Events in the Toledo area over the past 150 years

Week of Feb. 7-13

Feb. 7
1933 Tiedtke's Department store is selling fresh "bullhead" fish for 18 cents a pound and sirloin steak for 12 cents a pound.
1941 The War Department orders 1,500 "Jeeps" to be built at the Willys-Overland plant in Toledo. This marks the start of Toledo's long legacy as the "home of Jeep".

Feb. 8
1919 Thousands of returning "doughboys" from World War I arrive back in Toledo from the battlefields of France. The soldiers of 329th regiment file off the trains at Cherry Street and are greeted by thousands of cheering Toledo citizens. They are treated later to a chicken dinner and showers of hugs and kisses.

1922 The KKK reorganizes in Toledo and the group announces it will call itself the Krusaders. Three hundred people attend the first meeting.

1949 Final plans are being made to greet the "Ohio boxcar" of the French "Merci" or Gratitude train in Toledo. It is the special train that has been shipped from France to say thank you to the United States for helping the French people recover after the war. The boxcar currently is on display at Camp Perry at Port Clinton.

Feb. 9
1903 Ontario school in North Toledo is fumigated after the father of one student there is diagnosed with small pox.

1962 Robert Stranahan, founder of Toledo's Champion Sparkplug Company dies at his West Central home at the age of 75. Stranahan started the company in Boston and moved it to Toledo in 1910 after securing a large contract with Willys Overland.

1963 The Toledo Sports Center on Starr Avenue is destroyed by flames.

Feb. 10
1931 Classes open for the first time at the newly completed University Hall at the University of Toledo.

1932 A major raid on bootleg operation nets a large illegal distillery in the city, this one in East Toledo in the 1400 block of Holmes Street. It was operated by members of the Licavoli gang and capable of producing several thousand gallons of liquor a day.

1933 A massive blaze destroys the popular Vita Temple Theater on St. Clair Street in downtown Toledo. Built in 1862, it had first been a church then converted to a dance hall and then became a theater in 1914.

Feb. 11
1881 Ice jams and flood waters cause major damage to buildings and boats in downtown Toledo.

1909 Toledo Police Court Judge James Austin rules that sometimes a "wife beater" should receive a severe whipping as punishment. Even if the motive is revenge. Austin says " give a man who abuses his family a severe trouncing and the ends of justice will be met".

1921 The Toledo News Bee exclaims that it has "airmailed" a reporter, John Goldstrom" on a flight from New York to San Francisco as the very "first human mail package" delivered coast-to-coast. Goldstrom reports it took 14 days, and he was among the 16,000 pieces of mail carried by the plane on the bumpy and perilous journey.

1936 Three icebound freighters in the Maumee River are declared a hazard to the Cherry Street Bridge and are ordered to leave the city. Workers have to dynamite ice from the river to allow the ships to move.

Feb. 12
1893 A major oil strike is reported in Wood County in Middleton Twp. It is said to be producing of about 1000 barrels a day.

1932 Toledo Police and dry agents find their second major bootleggers distillery in a week. This is the largest in the city's history and located in the 3000 block of Summit Street in a vacant lumber company warehouse. Agents estimate it was worth about $200,000 dollars and could turn out 10,000 gallons of high grade alcohol a day. This one was also believed operated by members of the Licavoli gang.

1938 Joseph Wenner, 66, of Temperance says his 16 day hiccup spell is finally over. He remains at the Women and Childrens Hospital (Riverside) where he has been since the hiccups began.

1999 Life Flight helicopter crashes into a home in Central Toledo during a snow squall, injuring the pilot, nurse and doctors on board.

Feb.13
1943 Convicted postal robber and escape artist from Toledo, Joe Urbaytys is released from Alcatraz Federal Prison and returns home to Toledo where he soon opens an illegal bar and gambling spot on Woodville Road.

1956 Downtown gas explosion at the Beagle Meat Packing on Superior Street kills three people and injures others. Authorities believe the cause is a corroded gas line.

1965 Grim tragedy in Monclova Township where six children (3 months to 14 years) left alone in a house are killed in a fire when a young girl tries lighting an oil stove. One boy in the family manages to survive the blaze on Maumee-Western Road.

ToledoHistoryMuseum.org, 425 North St. Clair St., Toledo, OH 43604/419-215-2437