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100 years ago in 1923:
Mesopotamia combined its annual homecoming celebration with the dedication of its splendid new centralized school. A fine program had been planned and visitors and former residents numbering about 500 flocked to the village to participate in the celebration. A number of Warren people were in attendance.
The committee in charge of the day's festivities had made an effort to have the attractions for the day of the highest class and so secured the best band, the best ball teams and the best speaker that it was possible to get in the vicinity.
The Buckeye band of Parkman started the day's entertainment, followed by a series of sports contests in charge of C.W. Clark and D.D. Reynolds.
The day ended with a roast beef dinner that the women of the community prepared and served in cafeteria style.
50 years ago in 1973:
Lucille Ball, one of the most colorful comediennes in the entertainment world, spent an evening in a Warren hotel in the care of a local physician.
Miss Ball had flown from California to attend the Kenley Players musical "Once Upon A Mattress" starring her daughter, Lucie Arnaz, only to have her well-made plans go awry.
The red-haired star of "Here's Lucy" CBS-TV series, prior to boarding the Lear Jet in California with her husband, Gary Morton; her close friend, Ruth Buzzi and her husband; and Mr. and Mrs. Gould, relatives of Arnaz, had taped two days of television shows in one and was reported to be completely exhausted.
The jet returned to California with a foursome but at the insistence of Miss Buzzi, star of the Rowan and Martin "Laugh In" television show, Lucille Ball and her husband were staying in Warren to view her daughter's performance. Miss Buzzi was so exuberant about the role of the star's daughter in the Kenley Players musical that she insisted Ball remain.
"Once Upon A Mattress" also starred Rudy Vallee, Kay Medford, Ed Evanko, Dean Dittmann and Chris Andrea.
25 years ago in 1998:
The Warren Flea Market celebrated its 20th anniversary year. The market at 429 Main Ave. SW had changed over the years from a small indoor market with a few vendors to a bustling operation with more than 60 booths and tables on the inside and a farmers market stretching far into its back parking lot.
Fritz Gillespie's booth overflowed with paperback and hardback books, records, cassettes, and videotapes of movies and documentaries. Posters of World Wrestling Federation stars adorned the walls behind him.
"Most of the local video stores do not carry the classic tapes, so they come her to see that they can find," he said.
Jannie Lee, whose table sat across the aisle from the retired Warren Harding High School teacher, Gillespie's booth, said selling her bottles of perfume, lotions and soaps at the market was more comfortable than going door-to-door with Avon, which she sold at her store in Youngstown.
"The times have changed so much. I don't feel comfortable knocking on the doors of strangers."
10 years ago in 2013:
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes came from New Jersey to perform at the Warren Community Amphitheatre, and they weren't the only travelers there.
The Saturday concert brought folks from California and Canada, and fans gave up seats at other concerts to see them. Ian Ward and Jacqui Taylor, who made the trip from Simcoe, Ontario, said it was their seventh time seeing the Jukes since they started dating, four and a half years before.
"He doesn't come to Canada often enough, so I looked on his webiste and saw Warren, Ohio, and we decided, 'We're going there," Ward said.
They had spent the day at the National Packard Museum and had been checking out other sites in the city.
"We love Warren, Ohio." Taylor said. "We'll be back even if there is no Southside."
Compiled from the archives of the Tribune Chronicle by Emily Earnhart.