Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Feb. 22
1867: The Bowling Green Sentinel begins publication.
1886: The Soldiers Memorial Hall (now demolished) in downtown Toledo is dedicated, built to honor all Civil War veterans.
1907: Plans are revealed for Home Furniture to open a store in 400 block of Summit St. The store operated in that location until the 1970s.
1922: The Toledo News Bee continues it series called “Know Toledo,” which is a daily feature that provides readers with some basic knowledge about the city they live in. On this day in 1922, the News Bee writes that Toledo has 612 factories employing more than 48,000 workers. The industries include autos, auto parts, glass, spark plugs, wagons, bottles, refined oil, flour, steel bridges, wheelbarrows, machine tools, sugar, scales, children's vehicles, elevators, cut glass, ships, and fountain pens.
1953: Perrysburg Schools reopen after a flu epidemic sickens hundreds of students and teachers for a week.
1961: Seneca County is rattled by an earthquake.
1973: The U.S. Supreme Court decides the final boundary line between Ohio and Michigan in a dispute over Turtle Island in Maumee Bay. This finally settles the Toledo-Michigan War of 1835.
Feb. 23
1916: Walbridge Park greenhouse gardeners are reporting their crop of bananas is starting to ripen. With temperatures in the greenhouse between 70 and 100 degrees, the gardeners expect to have about three bunches that will soon be ready to eat.
1925: Albert Turner, a workman on the new Ft. Meigs Hotel on St. Clair St. falls 150 feet down an elevator shaft — and survives. Turner says he thought when he fell “he was a dead man” but then woke up. His worst injury was a bruise on his right hip.
1927: Eight inmates escape from the Toledo Workhouse after using saws to cut their way out. The workhouse farm had been under heavy criticism for overcrowding and poor conditions.
Feb. 24
1910: A new filtration plant opens in Toledo, providing Toledoans with filtered and clean drinking water.
1915: Toledo fireman John Kaintz dies while he is en-route to a fire that was reported at Wabash Railroad roundhouse.
1924: Arthur Harding, the man who killed Toledo policeman Kress in August of 1923, is put to death in the electric chair. As Harding started to say a prayer for forgiveness, it was interrupted by a lethal jolt of electricity.
1942: Nathan Ladd and Walter Smith of Put-in-Bay say they have driven their cars over the “ice bridge” from the island to Port Clinton to buy some bait, the first ice crossing in two years.
1947: Five children are killed in car accident on Woodville Rd. near Genoa while they were being driven to a school in Toledo by their teacher.
1995: The USS Toledo submarine is commissioned in Virginia. A large delegation of Toledo officials is on hand, along with Toledo media, to mark the occasion.
Feb. 25
1887: More large oil discoveries are being reported in Northwest Ohio as the oil boom continues turning this area into the world's largest crude oil field. Many wells are now reported to be producing 1,000 barrels a day and new oil-patch towns are popping up in Wood, Hancock, and Allen Counties. The oil fever has snagged the interest of Cleveland's John D. Rockfeller, who is buying oil leases and installing pipeline systems from the Northwest Ohio fields to other cities. The site of oil derricks scattered across the fields of the former Black Swamp are now commonplace.
1904: It’s reported that a giant bald eagle attacked a man in Fremont. He and three others subdue and kill the large bird.
1913: A windswept blaze in Walbridge nearly destroys the town, but quick work by a "bucket brigade" saves the day.
1936: Four hundred gas station operators in Toledo agree to ban gasoline sales to drunk drivers.
Feb. 26
1895: Inventor Michael Owens of Toledo patents his revolutionary glass bottle machine that will automate the process of making bottles. The bottle making machine was capable of producing 240 bottles per minute and could reduce the labor cost by 80 percent.
1916: The state game warden outlaws use of nets to catch fish in the Maumee River.
1928: Large crude oil explosions are reported at the Sun Oil refinery in Toledo. Thousands line up to watch.
1961: An Oak Harbor grocery store is selling three dozen eggs for $1.29.
Feb. 27
1901: A man who had his case dismissed in Toledo police court comes back to courtroom with a guitar and serenades judge and spectators with several songs of the South.
1919: Toledo motorcycle policeman "Swiatecki" was run over by streetcar at Indiana and Junction Streets. and loses his clothes in the ordeal. He climbs a nearby tree to hide and yells to passersby that he needs a pair of pants.
1935: Thousands of women attend an all-day cooking school at the Paramount Theater in downtown Toledo.
1972: Toledo native Pat Brady who played as comic sidekick on the Roy Rogers TV show dies at the age of 58 in Colorado.
1976: William Niehous, an executive for Owens Illinois glass operations in Venezuela, is kidnapped from his home in Caracas. The abductors are a small group of Marxist revolutionaries who contend that the Toledo-based company is exploiting the workforce of their country. They make some demands, and some of these are quietly complied with. However, Niehous was not returned, and it is feared he may have died in their captivity. But in 1979, Niehous escaped his captors and made his way to safety. He returned a day later to his family and a jubilant city.
Feb. 28
1900: A massive blizzard paralyzes the Toledo area with a reported 20 inches of snow. Mail and passenger trains are snowbound, and downtown hotels are jammed with stranded travelers.
1903: Albert Wade is found guilty of murdering Kate Sullivan in the farm home she shared with her sister just west of Toledo. In the dramatic trial, Wade's brother, Ben Wade, is also found guilty. Both are executed by electric chair the next year.
1912: The Sandusky County town of Bettsville is wiped out by a massive blaze that levels most of the downtown area.
1949: Woodville residents hold more meetings to demand that the operators of the Woodville lime plants do more to curtail the smoke and dust nuisance created by the plants.
1983: Millions of Americans watch the final episode of the hit television series, M*A*S*H, which featured Toledoan Jamie Farr as the lovable cross-dressing Klinger. His presence on the show gave Toledo many mentions through his fondness for the Mud Hens and Tony Packo's hot dogs. A special party was held at Packo's that night for the final show.
