This Week In Toledo History

July 7-13

By Lou Hebert

July 7
1922 - Residents near Libbey High School stage protest about the putrid dump along Swan Creek considered a health menace to children.
1928 - Charles Hoppe pleads guilty to being the notorious “Toledo Slugger” serial killer. He pleads guilty to death of one woman and a seven-year-old girl. It was later determined that Hoppe did kill these victims, but was not the notorious “slugger.”
1933 - Local well-known bootlegger Jackie Kennedy is gunned down in Point Place by hit men sent by rival bootlegger Tony Licavoli. The murder would bring about the end of the Licavoli reign of terror in the city.
1939 - The last street car in East Toledo, the “Starr Avenue Line,” makes final run. Many residents watch to witness the last run.

July 8
1862 - First "race riot" in Toledo history. This occurs when black stevedores working down on the docks want a raise from 12 cents to 15 cents an hour, equal with white co-workers. Mobs of angry whites attack the black workers, leaving many injured.
1890 - Major fire levels buildings in Bairdstown in Wood County.
1932 - Marshal Jay Davis of the North Baltimore Police shot dead by armed robbers. The gunmen embark on wild crime spree in Toledo, shooting a physician, and then kidnapping a man and his son.
1953 - Toledo Police morals squad starts removing all contraceptive machines from local bars after complaints from the Catholic Chronicle.
1983 - Toledo-based Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) begins historic march on Campbell headquarters in New Jersey to demand union recognition.

July 9
1891 - The two young Seymour brothers escape from the Wood County Jail after fooling a teen-aged girl who was left in charge of the lock up when the sheriff went fishing.
1896 - Two Toledo men set transcontinental bike racing record, riding from New York City to San Francisco in 37 days, 14 hours and 30 minutes.
1906 - East Toledo councilman says they need more wells on the East side, that many people are having to drink river water.
1950 -The first official “Music Under the Stars” concert debuts at the Toledo Zoo Amphitheater with the Toledo Symphony.

July 10
1934 - All beaches in Toledo along Maumee River and Bay are closed by health department because of typhoid bacteria.
1949 - The annual Aquarama Festival underway in Toledo as more than 25,000 people crowd the downtown streets to watch the opening parade.
1979 - Most rainfall – 4.49 inches – in recorded history in Wood County.

July 11
1934 - Numerous German-American groups in Toledo file complaints about an anti-Hitler movie, “Reign of Terror,” showing at the Pantheon Theater in Toledo.
1936 - Mercury soars past 100 for third day, hundreds are sickened, three die from heat stroke and scores of animals die in stifling Toledo heat wave.
1942 - Toledo Mud Hens play a record 20-inning game. Called on account of curfew at 12:30 am. Tied 6-6.
1943 - Lt. Robert Craig of Toledo is killed in combat in Italy. He had taken out two German machine gun nests and saved his company of fellow soldiers. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. The bridge over the Maumee River was named in his honor.
2000 - Four-alarm blaze destroys the Vistula Heritage Apartments at Erie and Locust.

July 12
1844 - George Thompson hanged in Fremont for the murder of 18-year old Catherine Hamler who had refused his marriage proposal.
1893 - Fire destroys several blocks of homes and businesses in Wood County town of Luckey.
1904 - Popular reform Mayor Samuel “Golden Rule” Jones dies of a heart failure in Toledo. Businesses close and the city is in deep mourning. His body lies in state at Memorial Hall as thousands line up to file past their beloved mayor.

1927 - Freight train hits Interurban passenger trolley at the Dorr Street terminal in Toledo. Three people killed and nine are injured.

July 13
1833 - First property transaction in Toledo as John Baldwin buys a lot in the new town of Vistula for $25 at Monroe and Summit.
1849 - Hundreds of Toledo residents are suffering from the grip of devastating cholera epidemic. Many deaths are reported.
1905 - The largest roller rink in Ohio is now nearing completion at Ashland and Bancroft, measuring 175 feet by 85 feet.
1911 - Seven Toledo residents are feared to be among those people trapped by raging forest fires in Michigan that have wiped out several communities in the region of the Au Sable River.
1926 - The oldest man ever to be put in jail by Toledo Police is arrested for the theft of a chicken from a market on Cherry Street. The 96-year-old man, James Hughes, says that at least in prison, he’ll get regular meals.