This Week In Toledo History

April 23
1911 - Detectives from California investigating the deadly blast that killed 21 men at the Los Angeles Times follow clues to Northwest Ohio to the town of Bloomville in Seneca County. It was determined that the dynamite used in the blast was stolen from the France Stone Company quarry in that town.
1913 - Two buffaloes escape from the Toledo Zoo. "Bill and Belle" sent neighbors of Harvard Terrace running to the safety of their homes as they started roaming the nearby streets. They were eventually rounded up.
1919 - Tornado hits buildings and homes near North Baltimore in Southern Wood County. One person is killed.
1928 - Toledo Police arrest 63 people in a series of weekend vice raids targeting prostitution and gambling houses in the city. Of those arrested, 12 of them were women, several of whom were charged with running brothels.
1977 - Elvis Presley performs at Centennial Hall at the University of Toledo, drawing a sell-out crowd of nearly 10,000 fans.

April 24
1837 - First taxes are levied on Toledoans to pay for city services and salaries. The first city marshal, Calvin Comstock is hired.
1861 - More than 100 men leave Toledo for duty in the Union Army as a part of the 14th Ohio Volunteer Infantry as the Civil War begins.
1916 - Toledo's Food and Style shows open at the Terminal Auditorium where hundreds of food producers will display their products to demonstrate how "pure" and healthy they are.
1945 - The Toledo Blade in today's editions runs horrid pictures and images of bodies, mass graves being discovered in Nazi prison camps. The Blade defends the story saying they are running the images because “too many Americans don't believe it”.
1979 - State Representative Irma Karmol, 56, of Toledo is killed in an auto accident in Perrysburg. Passenger, State Representative Robert Brown was injured.

April 25
1937 - Opening day at Swayne field. Box seats to watch Mud Hens play sell for $1.00.
1938 - Toledo religious cult leader Joshua Bey is officially declared dead by a team of doctors. The body of the Moorish Church leader was being held at the church temple for days as followers waited for Bey to come back to life. Police entered the church to remove his body for examination.
1947 - Virgil Gladieux announces that the “new” sports arena will be built at east end of Cherry Street Bridge on Main Street in East Toledo. It will occupy 18 acres on site of what used to be called “Cannon’s Landing.”
1955 - Mass inoculation begins at schools around Toledo with the Salk vaccine to prevent childhood polio.
1959 - The $459 million link between the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes called the St. Lawrence Seaway officially opens to ship traffic.

April 26
1835 - First military skirmish between Ohio and Michigan forces in the Toledo War. Shots are fired between the opposing state militias in the dispute over the so- called "Toledo strip".
1858 - Land given to City of Toledo for first public park. It is a small plot in East Toledo - later to be named Prentice Park in honor of Fredrick Prentice, the first "white" baby born in Toledo area.
1865 - Everton Conger, of Fremont, a special detective with the War Department leads a unit of men to the barn where John Wilkes Booth is hiding in Virginia. Conger sets the barn ablaze and Booth is shot to death. Conger would receive $15,000 reward from Congress.
1974 - The derelict Earle Hotel on Jefferson Avenue, built in back in 1891, is ravaged by flames. The blaze could be seen for miles and drew thousands of onlookers to downtown Toledo to witness its fiery demise.

April 27
1867 - Toledo’s first paid police force called “MP’s” for Metropolitan Police begin patrolling the city streets.
1898 - Toledo soldiers muster at National Guard Armory as they get ready for duty in the Spanish-American War.
1923 - Famed British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes fame), attends séance in Toledo with Toledo psychic Miss Ada Besinnet. The writer calls her one of the best in the world.
1932 - Tiffin sportsman Frank Callahan spends $1,000 to stage a funeral for his beloved Pomeranian pet dog "Baby Ginter." Hundreds of curious mourners show up at his home to see the dog lie in repose in a $400 casket.
1966 - A Chicago woman, Mary Matz, takes a taxicab from Toledo to Richmond, California to see a doctor there because "she isn't feeling good". The 2640 mile trip cost her $1,200.

April 28
1813 - The attack on American forces at Fort Meigs in the War of 1812 begins as British soldiers and their Native American allies lay siege on the fort on the Maumee River banks for five days of bombardment.
1911 - State Pharmacy Board claims that Toledo is the “cocaine capital of Ohio.” Rampant abuse of the drug is reported and numerous “coke” parties being held by teens.
1939 - Toledo Blade reports that professional golfer Byron Nelson has been signed to become head pro at Inverness Country Club. During his time in Toledo, Nelson would win a number of major tournaments.

April 29
1913 -A somber reunion held in Toledo for survivors of the Sultana riverboat that sank on the Mississippi River after the Civil War. Over 1,100 Union soldiers, most who had been released from Confederate prison camps, died in the disaster. Many from the Toledo area.
1949 - Toledo city officials are given a demonstration of the soon to-be-used traffic radar devices for catching speeders on Toledo roadways. Toledo was among the first cities in the nation to use radar for traffic enforcement.
1958 - A brand new Pontiac Chieftain is selling for $2,679 in Toledo at Brown Pontiac.
1962 - The “King of the Twist” Chubby Checker appears in Toledo at the Sports Arena.