Historical Happenings in and around Piqua during the month of October.
Oct. 01, 1887-President Grover Cleveland passed through Piqua on a special train.
Oct. 02, 1908-Lewis Pettiford and Arthur Hill of Piqua spoke at a meeting of the independent Civic League of Miami County, an early African-American political group.
Oct. 03,1862-The 110th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer infantry was mustered into service at Camp Piqua.
Oct. 04, 1887-The first train on the Piqua and Troy Railroad Line left Piqua for its trip south to Troy.
Oct. 05, 1918-The Piqua Board of Health ordered the closing of all local schools, churches, lodge halls, and theaters to help fight the influenza epidemic.
Oct. 06,1863-General John C. Fremont, California explorer and 1856 Republican presidential candidate, spoke at a Union party rally on Piqua's public square.
Oct. 07,1939-The Piqua Aid Society of the Deaf held a Fall Festival fundraiser at the American Legion hall.
Oct. 08, 1921-The Sherer-Bell Automobile Agency was established. It would go on to become one of the biggest agencies in the mid-west.
Oct. 09,1914-The Piqua Rotary Club was chartered as one of the first small town clubs in the United States.
Oct. 10, 1929-The Piqua National Bank moved into its new building on the corner of Wayne and Market Streets just nineteen days before the Great New York Stock Market Crash of 1929.
Oct. 11, 1853-The proposition to establish a local High School (Union School System) was passed by a vote of 289 to 13.
Oct. 12, 1984-Ronald Reagan passed through Piqua on the CSX Railroad line.
Oct. 13, 1895-The Christian Church on the southeast corner of Broadway and Greene was formally dedicated.
Oct. 14, 1908-Madam Berry, Piqua's first fortune teller was actively reading palms at her house on Wood Street.
Oct. 15, 1982-Rick Callison of Piqua won the Athens Open International Marathon in Greece.
Oct. 16, 1908-The Dream Moving Picture Show advertised their grand opening in downtown Piqua.
Oct. 17, 1918-Piqua Mayor Frank B. Hamilton, the city's first Socialist mayor was arrested by federal marshals on charges of sedition. The charges were later dropped as unfounded. They were part of the hatred of the Socialist Peace Movement during World War I.
Oct. 18, 1890-The Schmidlapp Free School Library was opened to the public.
Oct. 19, 1896-Populist and Democratic Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan spoke on the public square during his campaign against William McKinley.
Oct. 20, 1920-A new Ohio National Guard was organized in Piqua. It was known as F Troop, First Ohio Cavalry.
Oct. 21, 1883-A semi-pro baseball team, the Piqua Baseball Club Inc. was organized in the town.
Oct. 22, 1826-The Piqua Colonization Society was organized as a local chapter of the American Colonization Society. The organization's goal was to send freed slaves back to Africa (Liberia).
Oct. 23, 1923-The Colored Social Center campaign drive was kicked off by chairman Homer Collins.
Oct. 24, 1841-The Masonic Warren Lodge no. 24 was established.
Oct. 25, 1887-A new innovation in canal boat construction was seen when the first iron canal boat docked in Piqua.
Oct. 26, 1933-The new Municipal Light Plant was formally dedicated.
Oct. 27, 1915-William Jennings Bryan presented a pro-prohibition lecture at May's Opera House.
Oct. 28, 1926-The East Ash Street bridge was formally dedicated.
Oct. 29, 1886-The city's mattress makers, The Piqua Manufacturing Company were running short of dry corn husks and goose, duck and chicken feathers.
Oct. 30, 1887-A rally was held at Border hall by the Union Labor Party.
Oct. 31, 1928-The Buchanan Motor Sales Company began selling Graham-Paige automobiles from their new headquarters on the southeast side of the public square.