This Week in Toledo History Week of 5/3/2021

This Week in Toledo's Past: May 3-9

May 3
1838 - First church building opens in Toledo at corner of Superior and Cherry Street.
1842 - City of Toledo builds a new fire station on Summit Street between Adams and Cherry Streets.
1889 - The Pemberville Leader begins publication.
1903 - Tragedy strikes a large group of Polish travelers from Toledo when many of the group are run over by a locomotive in Detroit. Hundreds had been waiting on the tracks for a return train to Toledo when they were hit. Nine people are killed and scores injured.
1954 - Grant Murray Field at Waite High School is dedicated.
1966 - WDHO TV, Channel 24, owned by Daniel H. Overmyer, begins broadcasting in Toledo. It is the city's third commercial TV station and later changes its call sign to WNWO-TV.
1969 - The Town Hall Burlesque advertises the appearance of world famous strip tease artist Sally Rand and her famous fan dance.

May 4
1875 - First Interurban rail service begins between Bowling Green and Tontogany in Wood County.
1919 - Three rum runners are reported to have drowned as they tried to cross Lake Erie during a heavy thunderstorm. Their launch washed up on Toledo Beach with 60 cases of whiskey aboard, but no sign of the three men who were apparently trying to navigate from Detroit to Toledo.
1934 - Machine gun-toting bandits, led by outlaw John Dillinger, pull off a daring daylight bank robbery in Fostoria and shoot four people in the street.
1937 - A strike by the schoolchildren of the Luna Pier School continues into its third month as parents and students object to the principal at the school and say they won't return to the classrooms until the principal is fired.
1940 - Two Toledo men are sentenced for violating Toledo's new jay-walking law. Both men are picked up in the 300 block of Erie Street. They got a suspended sentence and a ten minute lecture from Judge Straub.
1944 - As a part of the war conservation effort, Toledo hotels and restaurants observe the rule of two-meatless days-per-week.
1964 - A vintage World War Two Jeep with a "made in Toledo" sign is presented to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC for an exhibition.

May 5
1813 - Hundreds of Kentucky militiamen under the command of William Dudley are killed near the west bank of the Maumee River after they were trapped by Native Americans who had lured them into an ambush. The War of 1812 tragedy is known as "Dudley's Massacre" and over 200 men were killed in the attack. Many are executed and tortured as they were being held captive until Chief Tecumseh arrives and puts an end to the bloodshed.
1883 - First professional game of baseball is played in Toledo as the Toledo Blue Stockings take to the field against Bay City, winning the game 5-4 in 10 innings. The game was played on a field on the north side of Monroe Street between 13th and 15th streets called League Park.
1908 - Toledo Police officer James Boyle, an 11-year veteran with the department, is ambushed and killed while looking for suspects near downtown Toledo. As Sergeant Boyle was questioning several men, one of them pulled a revolver and opened fire, striking Sergeant Boyle. Another officer returned fire, striking the gunman in the leg and he was apprehended. He was later was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years but paroled four years later.
1919 - A strike begins by workers at the Willys Overland and Auto-Lite factories. Seven-thousand members of the Toledo Auto Trades Council called for the work action after failing to reach agreement with the companies on wages. Glass workers in the city would join the strike in sympathy with the autoworkers idling almost 10,000 workers. By the time it was over deadly violence would erupt and more than 17,000 workers would walk off their jobs.
1924 - Toledo Post Office robbery suspects Joe and Frank Urbaytis, who escaped from the Lucas County Jail in 1921, are recaptured near Columbus. Joe Urbaytis is wounded in a shootout with police, but recovers and returned to Toledo for trial.
1938 - A four alarm fire brings fire crews to downtown Toledo in the 500 block of Summit Street near Jackson when the Lane's clothing store and an A&P grocery goes up in flames, causing heavy damage.
1944 - Toledo motorcycle policeman Fred Disel is killed at Monroe and 17th Streets while pursuing a hit-skip vehicle. Disel and another officer were chasing the suspect car when they ran into two soldiers crossing the intersection on Monroe. The crash killed one of the soldiers and the 43-year-old Disel who had sustained numerous injuries.

May 6
1922 - The Carranor Hunt and Polo club opens in Perrysburg at Second and Hickory Streets.

1932 - Toledo residents are shocked by the brutal murder of a young woman in the Old West End. Winifred Rafferty, a dietician at Robinwood Hospital was on her way to work when she was attacked. Police say they are rounding up the "usual degenerates" for questioning.
1934 -Two people are killed and 18 injured when a "Great Eastern Stages" bus crashes near Clyde on U.S. 20. The driver of the bus was reportedly driving under the influence of alcohol.
1945 - The USS Toledo, a heavy cruiser, is launched by the U.S. Navy as CA-133 from the Camden New Jersey Shipyards. Many dignitaries from Toledo are on hand for the ceremonies and the Captain is given a silver tea set for the officers' galley as a gift from the citizens of Toledo.
1960 - The old East Side Central Elementary School catches fire and burns during the demolition process. Nearly 100 students in an adjoining annex had to be evacuated to a safer location.
1975 - A huge day for Toledo hockey fans as the Toledo Goaldiggers win the International League championship and the coveted Turner Cup.

May 7
1763 - Ottawa Chief Pontiac stages a rebellious, but ill-fated attack against white settlers and soldiers at Fort Detroit. Much of the planning for Pontiac's assault took place at his village located at present day Bayview Park in Toledo.
1813 - The first siege of the British forces and Native co-horts on Ft. Meigs comes to an end, as the American troops under the command of General William Henry Harrison, turn back the British invaders.
1902 - Tragedy on the Maumee. Seven young members of a Sunday School outing drown when their launch is struck by a tugboat near the Ironville docks. The boat was on its way back to the city from a fun cruise on the lake.
1915 - The great British passenger ship, the Lusitania is torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat (submarine) off the coast of Ireland. Two Toledo passengers, William Homewood of Monroe Street and Larry Linley of Platt Street were among the 1100 passengers and crew who died when the giant ship slipped to the bottom of the sea.
1931 - Teresa Brewer is born in Toledo as Teresa Breuer. She rises to national stardom in 1950 with a pop hit song called "Music, Music, Music". She would go on to record numerous hit records over the years.
1941 - Willys Overland shows off its first vehicle called the "jeep". It is one of 1300 prototypes being built for the Army prior to World War Two. The Toledo-built vehicle would become an icon and an enduring brand synonymous with the city of Toledo.
1964 - Popular WTOL-TV sports anchor and reporter, Doug Tabner dies suddenly at the age of 40. He was replaced soon after on the air by his brother Orris Tabner who held the jobs until his retirement in 1996.
1975 - The one-time gemstone of Toledo-retail is lost to a spectacular blaze of flame. The empty Tiedtke's department store on Summit Street erupts into a blossom of fire that draws thousands to watch as firemen try to keep it contained. The iconic store had been vacated in 1972 after Tiedtke's closed.

May 8
1843 - The canal era begins. Wabash and Erie Canal opens from Toledo to Ft. Wayne Indiana. On that day the first canal boat arrives from Fort Wayne.
1908 - A real estate company in Toledo is selling small 4 acre tracts of farmland on Douglas Road near Monroe for those who want to have a small farm, 3 miles outside the city limits, for orchards, chickens and vegetables. The land price is upwards to $1,000.
1930- Toledo police engage in fierce gun battle with three members of the "Dorr Street Gang" at a farmhouse on Dorr Street near Inverness Country Club. Over 30 shots were fired at the police; however, one of the burglars, Claude Allen is shot dead in the exchange of lead.
1945 - V-E Day arrives. Germany surrenders. Noisy demonstrations and celebrations spill out into the streets of the city. The Blade describes it as "bedlam" as adding machine tape and toilet paper rolls are draped from the tall office buildings downtown, while honking cars and jubilant pedestrians jam the streets and sidewalks.
1956 - Fire destroys the popular Red Barn dance hall and skating rink on Route 20 and Eber Roads.
1968 - Crow Aviation at Toledo Express Airport offers $5 introductory flight lessons.

May 9
1912 - A dental mystery of great magnitude is being studied in Toledo, as hundreds of dentists meet in Toledo to see the silver filling in the tooth of 6-year old boy. A filling that he was reportedly born with. John Schnittker of Central Ave is the owner of the molar which his mother says emerged from his gum with a silver filling already in it. His dentist Dr. Lyman Zarbaugh is baffled and calls it a "pre-natal filling of psychic influence". Four hundred dentists have come to Toledo to try to unravel the mystery.
1922 - Band of 17 armed men attack former Walbridge school principal Otto Tracy for alleged "crimes against students" at the school. Tracy is wounded by in his Bowling Green home by the vigilantes.
1923 – A cold snap hits Toledo. Temperatures plunge to 30 degrees and ground is covered by four inches of fresh snow.
1930 - Gangster "Happy Harry" Anthony, 29, East Toledo, is found face down in a Chicago area roadway, riddled with 13 bullets in a gangland-style execution. Toledo friends say he'd left Toledo five weeks prior to work his way into the Chicago mob rackets.
1952 - Toledo grocery stores report an alarming and severe shortage of potatoes.
1969 - Toledo Muni Court Judge Clyde Deeds, 78, refuses to marry a 21-year- old couple in his courtroom because he says there is "too much levity" going on. He was so disgusted, he walked out of the courtroom leaving a stunned bride in tears. Fifteen minutes later, Judge Reno Riley saved the day and performed the ceremony.