You Know You Are a True Piquad If...


1.       You pronounce Caldwell without the “ld” (Că∙ẃell).
2.       You define the word “crick” as a very small creek.
3.       When you say “the hotel” you are referring to the Fort Piqua Plaza on the square.
4.       You believe that there are secret tunnels in the downtown connecting the old buildings. (There are not, only basements that are sometimes connected.)
5.       Chocolate and Winans mean the same thing to you (Winans Fine Chocolates & Coffees).
6.       You think that the strange smell in the air has something to do with crematoriums. (It does not; it is the Winans factory roasting coffee.)
7.       You get hungry immediately after hearing the French Oil Mill Machinery Company’s 11:30 whistle.
8.       You know that even though the school on College Street was called Piqua Central, there was only one high school in town.
9.       You can follow the route of U.S. 36 through town without reading the signs.
10.   You know that “Shawnee Rats” are residents living east of the river and not large rodents.
11.   You know where Canal Place is located (between Main and Spring Streets and between Ash and High Streets).
12.   You knew that there was never a college on College Street.
13.   The name Flesh Public Library seems absolutely normal to you.
14.   You believe that when “George’s” opens, spring has officially arrived.
15.   You think that it is normal that Main Street runs north, south, east and west.
16.   You know that the stone at the bottom of South Street hill is a World War I monument.
17.   You are pretty sure that the 1913 Flood happened in 1913.
18.   You know that a huge concrete wall used to separate the north and south ends of town (former railroad elevation).
19.   You know that the Mainstreet Piqua office used to be on Ash Street.
20.   You think it is normal that North Street runs east and west.
21.   Your mother ever said to you, “If you don’t behave, I’ll shoot you with red beet juice”.
22.   You know that Main Street stores used to closed on Thursday afternoons.
23.   You think it was normal for the city to hold the Great Outdoor Underwear Festival.
24.   You call the 1981 High School building, the “new” high school.
25.   You think it is normal that Piqua is not actually located in any township. (The city was kicked out of Washington Township in the 1990’s.)
26.   You think of the Miami Valley Centre as the “new” mall.
27.   You thought that going to the movies meant going downtown.
28.   You wanted to meet the city’s “older crowd’ you ate at the former Terry’s Cafeteria.
29.   You went to the “hotel” to get your family portrait taken by Olan Mills.
30.   You think that the Citizen’s Bank on Main Street was robbed by the Dillinger Gang in the 1930’s (It was robbed, but not by Dillinger.)
31.   When you think of Santa, you think about the Fire Department’s ladder truck.
32.   When you see a turkey, you think of the Piqua-Troy football game on Thanksgiving Day.
33.    You thought it was normal to wipe water off of the floor every twenty minutes or so during a high school basketball game. (Ash Street Field House, “The Pit”.)
34.   You think it is normal for a small town to have forty churches and fifty bars.
35.   Your idea of excitement is to drive around town in a big circle for hours and hours (cruising).
36.   You thought going to Camp Wakonda (YMCA) was an exotic nature getaway.
37.   Sitting next to your “steady” date in the big study hall in the old High School (College Street) was considered getting to first base.
38.   You proudly told your friends that you had taken the train to Cincinnati (Baltimore & Ohio Railroad).
39.   When you were a kid and you had to stop playing and go back home when the street lights came on.
40.   When you were ten years old fishing in Echo Lake was your most exciting sporting event.
41.   You think calling the barefoot skiing competition on the Great Miami River, the “Atomic Open”, was normal.
42.   You think of a beer instead of chocolate when somebody says, the M&M (Café).
43.   The Hollow Park (swimming pool) was your idea of cooling off during the summer.
44.   You do not even wonder why Candlewood subdivision is called “Candlewood” (a tree or bush not found in this entire area).
45.   You know that Dublin Hill was part of the old Versailles Pike (currently Echo Lake Drive).
46.   You know that city elections are non-partisan.
47.   You know that the Piqua Public Square is really a rectangle.
48.   You know that a number of local homes were built in a factory (Inland Homes).
49.   You remember going east of I-75 to reach the Mall.
50.   You remember being scared by an old parrot in the hotel (actually it was a macaw).