Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Sept. 6
1875: The world-famous John Robinson Menagerie and Circus comes to Toledo for a one-day show at the circus grounds. The event promises many new features and animals, including a giraffe, an immense rhinoceros, ostriches, sea lions and the largest performing elephant in the world.
1876: The drawbridge over the Portage River at Oak Harbor collapses as residents gather on the span to welcome home a brass band that had been playing in Port Clinton. As the bridge collapsed, many people were injured including a young girl who may not survive.
1885: Otto Kruger, a popular actor of the 1930s and 40s, is born in Toledo. Coincidentally, Kruger died 89 years later on his birthday in 1974.
1917: Sixteen Toledo nurses, who are recent grads from Mercy nursing school, leave for war duty in Europe.
1922: Toledo police detective William Martin is shot and killed while investigating a car theft in Fulton Garage at 302 Prescott St. His partner, detective George Bach, is wounded.
1932: Toledo police beef up registration of known "pickpockets." The Queen of these pickpockets is "Big Majority," who works the old Tenderloin district, while others like "Little Bit," "Lifting Lena" and "Nimble Nell" are so good they can search a man's pockets while asking him for the time of day.
1945: Within a month after the Japanese surrender in World War II, the Navy discharges the first sailors through the Toledo Naval Separation Center at the Naval Armory Building at Bay View Park.
Sept. 7
1887: Downtown Toledo is the site for a huge public celebration to usher in the natural gas boom and the promise it brings for the area’s future. Thousands attend, including former President Rutherford B. Hayes.
1888: General William Tecumseh Sherman speaks to an assembled group of Union Army veterans at the hotel at Presque Isle Amusement Park in East Toledo.
1937: A downtown Woodville bank is robbed of over $1,800 by a lone bandit armed with a sawed-off shotgun.
Sept. 8
1863: Lieutenant George Duncan Forsythe of Toledo is captured by Confederate troops in the battle of Limestone Station, Tenn. He and 200 soldiers of the 100th Ohio Volunteers Infantry are taken to Libbey Prison. A year later, Forsythe was gunned down and killed by a guard. The G.A.R. post in East Toledo is named in his honor, as is the street that bears his name.
1897: Six workers killed in the Grant Oil Well explosion in Cygnet in Wood County as workers were pouring nitroglycerin into the well. The blast was felt for miles and destroyed several homes.
1913: Irene Hill becomes first the African American to teach in Toledo Public Schools, assigned to Erie School in North Toledo. She would teach another 36 years at TPS before retiring in 1949.
1916: The opening of Toledo Public Schools is delayed because of an epidemic of infantile paralysis.
1925: A polar bear at the Toledo Zoo dies from arsenic poison. It is the second bear and fourth zoo animal to die from poisoning in recent weeks. Police are looking for a suspect.
1937: Workers are busy in Genoa repairing the G.A.R. Hall, the oldest building in town. Built in 1856 as a schoolhouse, the frame needs straightening, and new shingles are being applied to the outside to cover the original wood siding.
1938: A blaze occurs at Willys Overland in Toledo as 14 brick buildings are destroyed.
1963: Three-thousand people attend the sesquicentennial program at Put-in-Bay, commemorating 150 years since the great Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812.
1968: The U.S. Coast Guard cutter, Mackinaw, returns to Toledo. For the first time since it was launched from Toledo in 1944, the 292-foot cutter is docked in Toledo and open to the public. More than 4,000 people board the iconic ice breaker and take the tour.
Sept. 9
1911: A massive fire in North Baltimore destroys several downtown buildings.
1922: Thousands attend ceremonies as Toledo celebrates the first Peter Navarre Day as the pioneer's cabin is moved to Navarre Park in East Toledo.
1962: Jacquelyn Mayer of Sandusky is crowned Miss America.
1980: The steeple on top of the historic St. Patrick Catholic Church in downtown Toledo is struck by lightning, setting the large iron cross ablaze. The fire is visible throughout downtown.
1983: Hundreds of abandoned graves from the "Sunshine" cemetery are discovered at the old Toledo State Hospital. They are unearthed by contractors putting in a sewer project. The bodies are re-interred at Forest Cemetery in Toledo.
Sept. 10
1813: Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry defeats the British in the Battle of Lake Erie, fought near Put-in-Bay at South Bass Island.
1873: At the annual “Fat Man’s Convention” held at Put-in-Bay, Joseph Templeton, 66, of Swanton wins the honors as the fattest delegate weighing in at 437 pounds. His prize is the coveted gold-headed cane.
1892: The world’s largest puffball is found on the Sarnes' farm in Elmore. It will be shown at the World’s Fair.
1905: School board member Pauline Steinem, the grandmother of Gloria Steinem, says Toledo's kindergarten teachers are not required to have any formal education and thus are the "laughing stock" of the state.
1931: Movie actor Philip Baker Hall is born in Toledo. Hall was known for his character roles as a tough guy, often with a comedic edge, including his role as “Lt. Joe Bookman” in Seinfeld.
1946: An extreme meat shortage of historical proportion has closed meat markets and butcher shops in the Toledo area and nationwide.
1948: Mildred Gillars of Bellevue, also known as “Axis Sally” during World War II, is indicted in the United States for treason for broadcasting Nazi propaganda from Berlin during the war. She is later found guilty and sentenced to 10-30 years in prison.
Sept. 11
1852: Toledo teacher salaries are reported to be about $20 to $25 per month.
1879: Bell Telephone say they now have 143 of them installed in Toledo. Wires are said to be strung across some areas like “spider webs.”
1926: The Lion Store garage on Madison Avenue and 22 delivery trucks, nine of which are fully loaded with dry goods, are destroyed by fire.
1953: The Toledo morals squad begins a crackdown on pinball machine “gambling.”
2001: The United States suffers a major terrorist strike as four hijacked commercial airline planes crash in locations in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people are killed in the attack. Many of the deaths occur at the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Toledo reacts with horror and shock as the world stops and watches events unfold on television. Local government buildings are heavily guarded.
Sept. 12
1893: A train engineer is shot and wounded during the robbery of a Lakeshore train by a band of highwaymen between Toledo and Chicago.
1900: A Toledo city chemist says recent testing shows some dairy companies in the area are putting formaldehyde in their milk to preserve it. The chemist warns this embalming fluid is toxic and can damage organs. He says the practice must end.
1910: Three railroad workers are killed in a train crash between Walbridge and Lemoyne when a passenger train went off the rails.
1919: The head waiter at the Secor Hotel’s ballroom, the Butterfly Room, has banned the new dancing craze of dancing cheek-to-cheek.
1932: Jobless and hungry workers in Toledo march on Toledo grocery stores, stealing food in show of frustration and civil disobedience.
1933: John Parker is robbed and murdered on the 15th tee at the Sylvania Country Club during a struggle that ensued as a gunman attempted to rob his foursome. The robber was caught weeks after a shootout in which a Lucas County Sheriff's Deputy, Leo Flanagan, was shot and killed accidentally by another deputy.
1950: Future Playboy model and actress Cynthia Myers is born in Toledo. The Woodward High School graduate became a favorite for many fans and American troops in Vietnam after her Playboy feature debuted in 1968.
1959: The Toledo rock group, Johnny and the Hurricanes, has one of their songs reach the Top 10 of the music charts with "Red River Rock," which peaks at No. 5.
