This Week In Toledo History 8/29/2022

By: 
Lou Hebert

August 28
1906 - A Toledo woman is reported to be a “living statue.” Anna Fuzee arrested on a “lunacy charge”. She refuses to move and stares off into space. Deputies say it feels like her body has turned to stone.
1913 - East Toledo residents complain that crime is too rampant on their streets and they need more police patrols.
1929 - A massive blaze destroys the six story plant of the Toledo Grain and Milling Company at Harrison and Mills Street. Damage is set at $800,000.
1930 - Construction begins on the new $450,000 University of Toledo field house, which will feature an indoor arena for football and track.
1958 - Future Olympic Gold Medal figure skater Scott Hamilton born in Toledo.
1976 - A tragic fire erupts in the horse barns at Toledo's Raceway Park, 40 horses are killed.
1977 - The first power is generated at the Davis Besse Nuclear Power station in Ottawa County and fed into the electric grid.
1993 - The USS Toledo submarine is launched at Norfolk, Virginia.

August 29
1870 - Toledo’s population growing steadily. Now listed at 31,600.
1914 - Toledo’s first woman food inspector, Elizabeth Schauss, institutes new rules for food handlers in restaurants in the city, including hair nets for female workers.
1924 - Seven members of the Cyrus Updegraff family of Wood County are killed when their car is hit by a train on South Boundary Street in Perrysburg.
1947 - Eleven people injured in train crash at Union Station in Toledo.

August 30
1900 -Three East Toledo teen boys are in trouble with the law for stealing watermelons from a Pennsylvania railroad freight car and selling them around the neighborhood.
1902 - A young Toledo house painter known as "Steeple Jack", Joe LaBarge, was chased down and killed by a group of men in Monroe, Michigan. Labarge was with his mistress when someone saw him in her house and thought he was assaulting her. A mob of vigilantes chased him down and he was shot dead. Two men were charged and acquitted.
1903 - State of Ohio sets new policy that all high school students must study spelling.
1934 - Pearson Park is dedicated, in honor of Blade reporter and East Side booster George Pearson. Pearson had made it his personal crusade to save this section of first growth forest to be set aside for a park.
1955 - Actress Mamie Van Doren comes to Toledo to wed band leader Ray Anthony.
1972 - Toledo gets a double dose of bad news when it is announced that Buckeye Beer will close its historic brewery in North Toledo after more than 130 years in operation. On the same day, it is revealed that the Tiedtke's store, an icon among the early downtown department stores will also close.

August 31
1878 - Fire destroys the huge Put-in-Bay House Hotel and several other buildings on South Bass Island.
1901- Large tomato canning plant opens at Bowling Green. It later became the Heinz plant and continued operating until 1975.
1916 - Mob attacks county jail in Lima in lynching attempt of a black suspect accused of assaulting a white woman. Sheriff and deputies stop the crowd, but sheriff's daughter dies from shock of the events.
1925 - Toledo Zoo buys two new Bengal tigers from a wild animal dealer in New York for $3500.
1981 - Cynthia Anderson, a secretary working for a law firm in North Toledo vanishes from the office. She is never found. It is speculated that she may have been kidnapped and murdered by unknown people involved in drug trafficking.

September 1
1866 - It’s reported that Toledo’s police officers are now wearing official uniforms as ordered by City Council. Black pants, grey vests and a single- breasted coat.
1908 - The new Secor Hotel has grand opening with 1,000 people in attendance. Ladies in gowns and men in top hats dine in the new elegant European dining room. President of hotel is Jay Secor.
1908 - Thousands of area residents turn out along the riverfront as the official Fort Meigs monument is dedicated at Perrysburg.
1926 - Eight people killed in head-on crash of north-south Interurban trains in Monroe, Michigan. Scores are injured, many victims from Toledo.
1937 - Toledo Police begin crackdown on child molesters after a wave of such crimes are reported in the city. A shoe store clerk in downtown is taken into custody for luring young girls into store to model in a fake fashion show.
1945 - City files legal suit to close the reputed gambling casino, the Dixie Inn on North Detroit Avenue.
1947 - Toledo Blade reports that 8,219 people in Toledo work for the railroads.
1949 - Record crowd for wrestling matches at Sports Arena with over 6,700 attending and watching grapplers such as The Zebra Kid, The Red Devil and The Polish Angel perform.

September 2
1911 - The Maumee River claims the lives of seven people in a small launch when they are killed in collision with a freighter. Six of the victims are city employees.
1922 - Toledo Public Library bans three books as lewd and unfit for public reading. "A Young Girl's Diary" and "Women in Love" are two of the titles that are banned from the shelves.
1945 - Japan formally surrenders, ending World War II.
1967 - Fire at PeeWee’s Bar on Suder Avenue, Toledo Fire Lt. Chester Rybarczyk is killed.
1972 - Dave Wottle wins 800-meter competition at Munich Olympics, becoming BGSU’s first Olympic gold medalist.
1984 - The La Tabernilla, the once well-known restaurant and nightclub in Oregon’s Bayshore area, burns to the ground.

September 3
1894 - Cornerstone is laid for the new and present day Lucas County Courthouse.
1907 - Arsonist torches the Put-in-Bay House hotel on South Bass Island.
1908 - The largest parade in Toledo's history is held for the giant G.A.R. Encampment in Toledo brings together thousands of Civil War veterans of the Union Army. The parade featured a "living flag" and a choir of 3,000 Toledo Schoolchildren singing the Star Spangled Banner.
1913 - The city health department reports that 51 children died during the month of August in Toledo, the highest month on record. The extreme heat is believed responsible for the grim death toll.
1919 - Locomotive 552 in the Wabash railyards in Toledo has killed another man. The engine is believed to be a "Hoodoo" or bad luck because several men have been killed by the locomotive over the past four years. The latest victim was 45-year-veteran engineer who was scalded to death by escaping steam.
2001 - The final minor league game for the Mud Hens played at Ned Skeldon Stadium in Maumee.

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