Millennium Countdown Series
It's the turn, turn, turn of the Century
January 27, 1999

And now, h-e-e-e-e-r-e's the millennium!

For those who haven't been paying attention, the Year 2000 is nearly upon us. All sorts of predictions are being floated as The Turn of the Century looms.

Will the Y2K computer glitch throw America into a mirthless technological funk? Beats me.

And the usual crystal ball gazers are telling us the world will end. That wouldn't be so bad. It will be everyone's chance to get away from it all.

In any case, we can take solace in the fact that humanity has been through this business of years that end in double-zero many times before. In fact, a mere hundred years ago, Fostoria itself was preparing to emerge from the 19th century into the 20th.

What our town was like and how it navigated the years from 1899-1999 will be the subject of a series of articles here in the old Focus.

This is the first.

Fostoria in 1899

We've had a dismal January 1999 weatherwise. January 1899 must not have been much better. It was reported on Jan. 12, boys were seen having fun ice skating on the city's sidewalks.

We're fortunate in 1999. When the weather socks us in, we can sit home toasty warm and amuse ourselves with VCRs, CD players, cable TV, video games, Internet surfing, stereos, etc.

In winter 1899, folks looking for entertainment had to make their way to the Jan. 13 show at the Andes Opera House (above WFOB), commune with their fellow Fostorians and take in "musical comedy farce "The Girl From Ireland." a stage show.

A good time was promised as the "fun comes in avalanches, fast and furious."

Today we're accustomed to a dazzling array of goods to choose from when we go to a drug store. It wasn't much different in 1899.

James Fritcher, "druggist and pharmacist," sold "toilet articles, fancy goods, perfumes, soaps, sponges, stationary, and cigars" in addition to "drugs, medicines and chemicals" at his store at 107 S. Main. Druggist Fritcher took pains to advertise that prescriptions were "a specialty."

In 1999, when we want to go somewhere, we hop in our cars and rocket to our destination on a paved, two or four lane road. We might even board an airplane to journey to the far ends of the globe.

In 1899, you might check the inter-urban schedule in the Fostoria Daily Review Dispatch. If your destination was a more distant one, you'd check the schedules for the Ohio Central, Hocking Valley, B&O or Nickel Plate Railroads, all of which served Fostoria then.

In 1999, we're used to walking into a store and buying clothing of our desired fit and style. Fostorians did the same in 1899 at A. Weaver's & Son's store, specializing in women's and children's apparel, though the clothing doesn't quite sound like what folks wear today.

Check out some items from Weaver's "Great Inventory Sale" in January 1899 - children's fleeced hose, ladies' union suits, capes, ladies' and children's muslin underwear, dress goods, flannels, hosiery, and ladies underskirts (in patterns and ready made).

Mr. Bliss, manager of Maberry's shoe store, proudly announced that 89 pairs of ladies "Fine Kid Shoes" were on sale at $1.25 a pair.

Wordplay is a staple of modern advertising in 1999. So it was in 1899. The Isaac Harter Mill (still in business today as Mennel Milling) told potential customers, "You knead good flour if you want good result. Harter's is the most economical and wholesome flour on the market."

Just as true today as it was then.

In 1899, "Calico Charlie" Foster was still alive. He was 71.

Only a few years earlier he had returned from the West where he negotiated a treaty with the Sioux Indian Tribe on behalf of the US government.

Foster was easily Fostoria's most important historical figure. In addition to his involvement in several successful business ventures, he served in the House of Representatives, was twice elected Ohio governor and was Secretary of the Treasury under President Benjamin Harrison.

Y the way, A. Weaver's & Son also sold table linens, napkins, towels and other such items in 1899. "We own the most under the War Tariff Schedules; consequently we are prepared to give you the best price in Northern Ohio."

The War Tariff referred to the fact that in 1898-1999 the Spanish-American War was on.

In 1899, Fostoria mustered out her National Guard unit, Company D of the 6th Ohio Infantry Regiment under the command of Capt. Franklin Culp. Co. D included roughly 100 officers and men.

When they returned home on May 26, 1899, a parade was held in their honor and a poem written:

A cheer for the men of Company D,

A cheer for their sweethearts and wives;
The long year is past,
And they're home at last,
Praise God for sparing their lives.
Fostoria greets her Company D
With cannon, with flags, and with band;
We are making Rome howl,
And old Risdon yowl,
While the boys we give the glad hand.