This Week in Toledo's Past

December 26 – 31
Dec. 26
1916 - Wilson Brown, one of the Union soldiers group known as the famous Andrews’ Raiders of the Civil War, dies at his home in East Toledo. The Medal of Honor winner is buried in a cemetery in Wood County north of Bowling Green.
1919 - Lucas County jail is raided by four men who shoot one guard and lock up three deputies, setting a convicted killer and two safe-breakers free.
1942 - The little Village of Caraghar, 20 miles west of Toledo, changes its name to Assumption.
1954 - Ohio Bell reports that Christmas Day required 375 phone operators to handle over 16,000 holiday greeting calls from all over the world.
1961- Nickles' Bread Company advertises their "Butter-Nut" bread and that they are Toledo's only remaining bread company with "home delivery.”
1971 - Toledo Metro Parks begin push to acquire many new parcels of land to preserve for future park use. Areas targeted include Oak Openings, Swan Creek and the Maumee Riverfront.

Dec. 27
1887 - Town of Put-in-Bay is established amid fanfare of great and rowdy celebration.
1897 - Sun Oil reports that 1,786 new oil wells were drilled in Wood County during the year. Two-hundred of them were dry.
1905 - Entertainer and comedian, Cliff Arquette, known as "Charlie Weaver" is born in Toledo.
1923 - Michael Owens, the man who helped make Toledo the “Glass Capital of the World" with his innovative bottle making machines, takes his last breath at the age of 65. Owens was at work in his Toledo office when he suffered a sudden heart attack.
1937 - Toledo City Council approves ordinance to outlaw personal possession or discharge of fireworks within city limits. Only public displays will be permitted.
1949 - Tiedtke's store in Toledo holds "After-Christmas" sale offering men's work jackets for 88 cents, and boys' sweaters $1.
1953 - Car plunges off Cherry Street Bridge into Maumee River. Five young Toledoans were who having a "night on town" were drowned.

Dec. 28
1905 - Perrysburg Marshall Frank Thornton is mortally wounded in a shoot-out on the streets of downtown Perrysburg with safecrackers. They had just robbed the Central interurban car barn in Toledo and were on their way through Perrysburg as they made their escape. Thornton died several weeks later from his wounds.
1915 - Toledo Mayor Carl Keller indicted for bribery by a Lucas County grand jury, accused of accepting kickbacks for contracts.
1921 - Toledo Police Patrolman William Reed, 31 years of age, shot to death while questioning suspect. 1938 - Southwesterly winds blow Maumee River water into Lake Erie, dropping water levels below the water supply intake pipes, reducing water supply for a short time. Lowest water ever recorded on Maumee River.
1959 - WOHO 1470 Radio features "Hitch with Mitch" (Fred Mitchell) and the "Lucky 13- The potential hits of Tomorrow."
1978 - Coast Guard crew from Marblehead rescues 21 rabbit hunters who run aground on a tugboat near Pelee Island.

Dec. 29
1873 - City of Toledo’s new public water system and supply is operating and providing clean, fresh water to homes and businesses through a system of underground pipes.
1894 - The Dayton and Michigan grain elevator in East Toledo erupts into flames, killing one workman and destroying over 600,000 bushels of corn.
1901 - Crowds of people on Cherry Street gawk in wonder at some strange lights in sky, about a mile high in the air. The witnesses claim this early "UFO" is some type of “airship”, and they can see life forms inside of it. It hovers for over an hour and then vanishes.
1919 - As prohibition era evolves, Toledo's first murder involving illegal rum running takes place as 29-year old Siegfried Gross is gunned down by booze thieves on River Road in Toledo.
1937 - Erie Isles Airways plane crashes on Starve Island. Three passengers are killed, but the pilot is rescued.
1939 - Glenn Miller Orchestra performs at Tri-anon Ballroom in Toledo.

Dec. 30
1852 - First train arrives in Toledo via the newly established Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad Company.
1890 - Post office established in the small burg of Bays, Ohio in Wood County. Bays is now merely a ghost town of the era.
1918 - Influenza deaths continue in City of Toledo with 350 reported to have lost lives for the year, and 6,000 cases of influenza overall.
1932 - Toledo gangster wars continue as two mobsters and booze runners, Sam Kaplan and “Speedy Lampert” are slain in Monroe, Mich.
1938 - Car accident claims the life of BGSU President Roy Offenhauer.
1959 - Toledo police get new uniforms for first time in 25 years, with tan shirts replacing the blue shirts and white crowned hats.

Dec. 31
1863 - Green Island Lighthouse burns on Lake Erie.
1901 - The highly popular Casino theater and amusement park on Maumee Bay at Point Place burns to the ground.
1904 -Train accident and fire destroy the main East-West rail line over the Sandusky Bay between Ottawa and Erie counties.
1905 - Toledo Fire Department reports record breaking 700 fires in the city for the year.
1923 - Toledo Trust Bank is formed.
1931 - It's now reported that 8,000 people in Toledo are on direct relief as effects of the depression grow worse.
1949 - The end of an era is marked, as last trolley car runs on the streets of Toledo. The Monroe Street streetcar makes its final run and hundreds turn out to watch the trolley on its end-of-the-line trek through downtown Toledo.