This Week In Toledo History

May 14-20
May 14
1842 -The city of Toledo forms its first official school district.
1886 - Convicted killer Arthur Glover of Wood County executed by Sheriff George Murray Brown in a hanging in Columbus. It was the last execution in Ohio carried out by the county sheriff of the county where the crime occurred.
1928 - Kalmbach Elevator in North Baltimore destroyed by fire.
1932 - Road rage incident at Monroe and 14th Street when a pedestrian gets into a fight with two men in a car. One of them pulls a gun and shoots him three times.
1938 -The last Lakeshore Electric Interurban makes final run between Toledo and Sandusky. There is no special observance after 41 years of operation. Bus begins the next morning.
1958 - Christine Brennan is born in Toledo. Brennan became one of the first and most recognized sports reporters and writers in America.
1975 - Linda Jefferson, Toledo native and star running back for the Toledo Troopers women's football team, is voted "Woman Sport of the Year" by Women Sport magazine.

May 15
1908 - It's reported that a dog bit 11 people in Maumee and was rabid. All of victims will have to undergo a series of painful shots.
1926 - The Safety building in downtown Toledo is officially opened to the public.
1973 - Toledo Mayor Harry Kessler calls the old Edison Steam plant in downtown Toledo “an eyesore”. He wants it demolished and removed from the riverfront. It was later renovated to serve as the headquarters for ProMedica Healthcare.
2001 - A runaway train begins a wild 60-mile journey south on CSX tracks that began in Walbridge yards. The nationally broadcast news drama finally ends when a brave railroad worker hops on the rolling locomotive, (8888, dubbed the crazy 8's) and brings it to a stop south of Kenton.

May 16
1855 - Schooner “Visitor” sinks in storm near West Sister Island. Captain goes down with his ship.
1899 - Large-scale tornadoes sweep through Northwest Ohio. Many fatalities and heavy damage. The Montpelier, Ohio schoolhouse blown down, killing eight students. Many others injured.
1929 -Toledo police are looking for the owners of a giant still they found on 400 block of Belmont Avenue. Acting on a tip, agents raided the house and followed a tunnel from the basement to the garage where they found the still and 16,000 gallons of illegal moonshine whiskey which they dumped into the sewer.
1953 - Springfield Township firemen hold stag party of 1,500 people that gets out of control at Secor Armory. It was raided by Toledo police and three women are arrested for indecent exposure, others are arrested for gambling.

May 17
1838 - Last rains fall in Toledo area before the great drought of that era gets underway.
1899 - A weather observer reports that more than 4 inches of rain fell in a 12-hour downpour in Ottawa County.
1913 - A Toledo fire engine becomes motorized as it is hooked up to a gasoline tractor and can reach speeds of up to 25 miles-per-hour. It was one of three given to Toledo on a trial basis.
1929 - Cecelia Dalkowski becomes the first woman ever to enter a race for a Toledo City Council seat. She says the “fur will fly” if she can win her primary for the Fourth Ward and move ahead to the general election. (She did not win)
1919 - Construction gets underway for 80,000 seat arena at Bay View Park to seat the expected large crowds for the Jack Dempsey-Jess Willard fight in July.

May 18
1825 - A massive tornado rolls through Burlington Township in Seneca County. Described by witnesses as a "violent fury that uprooted entire forests of large trees, hurled animals skyward and made the ground rumble beneath one’s feet." Three people died in the sparsely populated area of the county.
1882 - The passenger ship, the “American Eagle,” explodes near Kelley’s Island. Ten people are killed.
1954 - Black leaders in the city of Toledo hail the U. S. Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education ruling to end segregation in public schools.
2001 - Ground is broken for the long awaited $227 million Maumee River crossing project. To be later named the Veterans Memorial Skyway Bridge.

May 19
1889 - Salem United Methodist Church in East Toledo is dedicated.
1904 - Independent saloon keepers in Toledo ask police department to start cleaning up the so-called “badlands” section of the city where houses of ill repute and saloons operate. They claim these places are morally unfit for consumers of liquor.
1931- Police officer Edward O’Briest shot to death by unknown gunman while on an undercover assignment in the 300 block of Moorish Avenue.
1953 - Toledo voters approve a 3.5-mill levy to build the new Toledo Express Airport.

May 20
1906 - Ice dealers in Toledo take heat from the Lucas County prosecutor for gouging residents with high prices. Housewives reportedly stop buying ice because the dealers’ tactics have hurt the poor.
1920 - The outlaw gang known as the "Cowboy Hill gang" stage a daring daylight robbery on the streets of Delta. Residents were terrorized in the running gun battle as the gang had stolen $20,000 from the local bank. Joe Muzzio "Cowboy Hill" and his gang were eventually caught in a shootout with Toledo police.
1926 - Toledo police officers and a gang of safe crackers have gun battle in the offices of the Brundage Brothers Co. on Ottawa Street.
1961 - Fourteen bones and skulls of Native Americans are found near Wales Road in Rossford by four boys who were digging near the city dump.
1965 - The Beach Boys play at the Toledo Sports Arena. Opening act is the Toledo band, the Vandaliers.