Throughout this year, we’ll be celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Dayton Daily News with stories, photos, videos and more.
Each week, we’ll being you a selection of notable stories that happened this week in Dayton history, chronicled by the same newspaper that continues to serve the community today.
Here’s a look at some stories happening the week of March 12-18.
March 12, 1938: 22 cases heard in night court session
Fines ranged from $10 and costs to $25 and costs with fines in the majority of cases being suspended.
March 13, 1945: Smiling Irish girl arrives to marry Franklin soldier
In the midst of World War II, a soldier from Franklin and a girl from Belfast, Ireland fell in love.
The couple, Pfc. Irving Smith and Mary Daviddson, planned to get married while he was stationed in Belfast as a motorcycle mechanic with an armored division.
All that time the couple corresponded and looked forward to the day when they could get married.
Just as a plan had been made for Daviddson to come to the United States and she was on her way, Smith was ordered again to go overseas. Through the help of the Red Cross, Smith was able to obtain a 10-day furlough to get married before heading back overseas.
“I think it would be nice to be married on St. Patrick’s day” said Daviddson. “I hope Irving wants to be married then too. We haven’t had time yet to make any plans. There has been so much excitement getting together again.”
March 14, 1954: Dayton area slums criticized by federal planner
A federal planner called several areas just outside Dayton’s city limits some of the worst slum areas he’s seen.
He added that Dayton was becoming surrounded on many sides by “slum shacks.”
The “worst” label was applied to clusters of dilapidated trailers and packing box cabins southwest and northeast of the city. The majority of the criticism was aimed at a section south of Germantown Street and east of McArthur Avenue known as “Hog Bottom,” where the residents did not have sanitary facilities.
City manager Herbert Starick said he didn’t believe the areas to be any worse than in many other sections of the nation, but added that Dayton stood ready to cooperate with the county in solving the rural slum problem.
March 13, 1962: New symbol to mark all products of NCR
The company said that accounting machines and electronic data processing equipment then made up a larger share of their business than cash registers. The new logo was thought to better reflect the company’s operations.
March 12, 1970: Pull, mule! Piqua park getting canal boat
In early 1970 the Johnson Farm Museum and Indian Agency Park in Piqua was still under construction.
A replica of a 19th century canal boat was being built at the Piqua Historical area (as it was called at the time) to be ready for launching on a restored section of the Miami-Erie canal that summer. The park was not yet dedicated or open to the public.
The 1970 news article called it “a remarkable engineering feat because there frankly isn’t much information available on early 19th century canal boats.”
The 70-foot-long boat was designed to carry 100 passengers. Horses or mules would tow the boat along the restored canal giving riders an idea of what travel ws like more than a century ago.
The boat ride was expected to be one of the prime attractions at the historical complex.
March 12, 1981: 70-year-old fan flies high with UD’s team
At the time of this story, Rhea Pearson was 70 years old and had been a loyal Dayton Flyers fan for 30 years.
Pearson was such a big fan that she occasionally rode the plane with the team when they were on the road. She was with the team in New Orleans on her 70th birthday.
“After the game, each one of the boys shook my hand and gave me a little birthday hug and told me they won the game for me,” she said.
She kept a scrapbook of memories and numerous souvenirs. She said her favorite was a get well card signed by Flyers team members when she was hospitalized in 1978.
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