Recognize any of these 1980s VCR models? VCR technology had its roots in the 1950s, but it wasn't until the 1970s that VCRs became commercially available for home use.
In particular, the release of the Betamax by Sony (1975) and the VHS by JVC (1976) revolutionized home entertainment, with VHS eventually winning the format war due to its longer recording time and broader manufacturer support.
VCRs were household staples throughout the 1980s and 1990s. This newspaper ad, for example, ran in 1985.
See it in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on our site: VCR ad from 1985
1980s tech! Did you own any of these? Share your memories in the comments! Or let us know what other gadgets or...
1980s tech! Did you own any of these? Share your memories in the comments! Or let us know what other gadgets or appliances you remember most from the '80s.
1980, 22 February - the US Olympic hockey team upset the team from the Soviet Union, 4– 3, at the Lake Placid Winter Games to earn a victory often called the “Miracle on Ice.” Led by coach Herb Brooks, the Americans went on to defeat Finland two days later and win the gold medal.
1980, March 21
#OTD in 1980, hundreds of people from all walks of life gathered at the Fort Wayne Performing Arts Center to pay their...
#OTD in 1980, hundreds of people from all walks of life gathered at the Fort Wayne Performing Arts Center to pay their respects to choreographer Charles Allen, the man “whose life had taught them the meaning of art.” His memorial, with a reading from “Hamlet” and dancers delivering a finale performance of “Mr. Bojangles,” served as a final standing ovation. While many considered Allen a “gay hero” for living openly, he would likely consider his greatest contributions to be instilling a love of storytelling and self-expression in Hoosiers.
Ironically, he honed his dance and performance skills at the Michigan City Prison in the 1940s, where he was incarcerated on charges of sodomy. After his release, Allen opened his own dance studio, taught at Purdue University Fort Wayne, socialized with jazz greats like Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong, and reportedly helped famous performers polish their acts.
Image depicts Charles Allen (left) working with singer Steve Black (right). Both were part of the entertainment scene in the late ’60s, when bars replaced coffeehouses as the centers of musical activity. Courtesy of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.
1980, May 18 - 8:32 Sunday morning, Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington state erupted and blew down or scorched 230 square miles of forest with an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale. The deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed. From Wikipedia.
43 years ago today, Mount St. Helens cataclysmically erupted. The event led to 57 deaths, including that of David Johnston, a dedicated U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientist, and caused the worst volcanic disaster in the recorded history of the lower 48 states.
Was your city affected by ash from the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens? The eruption occurred in Washington state on the morning of May 18, and in addition to the devastation and loss of life in the volcano's immediate vicinity, communities downwind were hit by the enormous cloud of ash.
The map on this Canadian newspaper's front page shows which areas of the U.S. and Canada were expected to be affected by ash in the days following the eruption.
What do you remember from the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption? The volcano erupted in Washington state on the morning of May 18, taking the lives of 57 people.
In addition to the devastation and loss of life in the volcano's immediate vicinity, communities downwind were affected by the enormous cloud of ash.
An AP article on the front page of this Washington paper reported that "Many areas of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and North Dakota were sprinkled with ash, ranging from a slight dusting to grit ankle deep."
See the full Daily Olympian front page on our site: 1980 Mount St. Helens eruptionThe Olympian Olympia, Washington, Monday, May 19, 1980, Page 1.
June 1, 1980CNN, Cable Network News, goes live on the air at 6:00 pm for the very first time with the shooting of Vernon Jordan in Fort Wayne as one of their first national stories at 6:22 pm.
1981
1981 - Miscellaneous files (1981) - Barr Street Irregulars - collection of photocopied pages. Some have good print quality while others have very poor print quality. Page 49 has 3 obituaries - Freda C. Withers, Louise I. Miller, and Miriam E. Elston. Archive.org.
1981 - the decision is made to tear down the original Indiana School for Feeble Minded Children administration buiding now Indiana State School on State Boulevard and convert the land into Northside Park.
1981, April 12 - Space Shuttle Columbia launches as the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before disintegrating during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th mission, STS-107, resulting in the deaths of all crew members aboard.
1982, February 10 - a low of -18°. At one point that day, the Associated Press reported, Fort Wayne was the coldest spot in the United States – including Alaska. Meanwhile, snow was piling up on the frigid ground – until a fast thaw in early March led to the Flood of 1982. Copied from The cold old days published February 2, 2019 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
March 14, 2017 by WANE 15 News on YouTube. The historic flood of 1982 forced 9000 people from their homes and damaged 260 businesses at an estimated cost of $56 million in the cityof Fort Wayne.
1982 March 11 - second highest flood stage of the Maumee River was 25.9 feet from Fort Wayne Indiana Climate at the National Weather Service.
1982, March 26 - Groundbreaking ceremonies take place in Washington, D.C., for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
1982, June 2 - Mother Teresa visits Fort Wayne and June 6, 1982 speaks to a crowd of 3,000 at Bishop Dwenger High School. Remembering Mother Teresa's 1982 Fort Wayne visit by Kaitor Kposowa updated: Septempber 04, 2016 on CBS WANE-TV NewsChannel 15.
1982, September 28 - on the front page of The Journal Gazette newspaper Harvester announces it would shut the Fort Wayne plant laying off 2,100 workers. Early in 1979, 10,600 people worked for Harvester. The engineering and parts distribution center would remain with about 2,000 employed in 1984. The city assembled a $31 million aid package for the 60-year-old local plant compared to the $27.6 million package offered for the 17-year-old successful Springfield, Ohio facility.
1982, November 11 - the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D. C. with 58,220 names on 140 black granite panels welcomed its first visitors and was dedicated November 13, 1982.
1983 - a column with a new information plaque from the original Indiana School for Feeble Minded Children administration building torn down in 1982 is dedicated in the new Northside Park on State Boulevard.
1983, June 19 - Sally Ride, is the first female American astronaut to go into space.
1983, September 18 - Osborne Family Murder. The News-Sentinel's editorial page editor Dan Osborne and his wife, Jane, and their 11-year-old son, Ben, were found beaten to death as their 2-year-old daughter and sister Caroline sat in the Harrison Hill area home for more than two days before the bodies were found.New police technology could offer insight into infamous 30-year-old Osborne family murder case by Jaclyn Goldsborough published September 18, 2013 in
The News-Sentinel newspaper.
1983, October 19 - around 10 am two explosions rock the Gladieux Refinery on the northeast side of town injuring 38 people.
1983, November 2 - President Ronald Reagan signs the Martin Luther King Holiday legislation - see photo on U.S. National Archives tumblr.
1983, December 23-26 - a record 66 hours of continuous below-zero readings was logged at the airport. Copied from The cold old days published February 2, 2019 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
1984
1984 -
The U.S. Office of Civil Rights cites Fort Wayne for deliberately maintaining segregated schools and orders the problem corrected.
General Motors confirms that it will build a $500 million truck plant in southwest Allen County, employing 3,000 workers.
Mayor Win Moses Jr. is indicted by a grand jury on charges of election report fraud.
Fort Wayne Community Schools releases a desegregation plan.
1984, March 28 - Baltimore Colts football team owner Robert Irsay moves his NFL team under the cover of darkness out of Baltimore, Maryland to Indianapolis, Indiana. See History Highlights on Colts.com. Thirty years later, remembering how Colts' move went down Phillip B. Wilson published March 29, 2014 in USA Today Sports.
1984, September 21
On September 21, 1984, the U.S.'s first compact audio disc manufacturing plant, Digital Audio Disc Corp. (a subsidiary...
On September 21, 1984, the U.S.'s first compact audio disc manufacturing plant, Digital Audio Disc Corp. (a subsidiary of CBS and Sony Corp.), began full-scale production in Terre Haute. The Indianapolis Star wrote that many predicted the discs would replace record albums and "revolutionize the stereo industry."
Although Japan began producing the discs two years prior, the first U.S. made disc was Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA. Digital Audio Disc Corp. helped Terre Haute enter the global economy and was projected to produce 300,000 discs per month. Sony Corp. president Norio Ohga stated, "'I couldn't find the word Hoosier in my Japanese-American dictionary so I have made up my own definition. I have decided that it is the English word that means 'Somebody who makes things happen.'"
The city wades through its second major flood in four years.
The Rev. John D'Arcy is named bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.
Homemaker and community activist Sharon Lapp, 43, is found murdered in a bedroom of her West Rudisill Boulevard home.
Mayor Win Moses Jr. resigns as part of a plea bargain in his campaign finance case. He is back in office two weeks later, winning a landslide vote in a special Democratic caucus.
The $12.2 million Fort Wayne Hilton checks in its first guests.
1985 - In 1985, the Indiana Nongame & Endangered Wildlife Program began the Bald Eagle Reintroduction Program. Seventy-three eaglets (seven to eight weeks old) were obtained from Wisconsin and Alaska from 1985 through 1989 and brought to Indiana. They were placed in a 25-foot nest tower in a secluded bay on Lake Monroe. The birds were monitored and fed daily until they were old enough to fly at 11 to 12 weeks of age. Since then, the eagle population has continued to expand. In 2020, there were more than 350 nesting territories in Indiana. Copied from Bald Eagle from Indiana Department of Natural Resources on IN.gov. Many bald eagle photos are shown on the Little River Wetlands Project Facebook page. See our Little River Wetlands Project section. See the Benjamin Franklin satirical comparison of turkeys to bald eagles as representative of our county on our Timeline.
The bald eagle is officially recovered in the state of Indiana! Previously listed as a species of special concern, our biologists estimated Indiana supported about 300 nesting pairs across 84 counties in 2020. Indiana DNR reintroduced bald eagles to the state from 1985-1989, funded by the Indiana Nongame Wildlife Fund (on.IN.gov/nongamewildlifefund). In just 35 years, bald eagles went from nonexistent on the Hoosier landscape to a thriving population statewide.
Although bald eagles are no longer listed as an endangered species, they remain protected by other state and federal laws, including the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. If you see bald eagles in Indiana, observe the birds, their nests, and roosts from a distance of 330 feet, which is roughly the length of a football field. Foster a climate of respect for wildlife by sharing these guidelines with your friends.
Bald eagles were once a rare sight in the Hoosier state, but no more.
It’s becoming more common to see bald eagles in the skies or perched in trees or on poles around Geist Reservoir, Eagle Creek, the White River and many other rivers or lakes in the state.
“Seeing a bald eagle in the wild is a thrill,” said Amy Kearns, a nongame animal biologist with Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Females can weigh 14 pounds and have wingspans of 8 feet. Males weigh about 10 pounds with a 6-foot wingspan.
The DNR counts at least active 29 bald eagle nests in Marion and surrounding counties. Statewide there are some 300 known eagle nests, Kearns said.
They gather in the large numbers around Lake Monroe in Bloomington and Salamonie Lake near Wabash.
In Johnson County, Franklin Mayor Joe McGuinness took to Twitter on July 4, appropriately, to express his joy at spotting his “very first bald eagle” while he was playing golf at Hillview Country Club.
In 1991, a national survey by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers counted 88 bald eagles in Indiana. In 2015, Kearns said the count was 243.
Habitat destruction, poaching and contamination from the pesticide DDT pushed bald eagles to the brink of extinction about 50 years ago.
In 1963, there were only 417 pairs of bald eagles nesting in the 48 continental United States. The birds, federally protected since 1940, were named an endangered species in 1967; the government banned DDT in 1972 and renewed conservation efforts gave eagles more places to nest and hunt.
By 1995, bald eagles were no longer endangered.
In 2006, bald eagles had at least 9,700 nests across the country. The next year, bald eagles were removed from the list of threatened and endangered animals.
Bald eagles are so successful in Indiana these days that conservation officials no longer monitor them closely.
“We used to fly out with the helicopter in the winter to count eagles roosting in their nests,” Kearns said. “The eagles started doing so well, we had so many nests, that it became a huge expense.”
This resurgence is a remarkable success story for a species that disappeared from Indiana in the 1890s. The rebound comes thanks to a statewide conservation effort that began 30 years ago. DNR officials collected young birds from Wisconsin and Alaska and released them at Lake Monroe from 1985 to 1989.
The birds were collected when they were 5 to 6 weeks old and released when they were capable of flight at about 12 weeks old. About a third of those eagles survived and built their nests in the Indiana.
In May, DNR officials were thrilled when a nature lover and hobby photographer Teresa Bass took a picture of one of the original eagles and discovered the female bird was still nesting at Lake Monroe. “It is very exciting. I never get tired of seeing eagles,” Bass said.
Bass was on a boat with her husband and two friends, including DNR biologist Cassie Hudson, when they saw a bald eagle on the shore and shot a picture for DNR experts.
One photo, when magnified, clearly showed the bird’s leg band markings and identified her as “C43,” an eagle taken from Whitestone Harbor in southeastern Alaska and released at Lake Monroe on Sept. 6, 1988.
The experts got another surprise: The pictures showed a featherless area of skin on C43’s chest known as a “brood patch,” which is a sign she had been nesting or raising eaglets.
The eagle was informally named “Jenny” by Al Parker, one of the DNR officials who worked on the bald eagle restoration project in the 1980s. She’s been sighted at Lake Monroe in 1994 and is known to have returned over the years, according to the DNR. She’s also been seen in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.
About 27 years old, C43 is thought to be the oldest eagle in Indiana. Only six banded bald eagles have been documented to live longer, according to the Bird Banding Laboratory at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland. The oldest bald eagle known to the lab is 33 years, five months.
On June 28, Paula Jarrett and her husband Dave Hill took photos of an eagle perched on a utility tower near their Greenfield home.
“I’ve never seen an eagle in my neck of the woods before,” said Jarrett, who lives about 10 miles from the nest in Greenfield.
“He or she was just sitting up there looking for all the world like he owned the place.”
Jarrett said there were no song birds around and she recalled seeing ducks flying away in the distance. Bald eagles typically prey on fish, but they also eat small birds and ducks.
“It was very cool to see,” Jarrett said. “I hope we see more of them.”
As the population continues to grow, Kearns said it’s a safe bet that Hoosiers will be seeing more bald eagles. "A lot of people take inspiration from bald eagles,” Kearns said. “We have an obligation to our kids and grand kids to preserve wildlife diversity.”
Source: Amy Kearns, nongame animal biologist with Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Incredible! Check out these stunning images of bald eagles fishing at Seven Pillars Nature Preserve captured by Brian Lowe.
"Growing up, seeing a Bald Eagle in Indiana was about as common as seeing a Unicorn. In my 20's, 30's and 40's I spent more time outside hunting and fishing than I did inside. During that time I remember seeing maybe two. Today I saw 15-20 in one spot. I have seen probably close to 40 this year alone. Yes, I do go looking for them, but Eagles are a great example of conservation efforts that have worked remarkably well."
Have you ever wondered where Indiana's bald eagles came from? This video tells the story of the inspiring story of the DNR's reintroduction of these magnificent birds in Indiana. Have you ever spotted a bald eagle around town?
Discover the DNR bald eagle reintroduction project that took place at Monroe Lake in the late 1980s and was made possible by the Nongame Wildlife Fund.
Through archival video footage and current interviews with the original biologists, learn the steps taken to bring this iconic American symbol back to Indiana.
For more information on bald eagles please visit: on.IN.gov/baldeagle
To donate to the Nongame Wildlife Fund please visit: on.IN.gov/nongamefund
1985, January 20 - the record low high temperature for a day was -11°. Copied from The cold old days published February 2, 2019 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
n February 23, 1985, controversial Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight famously threw a chair across the floor during a game at Assembly Hall as a Purdue University player prepared to shoot a free throw.
Knight's gesture of frustration for what he considered poor referee calls drew cheers from IU fans. Referees ejected him from the game and the crowd chanted his name during his absence. The Big Ten conference suspended the combative coach for one game for his demonstration.
On April 1, 1985, the National Archives became independent after having been administered under the General Service Administration (GSA) for 35 years.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation to create the National Archives in 1934 to preserve and care for the records of the U.S. Government. Previously, federal records were kept in various basements, attics, abandoned buildings, and other storage places with little security or concern for storage conditions. In 1949, Congress transferred the National Archives to the GSA with the goal of government efficiency. The GSA and National Archives had very different missions, which caused the National Archives to continue to try to gain its independence. Multiple bills were introduced in the early 1980s to make the National Archives independent, but they all failed. On March 23, 1983, Senator Thomas Eagleton introduced S. 905, which would become the National Archives and Records Administration Act of 1984, proposing an independent agency. After passing the House and Senate, President Reagan signed the bill into law on October 19, 1984.
The National Archives now has over 40 facilities nationwide, including field archives, Federal Records Centers, Presidential Libraries, the Office of the Federal Register, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), the National Declassification Center (NDC), and the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS).
1985, August 25 - Dr. Jack C. Copeland surgically implanted the first Jarvik-7 artificial heart into a patient awaiting a heart transplant in Tucson, Arizona. From History Wired by the Smithsonian Institution.
1985, August 26 - Ryan White of Kokomo, Fulton County, Indiana began to gain national attention as he was forced to leave school and enroll in online classes. Ryan, a teenager who contracted AIDS through medication for his hemophilia had a new disease called AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) that terrified the nation. In spite of facts about how AIDS is spread, fear and misinformation caused his expellusion from school. Publicity about his story made him famous around the world. He died April 8, 1990. See the Ryan White Files From the Kokomo Tribune on Howard County, Indiana Memory Project, Ryan White on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, and The unusual, unforgettable way Indy buried Ryan White by Will Higgins published April 9, 2015 on IndyStar.com. Over 5,000 Ryan White letters on Indiana Memory .
On August 26, 1985, Ryan White, a 14-year-old boy who had been diagnosed with AIDS from a hemophilia treatment in 1984, attended classes via telephone after being barred from school due to his diagnosis.
At the time of his diagnosis, White was given three to six months to live, but soon beat the odds and regained enough of his health to attend school. However, he was barred from doing so by the Western School Corporation superintendent. The school board later upheld the decision.
Eventually, Ryan and his family moved to Cicero, where he was allowed to attend school and even held a job. Ryan White lived for over five years after his diagnosis.
1986 - German Heritage Society was formed as the youngest of the Fort Wayne German clubs. While each of the other German clubs have a specific focus (e.g. music or sports), GHS is intended to be a place for anyone with ties to or curiosity about: German culture, their German heritage, or the effects our local German history has had on the Fort Wayne Area. It is a welcoming club whose goal is to support, encourage, and stimulate education concerning German cultural traditions, German language, German-American immigration and German-American cultural development. Read more World of GHS on their website: http://www.germanheritagesociety.com/.
1986, January 20 - a January 20, 2023 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebookstated: #OTD 1986: Americans observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day for the first time, due to the efforts of an Indiana lawmaker. After a previous attempt to recognize King with a national holiday failed, first year Congresswoman Katie Hall from Gary introduced a bill in July 1983. She overcame conservatives' concerns about the cost of the holiday by proposing it take place on a fixed Monday rather than King's birthday, so that offices would not have to open twice in one week. Hall reminded colleagues, “'The legislation before us will act as a national commitment to Dr. King’s vision and determination for an ideal America, which he spoke of the night before his death, where equality will always prevail.'” The bill passed Congress, and President Ronald Reagan signed the measure into law on November 2, 1983.
1986, January 28 - NASA and the world suffered the loss of the brave pioneers aboard Space Shuttle Challenger. President Ronald Reagan statement: The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them — this morning, as they prepared for their journey, and waved good-bye, and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.' watch PublicDomainFootage.com video. After the Challenger explosion, President Ronald Reagan spoke to the public on January 28, 1986. See Primary Resources: The Challenger Disaster on American Experience | PBS . Challenger: President Reagan's Challenger Disaster Speech - 1/28/86 by ReaganFoundation on YouTube.
1986, June 2 -
Majority Leader Bob Dole and Democratic Leader Robert C. Byrd engineered the vote that started the United States Senate Live Television from the Senate Chamber.
#OTD in 1986, the movie "Hoosiers" premiered at the Circle Theatre in Indianapolis. One of the most popular sports movies of all-time, it is loosely based on the 1954 Milan High School basketball championship. In 2001, Hoosiers was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Read more about the “Milan Miracle” here: Milan Miracle
Helene Foellinger, longtime philanthropist and former publisher of The News-Sentinel, dies at age 76.
An earthquake rumbles through Indiana. There are no serious injuries or damage.
Lutheran Hospital announces it will build a hospital on West Jefferson Boulevard near Interstate 69.
Black Monday on Wall Street: Oct. 19, the Dow Jones average plummets a record 508 points on the New York Stock Exchange, panicking world markets.
Hoosier movie legend James Dean's original gravestone, missing for almost four years from his Fairmount resting place, is found behind a Fort Wayne firehouse.
1987 - Centennial Tree located on Baker Street, just south of Parkview Field received a plaque. It is 14 feet, 4 inches in circumference. See our Centennial Tree article.
1987, December 10 - 25 year old police officer Omega Graham was killed by accidental gunfire during training exercises, the third police office killed while serving with the Fort Wayne police department. From Fallen officer added to national memorial by Rod Hissong published May 14, 2013 formerly on CBS WANE-TV NewsChannel 15.
1988, April 4 - April Marie Tinsley was abducted on Good Friday as she walked from a friend’s house. Her body was discovered in DeKalb County three days later. Investigators are asking for the assistance of the public on the Fort Wayne Police Department April Tinsley Investigation web page.
1988, June 25 - Fort Wayne matched the all time recorded high temperature of 106° first recorded July 22, 1934. From Fort Wayne Indiana Climate at the National Weather Service.
1988, October 10 - National Metric Day Although many believe the United States does not use the metric system, Congress declared the metric system to be the preferred system of weights and measures for trade and commerce in 1988 with the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act amendment to the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 .
7 Occupations that Use the Metric System; Manufacturing, Pharmacy, Transportation, Energy, Healthcare, Technology, Restaurants from National Metric Day at National Day Calendar.
1988, November - Ray Bradbury developed Fahrenheit 451 into a play in the late 1970s. According to Jerry Weist's Bradbury: An Illustrated Life (Wm. Morrow, 2002), at least part of the play was performed at Los Angeles' Colony Theatre in 1979, although the world premiere performance was claimed in November 1988 by the Civic Theatre of Fort Wayne, Indiana. From Fahrenheit 451 (play) on bradburymedia.co.uk.
ON THIS DAY // On May 3, 1989, the Indiana General Assembly ratified the Lottery Act. It was signed a week later by Governor Evan Bayh. Scratch-off ticket sales began in October.
The Hoosier Lottery is the only US lottery that uses the state's nickname, rather than the actual state name. Lottery games include Hoosier Lotto, Powerball, Lucky 5, Mega Millions and an assortment of scratch-offs.
Who remembers this crazy October snow event [8 inches] exactly 30 years ago today? If you have pictures, I'd love to see them!
Good news is snow is not in the forecast for the next week, but MUCH colder air (and perhaps a few flakes?) are possible as we wrap up October and move into November.
1989, November 9 - the Berlin Wall falls. It was erected in 1961 to separate East and West Germany, during the Cold War with Russia after World War II. October 4, 1990 was Unity Day when East and West Germany came together.
