This Week In Toledo History - March 2-8

March 2

1900: Inmates at the first Toledo Workhouse on Duck Island in Swan Creek say conditions there are inhumane. They allege that "rotten meat" is being served to them and that men are tortured in dungeons.

1904: Major flooding hits Grand Rapids on the Maumee River, 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 warehouse in South Toledo. The night watchman and one of the bandits are killed. Police later find a machine gun that had been left at a nearby 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.

March 3

1838: The Battle of Point Pelee occurs during the so-called Patriot’s War when the Western Part of Canada tried to form its own country. A number of men from Northwest Ohio joined with the rebels, who were eventually put down by the Canadian government.

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.

1905: Master pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski of Poland plays to packed audience at Toledo's Valentine Theater.

1908: The Toledo Police motorcycle squad shows off its new Yale Bicycles, made in Toledo.

1930:  Ground broken for the new University Hall at UT, the first building project at the University of Toledo on Bancroft Street.

1944: The USS Mackinaw Coast Guard cutter launched at the Toledo Shipyards. It would serve the Great Lakes as an ice breaker for the next six decades.

March 4

1919: “Babe,” the large elephant at the Toledo Zoo, pushes a big truck out of the heavy mud on Dartmouth Street. The truck is crushed in the incident.

1949: Former slave Hanna Davidson celebrates her 106th birthday in a Toledo nursing home. She was one of the last former slaves living in the Toledo area.

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.

March 5

1880: Toledo policeman John Hassett was killed when hit by tornado debris from falling smokestack while on duty at Buckeye Brewery.

1916: An investigation starts after the Toledo Hospital refuses to admit a woman in labor. Ada Jones was forced out into the streets where she had her 10-pound baby boy in a snow bank in front of shocked pedestrians.

1927: Toledo police continue round up of degenerates and “tramps” after a nine-year old girl says she was attacked by a red bearded tramp.

1960: More than 30,000 bowlers come to Toledo to take part in the American Bowling Congress championships.

March 6

1837: Toledo holds its first municipal elections. John Berdan elected as mayor.

1857: William H. Smith, Olive Parmalee and Amos W. Crane comprise the first graduating class of Toledo High School.

1878:  Mattie Haynes is shot through the heart and killed in a bordello in Toledo. The gunman was her husband, Louis Attenborough, who had pleaded with her to return home with him before he shot her.

1895: Three Wood County commissioners and three architects are indicted for charges of corruption in the building of the new courthouse.

1926: Edward Drummond Libbey leaves $14 million to endow the Toledo Museum of Art.

1908: Cherry Street Bridge is crushed by the steam freighter Yuma. Parts of the structure are knocked into the Maumee River.

March 7

1928: Two young sisters, ages 12 and 6, are rescued from the frigid waters of Miami and Erie Canal by a railroad fireman who jumped in to save the girls.

1945: Sgt. Alexander Drabik of Toledo becomes first American soldier to cross over the Rhine River into Germany on the Ludendorff Bridge during World War II. The Holland, Ohio native dodged machine gun fire and made a dash to the German side of the river.

1976: The 600-member Toledo Public School chorus sings for its 30th annual performance at the Peristyle Theater.

March 8

1906: A mystery woman sends a large shipment of flowers to the shut-ins at the Toledo Infirmary. The rooms are filled with the bright vivid blooms of roses, carnations, violets and lilies, and many inmates are moved to tears.

1907: Escape artist Harry Houdini thrills an audience at the Valentine Theater when he frees himself from the so called "Oregon Boot" involving four handcuffs and a heavy piece of steel.

1926: WTAL, Toledo’s first licensed radio station, begins on-air testing with a new transmitter.

1948: Ammonia explosion at Page Dairy on Wade Street kills two men and sends 27 people to the hospital for injuries.