Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Sept. 28
1892: Four thousand people assemble at the Craig Shipyards on Front Street to watch the launch of the newly built Ann Arbor # 1, a car ferry built for service on Lake Michigan. After a young girl broke a bottle of wine over the bow to christen the ship, the 267-foot craft was sent into the “murky waters of the Maumee to the cheers of thousands.”
1911: The City of Toledo’s Health Department announces that it will use university students to test various foods from Toledo groceries to develop a “whitelist” of foods that are safe to consume.
1923: The three men arrested for the deadly bank robbery of the Genoa Bank in November 1922, in which druggist Winn Rhodert was shot and killed, have been found not guilty in trial at Port Clinton. The charges are dismissed, and the men are released from custody.
1929: Six young girls at St. Mary's School at Page and Jerome Street are bitten by a dog they had been playing with inside the schoolhouse. The dog escaped before police arrived.
1931: The Colored Protective Union is formed at 701 Division St. in Toledo – intended to protect the rights of “blacks” in the city and to pass legislation that would be “in the interest of the colored race,” says group President Charles Carson.
1933: A bank robber is killed in Luckey, Ohio during a shootout with village marshal Ben Stone. Stone, the first African American police chief in Ohio, is wounded in the attack, but survives to become a local legend.
Sept. 29
1817: The Treaty of Maumee Rapids is signed with several major Indian tribes, opening up most contested lands south of the Maumee River to white settlement.
1892: The first “long distance” telephone lines are being tested in the U.S. A successful test call was made between Maumee and South Bend, Ind. at 9:45am, as a whisper could be heard between the two cities.
1896: The Wood County Courthouse is completed at a cost of $310,000.
1917: The first football game is played at the new Waite Bowl in East Toledo.
1918: Five members of two families are killed at the New York Central train crossing in Clay Center. The families were all from nearby Martin and Clay Center.
1922: The city of Toledo’s health department warns residents living in “shed” homes near Girard and White Streets in East Toledo that they may be forced out of those rental properties because they have no sewer or water and are unsanitary.
1923: The Toledo University football team earns its nickname the "Rockets" in a game with Carnegie Institute of Technology when a sports writer says one of the TU players runs like a "rocket" and the name stuck.
1956: The new Lasalle’s sign is being raised at Adams and Huron Streets. It is said to be the largest sign in the city, weighing two tons.
Sept. 30
1900: Ottawa Park continues to show a huge increase in popularity as it’s noted in the local paper that thousands of people are turning out on the weekends to spend time in the park, and the golf course is also very busy.
1903: Amelia Combowski of East Toledo is arrested and taken to jail for picking up pieces of coal from the rail line along Yondota Street.
1916: Significant progress is being reported on the construction of the new Lasalle's store on Adams and Huron Streets.
1918: Toledo’s health commissioner confirms that the dreaded Spanish Flu is now present in Toledo with hundreds of cases.
1930: The Toledo, Fostoria, and Findlay Interurban line is abandoned.
1932: Crowds line up on Jackson Street at the Toledo News Bee building to watch the World Series with the new “Play-O-Graph” system of mechanical graphics that allows audience to watch the series as it unfolds.
1935: The Fassett Street Bridge over the Maumee collapses under stress of high wind. It is rebuilt only to be wrecked by a freighter in 1957.
1942: The Lucas County American Legion groups begin training programs at the YMCA and various high schools for boys 15 to 16 to prepare for military service in the war effort.
1957: The Toledo area is very dry and fire danger is high, and a ban on fires is put into place in Lucas and Fulton Counties.
Oct. 1
1903: The Toledo News Bee reports that a four-month-old baby boy was badly bitten by a baboon that was housed at an animal museum on Summit Street.
1912: Ground is broken for Perry’s Monument on South Bass Island.
1920: Three armed robbers hold up employees and customers of the Ohio Savings Bank on Broadway. They escape with about $1,800 but overlook $9,000 cash that had just been delivered to the bank.
1922: The Toledo Maroons NFL team plays their first game against Evansville Crimson Giants at Armory Park in Toledo, winning 15-0.
1929: Construction begins on the long-awaited High Level Bridge, a suspension bridge over the Maumee River — later renamed the Anthony Wayne Bridge.
1955: The entire length of the Ohio Turnpike is opened to traffic.
Oct. 2
1908: Addie Joss, a Toledo resident who was also a sports writer and pitcher for Cleveland Bluebirds, pitches a perfect game against Chicago.
1908: Six people are killed in a train collision near Bowling Green at Sugar Ridge after a freight ran into the rear of a passenger excursion train that was returning from the Wood County Fair.
1920: A coal famine hits Toledo. Many families suffer from a lack of heat and complain to the mayor for help.
1932: A congregation is shocked when the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Toledo has jazz orchestra play instead of traditional church music.
1934: Several Toledo teachers are accused by the school board of teaching “radicalism” and one teacher, Clyde Kiker of DeVilbiss High School, is reassigned to janitorial duties after he is accused of being a radical. He resigns in protest.
1936: Streetlights are turned off in Point Place because of a dispute with Toledo Edison.
1940: GOP presidential candidate Wendell Willkie makes campaign stop in Toledo, speaking to a crowd of 20,000 in front of Lucas County courthouse.
Oct. 3
1907: A motor car runs into a Lakeshore Electric train on Woodville Road. The engineer and conductor are killed and 30 passengers are injured.
1922: Toledo police officer Charles “Spike” Hennessey joins a “big game” hunt in Hardin County to find two lions that have been killing cattle, dogs, and other animals in that area.
1933: The first class of Ohio State Patrolmen candidates arrives at Camp Perry in Ottawa County to begin training.
1943: The first Italian POWs arrive at Camp Perry in Ottawa County where they will be imprisoned for the duration of World War II.
1953: The historic passenger ship, “Put-in-Bay,” burns in Lake St. Clair.
1955: The end of an era is signaled as news breaks that the former Mud Hens stadium at Swayne Field on Monroe and Detroit will be sold to developers for a shopping center.
Oct. 4
1822: Rutherford B. Hayes, who would later reside in Fremont and become President of the United States, is born in Delaware, Ohio.
1903: National political figure William Jennings Bryan, while on a northern Ohio tour, speaks in Napoleon, Wauseon, and Oak Harbor.
1911: The Rev. Joseph Schrembs becomes the first bishop for the newly created Toledo Catholic Diocese.
1929: Six Toledo area people are arrested in what federal agents announce was an international narcotics ring.
1934: Well-known Toledo gambling figure, Jimmy Hayes, is found murdered in a Detroit alley. It's believed he was murdered elsewhere and dumped at that location.
