This Week In Toledo History

September 8-14

September 8
1897 - Six workers killed in the Grant Oil Well explosion in Cygnet in Wood County as workers were pouring nitroglycerin into the well.
1913 - Irene Hill becomes first African American to teach in Toledo Public Schools. She was assigned to Erie school and would teach another 36 years before retiring in 1949.
1925 - A polar bear at Toledo Zoo dies from arsenic poison. It is the second bear and fourth zoo animal to die from poisoning in recent weeks. Police are looking for a suspect.
1963 - Three thousand people attend the sesquicentennial program at Put-in-Bay, commemorating 150 years since the great Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812.
1968 - The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw returns to Toledo. For the first time since it was launched from Toledo in 1944, the 292-foot cutter is docked in Toledo and open to the public,

September 9
1922 - Thousands attend ceremonies as Toledo celebrates first Peter Navarre Day. The pioneer's cabin is moved to Navarre Park in East Toledo.
1980 - The steeple on top of the historic St. Patrick Catholic Church in downtown Toledo struck by lightning, setting the large iron cross ablaze. The fire is visible throughout downtown.
1983 - Hundreds of abandoned graves from the "Sunshine" cemetery are discovered at the old Toledo State Hospital. They are unearthed by contractors putting in sewer project near the Medical College of Ohio.

September 10
1813 - Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry defeats the British in the Battle of Lake Erie, fought near Put-in-Bay at South Bass Island.
1905 - School board member Pauline Steinam says Toledo's kindergarten teachers are not required to have any formal education and are the "laughing stock" of the state.
1931 - Movie actor Philip Baker Hall born in Toledo. Hall was known for his character roles as a comedic tough guy.
1948 - Mildred Gillars of Bellevue, also known as “Axis Sally”, is indicted in the United States for treason for broadcasting Nazi propaganda from Berlin during WWII. She is found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

September 11
1879 - Installers of the Bell Telephone say they now have 143 of them installed in Toledo. Wires are said to be strung across some areas like “spider webs”.
1926 -The Lion Store garage and 22 delivery trucks, nine of which are fully loaded with dry goods, destroyed by fire.
2001 - Four hijacked jetliners are used as weapons in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people are killed in the attack at the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. Jets from Toledo’s 180th Fighter wing of Air National Guard are scrambled to chase one of the hijacked planes.

September 12
1910 - Three railroad workers are killed in a train crash between Walbridge and Lemoyne when a passenger train went off the rails.
1933 - Golfer, John Parker, is shot and killed by a robber while playing at Sylvania Country Club. The robber was caught weeks after a shootout in which a Lucas County Sheriff's Deputy Leo Flanagan was shot and killed accidentally by another deputy.
1950 - Future Playboy model and actress Cynthia Myers born in Toledo. The Woodward High School grad becomes a favorite when her Playboy feature debuted in 1968.
1959 - Toledo rock group Johnny and the Hurricanes reaches the "Top Ten" record chart with "Red River Rock" peaking at number "5".

September 13
1869 - The Ohio State Fair opens in Toledo for a five-day event. It is the 20th annual state-fair.
1911 - Cavalry unit and a large posse are ordered into rural area of Elmore to search for man who was reported to have taken liberties with a 6-year-old girl.
1943 - Award-winning Toledo children’s writer Mildred Taylor is born. The Scott High School and UT graduate would win the 1977 Newberry Award for her second children's novel, "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry".
1961 - Former President Harry Truman visits Toledo and gives speech at National Exchange Club convention at Sports Arena.

September 14
1902 -Toledo Auto Club is formed, someday to become AAA of Toledo.
1903 - Statue of late President William McKinley unveiled at Lucas County Court House. Thousands of people show up for the celebration.
1906 - Nine Italian railroad workers plunge to their deaths on the Maumee River when their hand car runs off the rail drawbridge at Ironville in East Toledo.
1929 - General Anthony Wayne’s Fallen Timbers monument and historical site is dedicated.
1942 - Crooner Bing Crosby performs at the Commodore Perry Hotel and for soldiers at Camp Perry near Port Clinton.
1962 - Toledo native Foy Kohler and wife Phyllis leave for Moscow as he becomes the new Ambassador to the Soviet Union. Within weeks he would become the U.S. “point man” in Moscow as the Cuban Missile Crisis unfolded.
1974 - Toledo Police Chief Corrin McGrath fires two warning shots at a man he found rifling through the back of his car. He is formally reprimanded for violating policy against the firing of warning shots.