This Week In Toledo History 10/25/2021

This Week In Toledo History Oct. 24-30

Oct. 24
1895 - Indian burial mound opened on farm of writer Henry Niles, east of Toledo near lakeshore (at present Maumee Bay State Park). Newspaper accounts say 20 Indian skeletons are discovered and a variety of Indian tools and pots.
1903 - George Ketcham of Toledo announces that his famous racing trotter Cresceus will be retired and put out to stud. The word comes as Cresceus breaks the world trotting record for the mile again while racing in Kansas.
1926 - Popular school teacher Lily Croy is murdered, becoming latest victim of so called “Toledo Slugger.”
1936 - Toledo Blade publishes its 100th anniversary edition.
1943 - Babe, the elephant, the Toledo Zoo's most beloved animal suffers stroke and is put to sleep. His remains are rendered for wartime munitions. His skull was preserved and kept at the Toledo Zoo.

Oct. 25
1895 - Marshal August Schultz of Tiffin is shot and killed in scuffle with gunman in rural Seneca County. The suspect is convicted and sentenced to hang but later released from prison and dies in a fall from a rooftop.
1902 - Typhoid outbreak reported on Lagrange Street between Erie and Huron. Residents say 15 people are stricken and blame the city for not keeping the sewers from backing up into water vaults.
1941 - The abandoned Interurban electric trolley bridge near Waterville returns to service as a highway bridge over the Maumee River, becoming a temporary replacement for the main bridge in Waterville that collapsed.
1985 - Lori Hill, 14 years of age, is kidnapped and murdered in Fulton County. Her alleged assailant is tried and acquitted 25 years later.
1960 - Rossford businessman and later-to-be-learned, CIA agent Frank Emmick sentenced to 30 years in prison in Cuba after being convicted of espionage by Castro's government. Emmick was released in the 1970's.

Oct. 26
1867 - Three-year old Edith Bowers is abducted at Sandusky, reportedly by "Gypsies." Despite desperate efforts by her family she is never found until 14 years later. That's when she is discovered living with the Jack Calkins family near Genoa. That family says a gypsy man working for them gave the girl to them in 1867 because he didn't want to care her anymore. They gave her the name of Lilly Calkins. She eventually married a local man and died years later in Gibsonburg.
1926 - Police in Toledo continue to look for the suspect in the so called "slugger" or "clubber" murders. They round up several mentally ill people and put them through questioning as possible suspects.
1927 - Bread price war in Toledo. Loaves selling for five cents each.
1938 - The popular Walbridge Park amusements area on Broadway is devastated by a wind-fueled blaze that destroyed most of the rides, including the Speedway roller coaster and the carousels.
1960 -Vice President Richard Nixon comes to Toledo and holds a rally during his campaign for President.
1966 - The American premiere of the movie El Greco is held at Valentine Theater in Toledo, featuring a live personal appearance from star, Mel Ferrer.
1988 - The very popular Chinese Panda exhibit closes at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit drew hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world.

Oct. 27
1887 - Businessman Jesup Scott predicts that Toledo “will become the great Metropolis of the West,” surpassing Chicago and other major cities.
1895 - Lynch mobs storm jail in Tiffin intent on lynching L.J. Martin, the man accused of killing Marshal Schultz. Angry mob is repulsed by gunfire and two men in the crowd are shot dead.
1931 - Major ceremonies take place in Toledo and the newly built Anthony Wayne Bridge, also known as the High-Level Bridge, opens for use. In celebration of the new span, some 40,000 people march across the bridge from West to East.
1938 - The old Broadway Trolley is shut down and is converted to a bus line.
1946 - USS Toledo, the Navy’s heavy cruiser named for Toledo, is commissioned at Philadelphia. A special delegation from Toledo is on hand for the ceremonies and donates a custom silver tea set to the ship.
1951 - The hotly contested BG-UT football game touches off riot in Bowling Green among fans, players and coaches.
1952 - Ground is broken for the construction of the Ohio Turnpike.

Oct. 28
1895 - Spectacular blaze destroys much of the area around the oil-boom town of Mungen (now a ghost town) in Wood County.
1899 - New glass factory started by Edward Ford in his newly created town of Rossford, in Wood County, begins its first production of plate glass. The operation would later become Libbey-Owens-Ford, or LOF.
1919 - Four men are arrested in Toledo, charged in a foiled plot to kidnap Edsel Ford, the son of auto magnate Henry Ford. He was going to be held as ransom for $200,000.
1921 - Heavyweight champ Jack Dempsey returns to Toledo to attend a football game at Waite High School.
1926 - Two earthquakes shake Lucas County on the same day at magnitudes of 3.4 and 3.1.
1933 - A daring bank robbery in Waterville is carried out by two machine gun toting bandits, one disguised as a woman. Under a blaze of gunfire, they pull off the caper as a Waterville constable and other residents open fire on the fleeing getaway car.
1933 - Amelia Earhart makes her mark on Toledo when she paints an arrow on roof of Hillcrest Hotel pointing the way towards the transcontinental airport in Wood County. Earhart was a frequent air visitor the Toledo on her travels across the U.S.

Oct. 29
1921 - Longtime Toledo Police detective Lewis Tracy dies at his home on Collingwood Blvd. Tracy was well known in his day as the officer in charge of keeping order in the "infamous" Tenderloin" district of Toledo in the areas of Washington and Erie Streets. It was home to numerous gambling dens, houses of ill repute, saloons and "sporting parlors".
1927 - The National Airport on Stickney Avenue is dedicated. The city's first municipal airport, however on the day of the opening, all flights are grounded because of bad weather.
1937 - District Fire Chief George Ehmand is killed when his fire truck collides with a car near Libbey High School.
1937 - First Pemberville Library is opened.
1960 - Tragedy at Toledo Express airport on this day. A Twin engine C -46 charter plane crashes on take-off during a rain storm at Toledo Express, killing 16 members of the Cal Poly football team and five others. It is the worst disaster at Express Airport. The team from San Luis Obispo, Calif. had just finished a game with BGSU and were heading home to California.
1993 - Erin Whitten, backup goalie for the Toledo Storm, becomes first female hockey player credited with a victory as Toledo beats Dayton 6 -5.

Oct. 30
1891 - North Baltimore in Wood County is ravaged by the “great fire” that destroyed 49 structures, leveling much of the town.
1927 - Automaker Henry Ford visits Waterville’s Columbian House.
1948 - WSPD Radio features Art Barrie and the Toledo Edison Music Hour and WTOL radio presents a program called Children of Divorce with Toledo Judge Paul W. Alexander.
1974 - The Navy heavy cruiser, "U.S.S Toledo,” commissioned in 1946, and which saw action in the Korean War becomes a memory as it is sent to the scrapyard for demolition.
1977 - The Wood County town of Grand Rapids holds its first Apple Butter Festival which welcomes thousands of visitors every year.