Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
March 23
1867: Major Joel Elliott, a Toledo school principal, was appointed to the 7th Cavalry of General George Custer. Elliott is later killed in 1868 at Custer's famous Battle of Washita in the Oklahoma Territory, along with Clara Harrington Blinn, an Elmore native.
1896: First oil discovered in Lucas County in Eastside area known as Momineetown.
1906: Catholic Societies in Toledo ask Mayor Whitlock to close the parks earlier and to add more lighting because "too much evil" occurs in the parks after dark, attracting “unsavory elements.”
1911: The body of an oil well worker is found in Swan Creek. Police say the man had rolls of cash wrapped around both ankles totaling $180. They also find an empty wallet.
1915: Victoria Cadaract, the last known Chippewa Indian in the area, dies of pneumonia. She was born in 1828 and lived her last years in a humble cabin along Crane Creek on what is now Chippewa Golf Course, named in her honor.
1953: The Genoa fire department moves into a brand new $20,000 firehouse next to the town hall.
March 24
1899: Brothers John and Paul Zeltner kill a lawyer in a Hoytville, Ohio courtroom over a $100 debt. They flee the courthouse and hold off a citizen’s posse and militia for a day.
1913: Nineteen people perish in Tiffin when the Sandusky River reaches record flood levels, causing the worst disaster in that town’s history.
1919: Hundreds of Toledo soldiers arrive back on U.S. soil, returning from the European front of World War I.
1924: Toledo police arrest an aging, legless man “Knuckles,” who had come to town from Los Angeles, pulled in a little red wagon by two goats. He sold cigars and other items to make a living.
1984: The BGSU hockey team wins the national championship at Lake Placid, N.Y., defeating Minnesota-Duluth 5-4 in four overtimes, the longest title game in NCAA history.
March 25
1924: Farmers in Fremont say they saw a large eagle pick up a 25-pound pig and fly off with it in its talons. The pig managed to escape and drop to the ground.
1934: Future feminist and writer, Gloria Steinem, is born in Toledo. She graduates from Waite High School and goes on to become a nationally famous writer and advocate for women's rights in the U.S.
1940: Eileen Solly of Toledo petitions to divorce her husband Earl because he is too “bossy” and tells her when to turn the steaks when she is cooking.
March 26
1905: The Toledo News-Bee reports that more than 300 immigrants from Hungary recently arrived in Toledo and most are settling in the Birmingham neighborhood of East Toledo.
1912: Toledo Zoo officials announce they have collected enough money from area residents to buy “Babe,” a giant male Indian elephant from a zoo in Missouri. Babe would later become one of the zoo’s most popular animal attractions.
1960: Genoa Mayor Oliver Tester publicly scolds a policeman he said was arresting too many Mexican migrants for traffic violations.
March 27
1924: In the town of Harborview, Mayor L.H. Shovar and four deputies are arrested by federal agents and charged with selling confiscated beer. It was alleged that some of it was sold from his courtroom.
1930: Two coast guardsmen from Marblehead seize three rum boats in Lake Erie. The bootleggers managed to escape through a marshy area on foot, but the boats and cargo of liquor were found.
1995: Owens Corning Corp and civic leaders break ground for a new world headquarters building on the old middle grounds area along downtown Toledo riverfront.
March 28
1905: Toledo police begin a crusade to prohibit the sale of cigarettes to boys under 16 years of age.
1915: Environmentalist Selma Rubin is born in Toledo. The Toledo native and Scott High graduate is considered the co-founder of Earth Day in 1970.
1920: A series of deadly Palm Sunday tornadoes move across Northwest Ohio. A twister hits the Genoa area, heavily damaging homes and destroying one building. Two Genoa women were killed.
1957: A state investigation reveals that four notorious gambling parlors in Lucas County are being run by the Detroit crime syndicate. The clubs featured dice and blackjack tables and were run “professionally.”
March 29
1902: Tontogany farmer W.T. Van Valenburg sends townspeople on a treasure hunt as he enlists scores of people to search the fields for his missing wallet containing $300 in cash.
1933: A murder at the Park Lane Hotel in Toledo occurs when the night clerk, John McLaughlin, is gunned down in revenge by two gangsters, one of whom he had kicked out the hotel two days before. Both are caught and later executed in electric chair.
1956: Middleweight boxer Wilbert "Skeeter" McClure of Toledo earns a spot in the Pan American Games in September. He would later win a gold medal in the 1960 Olympics.
1973: With grocery prices starting to rise sharply, housewives in Toledo rally to urge that consumers begin a boycott of high meat prices.
