This Week In Toledo History

April 7-13

April 7
1905 - Toledo Fire Department accepts only nine men out of 82 applicants for jobs as firemen. Rejections are for varicose veins, bad noses, bad teeth, bow legs, flat feet and a husky voice.
1956 -The Lucas County Sheriff department forms the Toledo area’s first underwater dive team.
1963 -State Historical Society gets a barrage of complaints over their plans to prohibit picnics at Fort Meigs Park at Perrysburg.
1983 - Babcock Dairy announces it is closing. Founded by Roy Babcock in 1919, it was once the largest independent dairy in the nation.

April 8
1835- Michigan militia storms the home of Toledoan Benjamin Stickney. The attack signals the start of the “Toledo War” over the rights to a narrow strip of land which includes city of Toledo.
1911- Fiery evangelist Billy Sunday holds a revival in Toledo.
1936 - Benny Aronoff, reputed Toledo gambling kingpin is acquitted of running a gambling parlor in a highly talked about case. The defense claimed that police had been singling out Aronoff for prosecution.
1957 - Surprise snowstorm hits Toledo, dumping nearly 10 inches. Biggest April snowfall in city’s history.
1966 - WCWA, “Seaway”radio now advertises that it has a helicopter to give traffic reports to morning drivers.

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.
1941 - Toledo cafeteria owner Grace Smith is now the head of the National Restaurant Association. Her cafeteria on Erie Street feeds more than 4,000 people a day.
1961- Demolition gets underway of more than 160 houses and buildings in South Toledo to make way for new South End Bridge.
2002 - First baseball game played at the newly built Fifth Third Field in downtown Toledo. The Toledo Mud Hens win the game as they defeat Norfolk 7-4.

April 10
1915 - Three iron workers are killed and others injured when the new steelwork at Willys Overland plant 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 $239.00
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. The strike 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 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. It's become a lethal substitute for liquor during prohibition. Five of the men are buried in paupers graves.
1927 -Two Toledo men 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. Three hundred cases of whiskey and 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 history.

April 12
1918 - Toledo Policeman C.C. Dersch is wounded in a gun battle in East Toledo in which he killed a suspected auto bandit. The suspect, Kenneth Young, 22, died in the exchange of bullets while officer Dersch, 24, was hit three times in his neck, stomach and shoulder.
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 -The digital age comes to the area as the Best Western Motel in Perrysburg becomes first area hotel to feature in-room computer terminals.

April 13
1918 - Three men are accused of talking badly about Liberty Bonds by a group of “patriots. The men are abducted from an Interurban train and taken to the steps of the Federal Courthouse in Toledo where they are publicly tarred and feathered at a Liberty Bond rally. Eight men, including Toledo Vice Mayor Claude Kilbury, are accused of the assault. All charges against the perpetrators are dropped.
1934 - A strike begins at Auto-Lite plant on Champlain Street in North Toledo as the workers walk off job demanding union recognition and end to some of the harsh conditions. This would be the start of a long strike that ends in violence the next month.
1984 - Toledo underworld character Billy Scott gets 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.