Piqua Public Library Local History

08/25/2026

Kiwanis Family Picnic at Fountain Park. A group of picnickers dines at the Kiwanis Family Picnic at Fountain Park, about 1950 (SC-614 161).

08/20/2026

08/12/2026

Miami County Fair Parade participants tend and groom their animals while preparing for the 1964 parade on August 19, 1964. (Photo: MS-223, Box 1, File 116)

07/28/2026

A tug-of-war competition at the Lear-Avia company’s picnic circa 1943. (Step Lange Collection, MS-16, Box 11, File 116)

07/23/2026

The local lodge of the Loyal Order of Moose was first organized.

07/14/2026

Sue Hetherington, the Schmidlapp Free School Library’s first librarian, was born in June 1849, the daughter of William and Mary Ann Mitchell Hetherington.

On May 17, 1890, the Piqua Board of Education appointed Miss Hetherington as “Librarian of the new Schmidlapp Public School Library.” She and her assistants worked behind the scenes that summer to prepare the library for its grand opening in October 1890.

Hetherington served as librarian until 1906, and then as assistant librarian. She retired on August 31, 1916

07/09/2026

July 9, 1883
This day in history in Piqua, Ohio
The Young Women's Christian Temperance Union was first organized.

05/24/2026

James R. Brown
Lieutenant, United States Navy
Jim Brown played football, basketball and baseball at both Wilder Junior and Central High School and was a member of the Student Council graduating in 1962. Lt. Brown was born in Piqua, and after spending a year at Purdue University entered the Naval Academy, graduating in the class of 1967. After graduation, he began naval air training at Pensacola. Lt. Brown was serving as an instructor with VT-24 at Chase Field at the time of his death. He was posthumously commissioned Lieutenant in December 1969.

05/23/2026

Paul S. Voress
Sergeant, United States Air Force
Paul S. (Steve) Voress was born in Sidney in 1948. He graduated from Piqua High School in 1966, playing basketball and hockey. Before joining the Air Force in 1968, he worked as a news carrier and in the composing room for the Piqua Daily Call. While serving in the Air Force, he died in an accident in Germany in 1974.