This Week In Toledo History
January 26 -February 1
January 26
1921 - Toledo Police display their entire fleet of “crime fighting” vehicles, which include seven old discarded Ford jalopies and a few broken motorcycles. Council quickly approves funds for six new police cars and 15 motorcycles.
1978 - Massive blizzard hits Northwest Ohio, creating worst conditions in more than a century. Most of area is paralyzed. With 15 inches of snow and massive drifting, businesses, highways and schools are closed for days. City doesn't recover for many weeks. The "Blizzard of '78" remains the storm against which all other winter storms in the region are measured.
1992 - UT student Melissa Herstrum is kidnapped and murdered by UT policeman Jeffrey Hodge who is convicted and sent to prison for life.
January 27
1893 - Anti-Catholic movement grows in some areas of Toledo with groups forming to defend against fears of a violent Catholic uprising. Mayor orders police to search for weapons at St. Hedwig's Catholic Church on Lagrange Street.
1900 - Townspeople of Delta are shocked when Oliver Pike returns to the town after he had been buried four years prior. A man identified as Pike was in the town cemetery, but Pike was in Chicago at the time and wasn’t aware he had been declared dead.
1933 - Bowling Green area farmers create disturbance when they show up for a farm foreclosure auction and only bid pennies for property. They intimidate those who want to bid more. This becomes the first use of the so called “penny auctions”, a tactic which became popular among farmers during the Great Depression.
1951 - Toledo Blade reports on overcrowding conditions, fire hazards and inadequate treatment of staff at Toledo State Hospital.
1984 - Macy's Department Store, formerly LaSalle's, in downtown Toledo closes for good.
January 28
1897 - Nitroglycerin explosion at Cygnet kills two people.
1928 - World famous artist and painter of hunting dogs Edmund Osthaus of Toledo dies in his Florida winter home.
1938 - The government jobs and public works program, the WPA announces it will hire another 1,500 workers in Toledo.
1977 - State of Ohio hit by severe cold, dropping temps to below zero. Governor James Rhodes orders businesses shut down because of natural gas shortage.
1978 - Ohio National Guard troops arrive at Toledo Express Airport with heavy equipment to begin helping area agencies dig out from the massive Blizzard of ’78 that still holds area in icy grip.
January 29
1878 - Future car racing great Barney Oldfield is born in Wauseon in Fulton County. He later moves to Toledo where he grew to adulthood and became one of the first champion racers of bicycles and cars in the nation.
1905 - Classified ad in News Bee offers 70-acre farm, barn and house near Curtice for $4,000.
1924 - Toledo Police Detective William Julert dies while disarming suspect when weapon falls to floor and discharges.
January 30
1891- Fire in Cygnet in Wood County destroys several buildings and kills three people.
1902 - Toledo fireman Ralph Westfall killed in blaze at Henry Rosen’s Junk Warehouse.
1929 - Edward Williams, an elderly one-armed Toledo ash-man saw his livelihood tumble into ruins when his blind horse backed up too far and plunged down a 75 foot embankment on the Maumee River. The horse was severely injured and Williams' wagon was left in pieces on the riverbank.
1935 - A 21-year old Clarence Brown is arrested on Forsythe Street in East Toledo for masterminding a massive Midwest counterfeit money ring. Brown, said he was raising money for medical school.
1945 - Tragic fire at 915 Indiana Ave when a heater exploded in a home and killed five children.
January 31
1905- An East Toledo man was ordered to the state hospital for treatment after his wife said he was obsessed with eating snowballs and reading the bible.
1922 - Prohibition triggers wave of alcohol poisoning from people trying to imbibe raw alcohol and spirits. Health department reports 300 poisonings and 20 deaths in previous year.
1932 - Toledo Fire Department ladder truck and a city bus collide on Collingwood Avenue. Two Toledo firemen are killed. Captain Andrew Flynn and Bernard Orzechowsk of Number 16 Hook and Ladder Co.
1945 - A baby boy, not more than 2 days old, is left abandoned in a cardboard box on front steps of a home on Ontario Street. Police are searching for his parents.
February 1
1863 - First mass is held at St. Patrick’s Church in Toledo.
1908 - The Majestic Theater on South St. Clair Street opens. It was a silent movie house that later became a Harry's clothing store.
1921 - Community Traction begins service with street car operations.
1936 - Toledo first-grader Barbara Lewis Lamont celebrates her sixth birthday, with a bullet in her brain. Shot accidentally 18 months prior, doctors fear surgery might do more harm than good. Girl said to be doing well in school studies.
1953 - Toledo’s Water Commissioner reports that city water use plummets during popular TV shows, then spikes when programs end. “I Love Lucy” ranked number one in this water ratings system.