This Week In Toledo History

July 14-20

July 14
1904 - Double execution is held in Columbus for two brothers from Lucas County, Albert and Benjamin Wade, convicted in the 1900 robbery and murder of Kate Sullivan in rural western Lucas County. An hour before execution, Albert Wade accused his brother of the murder, and yet another murder near Findlay.
1936 - Hottest day on record in Northwest Ohio. Toledo reports 105 degrees. Bowling Green records 110 degrees. Some highways buckle under heat stress.
1951 - At the Park Theater at Sylvania and Lewis, the movie “Bedtime for Bonzo,” starring Ronald Reagan, is shown.
1971 - A 19-year old West Toledo woman reports to police that she had been having sex with dozens of Toledo Police officers at the Willys Park Pool after hours. Her claim leads to an investigation and suspension of numerous officers.

July 15
1849 - Toledo's first cholera epidemic breaks out. In the next two weeks more than 100 people died including the City Marshal.
1892 - Six members of Toledo City are convicted of taking bribes from area businesses. They are sentenced to $250 in fines.
1903 - Eight Toledo boys reported to have died from tetanus as a result of toy pistol and fireworks accidents over July 4th.
1969 - The Princess Theater in downtown Toledo closes, leaving the Valentine and the Pantheon Theaters as the only remaining movie houses in downtown Toledo.
1973 - County Executive Ned Skeldon makes his long-promised swim across Maumee River after reaching goal of substantial cleanup of the river. Hundreds watch him swim from Walbridge Park to Rossford.
1983 - The start of a new era at Jeep is marked as the first X-J Jeep rolls off assembly line at Jeep Parkway plant.

July 16
1843 - The last of the Wyandot Indians leave their Upper Sandusky native tribal lands on an eventual “trail of tears” to a new reservation in Kansas.
1896 - Toledo Mud Hens play their first game as “Mudhens” at Bay View Park outside of the city limits so they could play on Sundays. The team earns its nickname because BayView was a marshy area populated by "American Coot" waterfowl, often called Mudhens.
1936 - Dedication concert at the new Toledo Zoo amphitheater is held with the Toledo Civic Symphony, the forerunner to the Toledo Symphony. Toledo Police Inspector Charles Roth was the conductor.
1972 - Joe Niekro pitches a seven-inning no-hitter for the Toledo Mud Hens at the team’s home ballpark in Maumee.
1972 - Notorious prohibition Licavoli mob killer Jacob “Firetop” Sulkin dies at his home in Toledo at age of 80.

July 17
1835 - Angry mob of Michiganders storm Toledo home of Ben Stickney to arrest his son “Two Stickney” in one of the first skirmishes of Ohio- Michigan War.
1884 - First birth reported at what would later become Riverside Hospital. It was a boy.
1927 - Albertus Brown, a prominent member of Toledo's black community and civil rights attorney dies at his home at the age of 46.
1932 - Three volunteer firemen from Adams Township are killed and 12 others injured when their speeding fire truck is forced off Reynolds Road near Hill. The truck went into a deep ditch and rolled three times. The driver of the car that forced them off the road fled the scene.
1934 - A “human wheelbarrow” of two Toledoans, Donald Taylor and William Robb, set out from New York City on the first ever cross-country trip of unusual human endurance. They did arrive in California several months later.

July 18
1922 - Toledo veteran organ grinder Pete Pisto says his business is not what it used to be these days as kids are no longer entranced by his monkey now they can go and see them at the zoo and parks.
1927 - At Fort Miami Race Track in Maumee, a “masked driver” is handcuffed to the wheel of a bus to begin a 144-hour endurance run to test the durability of the vehicle.
1929 - Toledo zookeeper Charles Connor attacked by a zebra. He suffers serious injuries and zoo takes steps to prevent other keepers from becoming trapped inside an animal pen in the event of an attack.
1955 - Toledo Port Authority is formed. First port authority in the state.

July 19
1889 - Electric streetcars make first test runs on Toledo streets.
1894 - Toledo Police assign six of the department's best marksmen for "dog shooting" duty assigned every summer to shoot stray dogs running loose.
1897 - Mayflies, are so thick in the area that the ladies bicycle races at the Toledo Casino are postponed.
1910 - Toledo boaters, and zoo officials look for a sea lion that escaped into the Maumee River from the Zoo.
1983 - Lung Association in Lucas County begins first efforts to restrict smoking in Toledo restaurants in the county.

July 20
1854 - Transportation milestone recorded as the very first train makes a run from Toledo to Chicago.
1854 - Cholera epidemic begins in Perrysburg and 117 people die before it subsides.
1905 - Major thunderstorm slashes Bowling Green. High winds cause heavy damage to oil rigs south of town and lightning kills a prized horse and her young colt.
1911 - More trouble on the “Noo.” Canton Avenue, known for its saloons and brothels and gambling dens saw more trouble after a dice-game quarrel triggered a shooting at Ms. Goldman’s saloon. Chief Knapp has ordered it closed.
1984 - Serial killer Alton Coleman arrested in Chicago, charged with murderous crime spree in Toledo and elsewhere in Midwest.