Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
July 13
1833: The first property transaction in Toledo takes place as John Baldwin buys a lot in the new town of Vistula for $25 at Monroe and Summit.
1897: Five waterspouts are witnessed near South Bass Island.
1905: The largest roller rink in Ohio is now nearing completion at Ashland and Bancroft, measuring 175 feet by 85 feet.
1911: Seven Toledo residents are feared to be among those people trapped by raging forest fires in Michigan that have wiped out several communities in the region of the Au Sable River.
1926: The oldest man ever to be put in jail by Toledo police, 96-year-old James Hughes, is arrested for the theft of a chicken from a market on Cherry Street. Hughes said that at least he’ll get regular meals in prison.
1931: A & P Stores in Toledo advertise loaves of bread for seven cents, bags of brown sugar for five cents, and six ears of sweet corn for 25 cents.
1976: Visitors are coming to Genoa to check out the first “privy” that is on the National Historic Register. The century-old brick outhouse, sitting behind the former Camper Elementary School, was named earlier in the month to the elite register because of its Romanesque revival architecture.
July 14
1904: A double execution is held in Columbus for two brothers from Lucas County, Albert and Benjamin Wade, who were convicted in the 1900 robbery and murder of Kate Sullivan in rural western Lucas County. Minutes before they were electrocuted, both maintained their innocence. Ben Wade is reported to have said just before the switch was pulled, "Now boys, don’t burn me up. I want to be a respectable looking corpse.”
1936: The hottest day on record in Northwest Ohio takes place as Toledo reports a high of 105 degrees. Bowling Green is even higher at 110 degrees. Some highways buckle under the heat stress.
1942: The Toledo Blade reports its new “photo-sound” machine that will allow them to get news photos from around the world within hours after an event occurs.
1951: At the Park Theater at Sylvania and Lewis, the movie “Bedtime for Bonzo” starring Ronald Reagan is shown.
1971: A 19-year old West Toledo woman reports to police that she had been having sex with dozens of Toledo police officers at the Willys Park pool after hours. Her claim leads to an investigation and suspension of numerous officers.
1980: Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan visits Toledo prior to start of the GOP Convention in Detroit.
July 15
1849: Toledo's first cholera epidemic breaks out. Over the next two weeks, more than 100 people died including the City Marshal.
1892: Six Toledo city councilmen are convicted of taking bribes from area businesses. They are sentenced to $250 in fines.
1903: Eight Toledo boys reported to have died from tetanus as a result of toy pistol and fireworks accidents over July 4th.
1935: The famed “Toledo Plan” is implemented as a way for business and industry to settle labor disputes. This came about after the deadly Auto-Lite strikes the previous year.
1969: The Princess Theater in downtown Toledo closes, leaving the Valentine and the Pantheon Theaters as the only remaining movie houses in downtown Toledo.
1973: County executive Ned Skeldon makes his long-promised swim across Maumee River after finishing substantial cleanup of the river. Hundreds gather to watch him swim from Walbridge Park to Rossford.
1983: The start of a new era at Jeep is marked as the first X-J Jeep rolls off assembly line at the Jeep Parkway plant.
July 16
1843: The last of the Wyandot Indians leave their Upper Sandusky native tribal lands on an eventual “trail of tears” to a new reservation in Kansas.
1896: The Toledo Mud Hens are born. The team plays first game at Bay View Park outside of the city limits so they could play on Sundays. The team earns its nickname because Bay View was a marshy area populated by "American Coot" waterfowl, often called mud hens.
1917: Willys-Overland of Toledo joins forces with Curtiss Aircraft to build airplanes in the new Willys-Morrow plant in Elmira, N.Y.
1934: A trio of armed robbers gets away with $19,000 from the Page Dairy plant on Knapp Street in Toledo. Two of the bandits are believed to be wounded after owner, Henry Page, opens fire on them with a shotgun he keeps in the office. The bandits were captured near Monroe, Mich. a couple of days later.
1936: A dedication concert at the new Toledo Zoo amphitheater is held with the Toledo Civic Symphony, the forerunner to the Toledo Symphony. Toledo police inspector Charles Roth was the conductor.
1940: A fire sweeps through an upper floor attic of St. Vincent’s Hospital, forcing the evacuation of 142 patients. No injuries to patients are reported, but two Toledo firemen were overcome by smoke while battling the blaze.
1959: Eight Navy ships and thousands of sailors and Marines arrive in Toledo as part of the St. Lawrence Seaway opening celebrations and festivities.
1972: Joe Niekro pitches a seven-inning no-hitter for the Toledo Mud Hens at the team’s home ballpark in Maumee.
1972: Notorious prohibition Licavoli mob killer Jacob “Firetop” Sulkin dies at his home in Toledo at age of 80.
July 17
1835: An angry mob of Michiganders storm the Toledo home of Ben Stickney to arrest his son “Two Stickney” in one of the first skirmishes of the Ohio- Michigan War. Stickney had named his sons “One” and “Two.”
1884: The first birth is reported at what would later become Riverside Hospital. It was a boy.
1927: Albertus Brown, a prominent member of Toledo's black community and civil rights attorney, dies at his home at the age of 46.
1932: Three volunteer firemen from Adams Township are killed and 12 others are injured when their speeding fire truck is forced off Reynolds Road near Hill. The truck went into a deep ditch and rolled three times. Killed in the crash were Archie Dennis, Orville Reynolds and Arthur Northup. The driver of the car that forced them off the road fled the scene.
1934: A “human wheelbarrow” of two Toledoans, Donald Taylor and William Robb, set out from New York City on the first ever cross-country trip of unusual human endurance. They did arrive in California several months later.
July 18
1908: At the White City Amusement Park in Toledo, a “Man of Mystery” act is promoted as a Houdini-type performance.
1914: Well-known Toledo banker Colonel John Parsons is crushed to death in an elevator accident in the Nasby building.
1920: The Avro Flying Service opens in downtown Toledo, selling small three-seater airplanes to the public with the stated goal to “Make Toledo a Flying City.”
1927: At Fort Miami Race Track in Maumee, a “masked driver” is handcuffed to the wheel of a bus to begin a 144-hour endurance run to test the durability of the vehicle. He did complete the run but not without some health issues and a need for water.
1929: Toledo zookeeper Charles Connor is attacked by a zebra. He suffers serious injuries and the zoo takes steps to prevent other keepers from becoming trapped inside an animal pen in the event of an attack.
1934: Roy Parmalee, a former Mud Hen who was born in Lambertville, Mich., hits the game-winning grand slam for the New York Giants in a contest against the Chicago Cubs.
1950: Reverend George Rehring becomes the fourth Bishop of Toledo Catholic Diocese.
1955: The Toledo Port Authority is formed, becoming the first port authority in Ohio.
1983: The Lung Association in Lucas County begins its first efforts to restrict smoking in Toledo restaurants in the county.
July 19
1889: Electric streetcars make first test runs on Toledo streets.
1894: Toledo police assign six of the department's best marksmen for "dog shooting" duty assigned every summer to shoot stray dogs running loose.
1897: “June bugs,” or Mayflies, are so thick in the area that the ladies bicycle races at the Toledo Casino are postponed.
1910: Toledo boaters and zoo officials look for a sea lion that escaped into the Maumee River from the Toledo Zoo.
1937: Ohio Bell reports there are now 56,370 phone numbers listed in the Toledo directory, up by more than 15,000 since the very worst years of the depression.
1950: John Steinman Auto Sales on Ontario Street is selling the new six-passenger Studebaker Champion sedan for $1506.18.
