Just over 100 years ago, a pandemic struck many parts of the globe. A quarter of the population was infected. The Plain Dealer detailed its arrival in Cleveland how the city battled to save as many lives as possible. Using the Cleveland Public Library archives, we dug through the old papers to find the headlines from that pandemic. Some are very similar to ones we’re seeing from today’s COVID-19 outbreak. Some couldn’t be more different. Check them out.

September 12th: ’Ware Spanish Flu; ‘Tis Here
September 14th: Ache All Over? It’s A Sign Of The Flu: Surgeon General Tells What Patient and Physician Should Do
September 17th: Influenza is Spreading: Boston Reports 257 New Cases, New York Has 184
September 18th: Franklin Roosevelt Ill: Navy Secretary Has Pneumonia Brought on by Influenza
September 21st: Influenza Takes 15 Soldiers Lives: Camp Devens Men Are Victims, Disease Will Spread Army Surgeon Says
September 22nd: Surgeon General Tells How to Dodge Spanish Influenza
September 25th: 23,000 Have Flu in Army Camp; Boston Closes Schools to Combat Epidemic
September 26th: 5,000 New Cases of Flu in Army; 155 Day’s Death Toll, U.S. and State Officials Take Steps to Arrest Disease
September 29th: Votes Million For Flu; House Passes Measure to Stop Epidemic
October 2nd: Nurses Hurried To Camp Sherman (Chillicothe); Quarantine Clamp Tightened as Twenty-Three Die From Influenza
October 3rd: Deaths At Camp Reach Forty-Five Eighteen More Succumb to Pneumonia; Spanish ‘Flu’ Invades Chillicothe
October 4th: College (Miami Unviersity) Closed By Influenza Epidemic Spreading Over Ohio, Reports Show
October 4th: Camp Deaths Total 98; Doctors Believe Epidemic is Checked; 3,962 Cases Reported to Date
October 5th: Influenza Crisis Believed Passed Camp Sherman; Officers Report Fewer New Cases; Deaths Total 134
October 6th: Wars On Spitting To Help Avoid Flu; Police Chief Orders Arrest of Offenders; Railway Company Acts, Too
October 6th: Epidemic Grows Throughout Ohio; Influenza Fatal to 145 More Men at Camp; Cincinnati Closes Schools
October 6th: Influenza Gains In Army Camps; New Cases Reported in 24 Hours Total 17,383; Massachusetts Needs Nurses
October 7th: Outlook is Dubious for College Games This Week; Reasons Advanced Why Few Contests Will Be Played
October 7th: 104 Soldiers Die Of Flu As Camp Epidemic Still Continues at Sherman, but Surgeons Are Hopeful
October 7th: Flu Continues To Take Toll In Ohio Adds to Death Roll in Many Towns, Despite Work of Health Officials
October 8th: City Asks Suburbs To Join Flu Battle; Health Officers Meet Today to Plan Uniform Campaign
October 8th: Flu Is Spreading Throughout Ohio; Only Northwestern Part of State Free of Epidemic; 490 Dead at Camp (Between 15,000 and 20,000 Cases Reported Across State)
October 8th: Miami Hopes To Resume; Football Team Will be Ready for Games Soon
October 9th: Flu Continues To Spread In Ohio 25,000 Reported Ill in State; Epidemic Thought Checked at Camp Sherman
October 9th: U. S. Tells How To Avoid Influenza; Declares Disease is Highly Contagious; Fresh Air Greatest Preventative
October 9th: Salt, Hot Lemonade, Fresh Air, Quinine, Best for Influenza
October 9th: Akron May Prohibit All Public Meetings; Health Board Proposes Drastic Measures to Combat “Flu” Epidemic
October 10th: Serum Ordered In Influenza Fight; Health Board Plans to Combat Epidemic After Report by Dr. Nesbitt
October 11th: All Ohio Hit By Drastic Flu Order; Schools and Meeting Places to be Closed Wherever; Action Decided Upon at Conference of State Health Officials
October 13th: Ohio May Ask Aid In Fight On Flu; Officials Consider Appeal to Other States for Physicians and Nurses
October 13th:Nesbitt Prohibits Public Gatherings; Drastic Order in War on Flu Orders Car Ventilation; Crowding Forbidden
October 13th: Fears Flu, Cuts Throat; Physician Prefers Death to Siege of Grip
October 14th: Confer Today on City School Ban; Supt. Jones and Health Commissioner to Get Reports on Absent Pupils; Public Funerals in Cleveland are Included in Taboo
October 15th: More Ohio Cities Battle Influenza; Government Assists Towns in Need of Aid; Camp Conditions Improve
October 15th: Influenza Hurts High School Race; Football Pennant Chase in Northern Ohio Given Setback
October 15th: All City Schools Shut After Today; Poolrooms, Bowling Alleys, Cabarets Also Added to Flu Closing Order; Public Weddings Tabooed, Too, as Epidemic Grows Faster
October 16th: 3,500 Teachers To Combat Influenza; Will Visit Homes of Pupils to Learn Condition of Those Reported Ill
October 16th: Wants $105,000 For Flu Hospital; Health Commissioner Will Ask War Board to Provide 1,000 Beds
October 16th: Schools’ Elevens Will Remain Idle; Football Tombs in Senate Ordered to Quit Even Practice
October 16th: Backs Health Rules; Bishop Farrelly Issues Orders to Priests (to Close Churches)
October 17th: Loitering Stopped In Flu Epidemic; Ban on Crowds Tightened as Disease Spreads; 70,000 Ill in Ohio
October 18th: Coal Production Menaced By; Flu Mine Operators Call on Cox for Aid; More Than 75,000 Reported (in Ohio)
October 19th: Call Volunteers In Fight On Flu; State Health Officals Appeal to Ohio Nurses; Cases Total 80,000
October 19th: Influenza Shows Gain In 35 States; Improvement in Few Cities, but Death Rate is Higher in Most Instances
October 19th: Now Influenza Hits Coal Men; Breaks in Just as Outlook’s Bright (For Coal Production)
October 20th: Flu Halts Willis Campaign Opening; Republican Leaders Abandon Tour of Ohio Scheduled for This Week Speeches by Senators Harding and Sherman Also Canceled
October 20th: Red Cross Asked For Flu Nurses; Temporary Hospital Armory May be Opened Today
October 21st: 29 More Die Of Influenza In Day; 5,547 Persons in City Afflicted Now; New Call for Nurses Issued
October 21st: Perhaps Fido Has Flu, Too; Distemper, Same Thing, Hits Cleveland Dogdom
October 22nd: Hold Lockwood Funeral Today; Death of Star Marks Passing of One of Most Popular Actors of Screen
October 22nd: Normal Life Is Resumed In Camp; Flu Epidemic Rapidly Passing; Gen. Rivers Goes to Camp Meade
October 22nd: Prepare Warrants For Dinner Guests; Officials Charge Flu Closing Order Was Violated in Firestone Meeting
October 22nd: Seeks Marine, Firemen; Navy Needs 2,000 to Fill Gap Caused by Flu
October 22nd: Ability to Nurse Flu Victim Frees Prisoner
October 22nd: F. D. Roosevelt Recovered
October 23rd: Flu Closing Ban Is On ‘For Weeks’; State Health Commissioner Sees No Chance for Lifting Quarantine
October 23rd: Ban Is Extended As Flu Spreads; New Closing Hours Go Into Effect Today With Downtown Business Hours; Health Commissioner Halts All Meetings; School Pupils Ill
October 23rd: Government Acts In Flu Epidemic; Summit County Declared a Sanitary District Under U. S. Control
October 23rd: Epidemic Boosts Book Sales; Ban Makes Reading Only Available Pastime
October 24th: Church Wedding Moved To Home; Epidemic Alters Plans of Heights Girl Who Will Marry Officer
October 24th: Tightening Of Flu Ban Is Demanded; State Health Board to Prosecute Violators; Epidemic Still Spreading
October 24th: Look For Records, Despite Influenza; No Slackening of War Orders Reported, Steel Mills Keep Busy
October 24th: Hospitals Fill As Epidemic Spreads; City Places More Beds in Armory; Factory Physicians Release Nurses
October 24th: Flu Claims 12 In Family. Lowellville Man Cannot Attend Relatives’ Funeral
October 24th: Seek High School Boys; Railroads Short of Labor Daring Flu Epidemic
October 25th: Rent Profiteering Inquiry Ordered; Committee May Demand Owners Show Cause for Increased Rents
October 25th: Close Bars At 6, New Flu Mandate; Saloonists Placed Under Further Restrictions, Beginning Today
October 25th: U. S. And State Organize Nurses; Officials Co-Operate in Getting Medical Aid for Flu Patients
October 25th: Influenza Cases In U. S. Decrease; Epidemic Is Subsiding in Many Sections
October 25th: Limits Fruit Profits; Federal Food Board Stops Influenza Profiteers
October 25th: Flu Violators Are Fined; Eight Canton Saloonkeepers Are Warned by Judge
October 25th: Flu Prevents Coal Shipments
October 26th: Ban On Saloons Is Up To State; Health Official Says Closing Action Not Yet Necessary; Cases Total 1,547
October 26th: Flu Fighters To Serve Free Food; Red Cross Opens Kitchen at School Today to Help Stricken Families
October 26th: Epidemic Checked In Parts Of State; Communities Free of Flu Must Obey Closing Order or Face Trouble
October 26th: Gridiron Program Crippled By Flu; Another Sportless Saturday Results From Ruling of One Kind or Another
October 27th: Will Teach How To Aid Soldiers; Red Cross and Art School to Give Courses in Vocational Training
October 27th: City Asks Help Of Medical Students; Calls for Twenty Volunteers From Reserve; Epidemic Controlled, is Belief
October 27th: Boxing Is Resumed Gradually In East As Flu Ban Moves
October 27th: Seek Home For Orphans Red Cross Asks Aid for Fours Parents Die of Flu
October 27th: Chardon Pins Hopes in Flu Epidemic to Cinnamon Toothpicks
October 28th: Indicates Length Of Epidemic Bans; U. S. Investigator Says Many Cities Enforce Restrictions Fifty Days
October 28th: Epidemic Checked In Larger Cities; Flu Grips Smaller Communities; Death Reports Decrease
October 28th: Need More Nurses In Fight On Flu; Officials Think Crest May be Reached by End of Week
October 29th: Rosenthal, Writer On Finance, Dies; Plain Dealer Business Editor Succumbs as Influenza Victim
October 29th: Flu On Decrease Throughout Ohio; Conditions improved But Lid Will be Kept on for Some Time
October 29th: City to Spray Streets With Flu Germ Killer
October 29th: Flu Deaths Climb to 40 Above Record; High Mark but Health Officer Believes Disease is Under Check
October 29th: Flu Jinx Pursues Four; Disease Attacks All Who Take First Victim’s Job
October 30th: Influenza Retains Its Hold On Ohio; Ban on Public Gatherings to Stay; 180,000 Cases Reported
October 30th: Quarantine Lifted at Camp Sherman; Flu Epidemic is Considered Past
October 31st: Flu Doctors To Go On 24 Hour Service; District Physicians Will be Given Help by U.S. Public Health Staff
October 31st: May Lift Flu Ban In Parts Of Ohio; Health Officials Call Meeting to Consider Early Action
October 31st: Ambulance Carries 40 Flu Patients Daily
October 31st: Flu Patients to Get More Sugar
November 1st: New Hospital To Be Built At Camp; 20,000 Men at Sherman Form Wilson’s Profile on Drill Field
November 2nd: Shoo Flu From Polling Booths
November 2nd: Escape Flu? Go To Jail That’s; Advice of Prisoner Friend; It’s Good Advice. Too
November 2nd: Shoo Flu From Polling Booths
November 3rd: Influenza Making Exodus From Ohio; Many Cities Tilt Closing Lid and Theaters Are Reopening

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