This Week in Toledo History 3/22/2021

March 21
1914 - Toledo Police show off their newest police vehicle which is a combination of a car and an ambulance that can travel at the lightning speed of 50 mph.

1931 - Sinclair Lewis, Nobel prize winning author for literature appears in Toledo at the Valentine Theater but tells reporters he'd rather be home slopping his hogs on his farm in Vermont, rather than giving lectures. He says "I want to get this fool business over with." After his speech, he did sign copies of his books for adoring fans.

1932 - Delbert "Dell" Hair, Toledo's well-known poet-cop dies at the age of 60. Hair, a native of Michigan had lived a colorful life as a Toledo policeman, and prior to that as an Indian fighter in the West as part of the U.S. Cavalry. As he walked the beat on Toledo's streets he composed the poems and turned them into several books of poetry.

1973 - Toledo Municipal Court finds the manager of the Westwood Theater on Sylvania guilty of obscenity for the showing of the movie "Deep Throat".

March 22
1911 - The "powder house" at the American Gypsum Quarry in Port Clinton blows up, destroying six rail cars and injuring two workmen.

1936 - Toledo Police say the city has become a haven for gangsters and underworld characters and the police department promises a crackdown.

1969 - A fire pumper truck responding to a false alarm at Jackman and Laskey collides with a car. Fireman Louis Fuhr is killed in the crash.

1973 - Singer John Denver sets off a firestorm of criticism when he performs the derogatory ballad, "Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio" on the Johnny Carson show. The song was written by Randy Sparks who, in later years, would become a regular performer for various events in Toledo. The song was also recorded by Lou Hebert from WOHO radio and on the flip side was a recording of "We're Strong for Toledo" sung by Mayor Harry Kessler and a group of Toledo civic leaders.

1979 - The Marathon Bowling Center on Sylvania Avenue is destroyed by a powerful explosion and fire.

March 23
1888 - Former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Morrison Remick Waite of Maumee dies at his Washington home of pneumonia. Waite had been appointed by President Grant and presided over several controversial rulings during reconstruction following the Civil War.

1900 - Toledo public school teachers meet and vote overwhelmingly against establishing a pension system. Those opposed to the teachers pension say soldiers and firemen deserve to have pensions more than teachers and policemen, claiming that it isn't fair for younger teachers to pay into a system to support the older teachers who will retire sooner.

1906 - Catholic Societies in Toledo petition Mayor Brand Whitlock to close the parks earlier and to add more lighting in the evening because ”too much evil" occurs in the parks after dark attracting unsavory and vulgar elements.

1927 - Theater owner and horse breeder, George Ketcham assembles more than 200 paintings of the world's best horses to be displayed in the lobby of his Valentine Theater. The Ketcham family operated a large race horse farm in the area West Toledo near Alexis and Douglas. Mac Gregor Lane, named for one of his horses, was the entrance lane to the farm.

March 24
1913 - The worst floods in Ohio history inundate large portions of the state as water bloats rivers and streams. In Tiffin, 19 people die in the historic floods when the Sandusky River reaches record levels. Northwest Ohio's farmlands look like an inland sea. Food supplies are running short and in Ohio alone, 400 people have perished.

1924 - Toledo police arrest an aging and legless man who had come to town from Los Angeles after he was pulled in a little red wagon by two goats. His name was "Knuckles." He sold cigars and other items to make a living. Police arrested him, putting him and his goats in the jail at the Central Police Station on Washington Street for "investigation." It is unknown why he was arrested.

1975 - Toledo’s "Bar Wars" continued. This time, a night spot called the "Why Not Club" on South Erie Street was burned in an arson fire. Fire crews said a waste basket had been filled with gasoline and set ablaze. The fire was just one in a string of bar fires that were allegedly set by rival "mob" groups.

1984 - BGSU Hockey team wins the National Hockey Championship.

March 25
1899 - Brothers John and Paul Zeltner shoot and kill their lawyer in a Hoytville Ohio courtroom over a $100 debt. They flee the courthouse and hold off a citizen's posse and angry mob in a day-long stand-off at their farm home. Several others are shot in gunfire during the ordeal. The Zeltner's are eventually captured, stand trial and are sent to prison for 20 years.

1919 - The streets of Toledo were crowded with cheering folks as hundreds of young American "doughboys" returned home to Toledo from the war-torn battlefields of Europe.

1923 - City officials are expressing concern about the number of Toledo residents vacationing to Florida and then bringing home baby alligators.

1934 - Future feminist and writer, Gloria Steinem is born in Toledo.

March 26
1912 - Toledo Zoo announces that enough money has been collected to buy "Babe" a giant Indian elephant from a zoo in Missouri. Babe at one time had been a circus elephant. He would later become of the Toledo Zoo's most popular attractions.

1960 - Genoa Mayor Oliver Tester scolded a policeman who he said brought too many Mexican migrants into his mayor's court for traffic violations. Tester said the police had to stop arresting only Mexicans, and that he should stop and issue tickets to all traffic offenders, regardless of who they are.

1961 - Hundreds of BGSU students take to the streets to party and dance. Traffic is stopped on Wooster Street near Founders Hall. The commotion is later quelled by BG police who tell the rowdy revelers to go back to their dorms.

March 27
1924 - Shocking news from the little town of Harborview, when the Mayor L.H. Shovar and four deputies are arrested by federal agents and charged with selling beer that had been confiscated from area bootleggers. The court affidavits allege that the mayor was selling beer from his courtroom.

1928 - WSPD Radio (Storer Broadcasting) gets word that the Toledo station will be able to increase its power from 250 watts to 1000 watts as they get ready to move to the Commodore Perry Hotel.

1957 - A state investigation reveals that four notorious gambling parlors in Lucas County are being run by the Detroit crime syndicate. Those clubs, including the Old Dix Inn and the New Benore Club are raided and padlocked. Investigators said they were among eight establishments near the state line that were under surveillance by agents. The clubs featured dice and blackjack tables and were run "professionally."

1995 - Owens Corning Corporation and civic leaders break ground for new World Headquarters buildings in the old Middle Grounds area by the confluence of the Maumee River and Swan Creek. The new campus style complex replaces the high rise Fiberglas Tower on St. Clair Street.