This Week In Toledo History

January 5
1894 - Toledo Hospital reports it had 239 patients in 1893, 71 operations were performed and there were 25 deaths.
1920 - Deadly explosion and blaze at the National Refrigeration Company factory in 100 block of Nebraska Avenue in Toledo kills two workers.
1936 - Toledo area experiences two major fires in one day. Fire does heavy damage to the mansion of Toledo industrialist George Mather on River Road near Rossford. The second major fire was the landmark Toledo Coliseum at Bancroft and Ashland.
1946 - Wood County Sheriff Clarence Marsh says the owners of the El Rancho Ballroom, an illegal casino on Woodville Road, offered him tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to reopen the club.
1948 - Ten children are killed in a horrific accident near Archbold when a tractor-drawn sleigh is run over by a fast train.
1955 - Toledo Express Airport's official opening day is marked by cancellation of all flights because of bad weather.

January 6
1905 - A protest is lodged against the Toledo Zoo by the Ancient Order of Hibernians objecting to the name of a monkey at the zoo. They say “Mrs. Murphy” is an insult to the Irish. The zoo says it will change the name.
1912 - Amos Jacobs, later to become “Danny Thomas”, is born in Deerfield, Michigan. They later move to North Toledo where Danny spent much of his early life, before moving on to stardom in the entertainment world.
1937 - The Ohio Highway Department announces the long awaited paving of “Canal Boulevard” or Anthony Wayne Trail from Toledo to Waterville.
1946 - Huge fire levels the Hobart Dry Goods store in Pemberville.
1972 - Gangster Thomas “Yonnie” Licavoli is paroled from prison after serving 38 years for notorious mob slayings in Toledo.

January 7
1837 -Toledo incorporates and becomes an official Ohio community.
1918 - Frances D. Jermain branch of the Toledo Library system opens.
1935 - Toledo News Bee reporter Fred Spring confirms story that Griffith family of East Toledo had a mouse named “Minnie” that could sing or warble to music. Spring also admits that while it was in his care, the singing mouse escaped and hasn't been found.
1947 - TPD officer Lt. John McCarthy shot and killed near Safety Building by suspect being brought in for questioning.
1951 - WSPD TV debuts its first news program with well known radio announcer, Jim Uebelhart as the main anchor.

January 8
1884 - Assets of the University of Toledo are turned over to the City of Toledo, establishing it as a municipal school.
1900 - Mayor Samuel Jones’ plan for a city-owned power plant is defeated by Toledo City Council.
1900 - Huge fire in Prairie Depot (now Wayne) in Wood County destroys 11 businesses and homes.
1957 - New interstate (I-280) drawbridge over the Maumee River is dedicated in honor of Medal of Honor recipient Toledoan Lt. Robert Craig, who was killed in Italy in World War II.

January 9
1904 - Former Ohio Governor and Seneca County native Charles Foster dies at the age of 75.
1933 - In a dramatic shootout on Toledo's north side, suspected fugitive cop killer, Bob Zwick, is wounded and captured along with his "gal- pal" "Dago Rosie".
1909 - Design for the City of Toledo flag is adopted.
1919 - Jewelry worth $30,000 is stolen from Mrs. Michael Owens while she and her famed inventor husband were dining at the Toledo Club.
1971 - Fireman Ralph Arthur dies of heart attack in Maumee Bay trying to save his two children, who plunged through the ice on a snowmobile near Cullen Park.
1997 - Com Air flight 3272 crashes in rural Monroe County enroute to Detroit Metro. All twenty-nine people aboard are killed.

January 10
1838 - First railroad accident near Toledo. One person is killed.
1899 -Two teenage boys from Genoa are fined $10 each after Judge Bowland determined they were the culprits that were driving a wagon through the country stealing everything in sight, including chickens, clothing and grain.
1907 - City health records show that the most lethal disease in Toledo is tuberculosis with 207 deaths reported in 1906.
1933 - The grand Peristyle Auditorium opens at Toledo Museum of Art in a debut performance with the Philadelphia Symphony.
1987 - Inventor and world famous glass artist Dominick Labino dies at his home in Grand Rapids at the age of 76.

January 11
1805 - Territory of Michigan created by Congress.
1899 - Actor Frank Murphy at the People's Theater in Toledo is hit by a real brick, instead of a fake one during a fight scene. Severely wounded, with blood streaming down his back, he keeps right on playing the scene.
1911 - Lucas County Common Pleas Judge John Manton rules that some couples seeking divorce should be spanked instead.
1936 - Louis Hirschy, East Toledo resident and scholar, credited with planting thousands of trees on the East Side, dies at his home at Greenwood and Walden - two streets that he had renamed in honor of nature.
1942 - Lonz Winery on Middle Bass Island burns to the ground.