Aviation pioneer launches history in Toledo

When Toledoans looked skyward on June 30, 1905, they spotted something never seen here before: a 58-foot-long dirigible made of Japanese silk that floated from the fairgrounds at Dorr Street and Upton Avenue to downtown. Augustus Roy Knabenshue maneuvered the airship 1,000 feet above the ground, steering it to the top of the Spitzer Building.