Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
July 27
1882: A major fire breaks out at the Columbus and Toledo railroad depot in Walbridge, destroying the depot building and one of the largest barrel stave factories in the state of Ohio.
1887: A natural gas standpipe at the Cherry Street Bridge is opened amid great celebration as giant flames are ignited, heralding a new era of “cheap gas” and an economic boom.
1897: “Old Klondike,” Toledo’s first oil well, hits a small gusher on Millard Avenue in East Toledo. It flowed so hard that men were paid a dollar a day to help build a dike around it to contain the oil. It continued producing oil for decades.
1936: A brawl between several local toughs and 13 Toledo police officers breaks out at the Speedway Inn in the 3100 block of Lagrange.
1945: Three teenage boys from the area are killed at Rocky Ridge when their farm truck was hit by a fast moving eastbound New York Central train. The boys, ages 12, 13 and 16, had just delivered a load of wheat to the elevator and were returning home when they were hit by the train.
1972: Toledo’s most famous “stripper” and Town Hall burlesque theater owner, Rose La Rose, dies of cancer at the age of 59. Many Toledo residents and others from the world of show business attend her funeral.
July 28
1878: A scandal has been revealed in Elmore after coroners in Toledo have determined that Dr. John Lucky of Elmore performed an illegal abortion operation for a young woman, and she died soon after. It’s being recommended that Dr. Lucky be charged in the case, as well as a man from Kenton who arranged the operation at the Island House Hotel in Toledo.
1912: Seven members of an Erie, Mich. family are killed when their car is hit by a Lake Shore and Michigan Southern train just four miles north of the Ohio state line in Michigan.
1934: Richard Rosenthal, a 24-year old race car driver, is killed at the Fort Miami race track in Maumee. The young driver died when his Dusenberg slammed into a fence as spectators watched in horror.
1945: One-hundred-thousand people in Toledo line the riverfront to see a spectacular mock battle as 1,000 marines and 40 Navy planes storm the beach at Riverside Park. They performed the aerial display to demonstrate what American troops face in the war. There were flame throwers in use and numerous dynamite charges. More than 20 bystanders were hurt by debris from the exploding charges.
1948: Toledo men, Robert Bauman and John Riddle, win their second-straight Fort Wayne to Toledo canoe race on the Maumee River for the annual Aquarama Fest. Total time for the 135-mile journey: 25 hours and 38 minutes.
July 29
1891: An explosion occurs at a sawmill in Cummings, Ohio, which is now a ghost town near Moline in Wood County. Four men are killed.
1915: BGSU, then Bowling Green Normal School, holds its first commencement at a downtown Bowling Green theater.
1940: An arson-caused fire destroys the historic Horton Hall in Perrysburg’s downtown. The massive home of architectural merit was built in 1823 and believed to have hosted many important guests, including President William Henry Harrison and Daniel Webster.
1958: Pennsylvania Railroad says it will be shutting down three of its passenger routes out of Toledo to Pittsburgh, leaving only one passenger train a day.
July 30
1918: The lion “Cleopatra” escapes from her cage at Cedar Point. Visitors are in a panic before the big lion is recaptured.
1924: Voters in Ottawa Hills voted 58-37 to incorporate and form a village.
1959: Work begins in downtown Toledo on the much talked about “downtown mall” on Adams Street.
1968: Developers outline plans for the $30 million Franklin Park Mall in West Toledo with Penney’s, Lamson’s and Hudson's as the mall’s anchor stores.
1983: Worldwide Auto Sales on Sylvania Avenue explodes and burns. Millions of dollars in damage is reported.
July 31
1923: The first female lawyer in Ohio, 80-year-old Annette “Nettie” Cronise Lutes, dies at her home in Tiffin. The Seneca County native first gained admission to the Ohio Bar in 1873.
1931: A formal dedication ceremony is held at Perry’s Monument on Put-in- Bay. An NBC radio network carries the ceremony live.
1938: A crash between two luxury passenger trains occurs in Ottawa County as 38 people are injured.
1963: One of the worst highway tragedies in state history occurs when 10 members of the Felix Campos family are killed. Their station wagon, en-route to the Woodville Drive-in, was hit head on by a semi truck as they attempted to pass a car near Genoa on Route 51.
Aug. 1
1885: The Soldiers Monument is unveiled at Fort Stephenson Park in Fremont.
1915: The Ohio Oil Company is formed to produce petroleum products from all the oil that is being pumped out of Northwest Ohio.
1916: A camel given to the city of Toledo by Barnum and Bailey Circus dies an hour later after it is given a cold bottle of beer to drink by a city veterinarian.
1921: In a tragic day on Toledo streets for the city’s police department, patrolman William Kress is killed while trying to arrest a man with a gun on State Street. He left behind a wife and six-year-old daughter. He died on the third anniversary of wearing a TPD badge.
1928: A massive explosion and fire on Spencer Street destroys three industrial businesses and injures two men.
1928: An angry farmer shoots and wounds two caddies at Toledo's Heather Downs Golf Course who were hunting for lost balls in his wheat field adjoining the course. Farmer William Sharples is taken into custody and charged with assault.
1929: A riot cuts short the carnival at Front and Consaul Streets when a Waite High School footballer took exception to being called a “rube” by a carnival worker. A fight ensued and then more than 100 carnival workers and fellow Waite supporters began brawling. Several injuries were reported.
1965: A plane crash near Woodville kills four people. The two couples from Cleveland were returning home from Iowa when the single engine plane reportedly exploded and fell apart over Route 20.
Aug. 2
1813: The British Army attacks Ft. Stephenson in Fremont but is repelled by the American troops and the clever use of a cannon named “Old Betsy.”
1899: John Brown Jr., the son of the famous abolitionist John Brown, dies at his home on South Bass Island in Ottawa County.
1931: Toledo native, Kay Carroll, who starred in the "Vanities" Broadway show in New York, dies of peritonitis at St. Vincent Hospital in Toledo. The 25-year-old star, who was born Mildred Schafer Ryan, was home to visit her family and husband.
1934: A major windstorm tears through the region. Heavy damage is reported on the Lake Erie islands.
1940: Toledo police raid several notorious gambling dens in the city. Twenty-five people are arrested and the gambling equipment and tables are axed.
1972: Four dozen people, including 40 teenagers and some as young as 13, are arrested at the Gigolo Club on West Central Avenue. It was part of a bust of serving underage kids, who had been partying there for several weeks.
