This Week In Toledo History

Nov. 28 to Dec. 4

Nov. 28
1891 - The deadliest train collision occurs in Toledo history. Two trains collide in the tunnel beneath the Miami and Erie Canal in Toledo. Seven people are killed, 20 people injured.
1893 - Wood County Courthouse groundbreaking is held.
1907 - A crowd of 20,000 people line sidewalks of downtown Toledo along Jefferson Avenue to see a fast moving run of the city's 42 fire vehicles. The event is being filmed by a motion picture crew for a promotional stunt.
1918 - Toledoan, Skipper Smith, an 80-pound champion card player from Toledo was drafted and then sent back to Toledo because he was too light for military duty.
1941 - First inductees from the area arrive at Camp Perry prior to World War II to begin processing.

Nov. 29
1900 - Craig Shipbuilding gives 10 pound turkeys to all 400 workers for Thanksgiving.
1910 - Toledo Patrolman, Carl Kruse shoots to death a "mystery man" setting fire to Temple Theater in the Auburndale neighborhood. The arsonist turns out to be Joseph Dunn, a former safecracker who feigned being "blind" to get released from prison.
1921 - Bishop Samuel Stritch named second Bishop of Toledo Catholic Diocese.
1957 - Bowling Green dedicates the so-called “white way” when the new fluorescent street lights are installed downtown.

Nov. 30
1905 - Toledo Police Chief Knapp says many young boys are led into a life of crime by attending "blood and thunder" melodramas glamorizing murder and criminal behavior.
1918 - Toledoans are talking about local spiritualist Ada Besinette as Toledo News Bee runs special front page series on the woman who claims to be able to talk to the dead.
1932 - Rival bootleggers make an attempt on the life of Toledo bootlegger and night club owner Jack Kennedy in downtown Toledo. He survives the attack, but his girlfriend, Louise Bell, is killed in the crossfire.
1936 - The very first Willys auto to be built in Toledo after the Overland Company emerges from bankruptcy rolls off assembly line. The new Willys 77 is purchased by Henry Page, the president of Page Dairy.

Dec. 1
1886 - Oil is struck in Henry Township near North Baltimore on the farm of David Fulton, unleashing a 600-barrel-a-day well.
1915 - Small community of Hamler is terrorized by bandits who blew up bank safe and shot at every citizen on the street.
1918 - Toledo's four breweries cease all beer production as a result of new federal prohibition on manufacturing of booze.
1926 - Humorist Will Rogers appears for a performance at the Coliseum
1928 - Fifteen-year-old Toledo girl arrested for bootlegging after she confessed that it was the only way she was able to help her family get money.
1945 - Leland “Lou” Diamond ”Fightingest Marine” who served in both World War I and II retires to his home town of Toledo where he grew up on Front Street.
1974 - Kent Branch of Toledo Public Library is heavily damaged by major fire.
1983 - Donna Owens sworn in as the first woman mayor of Toledo.

Dec. 2
1900 - Charges are filed against the owners of the Jockey Saloon in 800 block of Summit Street, where a 14-year-old girl from Bowling Green was found on premises. Her mother alleged she had been enticed there to meet men.
1923 - Riot breaks out during Sunday services at Greek Orthodox Church in Toledo at Walnut and Superior Street when 50 people crash the service and try to drag the newly installed pastor from the altar. Policemen were called to break up the fist fights and shoving matches between members.
1942 - The oil tanker, “Cleveco,” and the tug boat, “Admiral,” sink in Lake Erie on a trip from Toledo to Cleveland. All 31 crewmen are lost from the two boats. The oil aboard the Cleveco is not pumped out and recovered until 50 years later.
1969 - Toledo Policeman Ernest Cappelletty dies of heart attack while trying to break up fight at a neighbor's home in West Toledo.
1974 - Toledo digs out from a massive snow storm. Thousands of people are stranded on highways and interstates.

1976 - Toledo Public Schools close for lack of money and don’t reopen until after New Year.

Dec. 3
1923 - A $10,000 reward is posted for thieves who stole $100,000 worth of diamonds from a jewelry salesman at Toledo Union Station.
1930 - Special honors are awarded Elmore potato farmer O.G. Stieffert, who has reported a yield of 410 bushels per acre, allowing him to gain membership in Ohio’s 400 Bushel Club.
1931 - Two suspected rum-runners are shot and wounded by Toledo Coast Guardsmen on Lake Erie.
1936 - For the first time in its history, Toledo Police Department orders mandatory intelligence testing for all officers. Both current and new officers are given the “adaptability exams.”
1956 - Downtown theaters are busy with Elvis Presley in “Love Me Tender,” at the Paramount. “Giant,” with James Dean and Liz Taylor at the Rivoli, and the Pantheon has “Task Force” with Gary Cooper.

Dec. 4
1891 - Side wheeler steamer, “Jeannie,” catches fire and burns to water’s edge at Craig Shipyards on the Maumee.
1902 - The county board of inspectors reports deplorable conditions at Toledo police headquarters and the police jail, where young girls are being held and housed with women from the “tenderloin” district.
1914 -Tenderloin resort and saloon owner Harry Plummer shot in his home in Old West End. Apparently by old enemies from Kentucky. He survives to become a well-known car dealer and politician in Swanton.
1944 - Toledo baseball fans saddened by the death of baseball great and Toledo native Roger Bresnahan, who died of a heart attack on this day at the age of 65. He was considered one of the most versatile players in history. For a time in his career, he not only owned, but managed and played for his hometown Toledo Mud Hens.
1979 - The historic St. Paul's Methodist Church at Madison and 13th in downtown Toledo is destroyed by fire.