The Palm Hotel
(Top) An outside view of the Palm Hotel on Spring Street in St. Marys around 1900. (Below) A photo of the cigar counter inside the Palm Hotel. These photos are courtesy of John Skinner of Kentucky, who e-mailed them to ridertown.com. Thanks John!
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St. Marys' First Girls Basketball Team?
There's a popular notion that interscholastic girls athletics began in the mid-1970s. However, St. Marys High School had a team in 1910, as this photo from the 1910 SMHS Mirror proves. The following is the caption that appeared under the photograph:

"The above is a picture of the Girls' High School Basket Ball Team. The team consists of Agnes Bitzer, captain and forward; Irene Todd, forward; Grace Huffman, center; Eileen Mooney and Lois Barrington, guards; Bessie Todd, substitute. Organized the past winter, the girls have played a number of games with other local High School teams and two games with Wapakoneta High. The first game played at Wapakoneta was won by Wapakoneta by a score of 10-8. The second game played at St. marys was won by St. Marys by a score of 12-5. The St. Marys girls put up a strenuous game and simply ran away from the Wapakoneta team. While there was some feeling during and after the game Wapakoneta was given absolutely fair treatment in every respect, except for the fact that St. Marys won the game."

The girls were not the only unique basketball team in the 1910 Mirror. The "Junior" team, which consisted of only 11th graders were pictured (below) with their interesting uniforms. Each player had the same number (11) which could have meant they were 11th graders or that they would graduate in 1911. The team consisted of (top from left) Willis Kishler and Tom Hollingsworth. (bottom from left) Harold Ersig, Paul Bitzer and Dan Roche. The description of the team for the Mirror reads:

"In this team lies the hope for the future of basketball in the St. Marys High School. There is splendid material here and all the boys need is t o be careful about playing independent teams. They have had a little experience along that line and will no doubt profit by it. St. Marys High should have a strong team next year.

Virtual St. Marys, Ohio
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