Exchange Club Celebrates 75 Years of Service
To Fostoria Community
November 20, 1996

PIX #1 - This wonderful creation was the Fostoria Exchange Club float in the Municipal Halloween Parade October 31, 1928. The Exchange Club has sponsored 75 Halloween Parades, one for every year of the club’s existence. The Focus thanks K Speelman for the use of the photo.

PIX #2 - Cy Kuhn has been contributing to Fostoria’s betterment as a member of the Fostoria Exchange Club for 50 years. He joined in April 1946.

Back in 1921 St. Wendelin High School hadn’t been built. In 1921 Fostoria’s First National Bank was as yet untainted by John Dillinger’s larceny. In 1921 the Post Office was still a dozen years away. But in 1921 one familiar feature of life in Fostoria got its start and has been a going concern ever since.

Sixteen men gathered on October 17, 1921 and set about forming the Exchange Club of Fostoria. Dr. V.H. Michener, a local dentist, was elected the first president.

At this point the club hadn’t yet received its charter from the National Exchange Club, but a local emergency spurred the club to save a community activity that the Exchange Club made a hallmark of its service to Fostoria every year since. The local Halloween Parade, then only two years old, was in danger of cancellation due to lack of funds. But according to the local club’s history, “The new born Exchange Club jumped into the breech, probably little aware that it was setting a precedent. . .”

That was three quarters of a century ago. Today the Exchange Club is still sponsoring Fostoria’s Halloween parade and is also celebrating 75 years of service to the Fostoria community, service that goes well beyond the annual Halloween extravaganza.

Each Exchange Club member seeks to serve in unity with those seeking better conditions, better understanding, and greater opportunities for all.

In order to get up to date on the Exchange Club’s current activities, we talked to K Speelman who’s been a member of the Exchange Club for over 20 years.

Each year in the winter, the Exchange Club sponsors the Cole Indoor Circus. Proceeds from the sale of tickets goes to Exchange Club scholarships. Each year the club awards three $500 scholarships to a Fostoria High School student, a St. Wendelin student and a third to a student from an area school. The scholarships are based on a combination of merit and need.

“The big thing,” said K, “is the Halloween parade. The first one was in 1921 before the Exchange Club was officially organized. The merchants handled it previously.”

Always a large and festive pageant, the Halloween parade has included greased pole contests, most courteous salesperson contests and window painting contests. Club members solicit contributions from business and professional people. The 50-60 minute procession costs from $1,600 - $1,900 annually to put on.

The circus, parade and scholarships indicate the extent to which the Exchange Club is committed to activities for youth. In keeping with that, the club has its Youth of the Month program which singles out a deserving FHS and SWHS student for recognition. At the end of the school year, one student is selected as local Youth of the Year and is eligible to submit an essay in the district competition. District winners enter a national competition. The local Youth of the Year wins a cash award of $100; district winners receive $750 and the national winners gets $5,000.

The Exchange Club also sponsors the F.A.M.E. (Fostoria A.M. Exchange) Games each year in which mentally and physically handicapped people can compete in a variety of events.

Each year the club presents its Book of Golden Deeds award. This is given to someone (not an Exchange Club member) for outstanding community service. Don Mennel, Don Miller, Ernie and June Duffield, Winifred Carnicom, Ida May Gray, Al and Evelyn Hollinger, Elinor Fruth, Sam Opp and Catherine LaFontaine are among past winners of this award.

Exchangites also assist other organizations. They sell daffodils for the Cancer Society and ring bells for the Salvation Army. K said the only problem is that its always cold when they ring bells for the Salvation Army.

As a general fund raiser the club also sets up a food wagon selling hot dogs and Pepsi at events like the Glass Heritage Festival.

In addition to its local programs, the club contributes to the National Exchange Club’s national project. The club raises funds from the sale of blue ribbons at 50 cents each. Monies raised go to Exchange’s Child Abuse Prevention program.

All these worthy community projects run on the energy and dedication of the Exchange Club members. One fellow who’s provided an important part of that energy and dedication is Exchangite Cy Kuhn. Cy has been a member for more than 50 of the club’s 75 years.

According to club records, Cy joined up April 15, 1946. He was the 170th member of Fostoria Exchange.

“The Halloween parade was the big deal for the Exchange Club. It was the climax of the year. We’d go out and raise money. We’d get 11 bands from Fostoria, Arcadia, Bascom, New Riegel, all over the areas. The parade took over an hour.

“I used to go raise money from businesses on Sandusky St. and from E. Fremont to Main. I’d walk in the door and they’d say, ‘Time for the Halloween Parade again!?”

Cy grew up south of Bascom and used to take the inter-urban train to and from school. He graduated from St. Wendelin in 1929. He used to get up early to milk the cows before walking the mile and a half to the trolley line. Cy played football and basketball for SWHS. Sometimes he wouldn’t get home until after nine o’clock on the last trolley. “Those were good days,” says Cy.

Cy went to work for Woolworth’s for $4 a week during the Depression. Hel helped manage Woolworths in Anderson, Indiana and Toledo before returning to Fostoria where he went to work for Nelson Poe at Black Swamp Production Credit, which specialized in loans and financing for farmers. Mr. Poe was the Secretary-Treasurer and Cy was his assistant.

“It was the Depression,” recalled Cy. “Old farmers would sit and cry because they thought they’s lose their farms. Nelson Poe would always try to work something out. Nelson Poe saved a lot of farmers.” (My grandmother, Mary Killian, was Mr. Poe’s housekeeper for many years.)

Ten years later, Cy moved on to First National Bank.

“Andy Emerine hired me from Production Credit. I didn’t know a thing about banking, but he said, ‘That’s okay, we’ll teach you.’ “

Cy was in the bank on the day in 1934 when John Dillinger pulled his famous heist. He said, “There were people on the veranda at the Moose and in front of Preis’s. Dillinger could have killed dozens of people, but he shop up and down.”

Cy said that the Exchange Club always go involved in projects for young people.

“Any youth program, the Exchange Club backed. That way I was always involved in Fostoria.”

In honor of his half century of service, Cy received a Unity of Service plaque from the National Exchange Club, “Honoring Cyril J. Kuhn with our appreciation for 50 years of continuous Unity of Service, 1946 - 1996. Presented May 14, 1996.”

Thanks to its ideal of unity of service, the Exchange Club has had a deep impact on the development of Fostoria. In the early 1920's the Committee for Good Roads rallied sentiment locally and lobbied in Columbus for improved roads from surrounding communities to Fostoria.

In 1923 the Exchange and Rotary clubs united to raise $1,750 so the Fostoria High School band, under Jack Wainwright, could travel to Chicago and defend its national championship. In 1924-25 the club lobbied vigorously for the bond issue that financed the Fostoria Hospital. As early as 1924, the club was awarding scholarships for local students.

The Fostoria Municipal Swimming Pool was born of the vision of the Exchange Club. In 1930, the club launched its pool project, a campaign of public persuasion that included letters, handouts, and door to door contact that resulted in the passage of a bond issue in 1937.

In connection with the opening of the Post Office in 1933, the Exchange sponsored the Fostoria Air Races. The airfield was located off 23 North (now 199) and the air show was one of the largest such events every held in the area up to that time.

In 1972 the Exchange Club recognized 22 members who had 20 or more years of continuous service to the club. For the steadfastness of their service, they were known as “The Durables.” Cy Kuhn with 27 years and 10 months was one of those Durables. Since then he’s added another two decades plus of durability and service to Fostoria and to the Exchange Club.

It’s the commitment and dedication of Cy Kuhn and many others like him that have made the Fostoria Exchange Club a “Durable” in its own right, a durable contributor to civic improvement in Fostoria for so long. The Focus offers its heartfelt congratulations to the club on its 75 year milestone and to Cy Kuhn for his 50 years of service. We hope there are many more good years ahead.