This Week In Toledo History

August 25
1898 - The Burt Theater opens at Jefferson and Ontario Streets. Named for owner, Frank Burt, it features Vaudeville shows, has 1,500 seats and has a "fat man's row" for men of ample girth.
1915 - Toledo Patrolman Adolf Reimer dies after being shot three weeks earlier when answering a disturbance call.
1937 - BGSU Championship boxer Edwin Willet, 18, is charged with murder after he killed another young man in a fist fight near Angola, Indiana. Police say they were fighting over a girl; the victim suffered a broken jaw and died from his injury.
1946 - A 38-foot cabin cruiser from Toledo named “the Albatross,” is mistakenly attacked by U.S. Navy warplanes (Corsairs) doing target practice near West Sister Island. Several fishermen are injured.

August 26
1909 - Nationally promoted wacky six- day King Wamba Carnival underway in Toledo. It is billed as the “Mardi Gras of the North.”
1929 - An 84-year-old champion pigeon racer in Toledo, “Daddy” Charles Soen, loses his entire prize flock of championship racing birds to thieves.
1935 - Heart disease takes the life of pioneer Toledo automaker and former Ambassador to Poland, John North Willys, at his home in New York. His wife and family are at his bedside when he passes.
1983 - Bettsville fire station in Sandusky County destroyed by fire.

August 27
1902 - Concern is growing in southern Wood County about an outbreak of hydrophobia, or rabies. Some farmers report that a rapid dog has been biting cows and some have been put down. Another farmer has lost a horse near Bloomdale to the disease.
1921 - The “Human Fly,” Mrs. Dolly O’Brine, scales side of Masonic Building in BG, drawing excited crowds of onlookers.
1924 - Ralph Roberts, 9, of Toledo is charged with murder after he put a block of wood on a train track at Millfield, Ohio, causing a derailment in which two engineers were killed. He says he did it because it was an “experiment.”
1967 - A great tragedy on Lake Erie when 16 skydivers drown when their jump plane drops them over the lake near Huron, Ohio.

August 28
1904 - First paying passengers are transported on the new Toledo-Port Clinton-Lakeside railway. The first train is a steam locomotive instead of electric.
1913 - East Toledo residents complain that crime is too rampant on their streets and they need more police patrols.
1919 - A rail road detective at Graytown is shot by burglars that he surprised. Detective J.J. Boss died later in a Toledo hospital.
1930 - Construction begins on the new $450,000 University of Toledo field house, which will feature an indoor arena for football and track.
1940 - TV producer Bonnie Turner born in Toledo. She and her husband, Terry, also from Toledo, best known for creating the shows, “3rd Rock from the Sun” and “That 70's Show.”
1958 - Future Olympic Gold Medal figure skater Scott Hamilton born in Toledo.
1976 - A tragic fire erupts in the horse barns at Toledo's Raceway Park, 40 horses are killed.
1993 - The USS Toledo submarine is launched at Norfolk, Virginia.

August 29
1901 - East Toledo residents are reporting strange lights in the night skies and it remains a mystery. Some witnesses liken it to a lantern in the sky that vanishes when they try to get near it.
1914 - Toledo’s first woman food inspector, Mrs. Elizabeth Schauss, institutes new rules for food handlers in restaurants in the city, including hair nets for female workers.
1924 - Seven members of the Cyrus Updegraff Family of Wood County are killed when their car is hit by a train in Perrysburg.
1929 - Tank’s Meat Market in Elmore is selling hamburger for 12 cents a pound and beef roast for 16 cents a pound.

August 30
1900 -Three East Toledo boys are in trouble for stealing watermelons from a railroad car and selling them around the neighborhood.
1934 - Pearson Park is dedicated, in honor of Blade reporter and East Side booster George Pearson. Pearson made it his personal crusade to save this section of first growth forest to be set aside for a park.
1955 - Actress Mamie Van Doren comes to Toledo to wed band leader Ray Anthony.
1972 - Toledo gets a double dose of bad news when it is announced that Buckeye Beer will close its historic brewery in North Toledo after more than 130 years in operation. On the same day, it is revealed that the iconic Tiedtke's store will be closing its doors forever.

August 31
1878 - Fire destroys the huge Put-in-Bay House Hotel and several other buildings on South Bass Island.
1901 - Large tomato canning plant opens at Bowling Green, to later become the Heinz plant and will continue operating until 1975.
1925 - Toledo Zoo buys two new Bengal tigers from a wild animal dealer in New York for $3500.
1955 - A bright new addition to Toledo's downtown skyline was added as the 15 foot high Owens-Illinois neon sign was hoisted into place atop the 368 foot O-I headquarters on Madison. It would remain there for the next 28 years.