December

               December

 

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

Dec. 01-The exploring of the natural gas fields was promoted in Piqua in 1887 with the incorporation of the Mercer Gas and Fuel Company.
Dec. 02-The Hartzell Propeller Company won a U.S. Navy contract in 1939 for propeller blades.
Dec. 03-On a slow day in 1924, city officials announced a crackdown on the city's "jaywalkers."
Dec. 04-The Associated Charities of Piqua announced an "Adopt a Family for Christmas" plan for 1932.
Dec. 05-The new Greene Street Methodist Episcopal Church parsonage on Wayne Street was designed by C.C. Barnett.  The family moved in in 1887.
Dec. 06-The Piqua office of the Winters National Bank [Bank One] held a grand opening in 1980.
Dec. 07-In 1947, WPTW Radio began broadcasting.
Dec. 08-Crime was on the rise in 1884 and Joseph Chambers was hired as a special merchant's night policeman.
Dec. 09-The Piqua Retail Merchants Associated was organized in 1907.
Dec. 10-In 1888, the latest fashion among men was the blonde moustache.
Dec. 11-The new 1939 Obstetric Wing opened at the Piqua memorial Hospital on Park Avenue.
Dec. 12-In 1883, the new Invincible Lodge No. 176 of the Knights of Pythias was organized.
Dec. 13-Miss Mary C. Quirk, a pioneer in the field of speech and hearing therapy, died in 1977.
Dec. 14-The Western Ohio and the Dayton & Troy Traction Line Companies merged their offices and moved to the southeast corner of Main and Ash Streets.
Dec. 15-The city moved the public market in 1875 to the east side of Main Street, south of the City Hall.
Dec. 16-The community's first severe earthquake was recorded in 1811.
Dec. 17-Reacting to Russia's 1939 invasion of Finland, Piqua's mayor declared an official Finland Day in the city.
Dec. 18-The first local production of Handel's Messiah was presented in 1904 at May's Opera House.
Dec. 19-As an added safety measure, Piqua's 1927 Fire Department added flashing red lights on all of their vehicles.
Dec. 20-A winter storm hit the city in 1960, dumping over seven inches of snow.
Dec. 21-The City Council of 1891 passed an ordinance prohibiting dance halls in connection with saloons.  Drinking and dancing were deemed a dangerous combination.
Dec. 22-As part of the holiday celebrations, S. Paul's Evangelical Church choir presented a concert in 1939 in the lobby of the Piqua National Bank on the public square.
Dec. 23-In 1901, James B. Hicks, president of the Cincinnati Corrugating Company, died from an infection from a paper cut on his lip.
Dec. 24-The Piqua Land Office offered land for sale in 1832 at the former Indian Reservations at Hogs Creek, Wapoghkonnetta (sic) and Lewistown.
Dec. 25-Piqua's first Naval Admiral, Stephen Clegg Rown was born in 1808 in Ireland.
Dec. 26-In 1930, May's Opera House reopened as a motion picture theater.
Dec. 27-The members of the Second Brigade of the Ohio Militia held an election in 1828.  They chose Piqua citizen John Webb as their new Brigadier General.
Dec. 28-The Sons of Veterans [Civil War] elected George H. Hallock as captain [president] of the organization in 1886.
Dec. 29-The vacant Piqua Club on West Greene Street was donated in 1930 to the Schmidlapp Free School Library.
Dec. 30-In 1887, Main Street was disrupted as men dug ditches for the new pipe lines for the Mercer Gas & Fuel Company.
Dec. 31-Raised at Camp Piqua, the 94th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry was engaged in the Battle of Stone River (Tennessee) in 1862.