway Vocation School Features Homemaking Class — Interior decoration, flower arrangement and budgeting are some of the interesting phases of the Homemaking course which is being taught at the Callaway Vocational School for women and girls in the communities of the Callaway Mills of LaGrange.

The course is divided into three sections that meet on Wednesday morning, Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday afternoon. To date it has attracted some 75 women and girls.

Last Warning Given To Draft Dodgers — A final warning to all men of Georgia between 21 and 36 years of age who have not registered for selective service was issued yesterday by Adjutant General Marion Williamson in Atlanta.

Williamson said that “we want to give the men a last opportunity to register before we ask the FBI to investigate.”

Harriett’s Letter — Mr. and Mrs. W.F. Hollie have recently purchased a house on the Mountville Road. More than 100 years old the house is known as the old Robertson place, the home where Mrs. Richard Hutchison live as a girl and young lady.

The house was built by Mrs. Hutchinson’s grandfather George Kidd, and it is sturdily built, wooden pegs being used instead of nails. The brass locks and the mantels give proof of excellent design and workmanship. The floor plan is so convenient that few changes had to be made to make a comfortable and modern home.

On the east side of the house is a large Japanese persimmon tree that has been loaded with fruit this fall, the size of an apple. The tree itself makes a picture of rare beauty.

John Awtry, a former resident of LaGrange, now living in Washington, D.C., where he is studying art and working on a newspaper, has been signally honored in his native state, Georgia.

One of his paintings, “Georgia Politics,” has been purchased by the University of Georgia for its permanent exhibit.

John made a sketch of the painting that appeared in an exhibition in New York. It was chosen for a year’s tour in all sections of the United States.