What was Dayton doing when the Cubs and Indians last won a World Series?

It’s been a very long time since the Cleveland Indians or the Chicago Cubs competed for a World Series championship.

The last time the Cubs won the World Series was Oct. 14, 1908, five years after the team changed its name from the White Stockings.

The Cleveland Indians wrapped up a World Series win against the Boston Braves on Oct. 11, 1948.

So what was going on in Dayton those days?

The day the Cubs won in 1908, citizens filled the YMCA auditorium to hear Samuel Gompers, the American labor leader, speak.

A brief on the front page of the newspaper under the headline “Orville Wright Suffers Pain” reported surgeons in Washington had examined the aviation pioneer’s leg and decided it was “knitting much better than expected.”

Details of an accident to a lesser-known Daytonian, Frank Schrible of 454 Cincinnati Street, were noted on the inside pages of the newspaper. While he unloaded coal at St. Elizabeth Hospital, the gate of the wagon opened and falling coal fractured his leg.

The brief was printed below an ad for ZEMO, a cure for itching skin disease and above an ad for Sergeant’s Infallible Flea Remedy for dogs.

The Cubs won at the same time residents of Dayton bought Dr. Lyon’s Perfect Tooth Powder, “a superior dentifrice for people of refinement,” and as the ostrich feather department at Traxler’s store was holding a sale on adornments for women’s hats.

Fast forward to 1948, and the Cleveland Indians were taking on the Boston Braves in the final game of their World Series matchup.

That same day, President Harry Truman arrived at Dayton’s Union Station and waved to the crowd lining Main Street from his motorcade as he drove to Memorial Hall for a speech.

Coca-Cola was only five cents, and an ad in the newspaper touted gas stations as a great spot for a “pause that refreshes.”

Camel cigarettes, the ones “more doctors smoke” offered a 30-day smoking test to prove how mild the product was. Knotty pine furniture was in vogue for “manish” rooms and for sale at the Rossiter-Jarrett Harman Co. on North Main Street.

The story of the Indians' win was written up on typewriters across the county. Like the Royal Quiet Deluxe featuring “finger form keys,” a “magic margin” and “rapid ribbon changer,” which could be purchased at the Elder & Johnston Co. store in downtown Dayton.

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