This week in Toledo history - Dec. 21 - Jan. 3

This is a two-week edition of This week in Toledo, which is due to The Press not having a print edition for Dec. 29.

Dec. 21

1906: The Lucas County Children’s Home reports its highest number of children ever housed at the facility with 78 boys and 58 girls. Officials say it is harder to find homes for the boys than girls.

1919: A modern seven-room home in the Harvard Terrace neighborhood near the zoo is listed at $3,700.

1934: The well-known Toledo National Guard Armory on Spielbusch Avenue is destroyed by flames. The location later becomes site of the current U.S. Federal Courthouse.

1943: Women of the Toledo Methodist Church prepare Christmas gift packages as a goodwill gesture for the Italian POWs being held at Camp Perry in Ottawa County.

Dec. 22

1822: The birth of Frederick Prentice is noted. He is the first white child born in what was to become Toledo, and he would become a very wealthy businessman with Prentice Park in East Toledo honoring his name.

1901: A very strange story is reported that a large group of men who were ice yachting on Maumee Bay see a mirage of a city over a frozen Lake Erie. They report seeing houses and church steeples, and at one point one of the buildings catches fire and smoke pours from the building.

1911: The Rising Sun school house is destroyed by fire.

1921: Toledo police patrolman Charles McGuire is shot and killed by an unknown assailant while on patrol at Indiana Avenue and Division Street.

1927: Plans are announced by the chamber of commerce to build a new Wood County airport in Lake Township. It would be Toledo's main airport for many years until Toledo Express opened in the 1950s.

1934: Woodville police are still looking for the trio of armed bandits that held up the Woodville State Savings Bank and got away with $10,000 after locking the employees in the vault.

1967: Toledo residents experience a record amount of rainfall with 3.53 inches falling in 19 hours. Streets and homes in north and west Toledo are flooded as sewer systems can’t handle the water.

Dec. 23

1931: The local economy is so dire due to the depression that all 1,500 Toledo public school teachers have been informed they will only receive half pay for December and perhaps no pay in future months until the economy allows.

1954: Leonard Gladieux and his family impress ice skaters in Oregon as they try out a new motor-driven icemobile on the pond at Pearson Park.

1963: Citizens of Clay Center express outrage over a proposal to use their abandoned stone quarry as a dump site for Toledo refuse. One local village resident says it's time to “oil up our shotguns.”

1974: An explosion and fire at Interlake Steel kills two workers and injures many others on Front Street.

1996: A major fire erupts in downtown Wayne in Wood County. Several historic buildings are lost, including the town post office.

Dec. 24

1901: A fire truck and streetcar collide at Collingwood and Dorr. Fire captain John Ward is killed.

1928: Charles Tiedtke, who owned the famous department store in downtown Toledo with his brother, dies.

1949: Heavy holiday shopping crowds are reported in downtown Toledo as thousands jam sidewalks and stores for last-minute holiday bargains.

1958: Anderson’s Boat Company plant in Oak Harbor is destroyed by flames.

Dec. 25

1880: Former South Carolina governor, Robert Scott, is arrested for the murder of a young Elmore man at a drugstore in Napoleon. Scott accused the man of getting his son drunk at the store on Christmas Eve. Scott is later acquitted.

1892: Toledo homes are plunged into darkness as linemen for local power company go on strike and cut electric lines.

1895: George Ketcham's new Valentine Theater opens in Toledo for its grand debut. Some of Toledo's most fashionable ladies wore specially designed dresses for the event. The theater is named for Ketcham's father, Valentine Ketcham.

1913: “East Auditorium” opens as the first movie theater in East Toledo.

1927: The Toledo Zoo opens its new Carnivora House as a home for the big cats and lions. It features quartz lighting and skylights.

1933: District fire chief Vanner Wendt dies from injuries while fighting a blaze on Suder Avenue.

1936: Christmas observances take place in the local shantytown along the Maumee River in East Toledo known as "Hooverville" or "Prosperity Row.” Over 50 makeshift shanties house hundreds of jobless men.

1941: Toledo City Councilman Addison Thacher holds his annual “no questions asked" Christmas dinner for 5,000 needy people in Toledo.

Dec. 26

1916: Wilson Brown, who was among the group of Union soldiers known as the famous Andrews’ Raiders of the Civil War, dies at his home in East Toledo. The Medal of Honor recipient is buried in Wood County, north of Bowling Green.

1919: Four men raid the Lucas County Jail, shooting one guard and locking up three deputies, while freeing a convicted killer and two safebreakers.

1932: Two young men from Point Place, 24-year-old George Erd, and 18-year-old Bill McDermott, take it upon themselves to play Santa by delivering toys in an old horse drawn coal wagon. The toys were discarded toys they found in alleys and trash cans and fixed and repainted them to be used again.

1954: Ohio Bell reports that Christmas Day required 375 operators to handle over 16,000 holiday greeting calls from all over the world.

1961: Nickles' Bread Company advertises "butter-nut" bread. They are Toledo's only remaining bread company with "home delivery."

1971: Toledo Metro Parks begin a push to acquire many new parcels of land to preserve for future park use. Areas targeted include Oak Openings, Swan Creek, and the Maumee Riverfront.

Dec. 27

1887: The town of Put-in-Bay is established amid fanfare of great rowdy celebration.

1897: Sun Oil reports that 1,786 new oil wells were drilled in Wood County during the year. Two hundred of them were dry.

1905: Entertainer and comedian Cliff Arquette, known as “Charlie Weaver,” is born in Toledo as the son of a Vaudevillian father. He would eventually become the patriarch of the Arquette show business family, serving as the grandfather of actors Rosanna, Patricia, Alexis, and David Arquette.

1923: Michael Owens, the man who helped make Toledo the “Glass Capital” with his innovative bottle making machines, takes his last breath at the age of 65. Owens was at work in his Toledo office when he suffered a sudden heart attack.

1937: Toledo City Council approves an ordinance to outlaw personal possession or discharge of fireworks within city limits. Only public displays will be permitted.

1949: Tiedtke's holds an "After-Christmas" sale, offering men's work jackets for 88 cents and boys' sweaters for $1.

1953: A car plunges off the Cherry Street Bridge into the Maumee River as five young Toledoans drown.

Dec. 28

1905: Perrysburg marshal Frank Thornton is mortally wounded in a shootout on the train platform in downtown Perrysburg with safecrackers who robbed the Central interurban car barn in Toledo. He dies several weeks later.

1915: Toledo mayor Carl Keller is indicted for bribery by a Lucas County grand jury, accused of accepting kickbacks for contracts.

1921: Toledo police patrolman William Reed, 31, is shot to death while questioning a suspect, leaving behind his widow and six children.

1938: Southwest winds blow water from the Maumee River out into Lake Erie, dropping water levels below the water supply intake pipes and reducing the water supply for a short time. It was the lowest water level ever recorded on the Maumee River.

1959: WOHO 1470 Radio features "Hitch with Mitch" (Fred Mitchell) and the "Lucky 13 — The potential hits of tomorrow."

1978: The Coast Guard crew from Marblehead rescues 21 rabbit hunters who run aground on a tugboat near Pelee Island.

Dec. 29

1873: The city of Toledo’s new public water system and supply is operating and providing clean, fresh water to homes and businesses through a system of underground pipes.

1894: The Dayton and Michigan grain elevator in East Toledo erupts into flames, killing one workman and destroying over 600,000 bushels of corn.

1910: A young Neapolis man is in the jail in Lucas County after police say he swallowed a bullet and then hit himself in the stomach with a pan in hopes of committing suicide. He was arrested on a charge of lunacy.

1919: As the prohibition era begins to take effect, Toledo's first murder involving illegal booze takes place as 29-year-old Siegfried Gross is gunned down by booze thieves on River Road in Toledo.

1937: An Erie Isles Airways plane crashes on Starve Island. Three passengers are killed, but the pilot is rescued.

1939: The popular Glenn Miller Orchestra performs at the Trianon Ballroom in Toledo.

Dec. 30

1852: The first train arrives in Toledo via the newly established Toledo, Norwalk, and Cleveland Railroad Company. The rails would take trains from Cleveland to Toledo via a southern route that included Fremont, Elmore, Genoa, and Millbury. It was the final link in the first train line between New York and Chicago.

1918: Influenza deaths continue in Toledo with 350 reported to have lost lives for the year and 6,000 cases of influenza overall.

1932: Toledo’s gangster wars continue as two mobsters and booze runners, Sam Kaplan and “Speedy Lampert,” are slain in Monroe, Mich.

1938: A car accident claims the life of BGSU president Roy Offenhauer.

Dec. 31

1863: The Green Island Lighthouse burns on Lake Erie.

1901: The casino theater on Maumee Bay at Point Place burns to the ground. The fast-moving blaze destroys the popular event venue and gaming spot. Firefighters tried to save the structure, but after a few hours it was a total loss. The owners say the damage was $25,000, and they will rebuild the casino.

1905: The Toledo Fire Department reports a record breaking 700 fires in the city for the year.

1920: Ohio is ranked as third in the nation for oil production behind Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. Northwest Ohio has over 21,000 wells pumping about a third of a barrel per day.

1931: It’s now reported that 8,000 people in Toledo are on direct relief as the effects of the depression grow worse.

1949: The last trolley car runs on the streets of Toledo as the Monroe Street long-belt streetcar makes its final run. Hundreds line up to watch the trolley on its end-of-the-line trek through downtown Toledo.

Jan. 1

1860: Temperatures in Toledo fall to 15 degrees below zero.

1897: The new Lucas County Courthouse opens to the public. It still stands today.

1900: Toledo ice yacht racers hold their annual racing event on Maumee Bay on a frozen course from Point Place to Turtle Island, competing for the "Torpedo" cup.

1923: Six thousand fans of Scott High School fill the Terminal Auditorium to listen to the special radio broadcast from Corvallis, Ore. as the Scott football team plays a championship game against a high school there.

1935: The economy is so bad that the Toledo News Bee refuses to wish Toledoans a Happy New Year.

1937: Point Place is officially annexed to the city of Toledo.

1946: A New Year’s Day fire claims the lives of two brothers in Genoa. The blaze trapped the boys, 17-year-old Jerry Dunn and his seven-year-old brother Teddy, near the stairwell of their home. It's believed the flames were triggered by faulty Christmas lights.

1953: Nine inmates escape from the Lucas County Jail after sawing their way through a barred window and dropping to the ground. Sheriff Timiney says he suspects an "inside" job.

Jan. 2

1915: Page Dairy offers butter in one-pound packages instead in bulk, introducing a new concept in retail marketing for the product.

1925: Larry Weiss is born in Toledo. He later changed his name to Larry Harmon and portrayed "Bozo the Clown," helping the character become an American icon.

1930: The modern-day Toledo Hospital building opens for patient admissions.

1932: Five top officers of Toledo’s Security Home Bank are indicted by Lucas County for swindling millions from bank depositors.

1938: Toledo's Phyllis Welch joins movie legend and producer Harold Lloyd to co-star in "Professor Beware." Welch enjoyed a short but popular Hollywood career. She passed away in 2008 at age 96.

Jan. 3

1894: The Quayle grain elevator burns to the ground in Toledo at the present-day site of Promenade Park at Madison and Water Streets. Toledo fire captain James Fraser is killed, and his body is never recovered. A memorial sign now marks the site of the fire and his remains.

1907: Christian Feilbach, a top Toledo Public Schools official, asserts that too much money is being spent on girls' physical education classes. He says "girls do not need to be jumping over chairs" and if they want exercise, "let them wash dishes, cook and other household work, and the family washing."

1918: The Anna C. Mott Branch of the Toledo Library opens.

1920: As part of a nationwide crackdown on communist radicals, Toledo police and federal agents raid the local Communist Labor Party headquarters at Front and Consaul Street. They arrest 13 immigrants from Hungary they alleged to be "Reds" and are subject to deportation.

1931: A fire destroys the interior of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church on Cherry Street.