This Week In Toledo History Week of 6/24/2022

By: 
Lou Hebert

June 26 through July 2

June 26
1899 - Fire at major freight house in Toledo Middlegrounds burns 100 loaded rail cars.
1900 - Toledo police detectives are on the lookout for a young woman clad only in her stockings. After enticing a young man to her room, she noticed the suitor possessed a large roll of cash and, in a state of undress, she snatched the bills and made a "sensational" leap from a second story window and
disappeared into the darkness.
1908 - Steamer Syracuse founders in Maumee Bay.
1922 - Contractors report that new home construction costs in Toledo are soaring, nearly $4,000 per home because of rising materials cost.
1946 - Parkview Hospital opens for patients in Old West End.
1952 - Toledo in grip of torrid heat wave as temps soar to nearly 100 degrees. At least two deaths reported.
1955 - Traffic jams reported in downtown Toledo as 168,000 cars use the downtown streets every day.
1959 - St. Lawrence Seaway dedicated by Queen Elizabeth and President Eisenhower.

June 27
1845 - The Miami and Erie Canal opens link from Toledo to Cincinnati, allowing canal boats to travel from Toledo to the Ohio River.
1913 - Two killed, 18 injured when two trains collide near Woodville.
1944 - First infantile paralysis case reported in Toledo in what would become the polio epidemic.
1950 - Marlin Stuart pitches perfect game at Swayne Field for the Mud Hens, shutting out Indianapolis 1-0.
1958 - Zalophus or “Cyril” the fugitive sea lion from London, Ontario, is caught in Sandusky Bay and taken to the Toledo Zoo. Zoo officials say they will keep the nationally notorious marine mammal, touching off a near international incident with Canada. Toledo Zoo eventually returns Cyril to London Zoo.

June 28
1885 - A violent riot by parishioners at St. Hedwig’s Catholic Church on Lagrange Street over the suspension of a priest. Hundreds of local residents take to the neighborhood streets in violent clashes. At least two people are shot and killed and over 20 arrested.
1906 - A Toledo probation officer “Dilgart” says he will end the practice of parents sending their children to corner saloons to pick up a supply of beer. Officer Dilgart says young children and toddlers are being sent into “dives of iniquity” to get buckets of beer for their besotted fathers.
1924 - Tornado hits Sandusky. Eight people killed and 200 homes leveled. It was the state’s deadliest day for tornadoes, with 88 people killed.
1956 - An 11-day Shakespeare festival opens at the Toledo Zoo Amphitheater, drawing 2,000 audience members for its debut performance of “Much Ado About Nothing.”
1983 - Point Place residents experience flooding as Northeast winds push water onto land from the lake.
1985 - Eight men, including several horse trainers, are indicted for “fixing” harness races at Toledo’s Raceway Park.
1988 - The baseball stadium at Lucas County Rec Center renamed Ned Skeldon Stadium.

June 29
1907 - Armory Park is jammed with thousands of women for the baseball match-up between Toledo and Columbus as the tense race for first place continues. It's reported that this may be the largest number of women ever to attend a sporting event in Toledo.
1909 - Toledo News Bee runs article about the canals on Mars and claims new telescopes can “plainly” see snow-capped mountain on Mars.
1921 - Registration advertised for University of Toledo summer session. Fees are $2 for residents and $6 for non-residents.
1925 - Nearly 100 undernourished Toledo kids are taken to the health department’s children’s camp at Presque Isle for six weeks.
1944 - New 120-mm anti-aircraft gun shown to press at Erie Proving Grounds at Port Clinton.
1979 - Toledo businessman and O-I executive William Niehous escapes his captors in Venezuela after being held for more than three years in the remote jungle. He makes it to safety and is flown back home to Toledo.

June 30
1905 - Toledo stunt flyer Roy Knabenshue flies an airship balloon to the top of the Spitzer building downtown and back again to fairgrounds on Dorr Street.
1918 - More than 35,000 people assemble in Ottawa Park for a community wide religious service to pray for an “honorable” peace in World War I.
1929 - Notorious Toledo gambler and bootlegger Albert Parlow is killed and others wounded in a gun battle at the Riverview Inn in Point Place.
1941 - Captain Chancie FitzMorris, "the old man of Lake Erie" and keeper of the harbor range lights on Maumee Bay for 50 years retires. He says he can't recall how many lives he saved over the decades.
1948 - The Cherry Street electric trolley ceases operations.
1977 - Tornado sweeps across Fremont and Sandusky County. Eighteen people are injured.

July 1
1907 - The Toledo prison camp known as "Duck Island" is quarantined because all of the inmates were exposed to smallpox. It will be closed for 17 days and fumigated.
1909 - Toledo Mayor Brand Whitlock warns young lovers that it’s OK to spoon in city parks but Toledo police officers will be watching for any signs that the “affections” shown are improper.
1914 - State teachers’ convention held at Cedar Point, where the state school superintendent reveals to the crowd that most teachers can’t attend because they are too poor.
1967 - The University of Toledo was given the status of a state-funded university by the Ohio General Assembly.
1979 - A total of 3,400 Toledo city workers go on strike after failed negotiations for new contract. All unions, including police and fire, go on strike, shutting down city and creating chaos. Anarchy ruled the streets and a TARTA bus driver was murdered, halting all bus service. The strike would eventually end several days later with a new labor agreement, and bitter feelings for years.
2000 - The Lonz Winery terrace collapses on Middle Bass Island during weekend festivities. Eighty people injured, one person killed.

July 2
1884 - Massive fire destroys most of Pemberville’s business district.
1909 - Last baseball game is played at Armory Park on Spielbusch Avenue in downtown Toledo.
1926 - Toledoans hold fundraiser to help Sadie Modisher, a mother of seven on Paxton Street who was widowed when her husband was struck by lightning. The News Bee reports that they collected $72.01.
1931 - U.S. Open Golf Tournament opens at Inverness in Toledo. Bill Burke wins the tournament.
1938 - An 84-year-old defendant in Toledo court for a public drunkenness charge explains to judge why his name is "Weed Lightning.” He says his grandmother used to feed him whiskey from a spoon to make him grow fast. Says he's been taking whiskey every day for a long life. He was sentenced to probation.

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