Headlines in History 1969: Errant balloon drops off priest and pilot; hits wire
What was making news in our area during this week in years past? The History Museum offers these newspaper excerpts to give you an idea.
May 21, 1906: “The Elcarte Amusement company, of Indianapolis, has been incorporated. The Incorporators are Joseph Frohman, president and treasurer; Mark Solomon, Chicago, vice-president, and Max Gross, secretary. All are well known here, Messrs. Gross and Frohman being former residents. The company will put on an attraction known as ‘Hale’s Tours of the World.’ One will be located at Indianapolis and the other at Detroit, Mich.” — The South Bend Tribune
May 22, 1919: “Looking into the future and realizing that South Bend is to be one of the most important industrial centers in the country as a result of the expansion now in progress, several local corporations are making preparations to expand their facilities. Several concerns are also making arrangements to transfer their activities from other cities to South Bend.” — The South Bend Tribune
May 23, 1922: “High school girls will be stationed throughout the business district Saturday, Monday and Tuesday to assist in the sale of Flanders poppies, emblems of the World war, for Memorial Day wear. The sale will be directed by Miss Effie E. Marman, supervisor of music in the city schools.” — The South Bend Tribune
May 24, 1937: “Normal manufacturing operations were resumed today by the Studebaker corporation terminating the first complete shut-down due to labor trouble in the company’s 85 years of existence, except a walkout in the days of the Knights of Labor when employees left the plant, marched north on Michigan street and held a meeting in Price’s theater. The difficulty soon was settled and the men returned to work.” — The South Bend Tribune
May 25, 1941: “A new funeral home, in which a feeling of comfort is achieved through the use of spacious rooms, rich simplicity in furnishings and a tasteful blending of pastel colors against white, will open to the public today when the A. C. Welsheimer Funeral home, 521 North William street, begins a week’s open house.” — The South Bend Tribune
May 26, 1954: “Automobile drivers who use gravel rural highways can do much to prevent unnecessary damage to such roads by careful driving. By careful driving is meant reasonable speed; and any sensible driver can keep his speed to a comparatively low rate if he is disposed to do so.” — The South Bend Tribune
May 27, 1969: “ ‘Wouldn’t you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?’ go the words of the popular song, and Rev. John Reedy, C.S.C., editor of Notre Dame’s Ave Maria magazine, answered ‘Yes’ with a skeptical spirit. So up, up and away he went with balloon-racing enthusiast Don Kersten yesterday afternoon, but as it turned out, things seemed to get away from the both of them. Breaking its restraining tether somewhat unexpectedly, the blue-and-gold balloon named ‘Merope’ (for Kersten’s wife), soared to a height of 2,000 feet on five minutes worth of fuel, and by the time it came down in the middle of U.S. 31 north of Roseland, it was passengerless and in the news.” — The South Bend Tribune
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: What made news the fourth week of May in South Bend in history
