This Week In Toledo History

By: 
Lou Hebert

Feb. 19
1897 - Lakeshore grain elevator on the Maumee riverfront burns in a spectacular wind-swept inferno.
1923 -A doctor and nurse die when their car plunges through the lake ice near Put-in-Bay as they are on a medical run to another island.
1941 - Washington Daily News reporter Katy Hillgan calls Toledo’s new Willys army vehicle a “Jeep” for the first time in media.
1943 - Eighty-six dogs from Toledo leave for duty in World War II as part of the Dogs for Defense project. Almost all the dogs return after war is over.
1953 - A fire in a house on Mayo Street in Toledo takes the lives of two children and Toledo fireman Don Timiney.
1954 - University of Toledo basketball team defeats Ohio University, 71 - 66, to win its first Mid-American Conference title.

Feb. 20
1919 - Auditorium Bowling Center smolders after fire that destroys this popular sports center in Toledo.
1919 - The great booze rush descends on Toledo liquor and beer stores as Michigan residents cross state line by the thousands to buy beer before supplies run out in “dry” Michigan. Dixie Highway between Toledo and Monroe is reported to be littered with broken down cars.
1921 - Escaped Toledo Post Office robber Joe Urbaytis and several gang members are captured near Chicago on a westbound train.
1946 - Safety Director Maurice Meyer outlaws charitable bingo games in Toledo.
1948 - Large ammonia tank explodes at Page Dairy in Toledo on Knapp Street. More than 25 people are injured.

Feb. 21
1901 - The “Toledo Steam” automobile built by the American Bicycle Company of Toledo advertised in national publications for $1,000.
1912 - Major blizzard hits Toledo area, stopping street cars and shutting down businesses.
1941 - It is reported that a Scott High School senior has lost his lawsuit in Common Pleas Court against a teacher who slapped him across the face for “impudence.”
1951- Two dozen high school students in Hoytville in Wood County refuse to attend class and hold rally in front of building to protest what they say was unfair expulsion of another student.
1967 - The “new” Chase School is dedicated in North Toledo.
2007 - Toledo Police Detective Keith Dressel shot and killed by young teenage suspect in North Toledo. The first Toledo officer killed in the line of duty in more than 35 years.

Feb. 22
1867 - Bowling Green Sentinel begins publication.
1886 - Dedication of the Soldiers Memorial Hall (now demolished) in downtown Toledo, built to honor all Civil War veterans.
1907 - Plans revealed that Home Furniture will open a store in 400 block of Summit Street. The store operated in that location until the 1970s.
1953 - Perrysburg schools reopen after flu epidemic sickens hundreds of students and teachers for a week.
1961 - Seneca County rattled by earthquake.
1973 - U.S. Supreme Court decides the final boundary line between Ohio and Michigan in a dispute over Turtle Island in Maumee Bay finally settling the Toledo-Michigan War of 1835.

Feb. 23
1896 - The Toledo Pastor's Union demands that police department enforce the closing of theaters on Sundays.
1905 - Six jail inmates in Toledo – five women and one man – judged to be insane and sent to asylum on Detroit Avenue.
1916 - Walbridge Park greenhouse gardeners are reporting their crop of bananas is starting to ripen. With temps in the greenhouse between 70 and 100 degrees they say they have about three bunches that will soon be ready to eat.
1925 - Albert Turner, a workman on the new Ft. Meigs Hotel on St. Clair Street falls 150 feet down an elevator shaft – and survives. Turner says he thought when he fell he was a dead man. Then he woke up, but every bone in his body ached. His worst injury was a bruise on his right hip.
1927 - Eight inmates escape from the Toledo Workhouse after using saws to cut their way out. The workhouse farm had been under heavy criticism for overcrowding and poor conditions.

Feb. 24
1900 - Tragedy claims life of Toledo hotel proprietor, Dennis McGee, who falls to his death down the elevator shaft of his Burnett House hotel.

1915 - Toledo fireman John Kaintz dies en-route to fire report at Wabash Railroad Roadhouse.
1926 - The Women's Bureau of the Toledo Police Department begins operations to handle cases of missing women and other policing issues involving women.
1938 - Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” opens at the Pantheon Theater in downtown Toledo to much fanfare.
1947 - Five children killed in car accident on Woodville Road near Genoa while they were being driven to a school in Toledo by their teacher.
1962 - Jeep reports that it is now exporting Toledo-made vehicles to 21 overseas countries.
1995 - The USS Toledo submarine is commissioned at Norfolk, Virginia.

Feb. 25
1887 - The Henning oil well in Wood County produces 2500 barrels in its first hour of operation.
1904 - It’s reported that a giant bald eagle attacks man in Fremont. He and three others subdue and kill the large bird.
1913 - A major wind-swept blaze in Walbridge nearly destroys the town, but quick work by a "bucket brigade" saves the day.
1935 - Charles Vanderhoof observes 25 years as Tietdke's official coffee taster. His taste buds and nose have dictated the odor of more than 17 million coffee beans for the retailer over 25 years.
1936 – Four hundred gas station operators in Toledo agree to ban gasoline sales to drunk drivers
1958 - Unseasonable and record-breaking warm temperature nears 65 degrees. Ten fishermen rescued from drifting ice near Reno Beach.

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