This Week In Toledo History Week Of 10/18/2021

This Week in Toledo Hisotry

Oct. 17
1918 - Toledo city health officials report 482 new cases of flu in the past 24 hours.
1921 - Large throng of men jam third floor of Toledo City Hall to apply for 200 temporary jobs with the city. Two of the men collapse in line from hunger.
1932 - Six men are injured in bloody melee at Lucas County Courthouse when farmers and jobless workers demand some relief. Their protest evolves into a clash with police.
1937 - The notorious gangster known as "Cowboy Hill" dies of cancer. Joe Muzzio was his real name (perhaps) and he had been a big-time bank robber for many years and one of the first to make use of the automobile as a means of escape. His last crime was a daring daylight bank robbery in Delta Ohio in which he terrorized residents and stole $20,000. He and his gang were caught in a violent shoot out on the streets of Toledo. He was still serving a prison sentence when he died at County Hospital of cancer.
1958 - A severe bout of Asian flu is hitting Toledo area schools. Many teachers are out sick. To help keep schools in session, many senior students are now filling in for the sick teachers.
1962 - The new $5-million Federal Building on Summit Street is opened. It is the first U.S. Government Building built in Toledo since 1932.
1976 - Sunset Fireworks Company on State Route 2 destroyed in arson-set blaze, killing Jerusalem Township Assistant Fire Chief John Kennedy.
2007 - Toledo-born pop, country and jazz singer Teresa Brewer dies at the age of 76 at her home in New York. Brewer, became known at an early age and recorded a number of hit songs in the 1950's such as “Music, Music, Music,” and” Let me Go Lover.” She later recorded a series of jazz albums and overall had over 600 songs recorded in her career.

Oct. 18
1904 - A farmer in East Toledo is shot and killed by men who were stealing corn from his field. James Johnson caught the thieves and gave chase but one of them, Joe Urban, had a revolver and shot him once in the back. Urban and a partner, Anthony "Frenchy" Hebert dashed out of the field on Genesee Street near the railroad track to make their escape. Urban was nabbed and confessed.
1905 - The “Wonderful Horse Jim Key” is exhibited at the Valentine Theater in Toledo. Jim Key is a unique horse, whose ex-slave trainer had taught him to spell, do math, read books and use a telephone.
1909 - An amateur hypnotist in North Baltimore puts a 16-year-old boy under his spell to settle a wager at a local restaurant, but then couldn’t bring him out of the trance for more than four hours. The boy needed medical attention after it was over.
1923 - Groundbreaking ceremonies are held for the new Safety Building on Erie Street which would serve as Toledo Police headquarters and city hall.
1925 - Groundbreaking ceremonies held for Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral on Collingwood Boulevard. The first Rosary Cathedral had been destroyed by floodwaters in 1920.
1947 - Twenty-two-year-old Toledo exotic dancer Patricia Schmidt (aka "Satira") goes on trial in Cuba for the murder of her lover John Mee, a Chicago attorney, on his yacht in Havana. The DeVilbiss High School alum is eventually convicted and thrown into a Cuban prison, but released a year and half later. She returns briefly to Toledo, does more dancing, and then embarks on a remarkable life under a new name.
1960 - A busy weekend reported for Toledo fire and police as the city and county recorded 102 accidents over the weekend, with 32 people injured.
1972 - The re-trial of accused Toledo police killer, John McClellan gets underway. He is charged with the 1970 murder of patrolman William Miscannon on Dorr Street as he sat in his paddy wagon. The first trial of McClellan ended in a hung jury - as would the second trial. He was never tried again in the courts.

Oct. 19
1901 - A group of Toledo oil investors strike a big gusher in the Wood County community of Haskins, where they hit a well that immediately produced 700 barrels of crude on the Chauncey Parker Farm.
1910 - Toledo Scale is in full operation. Reports indicate massive sales and offices in 50 cities.
1943 - War Department reports that 43 Ohio service members are missing in action from both the Europe and Pacific theaters. Eleven of the men are from the Toledo area.
1931 - Toledo police are still looking for the "trouser" bandit. He's the man breaking into houses in West Toledo and rifling through trousers for money and wallets. Then throwing the empty trousers on the side and back yards of the home. He hit five homes in one night this week.
1951 - Six-thousand Electric Auto-Lite workers go on strike against factories in Toledo. First major demonstration against the company since the tragic Auto-Lite strike in 1934 that resulted in riots and deaths.
1955 - City of Toledo's efforts to put fluoride in the drinking water supply is running into delays. Council had voted to start the process on Oct. 1, but supplies of the tooth decay deterrent are hard to find. The city needs 90 tons for a five-month supply and can only find a fraction of the amount.

1960 - Toledoans are sky watching for the newly launched satellite called "Echo." The Blade publishes a weekly run down of when it's visible in the skies overhead and where to look.

Oct. 20
1910 - Hocking Valley Railway train en route to Toledo derails near Upper Sandusky. Two women passengers are crushed to death and 14 others injured when cars plunge down a 15-foot embankment.
1915 - Lucas County Clerk of Courts John Kelly goes on trial for embezzling thousands of dollars from the county.
1922 -Tragic death is reported of 22-year-old Marie Wolf in the Tavern Hotel on St. Clair Street. Wolf, was involved in a love triangle with jockey Willie Cohn from New York and another woman. Distraught and depressed, she drank deadly carbolic acid and died in Cohn’s room.
1937 - Hundreds of people in Toledo lose massive investments in Toledo Guaranty Corporation, which was revealed to be a scam investment bank. Some of Toledo's top leaders lost tens of thousands of dollars. Judge James Austin says he lost $30,000 and called himself a "born sucker."
1954 - Federal agents in Toledo arrest a local downtown drug store owner and two other men who are charged with peddling large quantities of heroin, opium and cocaine. The arrests came after a lengthy undercover investigation in which an agent was able to arrange the purchase of the narcotics from the drug store.
1944 - Northwest Ohioans are stunned by news reports from Cleveland where a natural gas plant explosion kills 130 people. A wave of flame washed over an entire neighborhood near the plant incinerating everything and everyone in its path.
2000 - Groundbreaking ceremonies are held for Fifth Third Field, the baseball stadium to be built in downtown Toledo for the Mud Hens.

Oct. 21
1872 - Toledo businessman and futurist Jesup Scott deeds 160 acres of land to Toledo for a new university.
1925 - General Isaac Sherwood, longtime Toledo congressman, dies at 90 years of age, just months after retiring.
1958 - Ottawa River School in Point Place is dedicated.
1960 - Cuban Army Major William Morgan, known as the "Yankee Commandante" of Toledo arrested by Fidel Castro for espionage in Cuba. Morgan would be executed two years later. His wife Olga later moved to Toledo.
1963 - Lincks Cafeteria downtown and in the Colony is offering turkey dinners with dressing and cranberry and whipped potatoes for just 69 cents.
1965 – Ten thousand dollars worth of fur coats are stolen by thieves who broke into Lamson’s Department Store in downtown Toledo.

Oct.22
1908 - Giant mosquitoes, as large as houseflies, reported to be stinging people on the lips in the Findlay area. Two women stung the night before have had their eyes swollen shut.
1925 - A major mail theft occurs at Toledo’s Union Station when thousands of dollars in securities and bond certificates are stolen from the mailroom.
1932 - President Herbert Hoover makes campaign stop in Toledo. More than 20,000 Toledo residents turn out at Union Station to see and hear the president.
1950 - Miniature bronze “Statue of Liberty” dedicated in front of Camp Miakonda along Sylvania Avenue. Replica is 1/19 life-size.
1973 - Residents of Hicksville area report seeing strange and erratic lights flashing across skies of Paulding and Defiance counties.

Oct. 23
1855 - St. Vincent Hospital in Toledo is started by the Grey Nuns of Montreal, Canada.
1941 - Toledo tugboat capsizes in Detroit River. Six crew members, three of them from Toledo, are drowned.
1953 - Toledo’s Metropolitan Housing Authority votes to end segregation policies within its housing units.
1955 - St. Francis de Sales High School dedicated on Bancroft.
1974 - Starr Lumber Company in East Toledo destroyed by fire.