This Week In Toledo's History Week Of 12/20/2021

By: 
Lou Hebert

Dec. 19
1833 - First lots sold in the area of early Toledo known as Vistula.
1835 -Toledo Blade is first published as a weekly.
1891 - Wood County village of Weston devastated when fire levels more than 12 businesses and homes as bucket brigade fought valiantly to stop flames.
1936 - Toledo School Superintendent Ralph Dugdale lashes out at adults for "promiscuous" drinking at football games.
1938 - Five people killed when train hits car at Rocky Ridge train crossing.
1957 - Tiedtke's is selling complete electric toy train sets for Christmas for just $14.64.
1965 - A North Toledo druggist John Taylor is shot and killed during a hold-up of his drug store at Columbus and Erie streets. A woman who lived nearby was also wounded. Three men from Detroit were arrested just north of Monroe a short time later and charged with the crime.
1975 - The Christmas shopping spirit begins to fade in downtown Toledo as it's reported that Santa Claus will not be making an appearance in any of the remaining downtown department stories like LaSalles, Lamsons or The Lion store. Santa had been a regular downtown attraction during the holidays for decades.

Dec. 20
1892 - Bridge Street in East Toledo is changed to Main Street.
1903 - Toledo News Bee details the miseries and despondent environment of the county infirmary and poor farm on Detroit Avenue. It reports, “There is no more misery in hell for 283 inmates.”
1913 - Smallpox outbreak in Toledo. 75 people infected.
1920 - American Railway Express office in Toledo is robbed by six masked gunmen who overpower guards and take over $16,000.
1933 - Kurtz Market on Summit Street selling pork roast for 10-cents-a-pound.
1944 - Coast Guard Cutter “Mackinaw” is commissioned in Toledo after being built at Toledo Shipyards. The largest cutter on the Great Lakes, it stayed in service breaking ice on the lakes until 2005 when it was decommissioned. It is now a floating museum at Cheboygan, Michigan.
1973 - The lifeless body of Vicki Lynn Small is found in Ottawa Park, she had been shot at least six times. The 22-year -old Devilbiss High School grad was later discovered to be first victim of serial killer Anthony Cook.
1973 - Hundreds of guests are evacuated from the downtown Holiday Inn on Summit Street after a transformer explosion filled the building with heavy acrid smoke. Two guests and six Toledo police officers were treated at Mercy Hospital for smoke inhalation.

Dec. 21
1906 - Lucas County Children’s Home reports highest number of children ever housed at the facility with 78 boys and 58 girls. Officials say it is harder to find homes for the boys than the girls.
1919 - A modern seven-room home in the Harvard Terrace neighborhood near the zoo is listed at $3,700.
1934 - The well-known Toledo National Guard Armory is destroyed by flames on Spielbusch Avenue. The location later becomes site of the current U.S. Federal Courthouse.
1943 - Toledo Methodist Church women prepare Christmas gift packages as a goodwill gesture for the Italian POWs being held at Camp Perry in Ottawa County.

Dec. 22
1822 - Birth of Frederick Prentice is noted. He is first white child born in what was to become Toledo. He lived to be 93 years old and became a very wealthy businessman. Prentice Park in East Toledo honors his name.
1901 - Reports are received in Toledo that a large group of men who were ice yachting see a mirage of a city over a frozen Lake Erie. They report seeing houses and church steeples and at one point, they also claim to have seen an image of building catch fire with smoke pouring from the building.
1911- Rising Sun School house destroyed by fire.
1921 - Toledo Police Patrolman Charles McGuire is shot and killed by unknown assailant while on patrol at Indiana Avenue and Division Street.
1927 - Plans are announced by Toledo Chamber of Commerce to build a new Toledo airport in Wood County in Lake Township. It would be Toledo's main airport for many years until Toledo Express was opened in the 1950's.
1958 - Early freeze stops ferry traffic on Lake Erie, leaving residents on Put in-Bay without groceries and supplies, forcing transport by aircraft.
1967 -Toledo residents experience record amount of rainfall with 3.53 inches falling in 19 hours. Streets and homes in north and west Toledo are flooded as sewer systems can’t handle the water.

Dec. 23
1921 - Search for suspects continues in slaying of Toledo motorcycle officer Charles McGuire. Toledo police report that 44 suspects are rounded up and taken to Central Police Station for questioning.
1954 - Leonard Gladieux and family of Oregon impress ice skaters as they try out a new motor-driven “icemobile” on pond at Pearson Park.
1963 - Citizens of Clay Center express outrage when proposal is made to use their abandoned stone quarry as a dump site for Toledo refuse. One local resident of the Ottawa County village says it's time to “oil up our shotguns.”
1974 - An explosion and fire at Interlake Steel on Front Street. Two workers are killed, others injured. 1996 - Major fire erupts in downtown Wayne, Ohio in Wood County. Several historic buildings are lost, including the town post office.

Dec. 24
1901 - Fire truck and streetcar collide at Collingwood and Dorr. Fire Captain John Ward is killed.
1926 - Park Lane Hotel offers Christmas dinners with all the trimmings for two dollars a plate.
1928 - Charles Tiedtke dies. He and his brother stated and operated the famous department store in downtown Toledo.
1949 - Heavy holiday shopping crowds reported in downtown Toledo as thousands jam sidewalks and stores for last minute holiday bargains.
1958 - Anderson’s Boat Company plant in Oak Harbor is gutted by flames.
1969 - Pantheon Theater is crowded with families in downtown Toledo as they feature the popular, “101 Dalmatians.”

Dec. 25
1880 - Former South Carolina Governor Robert Scott arrested for murder in shooting of drugstore clerk in Napoleon. The victim was young man from Elmore. Scott was acquitted but later sued by parents of young victim.
1892 - Toledo homes are plunged into darkness as linemen for local power company go on strike and cut electric lines.
1895 - George Ketcham's new Valentine Theater opens in Toledo for its grand debut. A most fashionable affair for the year.
1913 - “East Auditorium,” the first movie theater in East Toledo, opens.
1915 - City officials predict that Toledo will grow by 60,000 people in 1916 because of the robust economy and fast industrial growth.
1927 - Toledo Zoo opens new Carnivora House for big cats and lions.
1933 - District Fire Chief Vanner Wendt dies from injuries while fighting a blaze on Suder Avenue.
1935 - John Edy is named Toledo’s first city manager.
1936 - Christmas observances take place in the local shantytown along the Maumee River in East Toledo known as a "Hooverville" or "Prosperity Row". Over 50 makeshift shanties house hundreds of jobless men.
1941 - Toledo City Councilman Addison Q. Thacher holds his annual “no questions asked" Christmas dinner for 5,000 needy people in Toledo.

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