This Week In Toledo History

By: 
Lou Hebert

May 21- 27

May 21
1898 - Massive blaze in downtown Toledo at Dow Snell building at Jefferson and Superior streets.
1904 - Theater chain owner Frank Burt shot by his wife in front his own theater on Jefferson Avenue in Toledo.
1913 - Toledo newspaper readers get first look at the proposed new Toledo Club building to be built at Madison and 14th streets.
1920 - Three convicted killers escape by sawing through the bars of the Ottawa County Jail at Port Clinton.
1931 - Major fire at the National Milling Company silos on Front Street.

May 22
1852 - First steam powered train ran from Toledo to Chicago.
1925 - Hundreds flock to the newly built Madison Gardens Ballroom for its grand opening at Madison and 15th, later to be renamed the Tri-anon Ballroom.
1959 - I-280 highway dedicated as the Detroit-Toledo Expressway. First so-called “expressway” in the area. It was dubbed the "Seaway Freeway" and hailed as a key for future growth of the area.
1979 - Owens-Illinois headquarters ground breaking on riverfront. Set a new world record for the
number of people taking part as over 5,000 Toledoans turned out to turn a shovel-load of earth.
1984 - Violence erupts on picket lines of AP Parts on Matzinger Road as union members protest the company's use of non-union labor. 120 people are arrested and jailed.

May 23
1898 - Toledo mourns loss of Toledo fireman Oscar Willis, killed while battling blaze at a grocery warehouse at Jefferson and Summit.
1908 - An air ship, piloted by Toledo's Roy Knabenshue, crashes into centerfield fence during ball game at Armory Park.
1944 - Toledo Mud Hens suffer worst defeat in franchise history, losing to Milwaukee Brewers, who score 28 runs.
1975 - National Guard F-100 crashes at Toledo Express Airport, killing pilot and seriously injuring co-pilot,
1988 - Legendary UT football quarterback, Chuck Ealey, who led the Rockets to three undefeated seasons from 1969-71, is inducted into the freshman class of the Mid-American Conference Hall of Fame.

May 24
1854 - Toledo council votes to hire "night watchmen" at $1.25 a night.
1894 - Perrysburg school on Louisiana Avenue burns to the ground.
1919 - Last weekend in Toledo for legal alcohol sales before local prohibition goes into effect. Saloons and bars are jammed with customers eager to get last drink.
1934 - The Auto-Lite factory strike in North Toledo turns deadly. Thousands of strikers and supporters gather in front of the besieged plant in North Toledo and face off against Ohio National Guard troops.
Violence erupts and the troops open fire on crowd, killing two people.
1934 - Brand Whitlock, four-time mayor of Toledo and ambassador to Belgium, dies in Paris at age 65.

May 25
1903 - Great excitement noted as Twentieth Century train reaches an average of 70 MPH between Toledo and Elkhart, Ind., at times hitting speeds near 90 MPH.
1930 - Ground is broken for DeVilbiss High School in West Toledo.
1936 - Ten-thousand Toledo Catholics hold outdoor mass at Swayne Field to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Toledo Diocese.
1957 - Students reported to have rioted in streets in downtown Bowling Green. Two fraternities suspended.

May 26
1887 - Statue of Toledo Civil War hero General James Steedman unveiled in downtown Toledo on Summit St.
1901 - Much excitement generated by news that oil is discovered on Middle Bass Island.
1906 - Toledo Police report that two men are stabbed to death and another is near death after an all-day drinking orgy of men, women and boys at 215 Sycamore St. Described in newspaper account as “disreputable part of the city.”
1919 -Toledo Patrolman William Bather shot and mortally wounded on Emerald Avenue after he attempts to question three stolen car suspects. He dies the next day. The 29-year-old patrolman leaves behind a wife and two children.
1935 - Fourteen-thousand people turn out at Scott High School Field to hear the eighth annual citywide music festival put on by high school music bands and singers.

May 27
1862 - Toledo Street Railway begins operation as horse-drawn streetcars start running through the city.
1908 - A downtown Toledo beer garden is closed after violating a police order that women not be allowed in beer gardens in the city.
1919 - Toledo's many breweries and saloons forced to close up under the newly enacted federal prohibition laws.
1921 - In a Fremont courtroom, during a civil trial, two opposing attorneys get into fistfight before the court of Judge Scott Stahl and others join in the melee before order is restored.
1928 - Race car driver Roy Goodwin is killed in crash at Fort Miami Race Track in Maumee.

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