125 Years Ago
Sept. 21, 1899
The water was let out of the canal last evening in order to make some repairs along the bank near Port Jefferson.
Howard Moore, of DeGraff, was killed yesterday by an apple falling on his head that he had clubbed from the tree.
The Sidney boys won three straight games yesterday from the Quincy bowling team at Fountain alleys.
The game of ball yesterday between the American Black Tourists and the Sidney Reds resulted in a victory for Sidney by a score of 10 to 8.
100 Years Ago
Sept. 21, 1924
On Oct. 7th, the wedding of Rev. Haven W. Swinehart of this city and Miss Hilda Wiggert of Detroit, will take place. Rev. Swinehart is the pastor of the St. John’s Lutheran church, coming to this city six months ago.
A basket of 49 beautiful pink roses greeted I.H. Thedieck upon his arrival at the store this morning. It was a tribute upon the 49th anniversary of his business career from the 70 employees of the Thedieck Dept. Store Company.
Howard Jelly, the 12 year old son of Milton Jelly near Oran was awakened by his dog barking Saturday morning and found the dog had two coons in the top of a pine tree. He succeeded in capturing both of the two-thirds grown coons alive.
75 Years Ago
Sept. 21, 1949
The Shelby county chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis is spending March of Dimes funds at the rate of $1,500 per month in combating polio in this area, Dr. C.E. McCorkle, chairman of the local chapter, announced today. He said the local chapter was underwriting all or part of the cost for 12 new cases in Shelby county.
Louis Kah is 94 today. In 1898 he purchased the old Maxwell Mills Water Power and established an electric light plant to furnish commercial lighting to Sidney. In 1900 he was a member of the old Sidney board of trade that was influential in bringing the old Western Ohio traction line through Sidney instead of taking a route the company had originally planned. The company completed the road through Sidney in 1903.
50 years ago
Sept. 21, 1974
Fort Loramie High School student Therese Seger yesterday took a water sample in a cove in Montezuma Bay. Junior and senior biology classes at Fort Loramie High are making qualitative analyses of pollution in area lakes and streams under the direction of their biology teacher, Dwight Schmiesing.
John Laws, 912 Michigan St., Sidney, has been named to “The Marching Men of Ohio,” the renowned band at Ohio University, Athens. Laws is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Laws of Sidney.
25 Years Ago
Sept. 21, 1999
The Shelby County Genealogical Society took a light-hearted look at rural life during a recent meeting when guest speaker Glenna Meckstroth talked about her book, “Tales From Great-Grandpa’s Trunk.” Meckstroth’s son encouraged her to write the book so future generations had some idea of how things used to be. He grew up hearing tales about great-grandfather’s red handkerchief and the holes that developed from his habit of counting the white dots. Other stories dealt with old-time grocery stores, the trunk in the attic and his clock. And then there was the day the elderly gentleman dropped some ashes and the paper around the spittoon began to smoke. Glenna alerted her grandmother and saved the day. Her grandfather, Heinrich Schwarz was born Nov. 13, 1840, and came to the United States in 1864. He subsequently Americanized his name to Henry Schwartz. He came from Germany to Cincinnati to Hamilton and worked in a mill there before coming to Auglaize County and settling in Kossuth.
Todd Wayne Banker, son of Doug and Deb Banker of Sidney, and Luke Matthew Stepleton, son of Ed and Rita Stepleton of Sidney, have been initiated into Beta Theta Pi by the chapters at their respective colleges. Beta Theta Pi, which was founded in 1839 at Miami University, is dedicated to scholarship, brotherhood and community service. The fraternity has more than 115,000 members, including some 7,000 collegians on 138 campuses in Canada and the United States. Banker, a Sidney High School graduate, is a student at the University of Toledo. Stepleton, who graduated from Culver Military Academy, attends Wabash College. The Toledo chapter was chartered in 1991. The fraternity also has chapters at Ohio State University, Wittenberg, Bowling Green, Denison and Ohio University.
These news items from past issues of the Sidney Daily News are compiled by the Shelby County Historical Society (937-498-1653) as a public service to the community. Local history on the Internet! www.shelbycountyhistory.org. Visit the Sidney Daily News website, www.sidneydailynews.com to read the rest of the week’s columns.
