News, cures and fashions: 1904 Dayton revealed within newspaper pages

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HISTORY EXTRA is a weekly pictorial history feature showcasing the Miami Valley’s rich heritage. If you have a unique set of historic photos found in your parents’ or grandparents’ attic that depicts the past in the Miami Valley, contact Lisa Powell at 937-225-2229 or at Lisa.Powell@coxinc.com.

“No Obstacles in the Way of Panama Canal Project” reads a headline on the front page of the Dayton Daily News on March 2, 1904, the year the United States took over the project started by France.

Another story on the front of the 12-page newspaper (costing a penny) described conferences between President Theodore Roosevelt and Congress over the possibility of adding two new states.

“One from Oklahoma and the Indian Territory and one from the territories of New Mexico and Arizona,” were the areas in play, according to the article.

Pick any day of the newspaper from Dayton’s past at random and you can find important front-page news. What’s found on the inside pages is just as fascinating. The citizens of Dayton, for instance, were very concerned about their well-being 112 years ago, if the number of health-related ads is an indicator.

Dr. Chase’s Blood and Nerve Food was sold under the heading “When Life Loses Its Charm.”

“Good rich blood, and strong steady nerves are essential to perfect health and enjoyment of life,” the ad stated. “Nothing puts animation and satisfaction into living as quickly, safely and surely as Dr. Chase’s Blood and Nerve Food.”

The product sold for 50 cents a box or five boxes for $2. Not to be outdone, Drs. Kennedy & Kergan, who had an office at 34 S. Main Street in Dayton, specialized in nervous and blood diseases of men.

These diseases would devastate a man without the doctor’s treatment, they said: “…they will never cure themselves, but on the contrary, are constantly becoming more aggravated and will in time break down the strongest constitution and fill your whole future with misery, suffering and woe.”

Sore throats were also cause for community concern. Fortunately, Dr. Bull’s Cough Syrup was available in three prices, 25 cents, 50 cents and $1. Its potency was confirmed by a Mrs. Mary E. Weatherby of Philadelphia.

Spring fashions for men and women were also pitched within the pages. At Snyder’s Tiger Hat Store on the southwest corner of Third and Main Streets, the latest men’s hats - the Newport, Coyote and Shamrock - sold for $2 and $3.

At Rike’s, women could find the latest fashions for getting around town. Walking skirts sold for $5 to $15, while a “beautiful lot of new shirt waists” started at $1.

Corsets were needed to wear under those skirts. The “ladies bustle and hip pads” filled with hair and made of fine cambric were “a great aide in building the figure to proper proportions.”

If ladies didn’t have enough to worry about, “a woman’s crowning glory,” her hair, required a special natural white oil found 1,875 feet below the Earth’s surface to keep them free from parasites, scalp diseases and baldness.

An interesting look at employment over 100 years ago is found in “Today’s Wants,” a section of the newspaper similar to today’s classified advertising.

A salesmen was needed to sell men’s wallets and a local manufacturer needed an “industrious and trustworthy man” to represent a company.

A local shop sought an experienced window-card writer and the Dayton Pure Milk Co. had a job opening for a “farm hand that can milk. Inquire with J.W. Curtis at 9:30 a.m.”