Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
May 25
1903: Great excitement is noted by many as New York Central’s “Twentieth Century” train reaches an average of 70 MPH between Toledo and Elkhart, Ind., at times hitting speeds near 90 MPH. That stretch of track is one of the flattest in the United States and trains are able to travel at record speeds.
1930: Ground is broken for DeVilbiss High School in West Toledo.
1936: Ten-thousand Toledo Catholics hold outdoor mass at Swayne Field to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Toledo Diocese.
1957: Students reported to have rioted in streets in downtown Bowling Green. Two fraternities are suspended.
May 26
1887: Statue of Toledo Civil War hero, General James Steedman, is unveiled in downtown Toledo on Summit St. The statue is later moved to Riverside Park, now Jamie Farr Park, in North Toledo.
1901: Much excitement is generated by news that oil is discovered on Middle Bass Island.
1906: Toledo Police report that two men are stabbed to death and another is near death after an all-day drinking orgy of men, women and boys at 215 Sycamore St. The event is described in a newspaper account as “disreputable part of the city.”
1919: Toledo patrolman William Bather is shot and mortally wounded on Emerald Avenue after he attempts to question three stolen car suspects. He dies the next day. The 29-year-old patrolman leaves behind a wife and two children.
1927: The “new” Ohio Bell Building at 121 Huron St. is dedicated.
1935: Fourteen-thousand people turn out at Scott High School’s field to hear the eighth-annual citywide music festival put on by high school music bands and singers.
1942: It is reported in the Toledo Blade that more “Air Raid Wardens” are needed to be trained for help with planning and coordinating air raid siren tests in the city.
1952: Lucas County Commissioners continue the prosecution of Rauh Fertilizer Company in Sylvania Township for the dumping of sulfuric acid into Ten Mile Creek, polluting the creek and killing fish.
May 27
1862: Toledo Street Railway begins operation as horse-drawn streetcars start running through the city.
1921: In a Fremont courtroom, during a civil trial, two opposing attorneys get into a brawl before the bench of Judge Scott Stahl. Others join in the melee before order is restored.
1928: Race car driver Roy Goodwin is killed in crash at Fort Miami Race Track in Maumee.
1948: Genoa Attorney Lyman Chambers is killed when his car is struck by a train at the West Street crossing. Twenty-two years before, his wife, Olive, was killed by a train at the Main Street crossing.
1976: The new Lagrange School opens.
May 28
1902: On the main street of Cygnet, an oil boom village in Wood County, witnesses report that two men, Yank Robinson and George Kersey fought a duel to the death with Bowie knives over a woman. It is said they had been long time enemies.
1908: It’s determined by the Lucas County coroner that a Toledo man, Carroll Doubna, died from shoe polish poisoning. He apparently applied a black shoe polish that contained cyanide in it. It bled through the fabric of the shoe into his skin and he died from the poison.
1911: Lion Store in Toledo selling new screen doors starting at 69 cents each, and ladies silk hosiery for 35 cents a pair.
1921: It’s reported that seven children in Toledo have died from diphtheria during the month of May. Three of them were children at Stickney School in North Toledo.
1936: An investigation into the nefarious “Black Legion” in Toledo reveals there are more than 700 members of the racist group divided into seven “companies” around the city. Police say they don’t appear responsible for any acts of violence in Toledo. Allegations are made that many members of the group are Toledo police officers.
1961: Divine Word Seminary on River Road near Perrysburg opens. It closed decades later and is now the site of the Sanctuary residential addition.
1970: After reports of armed gangs roaming the streets, Toledo enacts tough new gun laws that would ban anyone from carrying firearms on public streets or in cars.
May 29
1837: The Toledo Fire Department formed with volunteers.
1884: As hundreds of adults and children watched, convicted ax-killer Wesley Johnson is publicly hanged in front of the Henry County Jail in Napoleon. They even sold tickets to the hanging.
1892: First mass is held at present-day St. Rose Catholic Church in Perrysburg.
1917: Anti-draft riots break out on the Lucas County Courthouse lawn with several people hurt or arrested.
1929: An illegal 500-gallon still explodes in an apartment house in 1400 block of Prouty. Two men and two women flee in their night clothes after the explosion.
1938: Webber’s Tavern in Point Place erupts into flames, forcing 400 patrons to flee. Damage is estimated at $30,000.
May 30
1904: Sixteen boys at the Southeast Toledo School sew a “handsome” bed quilt and give it to the janitor at the school as a present.
1910: Toledo population now reported to be 168,490.
1918: It’s revealed that a 14-year-old Toledo boy, Ells G.Porterfield, has enlisted in the U.S. Army Engineer Corps and is now serving his country.
1922: Toledo Police and dry agents raid a home on Westwood near Swan Creek, and they say the residence contained two 100-gallon stills for brewing whiskey.
1940: Future Toledo mayor Carleton “Carty” Finkbeiner is born.
1953: The newly formed Lucas County Sheriff mounted posse is sworn in with 20 men and horses.
1972: Betty Mauk, the "Mother of Promenade Park," continues her tireless campaign to promote the new riverfront park in downtown Toledo and to offer crepes for sale to park goers.
1980: President Jimmy Carter visits Toledo on a campaign stop.
May 31
1928: Crowds gather outside the Toledo Police Court, where 26-year-old Stanley Hoppe of Elm Street is charged with the murder of a seven-year-old girl, Dorothy Szelagowski. She had been kidnapped several days before and her body was found on the front porch of her Palmer Street home. Hoppe is found guilty and executed later that year.
1935: More reports surface that aviator Paul Redfern, married to Toledo woman Gertrude Hillabrand, may still be alive in the jungles of South America after he vanished on a solo flight to Brazil in 1927. Despite many attempts to find him, he is lost to legend.
1939: The Aquarium at the Toledo Zoo opens and is billed as the "largest freshwater aquarium in the world.”
1960: The court of appeals upholds the conviction of Toledo businessman Bert Kaplan for violating Sunday “Blue Laws” by opening his Family Fair stores on Sundays in Toledo.
1976: Kip Boulis, a Perrysburg policeman, drowns while trying to rescue a man and his four children in Maumee River.
