Here’s a look at some stories happening the week of Jan.1-Jan. 7:
Jan. 2, 1932: Oakwood inaugurates city government
Oakwood’s city government was fully functioning for the first time after four of the five members of council and their four principal appointees had taken the oath of office.
Oakwood became a city in 1931, with the proclamation of its population by the secretary of state, raising it from the village to the municipal class.
L. M. Dissinger was Oakwood’s first city manager and in direct charge of the four departments — safety, welfare, service and waterworks.
Jan. 5,1946: 3 Buildings burn near Centerville
A factory and two residences at Clyo and Centerville Station roads. a mile east of Centerville, burned to the ground, causing damage estimated at $38,000, when a large motor in the Centerville Carving and Manufacturing Co. caught fire.
The blaze was first noticed by Haskell Poore, a foreman in the factory, and brother of the owner, Leon Poore.
Poore told firemen he had just shut the motor off and walked a few feet away when he turned and discovered the flames surrounding it. Faulty wiring in the motor is believed to have started the blaze.
Jan. 5, 1957: Vandals make rubble of Catholic church interior
Vandals hit Emmanuel Catholic Church, 149 Franklin St., and left the sanctuary a rubble of broken glass and smashed statues.
Father John J. Rauscher, church pastor, estimated the damage at between $4,000 and $5,000. The priest, who discovered the wreckage when he opened the church, was at a loss to explain the attack.
One of the vandals apparently cut himself in his destruction spree. A trail of blood wound about the main floor.
A Christmas nativity scene on the west side of the altar was included in the attack. All of the traditional statues of the scene were smashed except that of the Christ child and a donkey.
Jan. 3, 1964: Jet explodes in air, crashes near Beavercreek High School
The pilot of a B-57 twin jet bomber parachuted to safety when his plane exploded high over Greene County shortly before 1 p.m., crashing near Beavercreek High School.
The pilot was injured, but apparently not seriously. He was taken to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base hospital.
The pilot was identified as Capt. Gerald E. Lyvere, 45. He was assigned as a test pilot in bomber operations.
Wreckage crashed between the school cafeteria and main building. A school secretary said none of the school’s 1,800 pupils was injured. Part of the wreckage was within 25 feet of the main building, she said.
Jan. 5, 1986: Will the trolleys still stop in Dayton?
The marriage of Dayton to the trolley coach was undergoing a painful reevaluation from in the mid-1980s the Miami Valley Regional Transit Authority.
The question was whether there was enough love for the trolleys for citizens to overlook the electric coaches’ limitations and cost and renew the commitment to them for another 40 or 50 years. Dayton was one of the final five cities in the U.S. with trackless trolleys. All others were on the east or west coasts.
Jan. 2, 2000: The dawn of a New Millennium
Under a cloudless sky rimmed in a haze of lavender and gold, the new millennium crept gently into the Miami Valley on Jan. 1.
Dayton Daily News reporters marked the occasion by talking with people in the city about the new millennium.
Among those waiting to greet the millennial sunrise were Jim and Kelly Verdier of Dayton, standing together on a frost-covered hillside at the Dayton Art Institute at 7:30 a.m.
“Yes, the clock may have sounded at midnight, but the day doesn’t really start until the sun come up,” said Kelly, 59. The Verdiers have been married 25 years. “We do this kind of thing all the time,” she said.
An hour later, down Main Street and through downtown, South Park neighbors Tom Roth, 72, and Phyllis Tonne, 50, were enjoying a hearty post-sunrise breakfast at The Breakfast Club and sharing a deep discussion about — what else? — the outlook for the next thousand years.
“It looks like there’s a really bright future if we get our act together and really look at all the possibilities that are out there” for developing clean energy sources, said Roth, a retired Dayton Power and Light Co. engineer.
“Today is good, too,” said Tonne, smiling at the sun-drenched streets outside. “Today is wonderful.”
Roth agreed. “What a beautiful day to start our a year, a century, a millennium.”
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