This Week In Toledo History

November 3
1904 - Toledo city officials begin talks about building a new bridge over Maumee River at Jefferson Avenue.
1909 - Toledo Police court hears “startling” testimony that a local cocaine ring being run by the “Jefferson Street Gang” has been targeting teenage boys as well as adults, and that some of those young people have become “slaves” to the habit.
1917 - Phone company in Toledo announces that telephone operators will no longer give out election results to callers.
1923 - Federal agents seize a large brewery at Fassett and Oak streets which they claim was licensed to make near-beer, but the brewery was selling beer before the alcohol was steamed off.
1925 - A large searchlight on Toledo Trust building in downtown Toledo is set up to signal the results of the election by flashing various patterns of lights for results of votes. The key to those signals is published in the Toledo News Bee.
1957 - Oregon officially becomes a city.

November 4
1887 - One man is killed and 10 others are thrown into Maumee River in bridge collapse at Grand Rapids.
1944 - The U.S. War Department seizes control of seven factories in Toledo because strikes at the plants are stopping flow of ammo and guns.
1958 - Michael V. Disalle of Toledo is elected Governor of Ohio
1960 - U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy visits Toledo for campaign rally. Twenty five thousand people gather at Lucas County Courthouse to hear Kennedy speak.
1971 - The popular Smith’s Cafeteria on Erie Street closes down after decades in business.

November 5
1830 - Wood County executes convicted killer George Porter by hanging. He is first man to be executed in the county after being convicted of shooting to death Isaac Richardson for non-payment of his labor.
1920 - First edition of the Sun in East Toledo is published.
1946 - Convicted postal robber and notorious gangster Joe Urbaytis is gunned down and killed at his Bon-Aire Supper Club, an illegal speakeasy, on Woodville Road.
1952 - The first of 600 Ohio State prison inmates arrive at Camp Perry's POW camp to be housed temporarily after the State Penitentiary in Columbus was gutted by a major riot and fire.
1956 - World-renowned jazz pianist and Toledo native Art Tatum dies at age of 46 in Los Angeles.
1960 - Edward Hagedorn elected as first mayor of Oregon.

November 6
1908 - Toledo School Board proposes that Toledo schools begin serving hot breakfasts to growing number of students who come to school hungry.
1923 -Toledo is in grip of fear from a “mad bomber” who has detonated six bombs in the city since September. In the latest bombing, a mailbox was destroyed and windows were shattered.
1941 - A stone marker is dedicated on Miami Street to note the presence of an ancient Indian fort. Early pioneers had found the remnants of the long-abandoned earthworks at a location near the present day grain elevators and Fassett Street.
1945 - J.B. Simmons, first African-American elected to Toledo City Council.

November 7
1907 - Toledo Police capture a "wild man" who had been living along the banks of Ten Mile Creek and terrorizing nearby residents. Frank Gorware, unshaven and wild looking, eats mostly raw meat.
1933 - National prohibition repealed, bars and taverns celebrate as they begin selling low power beer.
1956 - The Great Eastern Shopping center opens in Northwood on Woodville Road.
1958 - President Eisenhower arrives in Toledo to go duck hunting along the Lake Erie shoreline at the private Cedar Point Club. Ike bags his limit within 3 hours and returns to his plane and departs by noon.
2001 - Jack Ford is elected as first African-American Mayor of Toledo, defeating Lucas County Treasurer Ray Kest.

November 8
1905 - Lawyer Brand Whitlock is elected Mayor of Toledo. Whitlock would be elected three times and later appointed as Ambassador to Belgium during World War One.
1908 - The first female ever to officiate a mens' football game happened in Toledo. Miss Sophie Henry referees the first quarter but players complain that they can’t swear in front of her, so she is replaced with a man.
1936 - Motorcycle crash claims life of Toledo Policeman Harvey, "Inky", O’Neill who was chasing a speeding taxi at Bancroft and Monroe Streets.
1953 - St. Charles Hospital on Navarre Avenue is dedicated.

November 9
1893 - Bradner area train crash causes the deaths of four people.
1899 - “Train wreckers” cause derailment of Detroit-bound train near Alexis Road. Three people are killed.
1913 - The so called "Great Lakes Hurricane” whips across the region. Lakes are in chaos as 19 ships are lost in the storms and 250 men perish in the cyclonic winds. Worst night of terror in Great Lakes history.
1931-Toledo Police confiscate $6,000 worth of “loco weed” or also known as marijuana from a restaurant on Washington Street. Police say the weed has a “dreamy effect” on the smoker.
1956 - Major blaze destroys several buildings in downtown Bowling Green, resulting in $500,000 in damage.