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![Header for The Roanoke News. It reads: The Roanoke News. Established in 1866--Serving Halifax and North [H]ampton counties.](https://www.digitalnc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/download.png)
Thanks to funding from the State Library of North Carolina’s LSTA Grant and our partner, Halifax County Library System, new issues of The Roanoke News from 1923 to 1944 are now available on our website. This expands our current holding of the paper from 1878 to 1944. The paper, published weekly, primarily features articles on local, North Carolina news such as the completion of the Wright Memorial Bridge.
Prior to 1931, individuals looking to visit North Carolina’s Outer Banks, or those wishing to visit Dare’s county seat in Manteo, would have had a rather long trip ahead of them. In 1921, the General Assembly passed a $50 million bond issue that was to be used for improving and paving roads that would connect county seats. In addition to these new roads, several concrete bridges were constructed that shortened the distance between places significantly. One of the bridges constructed under the bond was the Wright Memorial Bridge. In April of 1931, the Wright Memorial Bridge was finally opened to the public after 10 years of construction. The bridge spans the entire three mile width across Currituck Sound, connecting Point Harbor to the Outer Banks. The bridge still enjoys heavy usage almost 100 years later.
To learn more about the Halifax County Library System, please visit their website.
To view more newspapers from across North Carolina, please click here.
Back in August, we announced our annual call for microfilmed newspaper digitization. We asked institutions throughout North Carolina to nominate papers they’d like to see added to DigitalNC. As it is every year, it was an incredibly tough choice – we are typically able to choose between 40-60 reels out of over 300+ nominated. This year we’ve chosen the following titles and years.
| Title |
Years |
Nominating Institution |
| The Alleghany Times / News / Star-Times (Sparta, N.C.) |
1933-1947 |
Alleghany County Public Library |
| The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.) |
1939-1953 |
UNC Charlotte |
| The Daily Record (Dunn, N.C.) |
1963-1965 |
Campbell University |
| The Eagle (Cherryville, N.C.) |
1942-1954 |
Cherryville Historical Museum |
| The Highlander (Highlands, N.C.) |
1937-1978 |
Highlands Historical Society |
| The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.) |
1958 |
Mauney Memorial Library |
| North Carolina Catholic (Nazareth, N.C.) |
1946-1968 |
Catholic Diocese of Raleigh |
| The Roanoke News (Weldon, N.C.) |
1923-1944 |
Halifax County Library System |
| The Valdese News (Valdese, N.C.) |
1938-1950 |
Burke County Public Library |
| The Yadkin Ripple (Fort Bend, N.C.) |
1893-1944 |
Yadkin County Public Library |
For our selection criteria, we prioritize newspapers that document underrepresented communities, new titles, papers that come from a county that currently has little representation on DigitalNC, and papers nominated by new partners. After selection, we ask the partners to secure permission for digitization and, if that’s successful, they make it into the final list above.
We hope to have these titles coming online in the first half of 2022.
Headline in the Roanoke News, May 28, 1908 From the Halifax County Library
94 years ago today, on January 17, 1920, the United States officially became a dry country, as the 18th Amendment banning the sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcoholic beverages went into effect. However, in North Carolina, it had little effect as the state had enacted prohibition via a referendum vote twelve years earlier on May 26, 1908, becoming the first in the south to ban alcohol.
Moonshine still being destroyed in Davie County, 1912 From Davie County Public Library
Prior to the full country being under Prohibition, North Carolinians would drive to Virginia or South Carolina to procure their alcohol and bootlegging quickly became good business in the state and those early bootleggers who fixed up their cars to be as fast as possible laid the ground for race car driving and eventually, NASCAR. Once full prohibition was in effect across the country, moonshiners also did quick business. In DigitalNC there are several photographs and newspaper articles about those who were caught by police attempting to make or transport liquor and many more expressing editorial opinions for and against prohibition.
Sheriff captures 126 gallons of bootleg whiskey in Rockingham County, NC From Rockingham Community College
While nationwide prohibition ended with the 21st Amendment’s passage in 1933, North Carolina did not ratify the amendment and it was not until 1937 when the Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) system was set up in North Carolina counties to sell alcohol that prohibition officially ended in North Carolina. However, many counties still remained dry well after 1937 and post prohibition moon-shining and bootlegging was still a common occurrence in the mid 1900s. Today, Graham County remains as the only fully dry county in the state. To learn more about prohibition in North Carolina, check out this post from the North Carolina Collection and this article in NCpedia.
Officers in Spray pour illegal whiskey down the storm drain in the 1950s. From Rockingham Community College
