This Week In Toledo History

November 24
1855 - First patient is admitted to the newly opened St. Vincent’s Hospital in Toledo.
1934 - In midst of the Great Depression, 17 federally funded sewing centers will be set up in Toledo to help struggling families meet clothing needs. More than 27,000 yards of material will be available.
1941 - Clem Gersman of Dearborn Street in East Toledo wins national acclaim in "Ripley's-Believe-It-Or-Not" as a blind cameraman! The former rug-maker takes pretty good snapshots and is able to sense direction from the sound of the subject’s voice.
1962 - It's estimated that the average Toledo family makes about $7,000 a year, is paid on Fridays, owns a home, over 75 percent have lived in Toledo more than 20 years, and have lived in the same home for over 10 years.

November 25
1900 - A major controversy in Bowling Green as the school superintendent suspends ten boys after they traveled to North Baltimore to play a football game. The boys say it's because the superintendent doesn't approve of football.
1911 - Saloon keepers and gambling hall owners in Toledo file law suit to stop Toledo Police from raiding their downtown businesses and destroying the equipment.
1942 - Bob Hope and Roy Rogers appear at Paramount Theater to celebrate a 17-day War Chest drive that netted over a million dollars.
1948 - Solon Klotz dies. He was Toledo’s first and only elected “socialist” mayor.

November 26
1827 -The town of Port Clinton is founded on shores of Lake Erie.
1906 - The Toledo Board of Health begins the "new" practice of inspecting restaurant kitchens to look for health code violations.
1918 -Toledo City Council OKs the selling off of its flock of sheep at Ottawa Park. The four-legged lawn mowers number 150 and there are no facilities to take care of them.
1925 - Veteran Marshal Frank Robel, 37, of Marblehead in Ottawa County is shot to death after his car is forced off the road. As he exits patrol car he is shot through the heart. Lester Wenner of Lakeside is charged.
1940 - First round of WWII draftees depart Toledo's Union station for boot camp. A farewell speech is given by Mayor Ollie Czelusta who is accompanied by accordion music.
1956 - Man sentenced to workhouse for trying to pick a fight with Elvis Presley during his visit in Toledo. He claims it was a staged fake-fight.

November 27
1837 - Charles McLean becomes Toledo’s first fire chief.
1868 - Elmore native Clara Harrington Blinn and her two-year old son Willie are killed during a raid by General Custer on the Cheyenne Camp of Black Kettle at Washita River in Oklahoma Territory where she had been held captive.
1909 - Toledo Probate Court reports that in Polish and Hungarian wards of the city the birth rate is more than twice the other wards combined.
1942 - Thousands of Toledo women are now employed in Toledo industries and factories as the war effort to build munitions and ships increases. At the Toledo Shipyards, women are hired for the first time and the era of "Rosie the Riveter" is born.
1956 - First Hungarian refugee families arrive in Toledo to make new homes after fleeing the Soviet takeover of Hungary.

November 28
1891 - The deadliest train collision occurs in Toledo and two trains collided in the tunnel beneath the Miami and Erie Canal in Toledo. At least seven people are killed.
1893 - Wood County Courthouse groundbreaking is held.
1907 - A crowd of 20,000 people jam downtown Toledo along Jefferson Avenue to see a fast-moving run of the city's 42 fire vehicles as they are filmed by a motion picture crew for a promotional stunt.
1941 - First inductees from the area arrive at Camp Perry prior to World War II to begin processing.

November 29
1910 - Toledo Patrolman, Carl Kruse shoots to death a "mystery man" who was setting fire to Temple Theater on Monroe Street. The would-be arsonist identified as Joe Dunn, a former safecracker.
1921 - Bishop Samuel Stritch appointed as second Bishop of Toledo Catholic Diocese.
1927 - The State Theater on Collingwood opens to a sellout crowd. Reviewers call it an “exceptionally beautiful neighborhood” theater.
1957 - Bowling Green dedicates their so-called “white way” when the new fluorescent street lights are installed downtown.

November 30
1905 - Toledo Police Chief Knapp says he thinks many young boys are led into a life of crime by attending "blood and thunder" melodramas that glamorize murder and criminal behavior.
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.