This Week In Toledo History

April 9
1905 - Sewer diggers in Toledo say they will “never” go back to a nine- hour workday and threaten to tie up sewer work in the city if they are forced.
1961- Demolition gets underway of more than 160 houses and buildings in South Toledo to make way for new South End Bridge.
1973 - Storms cause major flooding at Point Place and western Lake Erie shoreline.
2002 - First baseball game played at the newly built Fifth Third Field in downtown Toledo. The Toledo Mud Hens win, defeating Norfolk 7-4.

April 10
1915 -Three iron workers are killed when new steel work for the Willys Overland plant in Toledo falls during construction.
1923 - Toledo railway commissioner W.E. McCann writes that buses have been tried on Toledo streets and "leave much to be desired".
1949 - Television is coming to every Toledo home. The General Electric store in downtown Toledo is selling a 10-inch model for $239.
1958 - The 710- foot John Sherwin is launched at Toledo Shipyards, the largest ship ever built in Toledo at a cost of $7 million dollars.
1978 - Toledo Public school teachers walk out and take to the streets in a strike over wages. It evolves into a bitter and rancorous 22-day labor action against the school system.

April 11
1906 - The women's probation officer for the city, Mary Corrigan, says the problem with boys and girls today is idleness. They have "nothing to do" and aren't forced to work around the house and just “run out to play.”
1924 - It's reported that with a prohibition on liquor sales, 19 men have died in the past ten days in Toledo from an orgy of "wood alcohol" poisoning, or so called "canned heat" which is an alcohol that is deadly.
1927 - Two Toledoans are captured on Lake Erie when their cabin cruiser, laden with Canadian liquor, was seized after being riddled by bullets from the machine gun of a Coast Guard patrol boat. The men were not hurt, but captured and taken to jail. More than 300 cases of whiskey and several barrels of beer were taken as evidence.
1946 - Toledo payroll tax of 1 percent is approved by voters.
1965 - Point Place and Shoreland areas of Washington Twp. hit by F-4 tornadoes on Palm Sunday. Damage is massive and widespread. At least 16 people are killed in Toledo. Many more fatalities across Southeast Michigan. Deadliest natural disaster in area’s history.

April 12
1820 - Wood County Commissioners hold their first meeting.
1918 - Toledo Policeman C.C. Dersch is recovering at St. Vincent hospital after a gun battle in East Toledo in which he killed a suspected auto bandit. The suspect died in the exchange of bullets.
1927 - More than 2,400 people converge at the Toledo Coliseum for a Ku Klux Klan Rally and speech on the U.S. and Mexico. After the speech, hundreds march through the streets.
1983- Digital age comes to Northwest Ohio as Best Western Motel in Perrysburg becomes first area hotel to feature in-room computer terminals.

April 13
1872 - Perrysburg Courthouse burns to the ground.
1918 - Three men accused of talking badly about Liberty Bonds are publicly tarred and feathered in downtown Toledo and put on display for a Liberty Bond Rally. Eight men, including Toledo Vice Mayor Claude Kilbury, are accused of the assault.
1934 - A strike begins at the Auto-Lite plant on Champlain Street in North Toledo as workers walk off job demanding union recognition.
1984 - Toledo underworld character Billy Scott is sentenced to eight years in federal prison for racketeering and gambling offenses. Scott was convicted of operating a massive bookmaking operation in the Toledo area and paying bribes for many years. The case also implicated a number of local people.
2003 - Former Toledo mayor and author Michael Damas dies at age 91.

April 14
1911 - Professional baseball player and Toledo resident, Addie Joss dies at his home from spinal meningitis at age of 31. He threw baseball's third perfect game in 1908 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1978.
1919 - Port Clinton fishermen are reporting that their catches of large giant gold fish are getting more abundant.

1929 - The “new” Central Catholic High School facility at Cherry and Page is dedicated by Bishop Samuel Stritch.
1938 – Toledo Police are searching for a woman who is giving "doped up" beer to shoemakers in the city and then robbing them when they pass out. She has struck twice and only targets shoe repairmen. Police want to stop her before she gives drugs to a cobbler with a bad heart.
1979 - A piece of Toledo’s history is lost as planned implosion brings down the old Willys administration building on North Cove Boulevard. Thousands of spectators line the streets to watch the explosions.

April 15
1833 - First recorded wedding takes place in Bowling Green which would later become a so called "marriage mill" for quickie weddings.
1865 - Toledoans are stunned as they react to shocking news that President Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated in Washington, DC. Businesses and homes hang black crepe and patriotic bunting draped in black. Myron Lamson of Toledo, (father of the brothers who started the department store) designs Lincoln's funeral train car.
1910 - Toledo Catholic Diocese approved by Pope Pius X.
1936 - A powerful dynamite bomb explodes at the home of prominent East Toledo attorney Mark Winchester on Euclid. No one is injured, but the blast was so powerful it broke windows at other homes on the block. The blast is thought by police to be a warning to attorney Winchester from Toledo area mobsters.
1964 - Frank Emmick, an international seafood salesman from Rossford, is sentenced to 30 years in prison in Cuba after being accused of espionage by Fidel Castro’s government. He was later released in 1977.