I'll bet you know that Fort Wayne was named for a general who built a fort at the confluence of the three rivers.

And I'll bet you know that Johnny Appleseed is buried here.

I'll even bet that, you know that Fort Wayne is called the “City of Churches” and should be called the “City of Restaurants.” There probably isn't a teenager around that doesn't know it's home to Indiana's largest shopping mall.

It's got a great arts community, a great zoo, a wonderful park system.

And I'll bet you even know that it's the hometown of the glamorous movie actress Carole Lombard.

But I'll bet there are a few things you didn't know about Fort Wayne.

Like, well, for instance, the very first handheld calculator was invented here in 1971.

It was called the Bowmar Brain, and it helped the US gain control of the electronic calculator market from Japan.

Pretty cool, huh?

How about this one?

In 1904, a Fort Wayne homing pigeon broke the world's record flying 1000 miles in five days, two hours, and 15 minutes.

Yeah.

I didn't think you'd know that one.

Or how about this?

There was only one ever successful escape from the prison.

Alcatraz.

And a Fort Wayne native was the cellmate of the successful escapee.

Well, actually, they escaped together, but the Fort Wayne guy got caught.

Okay, I may be stretching things a bit, but I'll bet you didn't know that.

And so that's what this show is about.

As many Fort Wayne firsts claims to fame as we can squeeze into an hour, you'll be surprised at how much this city is really known for, both nationally and internationally.

Honest.

This will be fun.

Come on along.

As we discover some Fort Wayne firsts.

For playing, firsts is made possible by the members of TV 39 in a partnership with Home Loan Bank.

Promoting home ownership through purchase, construction and refinancing for 103 years.

The area's oldest bank specializes in family residential financial needs, providing peace of mind to protect your investment.

Coming Soon, nine Convenient Neighborhood home Loan banking offices.

Okay, so where to start?

Well, first, let me tell you that we dug through the Allen County Fort Wayne Historical Museum in the Old City Hall for a lot of this information.

They were really very helpful over there.

And boy, do they have a lot of great stuff on exhibit and in storage.

Of course, we scoured the library and the newspapers and we stumbled across this book called the 20th Century History of Fort Wayne was published in 1975 for the U.S.

Bicentennial.

It was written by John Ankenbruck.

You or someone in your family may have bought the book back in 1975 76, but you may not have read it.

I strongly suggest you find a copy at some point and read it.

It is a well-written, fascinating compilation of Fort Wayne history, very entertaining.

And I'm sure you can check out a copy at the library.

We found ours in a second hand bookstore.

It's a rare book they tell us.

Sells for about 60 bucks now.

Okay, enough of the book review.

Let's get on with the show.

This man, Samuel Foster, invented the first shirtwaist and manufactured it at the Foster Shirtwaist Factory.

What's a shirtwaist?

Afraid you were going to ask that.

They tell me it's a shirt for women.

And similar in style to the Gibson girl.

I assume that some of you will understand.

What time does the city of Fort Wayne have to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912?

Well, journalist Bill Gill, a Fort Wayne native, was working as a reporter with Hearst Newspapers in New York when he heard the Titanic sunk over the wireless.

He is the one that broke the story to the world.

And speaking of water, this is the nineties version of a nursery seat.

It's a potty chair at my house.

In 1924, the Toidey Company of Fort Wayne.

Yes.

The Toidey Company began manufacturing high quality folding nursery seats.

It became nationally known for them.

The first electric municipal lighting system in the US.

We're talking street lights here was sold to Wabash, Indiana in the 1880s by the General Electric Company of Fort Wayne.

They also supplied 17 arc lights for one of the first night baseball games ever to be played anywhere.

That was in 1883, right here in the Summit City.

And by the way, Fort Wayne is not called the Summit City because it's the highest point in the state.

No, no, that was too simple.

It was called this because it's the highest point linking the greatest water flow depression in North America, whatever that means.

But that information may well have been discovered in the Canal era, because back in 1832, Fort Wayne was the starting place for the Wabash Erie Canal, the longest stretch of canal in the United States.

Okay, another quiz.

But this time a visual clue.

What does she have to do with Fort Wayne?

I'm glad you asked.

In the 1950s, the first Barbie hair was a byproduct of Rea Magnet Wires wire making process here in Fort Wayne.

Actually, they're more famous for developing the first one-piece, aluminum diecast spool to hold wire.

The Barbie hair is funny.

By the 1950s, Rea produced more than half the magnet wire in the United States.

Baking powder was invented here sometime before 1865.

By 1885, its inventor, the Royal Baking Powder Company, was the largest manufacturer in the field.

And speaking of baking and Mom's apple pie, James Whistler, you may know, is the guy that painted Whistler's Mother.

Well, James Whistler's father was born in Fort Wayne.

His grandfather built the last of the three forts built here in 1815.

It's enough to make you think Whistler's mother should be smiling in that painting.

In the late 1800s, a young man by the name of Sylvanus Freelove Bowser invented the first self measuring pump which revolutionized the oil and gasoline industry.

The pumps made it possible to easily, safely and accurately handle liquid fuel from storage tanks and made the Fort Wayne based Bowser Company a pioneer known worldwide.

Sylvanus Freelove Bowser became a leading industrialist.

I thought my middle name was bad.

Speaking of inventors, at age 17, Thomas Edison moved here to work for the railroad as a telegraph operator in 1864.

He had a room in a building on Columbia Street, and even though he lived here only six months and didn't claim to have invented anything while he was here, you know, he had to be thinking about some things.

I mean, he could have come up with the idea for the phonograph here.

You never know.

And while we're claiming people that really only lived here a short time.

Western novel writer Zane Gray lived here for a year in 1896.

He wasn't a famous author at that time.

He was a professional baseball player.

He was in the outfield for the Fort Wayne's Interstate Professional League team.

And during that season, he was the leading hitter in the league.

And, you know, he could have gotten inspiration here for Riders of the Purple Sage.

Well he could have.

Wayne native Alexander Campbell was the assistant U.S. attorney general who prosecuted Axis Sally, Tokyo Rose and Alger Hiss in the late 1940s after World War Two.

Here's a 1948 Mutual newsreel from WOR in New York City, with Campbell telling of the return of Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose to Justice.

Tonight, the long arm of the government is reaching out for Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose, the two radio stars of Axis propaganda now face trial for treason.

In Washington, Alexander Campbell, assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal Division, tells the country Mildred Gillars and Iva Toguri DAquino are coming home.

You and thousands of ex-GIs know them better perhaps as Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose, respectively.

The Department of Justice has requested the Army to return these two American citizens to the United States.

The government's long and careful investigation will soon culminate in the presentation of its evidence against these two women.

Our evidence alleging treasonable activities during the time of war will be presented before a federal grand jury.

An open and fair trial for Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose.

The girls are told our troops in Europe and the Pacific about the glories of the axis.

We've got a chance to explain to an American jury.

His son, Tom Campbell, gave us a copy of that.

Tom lives here in Fort Wayne and we thank him for the tape.

A man named Art Smith was born here in the 1890.

In the 1920s.

He became a pilot and is credited for being the originator of Skywriting.

The man was a stunt flier, a barnstormer, a daredevil, and he thrilled audiences everywhere.

They called him the Bird Boy of Fort Wayne.

Smith Field is, of course, named for him.

Tragically, he only lived to his mid-thirties dying in a plane crash delivering mail in Ohio in 1926.

Art Smith was an inspiration to pilots everywhere and was only the first of many famous pilots from Fort Wayne.

You'll hear about more of them later.

About the same time that Art Smith was flying high.

Father John Noll founded Our Sunday Visitor, a national Catholic weekly newspaper that reached a circulation of more than 1 million in the 1960s.

Years later, Noll would become bishop and then Fort Wayne's only archbishop.

The newspaper is still published today here in Huntington.

It has a current circulation of 100,000.

Okay.

Yet another quiz.

What do you think an electric pig is?

A.

A band from the sixties.

B.

A farm implement.

C. A garbage disposal.

Or D. A psychedelic barbecue delicacy.

The answer is C. As a matter of fact, General Electric manufactured the first garbage disposal in 1939, called Bill Morrills Electric Pig, named after the inventor, a GE employee.

We don't know anything about his food habits, though.

GE did invent and manufacture another can't live without household appliance.

The monitor top refrigerator.

It had the first hermetically sealed compressor motor on the top, making it the first reliable, inexpensive refrigerator available.

It was produced here in Fort Wayne from 1924 to 1934.

This model at the Old City Hall Museum was in use from 1934 to 1984.

That is a lot of refrigeration.

Before 1897, the electric meter that measures what usage was manufactured at GE, which at the time was called Fort Wayne Electric Works.

G.E.

started as Jenney Electric Company in 1881.

Then Fort Wayne Electric Company in 1890, and then General Electric in 1892.

In 1917, the first electric shaver was invented and was later sold to Sunbeam.

Much later, she developed programmable Motors for electric power supplies.

Now used in computers and copy machines.

But I'll bet none of those programmable motors have as great a name as the electric pig.

Now, here's something.

I'll bet you didn't know that at one time.

In the late 1800s, early 1900s, there were 23 cigar manufacture errors in Fort Wayne, which produced over 9 million cigars a year.

Go figure.

On a related note, Thomas Marshall, the man who said what this country needs is a good $0.05 cigar, lived here.

He ended up being Woodrow Wilson's vice president.

You know, those synchronized lights might just be what helped machine gun Kelly in his getaway in 1930.

The famous Chicago gangster robbed the Broadway state Bank at the northwest corner of Broadway and Taylor, if you never heard of the Pinex Company, you may remember the beautiful old Noll mansion that used to be located on Fairfield Avenue.

Well, in its heyday in the twenties, grand parties were held at the showplace that boasted gold fixtures, a ballroom, a swimming pool, formal gardens.

It was built in 1916 by the Noll family owners of the Pinex Company, which made Pinex cough syrup.

This formula was sold all over the world.

By the 1960s, the marble and stone mansion was all but abandoned and was finally torn down.

In 1974.

Well, since we're talking about Fairfield Avenue, here's something interesting.

It cost more money to build the Fairfield Manor luxury apartments in the 1920s than it cost to build the Emboyd Theater and the Indiana Hotel combined.

They were all built around the same time.

And isn't it great to know that they're still here?

Many famous women have come from Fort Wayne, including Marilyn Maxwell, the beautiful actress of the 1950s, who traveled extensively with Bob Hope.

Now, of course, I mentioned Carole Lombard, who grew up on Rockhill as Carole Jean Peters.

You know, she was a famous actress in the thirties and forties and that she was married to Clark Gable.

But did you know that her grandfather built the Wayne Hotel?

Later called the Rosemarie, located on what's now known as the Landing.

And here's another one you may not know about.

Hope Harriman.

She was a silent film actress in the early 1900s.

In 1917, she joined the Ziegfeld Follies.

She made her first talkie in 1930.

The film was called The Wonderful Return, and it fea Than all of Fort Wayne's famous women actresses.

For instance, Dr. Alice Hamilton, a descendant of Fort Wayne's very well-known Hamilton family, was the first woman to serve on the faculty at Harvard Medical School.

She also helped lead the campaign to control dangerous levels of arsenic, phosphorous, mercury, TNT and lead in mines and factories.

She also did exhaustive research on the effects of solvents on the liver and bone marrow.

She came from a family of achievers.

Her sister, Edith Hamilton, was the first woman student to be admitted to the University of Munich.

She became the head mistress at Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore and wrote several scholarly books, including an important exploration of the Greek civilization and culture called The Greek Way.

Writer Gene Stratton Porter lived in Fort Wayne for a time as well.

Now I'm going to be eating my nationally famous Bun bar right here.

It's made in Fort Wayne, Wayne candies.

And as I do so, see if you can figure out this next question.

Mm hmm.

Go on.

Go ahead.

I'm right here.

Supposedly, even Abraham Lincoln changed trains in the middle of the night here in Fort Wayne from the Civil War until 1953.

Fort Wayne was the site of one of the most important railroad centers in the country.

At one time, more than 200 trains passed through Fort Wayne in a single day.

Part of the reason was the Penn C shops, as they were known.

A large complex of shops where railroad cars and locomotives were designed, built and repaired.

Many Fort Wayne designed trains broke performance records and redefined luxury and train travel.

On June 12, 1905, the Fort Wayne area was the site of the fastest run of a regular steam train in the history of train travel.

It was in the Fort Wayne division of the Pennsylvania railroad with a Penn C engine pulling the Chicago New York Broadway Limited train.

It was clocked at 127.1 miles an hour for one mile just east of Fort Wayne.

By the way, did you know that the best foundry at its height was the largest manufacturer of railroad wheels and axles in the world?

Of course, the old Bass mansion is now part of Saint Francis College.

Also related to train travel Kunkle Valve, which was founded in 1875, developed safety valves designed for steam engines.

Later on they also produced safety valves for boilers, air and gas compressors and submarines.

And speaking of underwater, in 1886, the greatest drainage project ever attempted in the United States was undertaken in the Southwest part of Fort Wayne, known as the Great Marsh, the Great Black Swamp, and the Portage Marsh.

It included parts of Allen, Huntington, and Whitley County and took three years to complete.

I know that may not seem interesting, but it does explain where some of the state's most fertile farmland came from.

And some of that farmland may well have been owned by the famous Chicago bootlegger Al Capone.

It's been said that he used to frequent Fort Wayne during his heyday in the 1920s not to cause trouble.

No, it was.

Supposedly he never had any complaints from the local police.

He did on a farm in the southwest.

So I guess he came back here to relax and plow a little bit.

After all, he had a pretty stressful job in Chicago you know.

In the 1920s, Fort Wayne was known for its pianos and hosiery.

The Packard Piano Company manufactured organs and pianos and became nationally recognized.

Later, the site of the Packard Piano Company became Packard Park off of Fairfield Avenue.

Hosiery was also a Fort Wayne claim to fame as the Wayne Knitting Mills received national acclaim for their high quality products.

Later, the company was sold to Munsingwear.

Apparently during the twenties and thirties there was a famous Broadway theater critic that worked for several New York papers by the name of George Jean Nathan.

He was a good friend of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

And guess what?

Nathan was originally from Fort Wayne.

Well, if he could have, I'm sure that Nathan would have critiqued the show Hellzapoppin on Broadway, and he probably would have been kind because the creators of the show, Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson, were a comedy team from Fort Wayne.

As a matter of fact, they put the show together at the Palace Theater here in 1936 before taking it to New York in 1941.

The show broke a record running for 1000 performances in New York's Winter Garden.

You may know that Fort Wayne is the wire capital of the world and the diamond die capital of the world.

But do you know how wire manufacturing started here?

Well, George Jacobs in 1910 invented the first effective chemical enabling or insulating process of copper wire.

Well, this process was far superior to the old style of insulation that included hand wrapping the wire and fabric.

Jacobs created the machinery needed to coat the wire and founded Dudlo Magnet Wire Company in 1911.

This revolutionary process greatly aided the fledgling automobile industry by making it less expensive and easier to manufacture ignition coils.

That, in turn, helped to make the Model T Ford the first affordable family car.

Dudlo was the world's largest producer and leading innovator of magnet wire in the 1920s.

Fairly soon, the heart of the wire industry was located here in Fort Wayne, which attracted many industries that used the wire in their manufacturing process.

Oh, and you remember her well.

Her hair was originally made from a byproduct of the wire industry here at Rea Magnet Wire.

Thank you.

And by the way, this has a similar history.

A byproduct of Dudlo's wire manufacturing was a very fine wire.

It was decided to put it to use by making fancy tinsel used in Christmas decorations.

Okay, Pop quiz.

What is a woofer?

A.

My dog, Duchess.

B.

My neighbor's Doberman, Tiny or C. Something related to a loudspeaker.

Question 2.

What is a tweeter?

A.

A cartoon character.

B.

A policeman directing traffic.

Or C. Something related to a loudspeaker.

The answer in both cases should be C, actually, a woofer is a part of the loudspeaker that produces the low pitches.

The tweeter produces the high pitches, but perhaps even more importantly, the phrases were coined right here in Fort Wayne at Magnavox.

Magnavox moved to Fort Wayne in 1929, and within the next year invented the first stereophonic dual speaker system.

By the way, that term stereophonic was a word Magnavox made up as well.

Actually, Magnavox is responsible for a lot of Fort Wayne's firsts.

The first high fidelity phonograph or hi fi, as my aunt still calls it was developed here.

They made a lot of inroads in the design of the cartridges on phonographs as well.

You know, that's the thing where the stylus or the needle is, it picks up the sound.

Well, they also invented the first noise canceling electro dynamic loudspeaker.

As a matter of fact, they did quite a bit in the speaker department, including developing and installing the largest public address system ever made in 1933 for the Chicago World's Fair.

At the time, it was state of the art.

Magnavox has developed many, many products for defense.

Here are just a few: gun firing solenoid pins, naval interphone systems, aircraft and ground communication sets, bomb directors, radio compasses, bazooka firing devices, the first seawater activated battery, and, of course, the sonobuoy.

An underwater sound detection device used extensively by the military.

A few things perhaps easier to relate to is the world's first transistor radio invented in the 1950s.

In 1972, Magnavox invented the very first home video game.

It was marketed under the name of Odyssey, several years before Atari took the U.S. by storm.

A few years later, Magnavox decided they really didn't want to get into the home video game market, so they've stopped production.

We've even heard that the fax machine was first developed by Magnavox, but they allowed other companies to move forward with further development because they had other priorities.

Okay, here is a picture.

What do you notice first?

Are at.

Yes, that is a young Bettw Davis.

The guy's name is William Wellman.

I have no idea who he is.

He's maybe a friend of Betty's or something.

But the real star of the picture is the Capehart record changer.

They're looking at the Capehart automatic phonograph Corporation produced some of the finest phonographs of the late 1920s and thirties.

They were known for their beautiful cabinetry and were manufactured at the height of the Depression, and the phonographs weren't cheap.

This one probably cost around $1,000, which is why only movie stars and the very wealthy could truly afford them.

Homer Capehart was the father of the coin operated phonograph or jukebox as we know it.

In 1931, he got the patent for it and sold it to Wurlitzer.

And that's when he started making record changers for the home market.

They held from three to twenty 78 rpm records.

The units could play the same record continuously, or they could play one or both sides of a stack of records.

Some even came with a timer allowing you to play a stack of records continuously for a set length of time.

In 1939, Philo Farnsworth moved his Television and Radio Corporation to Fort Wayne, acquired K Parts operation and began the first mass production of TV sets in the United States.

It's interesting to note that even Fort Wayne was producing a great deal of the world's television sets starting in the 1930s.

The sets didn't sell very well around here because Fort Wayne didn't have its own television station until WKJG went on the air in 1953.

After that, the TVs sold like hotcakes.

Of course, we'd like to claim Farnsworth as our own, even though he wasn't a native.

He spent a very productive part of his life here in Fort Wayne.

This genius known as the father of television, developed many industrial and commercial advancements while a resident in Fort Wayne, including many during World War Two, contributing heavily to the field of military electronics, especially in the area of communications, radar, infrared and early missile guidance systems.

In 1949, Farnsworth's company was purchased by ITT and remained in television production until it was sold in 1958.

After that, ITT focused on operational testing equipment and is now considered a world leader in the development of highly complex communications systems, including the US Army's single channel ground and airborne radio system.

Boy, they're just so many things that Fort Wayne has to be proud of.

How about this?

Horton Manufacturing Company invented the first contained washing machine in 1871.

By 1924, supplied half of the world's washing machines.

One of the founders of Horton was Carol Lombard's grandfather.

Fort Wayne has the distinction of claiming the first gas pump with a visible dial.

But it wasn't Bowser.

It was Wayne Pumps Invention.

And in 1933, Wayne revolutionized the industry with the computing pump, which automatically registered how much gas was being pumped and the cost, which is something we take for granted today.

In order to market the pumps to gas station owners around the country, Wayne Pump hired Louis Bonsib to create a marketing campaign.

In the campaign, Bonsib used the phrase “fill ‘er up.” And the phrase caught on.

All over the country, we don't hear it much anymore because of self-serve gas stations.

But it was popular for at least 50 years, which is not bad marketing.

Okay.

Two questions related to this next footage.

First question, what is or should I say, was this building?

Want to see the footage again?

Okay.

Yeah, I do too.

Yeah.

It was the Keenan Hotel at the corner of Harrison and Washington.

Okay, now, the second question.

Name some of its famous visitors.

Oh, I'll do it for you.

John F Kennedy, Rose and Robert and Edward Kennedy.

Nelson Eddy and Harry Truman.

I'm sure it was in much better shape when they were there, though Fort Wayne can proudly claim America's first flying ace.

Paul Frank Baer was a world famous pilot in World War One.

In 45 days, he downed 16 German aircraft.

As a matter of fact, he was the first aviator to receive the US Distinguished Service Cross.

Unfortunately, he died in a plan An important baseball game was played here on May 4th, 1871.

It was the first professional league baseball game ever played, and it was the first game of the National Baseball League.

The Fort Wayne Kekiongas beat Rockford Forest City two to zip that day.

But also of note, that was the lowest scoring game of the league in its first four years of existence.

But we do have an Olympic gold medal winner here.

Actually, she won a gold and bronze medal in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

It was 16 year old Sharon Wickman, who set a new Olympic record for the women's 200 meter breaststroke event and placed third in the 100 meter breaststroke.

We've even had a couple other world champions much earlier.

Before the Civil War, in fact, Fort Wayne was home to William King, the finest marksman in the world.

And in 1955, Verle Wright won the worlds rifle shooting championship held in Russia.

In Radio Fort Wayne was famous as early as 1935, broadcasting the first continuous nationally broadcast show.

WOWOs Hoosier Hop, which featured a cast of characters including Happy Herb Hayworth, Matilda Jones and her ma, Ermey, Tissy Bunt, Hiram, Aunt Lucy, Uncle Maury, and the musical stylings of Charlie and the Boys.

Joe Trim the Liberty Six, Maxine and Gladys, Harmonica Herb and His Harmoniacs and the Barbershop Boys.

Here's a recording from that show in 1935: [Singing].

Good afternoon neighbors from your friendly Hoosier station, WOWO in Fort Wayne.

We bring you another Hoosier Hop.

We see a lot of the old friends around and from newcomers, too.

Here is Happy Herb Hayworth to tell you all about it.

Howdy.

My goodness, I'm glad to see so many of you drove over today and mighty glad that some of our regulars are back from their vacation.

Theres George WIlson and his wife just got back from visiting their kinfolk down in the Ozarks.

Hello, Joyce.

I see Matilda Jones around here.

And understand they've been down to Turkey Run to see the sights.

And hello there, Ernie, and my goodness, there Tissi Bunt back from her vacation.

And I'll bet Hiram's glad about that.

Well, did you have a nice time, Dave?

Yeah, well, I did, and I didnt.

Well, from the looks of that sunburn, you're not going to do much dancing.

But that's what we're going to do, though.

Charlie, get out that old fiddle of yours, Rip out that White River bottom.

Grab your partners, everybody and let's go to Fort Wayne was home to one of the leading fighter pilots of World War Two and a true hero, Walker “Bud” Mahurin, downed 21 German planes before being shot down over France in 1944.

He was a prisoner of war for only six weeks when he escaped out of the Nazi held territory to England.

He was only 24 years old.

In 1945, he returned to action in the South Pacific, downing two Japanese planes.

He again went into service during the Korean conflict, flying jet fighters, when in 1952 he was shot down, became a prisoner of the North Koreans.

He was finally released over a year later.

Although he doesn't live here in Fort Wayne.

Walker “Bud” Mahurin is still around Fort Wayne's true hero.

Another hero Fort Wayne can claim is Edward White.

Even though he wasn't a long time resident, his mother and grandfather were natives, and because he grew up with a father in the Army, moving frequently, he claimed Fo Perhaps you'd know him better as Major Edward White, the first US man to walk in space in 1965.

Two years later, he died with astronauts Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee in a fire in Apollo 1 on the launch pad.

They were preparing for the first trip to the moon.

I can tell you about a company that moved here to Fort Wayne in 1931 and became a leader in the manufacturing of pistons for automobiles and trucks.

But they were more than a successful industry to Fort Wayne, much more.

The Zollner Corporation was very community oriented.

Under the leadership of Fred Zollner, the company sponsored many sports and youth programs and soon became known nationally for their successful professional teams as well.

Organized In 1939, the Fort Wayne Pistons were National Basketball League champions in 1943, 44 and 45 and took the world Title in 1946 with players like Bobby McDermott, Curly Armstrong and Buddy Jeannette.

They put Fort Wayne on the map, so to speak, and helped make basketball a big time professional sport.

Fred Zollner also organized the Zollner Pistons softball team later to be called Fastball.

They dominated the professional circuit from 1940 to 1954, winning nearly 87% of the games.

During their heyday, they consistently won National Fastball League championships.

The ball was pitched at an amazing 102 miles an hour.

It said they had a winning streak of 53 games.

Back to the booming business of gas pumps in Fort Wayne.

A company still going strong is Tokheim.

They invented the visible globe measuring pump gas was pumped into a glass tank that sat on top of the pump to the level the purchaser requested.

Then gravity filled the tank of the car from the glass globe.

Tokheim also pioneered self-service equipment for gas stations, including the handy card reading machines that eliminate the need for customers to deal with an attendant.

Making your trip to the gas station Truly self-serve.

Hey, here's one.

Lou Wallace is the author of Ben-Hur.

His father, David, served as prosecuting attorney of Allen County and served in the state legislature.

He was lieutenant governor for two terms and in 1837 was elected governor.

Here's something that's hard to be proud of, but nevertheless of national known.

For a while in the 1930s during the Great Depression.

Fort Wayne was known as the hobo capital of the world, which I guess is a bit different than the All-America City.

That was all, at least partly due to the incredible train traffic that passed through Fort Wayne each day.

Because after all, trains were the chosen mode of transportation for those men.

The hobos would go from house to house and ask for a handout.

And if a family was particularly generous, the men would put an X on the house to market for the future and for others in their plight.

But soon after they left, the homeowners would run out and erase the X.

Generous, yes.

But they didn't want to advertise.

Also, during the thirties, John Dillinger was a frequent visitor to Fort Wayne.

This was during his especially wild years.

He was often sighted in bars on Fairfield Avenue and on West Main Street.

As a matter of fact, three of his gang members were from Fort Wayne.

Really, his closest companion was Homer VanMeter, a Fort Wayne boy.

In 1934, VanMeter was killed a few days after Dillinger in a shootout, Van Meter's body was brought back to Fort Wayne, where his family held a Secret Service upstairs, a clean funeral home, and then for fear of trouble and to dodge public curiosity, an empty casket was taken to Lindenwood Cemetery.

It's a good thing, too, because several shady characters tried to break into the family vault.

Two days later, the day after their attempt, the Van Meter family secretly buried Homer, and with him went many Chicago gangland stories.

Fort Wayne native Herb Shriner was a very popular entertainer in movies and radio in the 1940s, and during the 1950s, he moved into television.

His hayseed humor was a tribute to his hometown.

Fort Wayne has so much to be proud of, and this show is a tribute to this great city, its businesses and its citizens, both past and present.

I'm Bruce Haines.

Thanks for joining us.

Fort Wayne Firsts is made possible by the members of TV 39 in a partnership with Home Loan Bank promoting homeownership through purchase, construction and refinancing for 103 years.

The area's oldest bank specializes in family residential financial needs, providing peace of mind to protect your investment.

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