Once upon a time in Ada

Things you didn’t know about your own hometown

By Lee Crouse

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Ada in 1910:

May 1910 the first annual to be published by a senior class at Ohio Northern University was named “The Comet” after Halley’s comet.

July 1910 the Manufacture of Knit Goods to be Begun Here as Soon as Machinery Can be Placed, this was an announcement in the Ada Record July 13, 1910. About 1909 some Ada people bought a knitting factory at Wapakoneta, Ohio and in 1910 moved it to the Brewer Block at Ada on the second floor. The manager was to be W.H. Roper from LaPorte, Indiana. This factory was to employ mostly women.

August 1910 the council passed an ordinance requiring all “peddlers, hawkers, auctioneers of horses, hucksters and bill posters,” to secure a license. The fee was determined by the method of travel. Those on foot were to pay 1 to 5 dollars per day; on horseback, 1 to 5 dollars per day; and two horse vehicles, 2 to 10 dollars.

November 1910 Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt was greeted by more than 2,000 persons when his train made a few minutes stop here.