This Week In Toledo History

May 19-25

May 19
1889 - Salem United Methodist Church in East Toledo is dedicated.
1904 - Saloon keepers in Toledo ask police to start cleaning up the so-called “badlands” section of the city where houses of ill repute operate. They claim the area is morally unfit for consumers of liquor.
1931 - Toledo Police officer Edward O’Briest is shot to death by unknown gunman while on an undercover assignment on Moorish Avenue.
1947 - The search for the Toledo couple wanted for the murders of two young boys comes to an end when they are apprehended in Iowa. Harold Lehaney, a Community Traction bus driver, and his wife Florence are captured and will face charges of murder in the killings.
1953 -Toledo voters approve a 3.5-mill levy to build the new Toledo Express Airport.

May 20
1906 - Lucas County prosecutor is investigating ice dealers for gouging residents with high prices. Housewives stop buying ice because the dealers’ tactics have hurt the poor.
1920 - The outlaw "Cowboy Hill gang" stages a daring daylight robbery on the streets of Delta. Residents are terrorized in the running gun battle. Joe Muzzio, aka: "Cowboy Hill" and gang were eventually caught in a shootout with Toledo police.
1961 - Fourteen Indian bones and skulls are found near Wales Road in Rossford by four boys who were digging near the city dump.
1965 - The Beach Boys play at the Toledo Sports Arena. Opening act is the Toledo band, the Vandaliers.

May 21
1904 - Popular theater chain owner Frank Burt is shot by his wife in front his own theater on Jefferson Avenue in Toledo. Mrs. Burt was said to be jealous of a performer with whom her husband was having an affair.
1920 - Three convicted killers escape by sawing through the bars of the Ottawa County Jail at Port Clinton.
1931 - Major fire at the National Milling Company silos on Front Street.

May 22
1838 - First “mixed marriage” reported in Toledo between a white woman and “Mulatto man.”
1852 - The very first steam powered train makes a run from Toledo to Chicago.
1925 - Hundreds crowd the newly built Madison Gardens Ballroom (Madison and 15th) for its grand opening. The club would later be renamed the “Trianon Ballroom” and would become one of Toledo top dance and music venues during the 1940's and 50's.
1959 - I-280 highway dedicated as the Detroit-Toledo Expressway. First so-called “expressway” in the area. It was dubbed the "Seaway Freeway" and hailed as a key for future growth of the area.
1979 - Owens-Illinois headquarters ground breaking is held along the downtown Toledo riverfront. It sets a new world record for the number of people taking part as over 5,000 Toledoans grabbed a shovel to help out.
1984 - Violence erupts on picket lines of AP Parts on Matzinger Rd. as union members protest the company's use of non-union labor. 120 people are arrested and jailed.

May 23
1908 - A helium-filled air ship, piloted by Toledo's Roy Knabenshue, crashes into center field fence during ball game at Armory Park in downtown Toledo. No serious injuries.
1921 - Future famous singer and Toledo resident Helen O'Connell is born in Lima. She and her sister Alice grew up in Toledo and as teens began singing duets on radio stations in Toledo. By 1940 Helen was considered one of the best female singers in America.
1944 - The Toledo Mud Hens had a dismal season in 1944 and on this day at Swayne Field, suffered their most humiliating defeat in Hens history, losing to the Milwaukee Brewers 28-0. The newspaper writers called it the "Granddaddy of all Wallopings". Half of the fans went home by the 5th inning.
1988 - Legendary UT football quarterback, Chuck Ealey, who led the Rockets to three undefeated seasons, 1969-71, inducted into the freshman class of the Mid-American Conference Hall of Fame.

May 24
1854 - Toledo council votes to hire "night watchmen" at $1.25 a night.
1919 - This was the last weekend for legal alcohol sales in Toledo before the local prohibition goes into effect. Saloons and bars are jammed with customers eager to get last drink.
1934 -The weeks-long Auto-Lite factory strike in North Toledo turns deadly as National Guard troops open fire on the surging crowd at the North Toledo plant. Two bystanders are shot dead, others wounded.
1934 - Brand Whitlock, four-time mayor of Toledo and ambassador to Belgium, dies in Paris at age 65.

May 25
1903 - Great excitement noted as Twentieth Century train reaches an average of 70 MPH between Toledo and Elkhart, Ind., at times hitting speeds near 90 MPH.
1905 - Sensational murder headlines from Weston in Wood County as Doctor Alexander Green confesses to having shot Ella Tippin to death after she refused to marry him.
1919 - Jack Dempsey, in Toledo for training for his upcoming championship fight enjoys an afternoon of fishing in Maumee River with his dog, King, by his side.
1936- Ten-thousand Toledo Catholics hold outdoor mass at Swayne Field to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Toledo Diocese.
1957 - Students reported to have rioted in streets in downtown Bowling Green. Two fraternities suspended.