Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Sept. 7
1876: The town of Freeport in Wood County is incorporated, later to be renamed Prairie Depot, and then renamed Wayne.
1887: Downtown Toledo holds 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.
1937: A downtown Woodville bank is robbed of over $1,800 by a lone bandit armed with a sawed-off shotgun.
Sept. 8
1897: Six workers are killed at Cygnet’s Grant Oil Well explosion in Wood County as workers were pouring nitroglycerin into the well.
1901: The Toledo Steam automobile is becoming popular in parts of the United States and in England.
1913: Irene Hill becomes the first African American to teach in Toledo Public Schools. She is assigned to Erie school and ends up teaching another 36 years before retiring in 1949.
1916: The opening of Toledo Public Schools is delayed because of the infantile paralysis epidemic.
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.
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.
Sept. 9
1911: A massive fire in North Baltimore destroys several downtown buildings.
1922: Thousands attend ceremonies as Toledo celebrates its first Peter Navarre Day. The pioneer's cabin is moved to Navarre Park in East Toledo.
1928: An Army air pilot is killed at Camp Perry when his plane crashes into Lake Erie during an air show.
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 during a sewer project near the Medical College of Ohio. They are later moved to Forest Cemetery.
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 of Swanton wins the honors and a gold headed cane as the fattest delegate weighing in at 437 pounds. Templeton says he was thin at one time in his life.
1885: Workmen are busy replacing and repairing the telegraph lines between Oak Harbor and Elmore after strong winds during the night toppled hundreds of poles.
1892: The world’s largest puffball is found on the Sarnes' farm at Elmore, Ohio and will be shown at the World’s Fair.
1905: School board member Pauline Steinam says Toledo's kindergarten teachers are not required to have any formal education and 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 comedic tough guy.
1946: An extreme meat shortage closes down meat markets and butter shops in the Toledo area and other cities nationwide.
1948: Bellevue’s Mildred Gillars, 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 later became the first woman in the country to be convicted of treason, being sentenced to 10-30 years in prison before ultimately being paroled in 1961.
Sept. 11
1852: Toledo teacher salaries are reported to be about $20 to $25 per month.
1879: Installers of the 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: A fire destroys the Lion store’s garage on Madison Avenue, as well as 22 delivery trucks --- nine of which were fully loaded with dry goods.
1930: Toledo City Council votes to rid downtown Toledo of wooden paving blocks. They opt to resurface Jefferson and Jackson Streets and remove the wooden pavers installed in the 1870s. Many wood block streets remained in the Old West End through the 1940s.
1953: The Toledo morals squad cracks down on pinball machine gambling.
2001: The United States suffers a major terror strike as four hijacked jetliners 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 a robbery of the Lakeshore train by a band of highwaymen between Toledo and Chicago.
1910: Three railroad workers are killed in a train crash between Walbridge and Lemoyne when a passenger train went off the rails.
1919: The headwaiter 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 a show of frustration and civil disobedience.
1933: A man robs and murders golfer John Parker on the 15th tee at Sylvania Country Club. Parker was with a foursome as the gunman made his attempt to rob them. Parker was shot and killed in the struggle. 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 graduate becomes a favorite for many fans and American troops in Vietnam after her Playboy feature debuted in 1968.
Sept. 13
1869: The Ohio State Fair opens in Toledo for a five-day event. It is the 20th annual state fair.
1911: A cavalry unit and a large posse are ordered into the rural area of Elmore to search for a man who was reported to have taken liberties with a six-year-old girl.
1943: Award-winning children’s writer Mildred Taylor is born in Jackson, Miss. Her family later moves to Toledo, where she would graduate from Scott High School and the University of Toledo. Her second children's novel, "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry,” won the 1977 Newberry Award.
1953: Fostoria welcomes Governor Frank Lausche as he cuts ribbons to open a new system of railroad underpasses in the city.
1961: Former President Harry Truman visits Toledo and gives a speech at the National Exchange Club convention at the Sports Arena.
