Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Aug. 16
1841: Steamboat “Toledo” is launched and later renamed the “Indiana” before being burned to the water's edge at port in Conneaut, Ohio in 1848. It is thought to be the work of arsonists.
1864: Toledo City Council gives the city marshal authority to deputize men to serve as night and day policemen.
1881: The town of Bairdstown is incorporated in southern Wood County. It was named after Joseph Baird, who plotted the land in 1874.
1902: Word of the death of George Sweeny, 51, of Toledo, is received. He was considered to be the largest man in Northwest Ohio, weighing more than 500 pounds. It took 12 men to remove his corpse from the ambulance. A special coffin was built for him.
1915: John Gunckel, the father of the Toledo Newsboys and the National Newsboys, dies at his Toledo home after a long illness. A pyramid made of stones marks his burial place at Woodlawn Cemetery, where for many years Toledo children would pay tribute to the beloved Gunckel on the anniversary of his death.
1920: A cloudburst sends 4.5 inches of rain into the streets, triggering major floods and damage in Toledo and the surrounding area.
1934: Sandusky’s Florence Brushaber, an 18-year-old girl, attempts to swim across Lake Erie from the Canadian side to the American shore. She ultimately fails and is pulled from the water numb and sick.
1948: A steel cable barge with 30 passengers near Waterville sinks into the Maumee River. Three people drown.
Aug. 17
1852: A riot and fistfight ensue between competing Toledo Fire companies as they battle a blaze in downtown Toledo, allowing the building to burn to the ground.
1888: Hundreds of Libbey Glass workers arrive from Boston by train ready to start work in the new Toledo factory on Buckeye Street. Many later return to their homes in Boston.
1907: Toledo is the site of radio history as inventor Lee Deforest and Toledo inventor Frank Butler continue to show onlookers how they talk to each other without wires. Using a special transmitter and receiver unit they invented, the men can talk to each other between the Ohio and Nicholas buildings in downtown Toledo. It is the first documented use of wireless technology to broadcast voice.
1912: Waite High School is well on its way to completion in East Toledo. The structure was built in four years at a cost of $900,000. Contrary to urban myth, the building was not built backwards. Architect David Stine designed it to face East Toledo, not the river.
1915: The annual “Baby Festival” is underway in downtown Toledo, focusing on the health and nutrition of babies. Thousands of families attend to buy ice and milk for infants of the city’s poor.
1931: It is a black day in Toledo history as four major banks fail to open, triggering panic among many residents whose deposits and savings are held in those banks. Toledo Trust and First National saw their lobbies jammed with throngs of people trying to get deposits released. All police officers are called in to keep order.
1933: NASA Flight Commander Gene Kranz is born in Toledo. Kranz studied aeronautical engineering in college and later became the chief mission director for NASA. He directed the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, and he was the director of the first manned mission to the moon.
Aug. 18
1887: A big scandal unfolds down in the Tenderloin district at the Mansion House Brothel run by Kate Evoy. It seems one of her house guests, James Demond, got into a terrible argument with Evoy and her daughter, and he pulverized many of the fixtures and furniture in the place. She has sworn out a warrant against him.
1895: Six prisoners escape from the Lucas County Jail after tying up the jailer.
1904: It’s estimated by a Toledo caterer that Toledoans are now spending a total of some $300,000 per year eating lunches in downtown Toledo. Most people spend between 30 to 50 cents a day for a lunchtime meal.
1921: It’s reported in the Toledo News Bee that Fred Neidhamer, of the 1300 block of Yates Street in Toledo, has a tomato plant that is nine feet high. He calls it his “Jess Willard” plant.
1930: A narrow escape is reported for a number of Toledo families as six lakeside cottages go up in flames at Luna Pier, Mich. No one was injured.
1967: A powerful explosion rocks the Sohio refinery in Oregon. Fourteen workers are injured.
Aug. 19
1888: Oil fever continues at a record pace in Wood County. The population of tiny Cygnet swells to over 3,000 residents as more oil wells are drilled and production of oil becomes a promising new industry for the region.
1906: Feathers are flying on Colfax Street in Toledo about a noisy and talkative parrot owned by George Lucas. Neighbors want him to get rid of the parrot, which they say is too loud. They wrote George a letter saying, “For heaven's sake, either sell, give away, choke, chloroform or pulverize this squawking parrot. We can't stand him anymore.” Lucas says he isn't getting rid of his parrot.
1924: An alarming increase is noted in the cases of smallpox in Toledo with three more deaths, making five in the past two weeks. A quarantine is issued the next day.
1929: The first glider makes its debut at Toledo Transcontinental Airport as thousands of spectators watch a pilot from Lake Orion, Mich. demonstrate the motorless aircraft. It was catapulted into the air after being towed by a car.
1931: One man is in jail in Ottawa County, charged with shooting at a car near Forest Park on Woodville Road. Aaron Long says he opened fire on the car with four men inside because he thought they were the guys who ran into his car earlier in the night. They weren’t. Two of the young men in the car were slightly wounded, and there is a large hole in the side of the car.
1937: Hundreds of fishermen are heading to the Maumee River between Waterville and Grand Rapids trying to catch a largemouth bass tagged as “Oscar.” It was released into the river and worth $50 if caught.
Aug. 20
1794: The Battle of Fallen Timbers is fought near the banks of the Maumee River as General Anthony Wayne defeats Native American tribes for control of Northwest Territory.
1912: The annual weeklong Elks Carnival is underway at Armory Park, but one popular show called a "Trip to the Moon" featuring scantily clad women is shut down.
1917: Toledo police arrest a former Tenderloin madame, Gail Martin, and charge her with shooting Belmont Hotel owner and bootlegger, Eddie ”Fadeaway” Kennedy. He was shot at his hotel and is being treated for a serious stomach wound, though he won’t say who shot him or why.
1937: A typhoid fever epidemic is being reported in Ottawa County, one of the worst epidemics in recent years. The health department reports 13 cases so far, recommending that everyone get vaccinated. It first broke out at a girls YWCA camp at Lakeside, which has now been closed.
1965: The first Ottawa County Fair opens between Oak Harbor and Port Clinton.
1980: A rare magnitude 2.5 earthquake shakes the Western Lake Erie region from Toledo to Detroit.
Aug. 21
1908: Residents around Elmore are curious about who went deep into the cornfield of Louis Schaaf and cut down two acres of his best corn. Schaaf did not discover the vandalism for at least a week because it was hidden deep inside the field. He did find two sets of footprints and wondered who has a grudge against him.
1909: King Wamba of Spain makes his first visit to Toledo for the first annual gala called the Wamba Carnival of Toledo.
1937: Inmates at the Lucas County Jail go on a hunger strike, protesting the food that is served.
1950: The annual Toledo Air Fair is underway at the Toledo Municipal Airport in Millbury. This year the show will feature a special exhibit to explain how the Berlin Airlift was carried out at the end of World War II. The 60-foot display is being presented by Air Force. The Air Fair will also feature the famous Cole Brothers Air Show Flying Circus.
Aug. 22
1890: The Elmore Independent newspaper reports that the state auditor counts 65 saloons now operating throughout Ottawa County.
1904: Judge Sherman W. Lott of Toledo sets the record for fastest wedding ceremony in his court by taking just four seconds to tie the knot for Frederick Hooper and Jesse Pearl Kall of Toledo.
1908: Oak Harbor just got a new 80-foot wooden pole upon which the town’s fire bell will be placed. It is hoped that it will be at a height so that all the volunteer firemen can hear when it’s rung.
1917: A train accident near Lime City injures at least 20 people and leaves one crewman dead. The Toledo and Ohio Central train was an excursion running between Columbus and Detroit, carrying 800 passengers when it went off track and rolled over, taking several cars with it into a ditch. Officials say it was caused by spreading rails.
1927: WTAL Radio (later WSPD) moves from the Waldorf Hotel into a new studio at 217 Superior St. in Toledo.
1947: Findlay residents complain about a large and rare invasion of horseflies that have been harassing just about everyone in recent weeks. One resident says he killed more than 160 in one day at his home.
1955: Thousands of spectators flock to the annual Water Circus and Show at the Scott Park pool featuring synchronized swimmers and competition diving as part of the Toledo Recreation festival.
