Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Aug. 17
1852: A riot and fistfight ensues between competing Toledo fire companies as they battle a blaze in downtown Toledo, allowing the building to burn to the ground.
1888: Hundreds of Libbey Glass workers arrive from Boston by train, ready to start work in the new Toledo factory on Buckeye Street. Many would later return to their homes in Boston.
1900: Several mail cars of the Lake Shore Limited Train plunge into Sandusky Bay en route to Toledo. Nine mail handlers swim to safety.
1907: Toledo is the site of radio history as inventor Lee Deforest and Toledo inventor Frank Butler show onlookers how they talk to each other without wires. Using a special transmitter and receiver unit that they invented, the men can talk to each other between the Ohio and Nicholas buildings in downtown Toledo.
1912: Waite High School is well on its way to completion in East Toledo. The structure was built in four years at a cost of $900,000. Contrary to urban myth, the building was not built backwards. Architect David Stine designed it to face East Toledo — not the river.
1915: The annual “Baby Festival,” gets underway in downtown Toledo, focusing on the health and nutrition of babies. Thousands of families attend, ultimately buying ice and milk for infants of the city’s poor.
1931: A black day in Toledo history occurs when four major banks fail to open, triggering panic among many residents whose deposits and savings are held in those banks. Toledo Trust and First National saw their lobbies jammed with throngs of people trying to get deposits released. All police officers are called in to keep order.
1933: NASA Flight Commander Gene Kranz is born in Toledo. Kranz studied aeronautical engineering in college and later became the chief mission director for NASA. He directed NASA’s Mercury and Gemini Projects, as well as the Apollo Program, and he was director of the first manned mission to the moon.
Aug. 18
1895: Six prisoners escape from the Lucas County jail after tying up the jailer.
1904: It’s estimated by a Toledo caterer that Toledoans are now spending a total of some $300,000 per year eating lunches in downtown Toledo. Most people spend between 30 to 50 cents per day for a lunchtime meal.
1908: A race riot reported at Camp Perry between the white waiters and the negro cooks in the mess hall.
1921: It’s reported in the Toledo News Bee that Fred Neidhamer of the 1300 block of Yates Street has a tomato plant that is nine feet high. He calls it his “Jess Willard” plant.
1930: A narrow escape is reported for a number of Toledo families as six lakeside cottages go up in flames at Luna Pier, Mich. No one is injured.
1967: A powerful explosion rocks the Sohio refinery in Oregon. Fourteen workers are injured.
Aug. 19
1888: Oil fever continues at a record pace in Wood County. The population of tiny Cygnet swells to over 3,000 residents as more oil wells are drilled and the production of oil becomes a promising new industry for the region.
1906: Feathers are flying on Colfax Street in Toledo about a noisy and talkative parrot owned by George Lucas. Neighbors want him to get rid of the parrot, which they say is too loud. They wrote Lucas a letter saying: “For heaven's sake, either sell, give away, choke, chloroform or pulverize this squawking parrot. We can't stand him anymore.” Lucas says he isn't getting rid of his parrot.
1924: An alarming increase is noted in the number of smallpox cases in Toledo with three more deaths — making five deaths in the past two weeks.
1929: The first glider makes its debut at the Toledo Transcontinental Airport as thousands of spectators watch a pilot from Lake Orion, Mich. demonstrate the motorless aircraft. It is catapulted into the air after being towed by a car.
1931: One man is in jail in Ottawa County, charged with shooting at a car near Forest Park on Woodville Road. Aaron Long says he opened fire on the car, with four men inside, because he thought they were the guys who ran into his car earlier in the night. They weren’t. Two of the young men in the car were slightly wounded, but there is a large hole in the side of the car.
1937: Hundreds of fishermen flock to the Maumee River between Waterville and Grand Rapids, trying to catch a large mouth bass named “Oscar.” It was released into the river and worth $50 if caught.
1942: Roth Furs in downtown Toledo features an “August” fur sale with prices starting at $59 for fur coats.
Aug. 20
1794: The Battle of Fallen Timbers is fought near the banks of the Maumee River as General Anthony Wayne defeats Indian tribes for control of Northwest Territory.
1879: A reunion of the Civil War’s Storming of Selma by the 3rd Ohio Volunteer Cavalry is held in Toledo.
1899: Good Shepherd Church in Toledo burns to the ground.
1912: The annual, week-long Elks Carnival gets underway at Armory Park, but one popular show called a "Trip to the Moon" featuring scantily clad women, is being shut down.
1924: A large area of East Toledo is under quarantine after five more smallpox deaths are reported.
1935: WSPD Radio holds a ceremony at its new transmitter on Oregon Road, which can now transmit 2,500 watts a day.
1937: Typhoid fever is being reported in Ottawa County — eventually becoming one of the worst epidemics in recent years. A health department official reports 13 cases so far, and he is recommending that everyone gets vaccinated. It first broke out at a girls YWCA camp at Lakeside, which has now been closed.
1965: The first Ottawa County Fair opens between Oak Harbor and Port Clinton.
1980: A rare magnitude 2.5 earthquake shakes the Western Lake Erie region from Toledo to Detroit.
Aug. 21
1838: A fever and ague epidemic in Northwest Ohio continues. Many in the Toledo area are sick and dying.
1908: Residents around Elmore are curious about who the culprit was that went deep into the cornfield of Louis Schaaf and cut down two acres of his best corn. Schaaf did not discover the vandalism for at least a week because it was hidden deep inside the field. He did find two sets of footprints and wondered who it was who has a grudge against him.
1909: King Wamba of Spain makes his first visit to Toledo for the first gala called the Wamba Carnival of Toledo.
1915: Tipped off by a phone operator, Perrysburg police ambush a carload of suspected car thieves, wounding five and capturing two others.
1937: Inmates at the Lucas County Jail go on a hunger strike, protesting the food that is served.
1950: The annual Toledo Air Fair is underway at the Toledo Municipal Airport near Millbury. This year, the show will feature a special exhibit to explain how the Berlin Airlift was carried out at the end of World War II. The 60-foot display is being presented by the Air Force. The Air Fair will also feature the famous Cole Brothers Air Show Flying Circus.
Aug. 22
1890: The Elmore Independent newspaper reports that the state auditor counts 65 saloons now operating throughout Ottawa County.
1904: Judge Sherman W. Lott of Toledo sets a record for fastest wedding ceremony in his court by taking just four seconds to tie the knot for Frederick Hooper and Jesse Pearl Kall of Toledo.
1908: Oak Harbor just got a new 80-foot wooden pole upon which the town’s fire bell will be placed. It is hoped that it will be at a height so that all of the volunteer firemen can hear it when it’s rung.
1927: WTAL radio (later to become WSPD) moves from Waldorf Hotel into its new studio at 217 Superior St. in Toledo.
1947: Findlay residents complain about a large and rare invasion of horseflies that have been harassing just about everyone in recent weeks. One resident says he killed more than 160 in one day at his home.
1955: Thousands of spectators flock to the annual Water Circus and Show at the Scott Park pool — featuring synchronized swimmers and competition diving as part of the Toledo Recreation Festival.
Aug. 23
1917: The Leavitt Diving Armour Company of Toledo announces it has set a deep-sea diving record of 170 feet as they recover a large cache of treasure copper from the sunken freighter, “Pewabic,” on Lake Huron near Alpena, Mich.
1932: The Beebe House Hotel at Put-in-Bay is destroyed by a massive blaze.
1957: Big changes for phone users are happening in Toledo as Ohio Bell begins the changeover from old alpha-numeric exchanges to numerical-only prefixes for telephone numbers — which will eventually lead to direct long distance calling.
