May

                  May

 

Historical Happenings in and around Piqua during the month of May.

May 01-In 1866, the Piqua hydraulic Company was organized to provide the city with a new source of power.
May 02-Henry Ford stopped in Piqua in 1918 to visit tractor manufacturer H.C. Waite.
May 03-A local help wanted advertisement in 1834 stated, “Wanted Immediately One Hundred Laboring Men for work on Miami Canal”.  The canal reached Piqua three years later.
May 04-The new Ohio Municipal Code went into effect in 1903 requiring Piqua to organize a police department.
May 05-Captain George Buchanan mustered in a company of militia at the beginning of the War of 1812.
May 06-The grand opening of the Bijou Family Theatre on Ash Street was held in 1906.
May 07-In 1928, the city’s first Council Hall on the east side of the square was demolished.
May 08-The 1915 “Miss Piqua” campaign was held at the Princess Theater on Main Street.
May 09-Advertisements began running in 1835 for the new Piqua to Dayton stagecoach line.
May 10-The Grand Army of the Republic (Civil War Veterans) encampment was held in Piqua in 1892 and the featured speakers were former president Rutherford B. Hayes and future president William McKinley.
May 11-In 1915, city dogcatcher Ivan Brush resigned, complaining of excessive abuse from dog owners.
May 12-The Town Council of 1836 passed an ordinance requiring every building owner to have a ladder and two buckets for fire control.
May 13-Piqua adopted a cleanliness slogan in 1915, “Help to Make Piqua a Flyless Town”.
May 14-The Lange Brewing Company (beer) became the Lange Products Company (milk) in 1919.
May 15-It was recently announced in 1933 that Leon Gunther and Charles Kiefer were turning the former Knights of Columbus home on North Wayne into the Piqua Amusement Center complete with clubrooms, a bowling alley and a rooftop garden.
May 16-The City Council passed an ordinance in 1887 that required street numbers for all buildings in the city.  The railroad became the dividing line for all north and south streets and Main Street for all east and west streets.
May 17-The YMCA orchestra played for the Anna Station School commencement exercises in 1895.
May 18-In 1942, the Piqua Daily Call ran an advertisement, “Conserve [donate] the Rubber in your Girdles and help Win the War”.
May 19-Local news articles in 1909 reviewed current Piqua fashions for young men that included narrow, solid-colored ties that matched your socks.
May 20-President William Howard Taft made a campaign speech at the May’s Opera House on North Wayne Street in 1912.
May 21-The Piqua City Council passed an ordinance in 1823 that required Main Street lot owners to pave their sidewalks in brick, stone or gravel.
May 22-A new YWCA club, the Swastika Smiles, was established in 1919 by women working at the Imperial Underwear Company.
May 23-The Piqua City Council passed an ordinance in 1835 prohibiting the shooting of muskets, rifles or pistols within the city limits.
May 24-A groundbreaking was held in 1975 for the first new building of The Edison State General & Technical College.
May 25-In 1882, Miles Orton’s New Mastodon Shows and Royal German Menagerie appeared in Piqua.
May 26-The first commencement exercise was held in 1910 for the Ball Memorial Hospital Training School for Nurses.
May 27-The Piqua Athletic Club was incorporated in 1934 with Mayor Vernon R. Osborn as its first president.
May 28-In 1883, the Border City Base Ball Team [Piqua] played the Mechanicsburg Nine at the playing field in Huntersville [Shawnee].
May 29-An anti-conservancy district [flood control] public meeting was held in 1917 at May’s Opera House on North Wayne Street.
May 30-In 1883, ex-president Rutherford B. Hayes spoke at the local Decoration Day celebration.
May 31-The French Oil Mill Machinery Company was incorporated in 1900.