Toledo Time Travels

Toledo Time Travels is your source for the Toledo story—past, present, and future. We host engaging conversations about local history venues, long heard about but rarely seen spaces, Glass City artifacts, and historical preservation.

Stacy Lewis is Born in Toledo

1985: Stacy Lewis, American golfer (2011 ANA Inspiration and 2013 Women's British Open Champion) is born in Toledo. For more Toledo history, visit www.holytoledohistory.com…

Kate Shindle is Born

1977: Kate Shindle, American actress, is born in Toledo. For more Toledo history, visit www.holytoledohistory.com…

Anita Baker is Born

1958: Anita Baker, American singer (Giving You the Best That I Got), is born in Toledo. For more Toledo history, visit www.holytoledohistory.com…

The Blizzard of 1978

1978: Over a two-day period, the Blizzard of 1978 blows into Toledo as one of the greatest storms of the century for the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. There were severe wind conditions with heavy snow for many hours. There was 12" of snow at Toledo ...…

Ed Ford is Born

1843: Edward Ford, the founder of the Edward Ford Plateglass Company which later merged with Libbey-Owens Sheet Glass Company to become Libbey-Owens-Ford in 1930, is born in Greenville, Indiana. Ford was the son of “Captain” John B Ford ...…

Mark Twain Visits Toledo

1869: Mark Twain entertains a crowded White's Hall (Summit and Jackson) with his stories from The American Vandal. The Toledo Blade wrote: “White’s Hall was filled from cellar to garret, last night, by one of the best tickled audiences ...…

First U.S. All-Glass Windowless Structure

1936: The first all-glass windowless structure in the United States is completed in Toledo as the home of the Owens-Illinois Glass Company Laboratory. For more Toledo history, visit www.holytoledohistory.com…

The City of Toledo is Chartered

1837: The City of Toledo, Ohio is chartered. Toledo's first tax levy will soon follow in April. Although the villages of Port Lawrence and Vistula voted to merge and form Toledo in 1833, Toledo, Ohio did not receive a city charter until 1827, after ...…

The King-Quale Elevator Fire

1894: The Chamber of Commerce Building, on the Southeast corner of Summit Street and Madison Avenue in Downtown Toledo, is destroyed by one of the worst fires in Toledo's history, the "The King-Quale Elevator Fire." Heavy winds drive flames from ...…

Toledo Hospital Opens

1930: The $2 million, 250-bed Toledo Hospital (a major upgrade from the old building located at Cherry and Sherman Streets, which had been in service for 35 years) opens on North Cove. Some 35 patients are moved from the Cherry Street location into ...…

Pat Brady is Born

1914: Pat Brady , American actor, known for Man from Music Mountain (1943), Down Dakota Way (1949), and The Roy Rodgers Show (1951), is born in Toledo. Early in his career, he was used for comic relief in westerns produced by Columbia and Republic. ...…

Cliff Arquette is Born

1905: Cliff Arquette, comedian (Charlie Weaver), actor, pianist, composer, and songwriter, is born in Toledo. He was a nightclub pianist, later joining the Henry Halstead orchestra in 1923. He created the character of 'Charlie Weaver' for The Jack ...…

Michael J. Owens Dies

1923: Michael Owens dies in Toledo. Born in Mason County, West Virginia in 1859, Owens left school at the age of 10 for a glassware apprenticeship in Wheeling. Within five years, he became a master glassblower. He moved to Toledo in 1888 to work ...…

John Cromwell is Born

1887: John Cromwell, American actor and director (Spitfire, Of Human Bondage) is born in Toledo. For more Toledo history, visit www.holytoledohistory.com…

First Blade is Printed

1835: The first edition of the Toledo Blade newspaper is printed. It has been published daily since 1848 and is the oldest continuously run business in Toledo. For more Toledo history, visit www.holytoledohistory.com…

Katie Holmes is Born

1978: Katie Holmes, American actress (Dawson's Creek, Batman Begins) is born in Toledo. For more Toledo history, visit www.holytoledohistory.com…

Toledo Glass Company is Founded

1895: To exploit early semi-automatic glass-blowing machines developed by Michael J. Owens, Edward Drummond Libbey partners with Owens to found the Toledo Glass Company. For more Toledo history, visit www.holytoledohistory.com…

Toledo War is Over!

1836: The Toledo War unofficially ends as Michigan Territory's second attempt to pass the federal government's compromise is convened on December 14, 1836, with the delegates voting to accept the proposal. The “Frostbitten Convention,” ...…

Ursuline Sisters Arrive

1854: Five Ursuline Sisters arrive in Toledo. They soon begin to offer classes at the first Ursuline Convent and St. Ursula Academy located at Cherry Street and Erie in Toledo. For more Toledo history, visit www.holytoledohistory.com…

WTOL Signs On

1958: WTOL TV channel 11 (CBS) signs on the air for the first time on Saturday night, at 7 p.m., Dec. 6, 1958. The inaugural program is live with Ohio governor-elect Michael V. Disalle (D-Toledo), and a host of other local dignitaries, along with ...…

Botched Gangster Hit

1932: At the intersection of Superior and Jackson, a dark sedan with several Licavoli gang members pulled up and sprayed Jack Kennedy's coupe with bullets, killing his 22-year old girlfriend, Louise Bell. Kennedy walked away to fight another day. ...…

Ruby Starr is Born

1949: Ruby Starr , American rock singer (Black Oak Arkansas) is born in Toledo. For more Toledo history, visit www.holytoledohistory.com…

Toledo Fire Department is Organized

1837: The City of Toledo Department of Fire & Rescue Operations' first Volunteer Company is organized as a result of a resolution passed by the Toledo City Council. Charles McClean is elected the first Fire Chief of the Volunteer Department.…

Elvis Plays Toledo on Thanksgiving Day

1956: Elvis Presley, the future musical monarch gyrated onto the stage at the Sports Arena for two Thanksgiving Day concerts in 1956 and blew Toledo away. "The screaming youngsters frequently bordered on hysteria," the Blade reported in the next ...…

Voice of Yogi Bear is Born in Toledo

1963: Toledo newspaper strike begins when 900 members of the Newspaper Guild walked out and shut down the afternoon Blade and Morning Times operations. 1916: Daws Butler, animation voice actor (Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound) is born in Toledo.…

Owens Corning is Created

1938: Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. is born out of the work Owens-Illinois and Corning Glass Works had been doing for several years. The new company’s products included fiber-glass filters for forced-air furnaces; residential, industrial, ...…

Cal Poly Tragedy in Toledo

1960: a Curtiss C-46 propliner, operated as a domestic charter flight by Arctic Pacific, crashed and caught fire on takeoff at the Toledo Express Airport. The aircraft, a veteran of World War II, was carrying the Cal Poly Mustangs college football ...…