Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
March 1
1803: Ohio is admitted to the Union.
1904: Major flooding occurs on the Maumee River from Fort Wayne to Toledo as the Waterville bridge is taken out by ice jams.
1919: Folks around Curtice and Williston are recovering from a major windstorm that did considerable damage to area homes and businesses. Electric car service was stalled out, while phone service was down as the gales knocked out trees and poles. A team of horses on Pickle Road got picked up by the wind and turned over, while a buggy parked in front of Dunn's Saloon was thrown into a ditch. Many barns and homes lost their rooftops to the winds.
1926: Seventeen people are arrested after a “rum runner’s war” erupts into a gun battle on the streets of downtown Toledo and the Old West End. Four cars, four revolvers, and a dozen rounds of ammunition were recovered.
1947: Tom Sholz of the music group "Boston" is born in Toledo.
1957: A "berserk" gunman opens fire and wounds two Toledo policemen and two women at a home in the 600 block of Norwood before turning the gun on himself.
March 2
1849: Well-known local pioneer Isaac Van Tassel dies while riding a horse near present-day Grand Rapids.
1900: Inmates at the Toledo Workhouse on "Duck Island" in Swan Creek say they are being held in inhumane conditions and want an investigation. They allege everything from "rotten meat" being served to them to torture in dungeons as their complaints.
1904: Major flooding hits Grand Rapids on the Maumee River, and the old wagon bridge is torn away by the flood waters.
1928: Construction begins for Central Catholic High School on Cherry Street.
1930: A deadly gun battle erupts at the Standard Oil Company warehouse in South Toledo. The night watchman and one of the bandits in the gang are killed. Police later find a Thompson sub machine gun that had been left at the nearby Segur School.
1947: Toledo bans the baking and sale of cream-filled pastries after 50 people are sickened by contaminated chocolate Eclairs from a Lewis Avenue bakery.
1974: The 55 MPH speed limit goes into effect on all Ohio major highways as speed limits are reduced to save gasoline.
1976: Some great flicks are at the movie theaters. Showcase Cinema on Secor is featuring One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, while at the Franklin Park Cinema presents Dog Day Afternoon. The Fox Theater at the Woodville Mall shows Three Days of the Condor.
March 3
1857: One of the first murders in Sylvania occurs when a man by the name of Return Ward commits a “murder most foul” by killing his wife and then burning her body to hide her remains. Ward is later convicted and hanged. He was also suspected of having committed other murders in New York State prior to his move to Ohio.
1905: Master pianist and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski of Poland plays to a packed audience at Toledo's Valentine Theater.
1921: Local educators vow not to allow “barbarisms” of the English language, expressions such as “It is me” or “He don’t,” to gain a foothold in Toledo Public Schools.
1930: Ground is broken on the new University Hall at the University of Toledo, the first building construction project at the school on Bancroft.
1937: Earth tremors shake much of Midwest, including downtown Toledo.
1944: The USS Mackinaw Coast Guard cutter is launched at the Toledo Shipyards.
1981: Ollie Czelusta, who in the 1950s served as Toledo’s first Polish mayor, dies at the age of 85.
March 4
1919: “Babe,” the large Indian elephant at the Toledo Zoo, is used to push a big truck out of the heavy mud at Dartmouth and Amherst Street, adjacent to the zoo. The truck is crushed in the incident.
1938: Over 100 unemployed men stage a sit-down protest inside the Fulton County Courthouse in Wauseon.
1955: The large log building on the BGSU campus known as the "Falcon's Nest," used as a student union since 1941, is moved from the campus down Main Street to Portage, Ohio where it was used for years as the American Legion Hall.
1958: Monroe County deputies find 84 gallons of illegal moonshine hidden in a truck loaded with bales of hay. A subsequent raid on the suspects’ home uncovers a large distillery operation.
1976: Toledo bowler, 46-year-old John Pezzin, rolls 33 consecutive strikes in back-to-back 300 games and an 859 series at Miracle Lanes. It sets a new record for consecutive strikes.
1983: Four prisoners escape from the newly opened Lucas County Jail.
March 5
1880: Toledo policeman John Hassett is killed after being hit by tornado debris from a falling smokestack while on duty at Buckeye Brewery.
1916: An investigation is promised after the Toledo Hospital refused to admit a woman in labor. Ada Jones was forced out into the streets where she had her 10-pound baby boy in a snowbank in front of shocked pedestrians at Bancroft and Cherry.
1927: Toledo police continue the round up of “degenerates” and “tramps” after a nine-year-old girl says she was attacked by a red bearded tramp.
1939: Nick Cashen's Store in Genoa is selling candy bars three for 10 cents and a two-pound box of crackers for 19 cents. Meanwhile, across the street, Camper's Meat Market is advertising sirloin steak for 27 cents a pound and hamburger for 17 cents a pound.
1960: More than 30,000 bowlers from 43 states come to Toledo to take part in the American Bowling Congress championship.
March 6
1837: Toledo holds its first municipal elections, and John Berdan is elected as mayor.
1857: The first students graduate from Toledo’s first high school.
1878: Mattie Haynes, also known as Jessie Stockman, was shot through the heart and killed in a bordello in Toledo. Louis Attenborough, her husband, was the gunman and had pleaded with her to return home with him before he shot her.
1895: A Wood County grand jury indicts three Wood County commissioners, three architects, and contractors for what prosecutors say was corruption in the building of the new courthouse in Bowling Green.
1908: The freighter, Yuma, tore loose from its moorings on the Maumee River and slammed into the Cherry Street Bridge, knocking it into the ice-gorged river. Parts of the bridge were used to build the Ash-Consaul Street Bridge further downstream.
1926: It’s reported that Edward Drummond Libbey has left $14 million to endow the Toledo Museum of Art.
1934: A Port Clinton man says he has invented the world’s smallest radio, which fits into a matchbox and is powered by a battery.
1959: High winds knock down radio towers in Bowling Green.
March 7
1849: The first Maumee-Perrysburg bridge is wiped out by severe flooding on the Maumee River.
1924: Home Furniture on Summit Street in Toledo is selling gas range stoves for $26.50.
1928: Two young sisters, 12 and 6, are rescued from the frigid waters of Miami and Erie Canal by a railroad fireman who jumped into the waterway to save the girls.
1945: Sgt. Alexander Drabik of Toledo becomes the first American soldier to cross over the Rhine River into Germany on the Ludendorff Bridge near Remagen during World War II. The Holland, Ohio native dodged machine gun fire and made a dash to the German side of the river. He returns to Toledo as a war hero.
1976: The 600-member Toledo Public School Chorus sings for its 30th annual performance at the Peristyle Theater.
