Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Jan. 18
1930: Seven U.S. coast guardsmen are charged with accepting a bribe from Canadian rum runners from Toledo. They are later cleared of the charges.
1942: A Toledo judge warns draft dodgers that he will “not hesitate” to send them to jail for five years.
1948: A small earthquake shakes Lucas County.
1948: Willys-Overland in Toledo announces a new family Jeep sedan with four doors, a six-cylinder engine, and a passenger-type interior.
1958: It’s reported that shoppers in the downtown LaSalle department store were terrorized by the mysterious release of 35 mice and four pigeons in the store. The prank is believed to be strike-related.
Jan. 19
1886: While being transported by train from Arkansas to New York, two large “killer” wolves escape during a stop in Toledo. They gnawed through their wooden crates at the Toledo Express office, ran wild for a half hour, and ate anything they could — including a jug of whiskey, which made them sleepy and docile, enabling their recapture.
1904: A train collision in Rocky Ridge proves fatal to one of the freight-pulling engineers riding on the lead engine.
1905: The “Pope Toledo” automobile is gaining popularity around the nation, earning a reputation as a “fast speed” car. It makes a record 503-mile run in 24 hours and three minutes. The Pope is manufactured by the former American Bicycle Company in Toledo owned by Colonel Albert Pope.
1919: More than $30,000 worth of diamonds and jewelry is stolen from Mrs. Michael Owens while she and her famed inventor husband were dining at the Toledo Club. The jewels are recovered 10 days later in New York City. The thief is alleged to be a waiter at the Toledo Club.
1926: The body of 42-year-old Mary Handley is found and believed to be the seventh victim of the notorious "Toledo Clubber," who has been victimizing women for months in Toledo.
1953: The newly built Anthony Wayne High School opens in Whitehouse.
1955: Hearings resume in Washington, D.C. on allegations that Toledo industrialist, attorney, and broadcast station owner Edward Lamb had ties to the Communist Party.
1984: Toledo Federal District Court Judge Nicholas Walinski is given a three-day jail sentence for drunk driving.
Jan. 20
1875: Scores of men gather at the Boody House Hotel to witness the first telephone call made in Toledo.
1886: Great excitement is reported in Northwest Ohio as the "Karg" natural gas well is struck in downtown Findlay near the Blanchard River, igniting a massive pocket of gas that is reputed to be the largest in the world. Its tower of flames can be seen as far away as Toledo. The sight draws onlookers and gas experts from around the world to witness its spectacle of power and flame.
1895: Peter Shaw, Toledo’s oldest resident, passes away at the age of 95. He was reported to be one of the city’s original pioneers and the first street commissioner of the town.
1920: The Toledo Health Commission reports 1,000 cases of the flu in the city and three deaths.
1927: Toledo police show off their new bullet-proof armor by having officers position themselves behind it while bullets are shot at them in a live demonstration. The bullets never penetrated the hard metal.
1944: A four-alarm blaze occurs at Harry's Auto Store in downtown Toledo at Summit and Jackson Streets. Damage is set at over $250,000.
Jan. 21
1904: A teen boy at Toledo High School will be allowed to re-enter the school after the handgun he took to school discharged during class. He was given a “stern lecture” by police, who say he just forgot he had the gun in his pocket.
1915: Toledo police detective Kaiser Bartecki is shot and killed by suspected stalker, Peter Skribner, who had earlier gunned down his former girlfriend. It was during the pursuit of Skribner that Bartecki was shot and killed in the 300 block of Kosciousko Street in North Toledo.
1921: Women who work in the Spitzer Building form a “hatpin brigade” to defend themselves against “Jack the Hugger,” an elderly man who they say hangs out in the lobby and tries to grab them.
1970: The notorious brothel at the "Round the Clock Grille” on Woodville Rd. near Millbury is raided by federal agents after almost 20 years of operation. The raid netted charges against the owners, as well as Ottawa County law enforcement officials who had accepted bribe money. The operator of “The Clock,” Lillian Tailford, was sentenced to federal prison for tax evasion.
1972: Nolte’s Sohio gas station, located on Woodville Rd. in Genoa, erupts into an inferno after an eight-vehicle accident occurs involving a gasoline tank truck. Two people were injured.
1984: Record setting low temperatures are reported in Toledo at 20 degrees below zero.
Jan. 22
1813: The River Raisin massacre occurs near Frenchtown Township. Hundreds of American troops under the command of General Winchester are killed by the British and Native Americans. The attack is led by Chief Tecumseh and the defeat became an American battle cry for remainder of War of 1812.
1900: The Kuebeler Hotel in Oak Harbor has its grand opening with hordes of people and a band for the ceremony. The hotel features 35 rooms and both electric and gas chandeliers.
1904: The Portage River at Oak Harbor goes on a rampage. The ice jams break in the river, triggering record flooding. Many homes and businesses are flooded out.
1921: Fifteen thousand loaves of bread and 5,000 quarts of milk are given to Toledo Mayor Cornell Schreiber to hand out to Toledo's needy families. The anonymous donor was a Toledo businessman.
1927: Seven people are killed and many others are injured in a gas main explosion at a retail and apartment building in Point Place. The two-story brick building housed a dry-cleaning operation, barber shop, and grocery store. Three of those who died in the powerful Saturday morning blast were young children living in an apartment.
1929: Nineteen people are killed in the collision of a Lakeshore Electric train (LSE) and a bus in Bellevue. Oddly, an injured passenger from Detroit who thought he was dying, but ended up surviving, confessed to rescuers that he had recently robbed a bank.
1937: Notorious Port Clinton bootlegger John Zetzer is arrested and others, including underworld characters, Joe Roscoe and “Soupy” Greyson, are being sought for their part in a train robbery and escape of fugitive Alvin Karpis and his gang. Zetzer, a pilot, is accused of flying Karpis out of state after the robbery in Garretsville, Ohio east of Cleveland.
1965: Plans are approved to dismantle the "troublesome" glass tower fountain at the Civic Center Mall. The 35-foot-high fountain of glass blocks and lights had never worked correctly since it was built 20 years prior.
Jan. 23
1904: A massive back up of flood waters that threatened downtown Toledo has now been loosened, and the city is hopeful the worst has passed. Three main bridges over the Maumee River were damaged by the high water and ice.
1906: A major fire destroys several businesses in downtown Genoa, including O.G. Werners Grocery, the meat market owned and operated by Cashen and Gallup, and Heilman’s jewelry store. The village says the block is not likely to be rebuilt.
1910: Toledo Public School officials continue their tradition of offering sleigh rides to school children. This year, the rides will go to the youngest children first because of a lack of snow.
1912: A 16-year-old Toledo boy tells a juvenile court that he was driven to commit robberies because of a drug habit he was coaxed into by the dope traffickers that hang out near the school selling heroin tablets.
1932: In Port Clinton, the phone operators who work above a local barber shop are gagging on the fumes of dead rats after some men in the barber shop scattered rat poison in the building. The stench from the dead rats has been making the phone operators sick from the putrid odor.
1959: A fire breaks out in the BGSU campus dining hall. Heavy damage is reported.
Jan. 24
1879: A large wooden grain elevator, located on the Middle Grounds by the Maumee River, burns to the ground. Over 100,000 bushels of corn and 120,000 bushels of flax seed are destroyed. The elevator is reduced to rubble.
1899: Toledo inventor Allen DeVilbiss patents an automatic scale.
1916: A Toledo architect draws up plans and submits them to the state for an “all glass” prison in Toledo. The building would allow guards to see through walls, increasing their ability keep watch over the inmates. The idea never came to fruition.
1930: About 1,000 jobless men erupt into a small riot on the streets of Toledo, ransacking downtown stores, while protesting a lack of jobs.
1931: A special private security guard in Lucas County is arrested for staging fake crimes in the Niles Beach area so he could increase his business as a watchman for area homeowners.
1959: Violinist Isaac Stern plays with the Toledo Symphony at the Peristyle.
1963: A deep freeze hits the Toledo area with temperatures recorded at 19 degrees below zero.
1965: A major ice storm closes schools and businesses, snarls traffic, and causes power and phone outages throughout the Toledo area.
