Midwest

The Minneapolis Millers baseball team traces its roots back to 1884 and a minor league circuit called the Northwest League. After playing in several other leagues, the team settled into the AA American Association in 1902. They stayed there until 1960 when the Washington...

What could be more convenient? Drive up to the little booth, drop off your film, come back the next day and see your pictures. Mail them to friends and family! Established in the early 1960s in Southern California, Fotomat grew to over 4,000 locations...

Stages Nightclub opened in the 1970s in Granite City, IL, across the river from St. Louis, MO. It became a top venue for local, regional, and national acts. A young John Mellencamp played there on August 3, 1979. A trio calling themselves The Police...

The??Toledo Goaldiggers played in the International Hockey League from 1974 to 1986, replacing the city's previous team, the Blades (later Hornets). After 10 years in Toledo, that club moved to Lansing, Michigan at the end of the 1973/74 season. The Goaldiggers suspended operations in...

The Milwaukee Does were a team in the Women's Professional Basketball League. Playing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at Milwaukee Arena, their name was a take on their NBA team the Milwaukee Bucks. The Does played in the first two of the WPBL's three seasons, 1978-1979...

Steve Crane was an actor turned restaurateur. After opening the highly successful Luau restaurant in Beverly Hills in the late 1940s, he started the Kon Tiki chain in 1958. Most of these were located inside Sheraton hotels across the U.S.

The Cavs went from 6 and 11 in November of 1975 to making their first ever play-off appearance in April of 1976. They miraculously beat the Washington Bullets 4 games to 3, capturing Game 7 at home in the Richfield Coliseum.

The International Record Syndicate, or I.R.S. Records, was a label founded by Miles Copeland (brother of The Police's Stewart Copeland) and Jay Boberg. A division of A&M Records, its roster included some of the most important new wave acts of the '80s including R.E.M.,...

Ten Cent Beer Night was a promotion held by the Indians??for a game against the Texas Rangers at the old stadium on Tuesday, June 4, 1974. Fans were able to purchase 3.2 beer in 12-ounce cups for a dime. Things deteriorated quickly, a riot...

Each week, starting in the late '60s and going through the '70s, listeners to Detroit's CKLW, many as far away as Cleveland, anxiously awaited to see where their favorite songs ranked on the station's Big 30 countdown.

Opened in 1956, Metropolitan stadium was built in the hopes of attracting a Major League Baseball team and also, possibly, a National Football League (NFL) team to Minnesota. The AAA Minneapolis Millers played there from 1956 through 1959. In 1960, the Washington Senators moved...

The original Minnesota Fighting Saints were charter members of the World Hockey Association in 1972. The team played its home games in St. Paul, while the rival NHL Minnesota North Stars played in suburban Bloomington. The Fighting Saints folded halfway through the 1975-76 season....

After the departure of the Red Birds for Omaha in 1955, Columbus welcomed the former Ottawa A's to town. Renamed the Jets, they played in the city through 1970 in the International League. In 1971 they moved to West Virginia and became the Charleston...

The Minnesota Moose were members of the International Hockey League (IHL) and played for two seasons in the Twin Cities. The team was founded a year after the NHL North Stars moved to Dallas, leaving the area without professional hockey for the first time...

The St. Paul Gophers were a team of black baseball players that pre-dated the established Negro leagues. Formed in 1907, they barnstormed around the county and played home games at Lexington Park. They disbanded in 1914. *Design is officially licensed from the Negro Leagues...

The DuMont Television Network began broadcasting on June 28, 1942, the nation's third TV network behind NBC and CBS. Regular network service began on August 15, 1946. It was started by DuMont Laboratories, a maker of TVs. Financial strains and fierce competition from NBC,...

Geauga Lake is a former theme park in Aurora, Ohio that was established in 1887 in what had been a local recreation area adjacent to the lake of the same name. The first amusement ride was added in 1889, and the park's first roller...

Opened in 1912 as Navin Field, Briggs Stadium was the home of the Detroit Tigers. In 1938, it was renamed Briggs Stadium, a name it kept until 1961 when it became Tiger Stadium.

Musicland was founded in Minneapolis in 1955.?? In 1964, it merged with music distributor JL Marsh followed by merger in 1968 with record label and distributor Pickwick International. In 1977, American Can Company bought Pickwick and a year later, famed New York record store...

Remember kids, Electricity is your friend, but he can kill you. Even at Christmas!

Burger Chef was a fast-food hamburger chain that started in Indianapolis in 1958. At its peak in the mid 1970s, it was second only to McDonald's in the number of nationwide locations. The chain even made inroads into Canada. In 1982, the chain was...

ShowBiz Pizza Place??was a pizza restaurant and video game arcade chain??in the '80s and early '90s.??It was founded by Robert L. Brock, a Holiday Inn franchisee, who had ended his partnership with the owners of Chuck E. Cheese. In addition to pizza, ShowBiz featured...

The Spirits of St. Louis played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1974 to 1976. They began as the Houston Mavericks in 1967 and became the Carolina Cougars in 1969, before moving to St. Louis. Their most notable player was probably Marvin "Bad...

The St. Louis Hawks began as the Buffalo Bisons in the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1946. After just one month in Western New York, the team moved to Moline, IL and became the Tri-City Blackhawks. The team became part of the National Basketball...

Woodsy Owl first appeared in 1971 and asked Americans to take better care of the environment by disposing of trash properly. This updated version debuted in the early 1990s and helped inspire a new generation to give a hoot.

Cleveland Stadium, also known as Municipal Stadium or Lakefront Stadium, was the primary home of their big league baseball team from 1932 to 1993 and their football team from 1946 to 1996. It was also home to the Cleveland Stokers soccer team, as well as...

Remember Cleveland's only NHL team? The Barons began as the Oakland Seals in 1967, later becoming the California Golden Seals. In 1976, the team moved to Cleveland and took the name of the city's old beloved American Hockey League team, the Barons. They played...

In 1920, while working for the NECCO candy company, Howard B. Stark invented a caramel and vanilla-swirled nougat filling he named Snirkle. In 1939, he founded the Howard B. Stark Company in Milwaukee and began making Snirkles Caramel Bars which became a regional hit....

Mississippi Nights was a music club and concert venue located at 914 N 1st Street. From its opening in 1979, it hosted such acts as INXS, George Thorogood & The Destroyers, The Killers, and many more.

The Detroit Caesars were a men's professional softball team that began play in the American Professional Slo-Pitch Softball League (APSPL) in 1977. They won the championship in 1978 and were owned by Mike??Ilitch, whose heirs currently own the Detroit Tigers. Ilitch was also an...