Here’s a look at some stories happening the week of Feb. 19-25.
Feb. 20, 1927: Parents approve of simple, tasteful and inexpensive apparel for pupils
An organization called Adult Dayton held a fashion show to show off outfits they considered appropriate for high school girls at the Elder and Johnson store.
It was estimated a student could dress on an annual budget of $150. In today’s dollars, that would be $2,558 according to an online inflation calculator.
Officials later heard from parents who said they could not dress their daughters as the Adult Dayton organization wished.
Feb. 23, 1941: Heroic efforts fail to prevent drowning in state hospital pond
Treacherous ice on one of the ponds at the Dayton State Hospital cost one man his life and nearly claimed three other victims.
According to witnesses, Lester T. Goodnough, 30, drove up to the pond, put on ice skates, speeded across the lake and hit a thin spot in the ice and plunged through.
Other skaters went to the scene, and two girls, Patty Stockstill and Donna Breidenbach, fell through the ice as well. A young man rushed to get a plank to help rescue the girls. Another skater helped pull them out.
Police and firemen were called to the scene. Firemen launched a life boat. Unfortunately, Goodnough had been submerged for 15 minutes before they could recover his body.
Feb. 19, 1956: Bomberger Park near completion
Bomberger Park was home to Ohio’s oldest community center, dedicated in 1908.
A “new” Bomberger park, at the same site on Fifth Street, was to be christened on Memorial Day, 1956.
The park featured a large L-shaped, Olympic-standard swimming pool (with adjoining toddler wadding pool), outdoor basketball courts and playground equipment. The park was to extend acroos Eagle street where land marked for urban renewal was cleared to make way for one baseball and two softball diamonds.
Inside the new community center was a gym with three basketball courts that seats 500; a kitchen, banquet space for parties and dances, a woodworking shop, two craft rooms, and a ceramics room with three kilns.
An on-site clinic had two examining rooms, a waiting room and a treatment room.
Feb. 20, 1962: TV audience reactions to John Glenn space flight
More then 20 TV and radio sets at Rike’s department store drew over 200 shoppers interested in the Cape Canaveral blastoff of Lt. Col. John H. Glenn into orbit.
Daytonians watched as he orbited the earth 3 times before landing safely off the Bahamas Islands. Cheers of “Go, Go, Go, Glenn,” along with a lot of “oohs” and “ahhs” were reported to be heard as the rocket streaked up into the sky.
After the first few minutes of excitement and nervousness wore off after the blastoff, viewers became more serious, almost solemn.
“I think it’s a great thing,” John Cole, Rike’s fourth floor supervisor said. “We’re showing this to the whole world, so there won’t be any doubt about it. That’s not like the Russians’ orbit trip.”
Feb. 25, 1979: In wee hours, pins crash and the beer flows at Capri Lanes
While most of the 8-to-5 shift workers in Dayton were sleeping, the pins kept crashing down at Capri Bowling Lanes, the Dayton area’s only all-night bowling alley.
In 1979, the last call at the bar was 2 a.m.
The after-midnight bowling hours were populated by second-shift workers, the early afternoon found third shifters and a smattering of retirees on the lanes.
There were usually fewer bowlers at 1:30 p.m. than 1:30 a.m.
Night desk man Tom Loper was quoted in the story, saying, “last night we had seven bowlers play 54 games up till 4 a.m. Before NCR went down we’d have 24 lanes of open bowl after midnight.”
Capri Bowling Lanes is still in operation at 2727 S Dixie Dr., but is no longer is an all-night bowling alley.
Feb. 24, 1994: 1994 coming to an end at Moraine plant
The Moraine GM plant was set to make it’s final sports utility vehicles for the 1994 model year and close for retooling.
About 1,500 workers were laid off at the end of the 1994 run.
In May of 1994 the 3,000 worker assembly plant would start up again to build the 1995 Chevrolet Blazer and GMC Jimmy.
The factory was one of the largest employers in the Miami Valley. GM officials at the time said that if the company sold enough sport utility vehicles, it would add a third crew to Moraine, or 1,000 more jobs.
The GM plant closed for good in December of 2008. In 2014 the facility was acquired by Fuyao Glass to produce glass for vehicles.
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