The 2009 ballot is available at the Piqua Chamber, Piqua Public Library, YMCA, YWCA, Piqua Museum, Unity National Bank, Fifth Third Bank and MainSource Bank. Individuals are asked to vote for three out of the following six candidates:
David Urbansky (1839-1897) — Urbansky was born in Prussia and immigrated to Ohio as a young man. He was a merchant tailor and when the Civil War broke out he joined the 58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment to fight for his adopted country. At the Siege of Vicksburg, he braved Confederate fire to save his wounded company commander. As a result of this action and for meritorious service at the Battle of Shiloh, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Mary E. Hall (c.1850-1905) — Hall was born in Piqua prior to the Civil War. She first served as a teacher in the Piqua schools from 1869 to 1877. In 1872, she briefly resigned her position as a teacher as a protest over the issue of low and unequal wages paid to women teachers. In June of 1877, she became the first woman administrator in the school system, serving as principal of the high school until 1905. In 1896, she was one of the charter members of the Piqua Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Frank Gehle (1869-1939) — Gehle owned a saloon, worked as a circus roustabout, became a semi-pro wrestler and worked as a gym boxing instructor with future president Teddy Roosevelt as one of his students. In 1903, under the newly adopted Municipal Code, he became the city's first modern police chief, serving until 1936. As chief, he introduced the automobile, the motorcycle (1910), automatic weapons, a modern jail facility and a fingerprint identification system.
George Craig Dietrich (1874-1944) — Dietrich was born in Coopersville, Ohio, and graduated from Ohio State University. He came to Piqua in 1909 and served as the superintendent of schools until his retirement in 1944. During his leadership the school system built a new high school and two new junior high schools. He was active in the community serving as president of the Associated Charities, the executive director (1924-1944) of the Central Ohio Teachers' Association, a YMCA trustee and one of the organizers of the Piqua Historical Society in 1912.
Ethan E. Huntzinger (1879-1945) — Huntzinger was born in Pendleton, Ind., and moved to Piqua in 1905 to setup his first photographic studio at 333 North Main Street. In addition to his standard portrait work, he was best known for his early exterior postcards shots. He was particularly active during the Great 1913 Flood, documenting the devastation of this natural disaster. In the late 1920s, he invented a new method of using and developing strip film to take individual pictures of students at a reasonable price.
Viola Ruth Bowdry Clemens (1908-2004) — Clemens moved to Piqua in 1925 with her husband Emerson. She served as a Red Cross nurse during World War II volunteering at the Piqua Memorial Hospital. As an active member of the NAACP, she participated in several local sit-ins that helped end segregation in restaurants and theaters. She ran a catering business in Piqua from 1951 until 1983. Clemens was the first black member of Piqua's Altrusa Club, a YWCA board member and treasurer of the County Republican Women.