This Week In Toledo History

Jan. 15
1907 - It is revealed that a vagrant beggar in Findlay who recently died of exposure was actually a Swedish Count who had recently been bequeathed nearly $75,000 a year in income. He unfortunately was unaware of his good fortune and died penniless.
1914 - Toledo police reinstate the use of nightsticks or billy-clubs after they had been banned by Mayor Samuel Jones who considered them a barbarous weapon of the past.
1936 - First building in the United States covered in glass is completed in Toledo at the Owens-Illinois research facility on Westwood Avenue near Dorr Street. It is covered entirely in 80,000 glass blocks and has no windows.
1938 -Toledo leaders put a sealed letter into Toledo Public Library cornerstone to be unsealed and read by Toledoans in the year 2037 on the occasion of city’s bicentennial.

Jan. 16
1909 - In North Baltimore, a stranger reportedly came to the "dry" Wood County town with some vinegar to sell at $2 dollars a gallon. The salesman, it is said, sold his drink with a "sly wink," hinting that it was really the sweet treat of wine. But those 200 men who bought the "vinegar" soon discovered the sour truth, that it was only vinegar.
1915 - Electric service first begins for Pemberville residents.
1930 - An 18-year-old woman serving as a volunteer timekeeper for a basketball game at Hamilton School in Toledo is severely beaten and left unconscious by members of the "Elm Street Aces" who accuse her of ending the game early and allowing their defeat.
1932 - Mrs. Hattie Sutliff of Toledo has died at the age of 103. Family members say she was the mother of 25 children. Born in 1828, she traveled to Northwest Ohio in a covered wagon. One of the last area pioneers, she is buried at Forest Cemetery in Toledo.
1960 - Future serial killer Henry Lee Lucas arrested in Toledo for the murder of his 74-year-old mother in Tecumseh, Michigan. He was released later from prison only to commit a series of murders across the nation.
1984 - Long time milk retailer in Toledo, Babcock Dairy, closes its doors on Berdan Avenue.

Jan. 17
1893 - Former U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes dies at his Spiegel Grove home in Fremont.
1912 - Newly constructed Toledo Museum of Art opens its doors to huge crowds of more than 5,000 people. Toledo glass maker Edward Drummond Libbey, the creator of the museum, was given an ornate key to the city by Mayor Brand Whitlock.
1921 - Two railroad detectives are robbed and then shot to death in a brazen robbery while driving on South Broadway as they carry $12,000 in passenger ticket receipts.
1936 - Toledoans are shocked to learn that a 12-year-old girl has been rescued from a brothel run by Maude Adams and May O'Dell. She told police had also been dancing at a strip club called the "Happy Hour" on Summit Street.
1977 - Coldest 24-hour period on record begins in Toledo.

Jan. 18
1920 - Toledo Health Commissioner Waggoner reports 1,000 cases of the flu in the city. Three fatalities are reported.
1930 - Seven U.S. Coast Guardsmen are charged with accepting a bribe from Canadian rum runners from Toledo.
1942 - A Toledo judge warns draft dodgers that he will “not hesitate” to send them to jail for five years.
1948 - Small earthquake shakes Lucas County.
1948 - Willys-Overland in Toledo announces new family Jeep sedan with four doors, six-cylinder engine and passenger-type interior.
1958 - It’s reported that shoppers in the downtown LaSalle department store were terrorized by the mysterious release of 35 mice and four pigeons in the store. The prank is believed to be strike-related.

Jan. 19
1905 - The “Pope Toledo” automobile makes record 503-mile run in 24 hours, 3 minutes.
1926 - The body of 42-year-old Mary Handley is found and believed to be the 7th victim of the notorious "Toledo Clubber" who has been victimizing women for months in Toledo.
1953 - New Anthony Wayne High School opens in Whitehouse.
1955 - Hearings resume in Washington, DC on loose allegations that Toledo industrialist, attorney and broadcast station owner, Edward Lamb had ties to the Communist Party.

Jan. 20
1875 - Scores of men gather at the Boody House Hotel to witness the first telephone call made in Toledo.
1886 - Great excitement in Northwest Ohio as the "Karg" natural gas well is struck in downtown Findlay. The gas ignites and its tower of flames can be seen as far away as Toledo.
1927 - Toledo police show off their new bullet-proof armor by having officers position themselves behind it while bullets are shot at them in a live demonstration. The bullets never penetrated the hard metal.
1944 - Four alarm blaze at Harry's Auto store in downtown Toledo at Summit and Jackson Streets. Difficult blaze in a 5-story building. Damage at more than $250,000.

Jan. 21
1904 - A young teen at Toledo High School will be allowed to re-enter the school after his 38 caliber handgun discharged during a class. He was given a “stern lecture” by police and released after explaining that he just forgot he had the gun in his pocket.
1915 - Detective Kaiser Bartecki shot and killed by suspected stalker, Peter Skribner, who had earlier gunned down his former girlfriend. It was during the pursuit of Skribner that Detective Bartecki was shot and killed in the 300 block of Kosciousko Street in North Toledo.
1921 - Women who work in the Spitzer Building are forming a “hatpin brigade” to defend themselves against a man dubbed “Jack the Hugger.” He’s an elderly man, the women say, who hangs out in the lobby and tries to grab them.
1970 - The notorious brothel, "Round the Clock" Grille on Woodville Road near Millbury, raided by federal agents after almost 20 years of operations. The raid resulted in numerous charges against the owners and law enforcement officials in Ottawa County who accepted bribes
1972 - Nolte’s Sohio gas station in Genoa erupts into inferno in eight-vehicle accident involving a propane truck. Two people injured.
1984 - Record setting low temperatures reported in Toledo at -20.