Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
April 5
1867: In what would become the modern-day version, the Toledo Police Department is created when the Ohio legislature approves a full-time police force, releasing the city marshals from their duties.
1897: Samuel "Golden Rule" Jones, one of Toledo's most colorful and controversial mayors, is elected to office. The Welsh-born businessman and self-made millionaire was an ardent social reformer of the era who believed that workers should be treated fairly, and crime was the product of poverty and not evil. He would go to be elected three more times.
1957: The lake freighter "Champlain" rips loose from its moorings on the Maumee River in heavy winds and crashes into Fassett Street Bridge. The bridge loses 600 feet of its span and is never rebuilt.
1961: A discarded cigarette in a basement lounge sparks a blaze at Riverside Hospital that forced 135 patients to evacuate into the chilly morning air. Several patients and nurses suffered smoke inhalation, and others dealt with shock and hysteria as heavy smoke filled the four-story hospital on Summit Street.
1968: "Topping out" ceremonies are held for the new Fiberglas Tower under construction in Toledo. When complete, it becomes Toledo's tallest building at 30 stories high. The top floor features a very popular restaurant called "Top of the Tower" offering dramatic views of the city.
1980: Sister Margaret Ann Pahl is murdered in the sacristy of the Mercy Hospital chapel. The murder remained unsolved until 2006, when Toledo Police arrest Catholic priest Father Gerald Robinson, a hospital chaplain for the murder. He was tried and convicted and sent to prison where he eventually died, maintaining his innocence till the end.
April 6
1906: Construction begins on Camp Perry near Port Clinton in Ottawa County.
1917: The U.S. declares war on Germany and enters what would later be known as World War I. Thousands of Toledo-area young men head for recruiting offices to join the armed forces to take part in the struggle. Toledoans at home begin to do their part with war bond drives and rallies.
1932: An intense arson fire guts the Merrill Company Building at 1300 Lagrange Street.
1932: In Genoa, grocers Nick Cashen and Al Camper are selling bread for seven cents a loaf this week and a 24-pound bag of flour is just 69 cents.
1941: Commercial fishermen on Lake Erie complain that raw sewage pollution being pumped into the lake is killing too many fish.
1964: The Princess Theater in downtown Toledo is featuring Elizabeth Taylor in the blockbuster "Cleopatra."
1990: It’s a sad day in Toledo for thousands of workers, who learn that Champion Spark Plug is going to close its plant on Upton Avenue after 80 years of production and jobs.
April 7
1905: The Toledo Fire Department accepts only nine men out of 82 applicants for jobs. Most are rejected for health problems including varicose veins, bad noses, bad teeth, bowlegs, flat feet, and husky voices.
1927: The Ohio Bell Company is urging telephone users in Toledo to go ahead and use the new "self-dial" system put into place in the city this week. They say that so far the new dial system is working well but people should be patient as they try to learn how to use the rotary dials and stop using an operator to place calls for them.
1956: The Lucas County Sheriff Department puts together the area's first underwater rescue and dive team.
1963: The State Historical Society reports that it is getting complaints about plans to prohibit picnics at Fort Meigs in Perrysburg.
1983: Toledo loses another long-time business as Babcock Dairy announces it is shutting down operations. It had been started in 1919 by Roy Babcock and was the largest independent dairy operating in the U.S.
April 8
1835: Michigan militia members storm the home of area pioneer Ben Stickney and arrest two visitors there. The adventure triggers the start of what would become known as the Toledo War, in which both Ohio and Michigan claim to own a narrow strip of land which includes the city of Toledo.
1856: Area farmers are selling potatoes for 19 cents a pound. A day's wages for common labor in the city was $2.25.
1911: The fiery evangelist, Bill Sunday, begins a spirited six-week revival campaign in Toledo. He is greeted by throngs of preachers and converts. He says he expects to reach 1,500 people a night in Toledo, which will be his largest audience in many years.
1919: Plans are announced to widen and lengthen the Welland Canal in Canada so that Toledo and other Great Lakes cities can someday host ocean-going ships and cargo.
1957: A surprise winter storm hits the city and area, dumping nearly 10 inches of snow, clogging roads and dashing the hopes for an early spring.
April 9
1905: Sewer diggers say they will never go back to a nine-hour workday and threaten to stop all sewer work in the city if they are forced to expand their workday again.
1955: Plans are being finalized by the city health department for the delivery and mass vaccination of 14,000 Toledo school children with the Salk polio vaccine. As soon as the vaccine arrives in Toledo, children will be taken by buses to the health center to get their shots.
1973: Storms with heavy winds from the northeast cause more major flooding in Point Place and along the Lake Erie shoreline in Lucas County.
2002: The first baseball game, a 7-4 win by the Toledo Mud Hens over Norfolk, is played at the newly built Fifth Third field in downtown Toledo.
April 10
1915: Three iron workers are killed and others injured when the steelwork for the new Willys Overland plant collapses during construction.
1923: Toledo railway commissioner W.E. McCann writes in an op-ed that buses have been tried on Toledo Streets as a possible alternative to the Interurban trolleys, but he says the buses "leave much to be desired."
1978: Toledo Public School teachers and other school workers launch a system wide strike over wages and benefits. The strike would become a bitter and rancorous 22-day ordeal for all sides. After some picket line violence, bomb threats, and court orders, the strike was eventually settled and the striking teachers went back to the classroom.
April 11
1906: The women's probation officer for the city, Mary Corrigan, says the problem with boys and girls today is idleness. They have "nothing to do" and aren't forced to work around the house and just “run out to play."
1927: Two Toledo men are captured on Lake Erie when their cabin cruiser, laden with Canadian liquor, was seized after being riddled by bullets from the machine gun of a Coast Guard patrol boat. The men were not hurt but taken to jail. Three hundred cases of whiskey and beer were taken as evidence.
1946: A Toledo payroll tax of one percent is approved by voters.
1965: Point Place and Shoreland areas of Washington Township hit by F-4 tornadoes on Palm Sunday. The damage is massive and widespread, killing at least 16 people in Toledo, while many more fatalities are reported across Southeast Michigan. It marks the deadliest natural disaster in area history.
