Historical Ada

By Lee Crouse
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February 1950 - Classroom Idea of ONU Student Places Detachable Collars on Store Shelves - Don Koch, ONU student, came up with the idea of a detachable shirt collar when he became too warm during class. He cut a collar from a sport shirt and fitted it with ordinary snaps to a V-neck sweater. A Canandaigua, New York, knitting firm signed a contract on Dec. 6, 1949, and started producing the collars. A patent was applied for in the inventor’s name. The Greenawalt store in Ada was the first store in the United States to offer Mr. Koch’s detachable collar for sale.

This article is the first of several pieces on the village’s history and written by members of The Ada Historical Society.

Prior to WWI, a person strolling Ada’s streets of a summer’s eve would likely have heard the sound of piano music issuing from parlors along the way. Some may have come from player or mechanical pianos and some from pianists.

Helping to maintain this melodious flow was David O. Betz, one of Ada leading citizens and director of the Northwestern Ohio School of Piano Tuning.