This Week in Dayton History: Charles F. Kettering tribute, classic films at Wright-Patt, cost of stamps and more stories to remember

Jan. 10—Dayton has a fascinating history, which the Dayton Daily News has been there to chronicle since 1898.

Each week, we're going into the archives for stories both important and interesting that happened this week through the years.

Here's a look at some stories from the week of Jan. 7-13.

Jan. 10, 1937: Dayton pays tribute to genius of Charles F. Kettering

A program to honor Charles F. Kettering, held at the Miami Hotel, was led by toastmaster James M. Cox (publisher of the Dayton Daily News) and included a rundown of Kettering's career and a performance by the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. The function lasted four and a half hours and ended just before midnight.

Col. E. A. Deeds, President of NCR and a long-time Kettering associate, called Kettering, "the greatest industrial and research man of our day and generation, greater even than the late Thomas A. Edison," of whom Deeds was a friend.

Others giving tribute speeches were Cox.; Fred H. Rike; Dr. George W. Rightmire, president of Ohio State University; Dr. Lyman J. Briggs, director of the federal bureau of standards; and Richard H. Grant, vice president of General Motors.

Kettering appeared to be deeply touched by the speakers. He then took the stage for some words of his own.

"I am the enemy of the world being finished," said Kettering during his brief talk to the crowd of 500 in attendance.

He attributed his own success to "one accident after another," but added that the selection of associates and the building up of effective organizations was important.

Jan. 7, 1963: No beefs heard on nickel stamp

On Jan. 7, 1963, the cost of stamps was raised.

The price of a stamp for first class mail went to five cents and air mail stamps went up to eight cents. It was a penny increase for both.

Although the prices were up, customers didn't seem to mind. Dayton postmaster Hugh Albright said, "People seem to understand that the increase is necessary."

Vending machines were a popular way to buy stamps. The new machines only took quarters. You could get four five-cent stamps or three air mail stamps for a quarter, with the extra five cents or one cent going towards the service charge.

Jan. 13, 1972: Anti-crash bumper born in Dayton

Delco Products engineers in Dayton worked five years to make a seven-pound cylinder that was to be put on 1973 model General Motors cars to absorb the energy from low-speed collisions.

General Motors called it the most efficient item ever built to protect car parts from damage and cushion people should the car crash at a speed of up to 10 miles per hour.

The energy absorber was designed to outlast the car. It was guaranteed for 10 years or the first 100,000 miles of driving.

Production was to create 400 Dayton jobs. In October 1972, two per bumper were to be installed on several million cars, "from compacts to the heaviest Cadillac."

Jan. 8, 1984: Film classics take refuge at Wright-Patt

In 1984, Building 167 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was a movie buff's heaven.

There were about 85,000 reels of film — equal to about 17,000 movies — from Hollywood's golden era stored there.

At the time, there were 99 walk-in film vaults containing the original camera negatives of such classics as Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, Top Hat and Frankenstein.

The films dated from Thomas Edison's early films of the 1890s to major studio releases through the early 1950s. There were Charlie Chaplin silent films, early Alfred Hitchcock films and the original Superman and Batman movies.

The film collection at Wright-Patterson was among the largest in the nation outside of New York and Hollywood.

Building 167 was the Library of Congress major storage facility for old and highly flammable nitrate film. Nearby on the base was a laboratory for copying the movies from the deteriorating nitrate to acetate safety film.

The Library of Congress moved the movie collection from Washington to Dayton in the 1970s, taking over Wright-Patt's sophisticated vaults which stored Air Force films until the 1960s. The vaults were kept at a cool 50 degrees and humidity of 50 percent as precautions against an explosion.

The films were later moved to a storage facility in Culpeper, Virginia around 2005. The move was an effort by the Library of Congress to consolidate federal preservation and storage programs.

Jan. 7, 1995: Judge Riley proudly makes history

Adele Mosley Riley became the first Black woman to sit on the bench of the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.

Witnesses for the event included 18 sitting judges and dozens of city leaders.

U.S. District Judge Walter H. Rice, presiding, said, "I long for the day and I think the day is fast approaching when any woman, any African-American woman or male can be elected or appointed to any position in our community and (race or gender) will no longer be newsworthy."

In her remarks, Riley thanked her husband, family, church, sorority and "the heroes and she-roes, many of them in this room, who helped to shape me and make me grow."

She promised, "Justice will be administered fairly and impartially and I will be the best person I can be."