Before his untimely death at the age of 46 years, our 22nd Lucas County Prosecutor led a very successful and popular life. Born in Toledo, where he lived his entire life, Wachenheimer was educated in the local public schools. Records show that he was an 1883 graduate of The Toledo High School. Although there is no record of his formal higher education, it is known that he tried unsuccessfully to enroll in the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. He then pursued a legal career by reading the law and passing the Ohio Bar exam with high honors. [Scribner, Harvey, Memoirs of Lucas County, 1910, p. 676].

Wachenheimer was a very popular young man who was elected "police judge" in Toledo at the age of 39. He served until 1905 when he resigned to run for County Prosecuting Attorney. As a judge, and later as a prosecuting attorney, he was said to be "absolutely impartial and fearless and never had he slightest hesitancy to do what he thought was right." For example, he fined Mayor Samuel M. Jones for contempt of court! Sometimes he took the law into his own hands, like the time he overheard a "masher" uttering insulting words to a young woman on Huron Street near Madison. While small in stature, he was athletic in build and "he let go with a pile-driver blow" according to The Blade (6/30/39).

It is said that as Prosecuting Attorney, he continued his evenhanded sense of justice. "[He... could see no difference between men...he secured convictions or pleas of guilty from members of the bridge, brick, lumber, ice trusts, and had in contemplation the prosecution of other combinations he regarded in restraint of trade when he was defeated for re-election." (Due to some bad political advice he was given). [Id.]

Before an unfortunate illness brought an untimely end to his life at the age of 46, it is said that Wachenheimer, whether at work or at play, disregarded any feeling of personal vulnerability or physical danger. The Maumee River was a source of great pleasure or him. "Since childhood, he had been an enthusiastic lover of water sports, and was either in or on the river all the time he could get there." [Id. at p. 677]. During a period of great economic growth and development for Toledo and Lucas County, Prosecutor Wachenheimer left a lasting, if not lengthy, impression on law and order in our community.

He was certainly a man of his time and for his time as America and the Midwest ere expanding during these golden days of Toledo.