Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
July 19
1889: Electric streetcars make their first test runs on the streets of Toledo.
1894: Toledo police assign six of the department's best marksmen for "dog shooting duty,” which is assigned every summer to shoot stray dogs running loose.
1897: Mayflies are so thick in the area that the ladies bicycle races at the Toledo Casino are postponed.
1910: Toledo boaters and zoo officials search for a sea lion that escaped into the Maumee River from the Zoo.
1927: The Mauk Lumber Yard at Elm Street and the Wheeling Railroad goes up in flames in a spectacular mid-day fire that causes $75,000 in damage. Thousands of residents line Champlain Street near Auto-Lite to see the flames. It is the third fire at the lumber yard in a year.
1937: Ohio Bell reports there are now 56,370 phone numbers listed in the Toledo directory, up by more than 15,000 since the very worst years of the Great Depression.
1950: John Steinman Auto Sales on Ontario Street is selling the new six-passenger Studebaker Champion sedan for $1,506.18.
1983: The Lung Association in Lucas County begins its first efforts to restrict smoking within Toledo restaurants inside Lucas County.
July 20
1854: A transportation milestone is recorded as the very first train makes a run from Toledo to Chicago.
1854: The cholera epidemic begins in Perrysburg as 117 people die before it subsides.
1905: A major thunderstorm slashes through Bowling Green as high winds cause heavy damage to oil rigs south of town. Lightning also kills a prized horse and her young colt.
1911: Canton Avenue, known for its saloons, brothels and gambling dens, saw more trouble after a dice-game quarrel triggered a shooting at Ms. Goldman’s saloon. Chief Knapp has ordered it closed.
1984: Serial killer Alton Coleman is arrested in Chicago, charged with a murderous crime spree in Toledo and elsewhere in the Midwest.
July 21
1915: Members of the Toledo Housewives League protest the demolition of the farmer's market on Superior Street.
1927: Bowling Green musician Fritzi Bigelow, 16, puts down her tuba and dances to the “Black Bottom” on a wing of a large airplane flying over the Maumee River. She was accompanied by her family's musical group, which usually plays at the Bayshore Inn.
1933: Mrs. Stella Todd of McComb in Hancock County reports that she crawled into bed only to find a five-foot black snake under the sheets with her. The snake slithered off and disappeared into the carpet.
1948: WSPD Television, Channel 13, signs on the air. The station goes on air at 6:30 p.m. with a children's program of western and cowboy songs performed by local in-studio entertainers. At 8 p.m., the station is officially dedicated with an announcement by Toledo mayor Michael DiSalle.
1971: A fire destroys the village hall and tavern in Harborview.
1983: The jobless rate in Lucas County hits 12.8 percent.
July 22
1864: Major General James McPherson of Clyde is killed at the Battle of Atlanta at the age of 35. The highest-ranking Union officer ever killed in the Civil War, McPherson was considered one of the most promising Union generals and may have had a future in national politics had he survived.
1922: The first commercial parking lot opens for business in downtown Toledo as Huebner's Auto Park charges 25 cents per day or a dollar per week.
1926: Two rum runners from Detroit intentionally sink their 40-foot boat loaded with Canadian liquor while being pursued by coast guard patrols. The men were arrested and sent to prison. The boat presumably still lies at the bottom of lake near West Sister Island loaded with well-aged booze.
1927: Sad onlookers gather along the Maumee River docks on Elm Street as dry agents dump 15,000 bottles of confiscated Canadian Labatt’s beer into the river.
1940: Excessive heat causes several concrete roadways in Ottawa County to explode, including the road to Fremont from Port Clinton and State Route 163 in Erie Township.
1948: A 14-day spree of terror ends in Northwest Ohio as the killers of seven people are captured near Van Wert. One of them dies in an exchange of gunfire with a dragnet of police. Toledo's Cherry Street Bridge is blockaded with buses and armed police in case the killers make it to Toledo. Their last two victims were shot to death near Tiffin.
1971: Franklin Park, Toledo’s second indoor mall, opens for business at Talmadge and Monroe.
July 23
1927: The arrest of Joe Foley at Toledo’s Union Station gets national press attention when it's revealed the dapper looking lad, who once worked the lake freighters, is actually Alice Lovejoy of Massachusetts.
1928: Aviator Amelia Earhart visits Toledo by train while on a special tour of America following her historic solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. She is given a special welcoming ceremony by the mayor and other dignitaries as thousands of fans turn out to greet her.
1942: Residents of West Toledo are sickened after rolling clouds of sulfur gas escape from a chemical factory near Lewis Avenue. Many residents report a burning in their lungs.
July 24
1899: A million-dollar grain elevator fire occurs along the riverfront in East Toledo, destroying 900,000 bushels of grain.
1902: The haying season near Williston and Jerusalem Township took a sad turn as lightning hit several barns, including one of poor farmer William Neal. All the newly harvested hay and his horse were lost in the blaze.
1931: Scores of treasure hunters scour an area off Central Avenue west of Toledo in search of a $3,000 diamond ring. Paula Wundish, of New York, claims she tossed the ring into the weeds to hide it from thugs who forced her car off the road in a robbery. The ring was never found.
1951: The State of Ohio purchases Magee Marsh, Crane Creek and the Lake Erie Beach shoreline for $266,000. The state says the 1,600 acres of land and beach will be used in the future for public summer recreation, wildlife conservation and migratory fowl hunting. Magee Marsh has become the epicenter of Ohio's most famous migratory birding area as thousands of birders flock to the boardwalk every spring.
July 25
1903: The new Home Brewing Company on Oak Street in East Toledo is nearing completion.
1914: Toledo’s famous lotus blossoms on the lagoons of the Maumee River are in full bloom. It is the only place in America that has these “sacred flowers of the Nile,” but where they came from remains a mystery.
1942: The “Red Hot Mama” Sophie Tucker appears in Toledo to sing for sailors at the Hollywood Theater Cafe.
1963: A new A&P store opens on Navarre Avenue in Oregon.
1967: A racially-charged riot erupts on inner city streets of Toledo as fires are set amid heavy looting and vandalism. Police keep control, but arrest more than 60 people during the melee. Curfews are imposed city-wide. Most of the damage is in the 1200 block of Dorr Street near Detroit.
