Historical Happenings in and around Piqua during the month of November.
Nov. 01-An athletic and bicycling club, The Border City Wheelman was organized in 1887.
Nov. 02-Due to funding problems during the Great Depression (1934), the local chapter of the American Red Cross limited its activities to pre-natal outreach.
Nov. 03-Piqua's answer to the county fair, The Western Ohio Fair and Driving Park [horse] Association was incorporated in 1874. The Association's activities were held in Fountain Park.
Nov. 04-Future U.S. president Warren G. Harding spoke at the May's Opera House on North Wayne Street in 1910.
Nov. 05-The election of 1929 was the first time local citizens could vote for city commissioners in the new city commission-city manager form of government.
Nov. 06-The District Five headquarters for the Ohio State Highway Patrol opened in 1955 east of Piqua on U.S. Route 36.
Nov. 07-The Piqua Malt Company was incorporated in 1889 to help support the city's growing brewing industry.
Nov. 08-During the election of 1864, Abraham Lincoln received sixty-one percent of the vote of Piqua.
Nov. 09-Civil War Union veterans from the Piqua area organized the Alexander Post of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1881.
Nov. 10-With the growing use of automobiles, the Miami County Good Roads Association met in 1905 at the Plaza Hotel to promote safer and more durable roads in the county.
Nov. 11-In 1873, Conover's Opera on the Public Square opened to the public with a production of "Rip Van Winkle".
Nov. 12-To help provide food for the indigent of Piqua in 1927, a special May's Opera House performance was held for children with an admittance price of a single potato.
Nov. 13-During the first year of the War of 1812, Captain Reuben Westfall's Volunteer Militia Company disbanded to enable the men to prepare their homes and families for the winter.
Nov. 14- In 1912, the Bijou Theater on Ash Street held a special showing of a moving picture about Piqua.
Nov. 15-Piqua's first large scale undergarment industry, The Piqua Hosiery Company (Piqua Knitting Works) began operations in 1886.
Nov. 16-Local talent was recognized in 1885 with the formation of the Piqua Choral Society.
Nov. 17-One of the city's first railroad safety gates was placed on the Pan Handle Railroad (Chicago, St. Louis and Pittsburgh Railroad) crossing at Downing Street.
Nov. 18-The United States Marine Band performed at May's Opera House in 1915 in a benefit for Piqua Boy Scouts.
Nov. 19-In 1863, John F. McKinney, a Democratic Congressman from Piqua, attended Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" at the dedication of the battlefield cemetery in Pennsylvania.
Nov. 20-The city's first automobile garage and rental business ran an advertisement in 1908 for the Piqua Automobile Garage.
Nov. 21-In 1829, a one-cent reward was advertised for the return of a thirteen-year-old indentured servant.
Nov. 22-Miss Boal helped dedicate the new St. James Episcopal Church organ in 1891 with a rendition of Mozart's "Te Deum".
Nov. 23-State Representative William McColloch was elected to an unprecedented third term in 1942 as Ohio's Speaker of the House.
Nov. 24-Miami County citizens voted in 1908 to make the county dry (prohibit alcohol). Piqua voted to stay wet but Troy citizens went dry.
Nov. 25-The First and Second Presbyterian Churches came back together in 1876.
Nov. 26-A community action group was organized in 1904 at the Municipal Voter's League.
Nov. 27-Mrs. Guinivere T. Armstrong was named as the Executive Secretary of the Piqua Chapter of the American Red Cross in 1962.
Nov. 28-Piqua's most notorious madam, Mrs. Nellie Foster, was arrested in 1908 for operating a disorderly house on Chestnut Street.
Nov. 29-In a rather BAH! Humbug! mood, the Retail Merchants Division of the Piqua Civic Association passed a resolution in 1932 against having Christmas trees on downtown sidewalks.
Nov. 30-The Ball Memorial Hospital was formally dedicated in 1905.