This Week In Toledo History

May 7
1813 - The first siege of Ft. Meigs concludes as American troops turn back the British troops and Indian warriors.
1902 - Tragedy strikes on the Maumee River when seven young church members on a Sunday school outing drown after a collsion with a tugboat near Ironville. The funeral for the victims was the largest such event in the city's history as thousands of mourners came to the church and cemetery.
1915 - The great British passenger ship, the Lusitania is torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland. Two Toledo passengers, William Homewood of Monroe Street and Larry Linley of Platt Street were among the 1100 passengers and crew who died in the attack.
1931- Singer Teresa Brewer is born in Toledo as Teresa Breuer. She rises to national stardom in 1950 with pop hit “Music, Music, Music.” She would later go on to record numerous top-ten hit songs.
1941 - Willys-Overland shows off its first vehicle called the "Jeep". It is one of 1,300 prototypes being built for the Army prior to World War Two.
1975 - The historic Tiedtke’s department store on Summit Street erupts into massive inferno of flame destroying the building and several others. The blaze marks the fiery end of a long time Toledo retail tradition.

May 8
1908 - A real estate company in Toledo is selling small 4-acre tracts of farmland on Douglas Road near Monroe for $ 1000.
1930 - Toledo police engage in fierce gun battle with three members of the "Dorr Street Gang" at a farmhouse on Dorr Street near the Inverness. Over 30 shots were fired and gangster Claude Allen is shot dead in the exchange of lead.
1945 - V-E Day arrives. Germany surrenders. Noisy demonstrations and celebrations spill out into the streets of the city. Adding machine tape and toilet paper rolls are draped from the tall office buildings downtown, while honking cars and jubilant pedestrians jam the streets.
1968 - Crow Aviation at Toledo Express Airport offers $5 introductory flight lessons.

May 9
1912 - A strange dental curiosity being studied in Toledo, as 400 dentists meet to see the silver filling in the tooth of 6-year old John Schnittker of Central Ave. His mother claims he was born with the silver filling already in his tooth.
1916 - City announces that the new Bay View Golf Course will be ready for play by the first of June. The nine-hole course will be the second municipal golf course in Toledo.
1930 - Gangster "Happy Harry" Anthony, 29 of East Toledo, is found face down in a Chicago area roadway, riddled with 13 bullets in a gangland-style execution. Friends say he'd left Toledo five weeks ago to work his way into the Chicago mob rackets.
1969 -Toledo Municipal Court Judge Clyde Deeds refuses to marry a 21-year-old couple in his courtroom because he says there was “too much levity” going on. He turned around and walked out, leaving the courtroom stunned and the bride in tears.

May 10
1933 - Thomas "Yonnie" Licavoli and several gang members are found guilty in murder of Louise Bell, the girlfriend of rival mobster Jackie Kennedy. She had been shot dead in an attempted hit on Kennedy.
1937 - A 22-year old Evelyn Herzig of Toledo falls five floors from the new Secor Hotel and only sprains her ankle. Doctors are still pondering the miraculous survival mystery.
1962 - Ten people are killed and more than 45 people injured in a massive chemical plant explosion and fire at Maumee Chemical factory. The plant was located at Oak and Front streets in East Toledo. Still listed as city’s deadliest fire.
1968 - Major blaze at Westgate shopping center destroys nine stores in the popular shopping district in West Toledo.

May 11
1901 - Toledo Police arrest a man they call "Jack the Clipper". He is accused of using scissors to clip the long locks of several girls and is later identified as a 35-year old County Clerk from Wood County.
1924 - Moses Fleetwood Walker, former Toledo Blue Stocking player and first African-American to play professional major league baseball, dies in Cleveland.
1936 - Toledo City Council votes to annex Point Place.
1940 - Toledo health commissioner says scarlet fever outbreak is rampant with 94 cases reported.
1983 - Construction gets underway on the new Maumee River historic excursion boat, the “Arawanna Princess.”

May 12
1894 - The Elmore Bicycle company moves its operations from Elmore to nearby Clyde in Sandusky County. The company will later produce the Elmore automobile.

1925 - Toledo Patrolman Walter Mullen shot and killed by his partner as they pursued two suspects on Front Street. One of the bullets fired from his partner's gun struck Mullen.
1936 - In Toledo, FBI agents, led by Director, J. Edgar Hoover make a dramatic pre-dawn arrest of fugitive Harry Campbell on Monroe Street. Campbell was wanted as the partner of “Public Enemy Number One”, Alvin Karpis, kidnapper and robber. Campbell had been making his home in Toledo under an assumed name.

May 13
1833 - First plot of land sold in early Toledo area known as Port Lawrence.
1852 - Toledo City approves the establishment of a volunteer police force.
1941 - Lamson's Department store features a special show of fashions through the centuries, including a glove from King Tut and the gloves worn by Mary, Queen of Scots, for her execution.
1975 - The Westwood Theater on Sylvania Avenue ordered closed for one year after being found guilty of showing the films “The Stewardesses” and “Deep Throat,” which are ruled to be obscene.