Toledo, which was named in 1833, became a part of Ohio is 1836 after the “Toledo War” boundary conflict between Ohio and Michigan. The city was incorporated in 1837 after the merging of the towns of Fort Lawrence and Vistula. Despite the appeal of the Maumee River for commercial transportation, the population spurred on slowly due to the devastation of a series of epidemics in 1838 and 1839. Once the Miami-Erie Canal was completed in 1845, the population began to rise more steadily.

The growth of industry and the presence of railway and water transportation turned Toledo into a city. A number of companies, from breweries to furniture producers, sprang up. One particularly successful venture was Libbey Glass Works, which earned Toledo the nickname “City of Glass.” It and other glass companies came to Toledo after natural gas was discovered there in 1888.

By the turn of the century, Toledo had become one of Ohio’s biggest cities. The city continued to focus on manufacturing, which led to it suffering high unemployment rates during the Great Depression. However, during World War II, many of Toledo’s factories turned to producing items for the war effort, including jeeps at the Willys-Overland Company. Toledo has continued to be the home of a great deal of manufacturing and is now the fourth largest city in Ohio.

Toledo Marker in front of the Government Center.

The Toledo skyline today. Photo by jrossol on Flickr.

More information about the history of Toledo

More Info

"Toledo: The 19th Century (OH) (Images of America)" by Barbara L. Floyd.

Book

"Toledo: The 20th Century (OH) (Images of America)" by Barbara L. Floyd.

This marker commemorates the city of Toledo, which was officially incorporated in 1837. Like many area communities, this land was first inhabited by Native American tribes. Following a series of wars with Native tribes who had grown increasingly dependent on manufactured trade goods and weapons, settlers of European and American descent increasingly gained control over control of the region. The population of the city grew significantly with the construction of the Miami-Erie Canal which spurred the growth of industry. Today, Toledo is a leading regional city and the home to the University of Toledo, a state university that was operated and funded by the city of Toledo for many decades. The city is also home to a regional history museum and an internationally-renowned art museum.

City of Toledo Marker

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This tour begins at the Pythian Castle and ends at Imagination Station. The Pythian Castle was constructed by a secret fraternal organization in 1890 and used by local businesses. Imagination Station is a hands-on science center. Other stops include Burt's Theater, The Hotel Secor, and Trinity Episcopal Church (one of the oldest buildings in continuous use in Toledo) and the Valentine Theatre which is also home to the Toledo History Museum. 

The Knights of Pythias bought
this property on the corner of Jefferson and Ontario in 1889 and completed
their “castle” the next year. The Pythian Castle was designed in the Romanesque
style by the architect team Bacon and Huber of Toledo. The Castle features a textured
sandstone exterior, a conical roof, arches over windows, and a tower. Inside,
there is an auditorium, ballroom, and over 30,000 square feet of space used by
the Knights and businesses.

The J. W. Greene Company was one
of the longest-residing businesses in the castle. The company, which sold
pianos, resided on three floors from 1890 until 1960. The Knights themselves quit
meeting here in 1951. In the 1970s, the Pythian Castle was briefly used as an
arts center, and it has remained vacant ever since. The Castle fell into such
disrepair that in 1986, the weight of pigeons on the roof was enough to cause a
metal cornice and gutter to come loose.

More recently, the Lucas County Land
Bank obtained the property and loaned money to Water Street Development to
renovate the building. Work began in the spring of 2017, starting with repairs
to the roof and walls. Currently, plans are to rent the ground floor for
commercial use and convert the upper floors into apartments.

The Pythian Castle was built by the Knights of Pythias fraternal organization in 1890. The space was also occupied by various businesses over the years. Its most recent resident was an arts center in the 1970s. Since then, the Pythian Castle has sat dormant. Renovations on the historic structure began in 2017 and were resumed in 2018.

Pythian Castle (Toledo)

By some accounts, Burt’s Theater opened on August 25, 1898; others refer to September of that same year. Burt’s Theater hosted vaudeville acts and other live performances before the popularity of motion pictures led it to become a movie house. The building itself was designed by George S. Mills of Toledo in the Gothic Style, heavily inspired by the 15th century Ca Da Oro in Venice. The 1565-seat theater was adorned with a terra cotta cornice, Corinthian columns, Gothic arches, and diamond-patterned brick.

Burt’s Theater closed in 1916. It was then renovated and turned into an auto showroom and warehouse. Over the years, the building also served as the Peppermint Lounge, the Country Palace, the Club and Caesar's Showbar. In 2013, the Burt’s Theater was set to be demolished until the Lucas County Land Bank acquired it. Today, the building still sits empty.

Burt’s Theater, built in 1898, is one of only two 19th century theaters still standing in Toledo. Burt’s originated as a vaudeville theater but later converted to a movie theater in 1913. After shutting down in 1916, the theater was used as a car dealership and several bars. The now-dormant building was nearly demolished in 2013, but it was saved by the Lucas County Land Bank.

Burt's Theater

The Commodore Perry Hotel, named
for the War of 1812 veteran, was a luxury hotel popular with movie stars,
professional athletes, gangsters, and other wealthy patrons. Businessmen George
Jones and Willard Webb built the hotel for four million dollars. It was
believed to have been the largest hotel between Chicago and Cleveland at the
time of its completion in 1927. A hotel chain took over the Commodore Perry
Hotel in 1934.

Irishman Victor Giles owned the
hotel in the 1970s. As the rest of downtown Toledo began to suffer
economically, so did the Commodore Perry Hotel, which closed in 1980. In 1996,
work began to convert the hotel into an apartment building.

The Commodore Perry Hotel was the last large hotel built in downtown Toledo until the late 1970s. The hotel was popular with celebrities and politicians until its closure in 1980. In the late 1990s, work began to turn the Commodore Perry Hotel into an apartment building, which it remains today.

Commodore Perry Hotel (Commodore Perry Motor Inn)

The Secor Hotel was constructed from 1906 to 1908 and was designed by either Charles Nordhoff or George Mills of Toledo (sources differ). The hotel featured over 300 rooms, two dining rooms, and a lobby decorated in the French Renaissance style. It was advertised as the first fireproof hotel between New York and Chicago and was located on the busiest intersection of Toledo at the time.

The Secor Hotel was renovated in 1935 and 1947 before it ultimately closed in 1969. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It housed a variety of businesses, including the Ohio Bell Telephone Company in the 1980s. Today, eighty-five percent of the building is vacant.

The Secor Hotel was built in a busy part of Toledo in the early 1900s. The large luxury hotel was renovated in the 1930s and 1940s before closing in the late 1960s. For a time in the 1980s, the hotel provided space for a number of businesses, but now, the Secor Hotel is mostly empty.

The Hotel Secor

In 1884, Moses Fleetwood Walker would become the first African-American to play professional baseball. As the first, he would pave the way for all that followed in his stead. Walker would have some success in the minor leagues. When the Toledo Blue Stockings entered the American Association, Walker would remain on the roster.

At the time of Walkers foray into the professional scene, there was no rule that African-Americans could not play professional sports. It was seen as more of an agreement between players and coaches. Walker’s appearance on the professional circuit was met with its fair share of backlash. Many top pros of the time were wholly against African Americans in the sport. Players like Cap Anson would attempt to boycott games when he had to face Walker.

Boycotts would be the beginning for Walker as many people took the same views as Cap Anson. Many of his fellow players in his professional career also felt the same way. By 1889, Walker would retire from the sport due to this racism. Following his leave from baseball, Walker would find himself in some more unscrupulous situations. These would include mail left. He would also be quite vocal in the Back to Africa movement.&nbsp;

Dedicated in 2003, this historical marker pays tribute and offers a brief history of the first African American to play in the Major Leagues. Long before Jackie Robinson was born, Moses Fleetwood Walker played professional baseball for the Toledo Blue Stockings. Although the team was short-lived, it was part of the American Association and Waker's statues as a member of the team in 1884 makes him the first-known African American in the Major Leagues. Walker played catcher and faced intense racism. This poor treatment led to his decision to leave the team and stop playing baseball with white men. Walker was so poorly-treated that he would eventually call on African Americans to leave the United States and form their own nations in Africa where they might live in peace. 

Moses Fleetwood Walker Historical Marker

The Toledo Mud Hens were formed in 1896. In their early years, the team played near a marsh that often flooded. Local residents gave the team a nickname of "Mud Hens" as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the wildlife that inhabited the marsh. A mud hen is a type of bird that resembles a duck although&nbsp;they are only distantly related to that species. Known officially as the American coot, the mud hen has long legs that fold back and make them well-suited for walking on land--something important for a species that inhabits marshlands. Mud hens&nbsp;are migratory birds and inhabit the marshlands around Toledo during the summer mating season.&nbsp;In 1902, the Mud Hens officially joined a minor league association, the American Association. After playing with that association for over fifty years but failing to attract a large fan base, the team left Toledo in 1955. Ten years later, Toledo created a new Mud Hens team which joined the International League. The team garnered national attention in the 1970s when a character on M.A.S.H., the TV sitcom, wore Mud Hens merchandise on the show. Today, the Mud Hens are affiliated with the Detroit Tigers.

Completed in 2002, the $39.2 million Fifth Third Field seats over eight thousand fans and is home to the Toledo Mud Hens minor league baseball team. Fifth Third Field replaced Ned Skeldon Stadium which was originally constructed as a racetrack in 1965. Seating around the racetrack was converted to bleacher seating for the baseball field created within the former infield of the racing track. While Skeldon Stadium (known as Lucas County Stadium until 1988) was suitable for a time, its layout prevented expansion and made it difficult to modernize the stadium which led to the construction of this new field.

Fifth Third Field, Home to the Toledo Mud Hens

20 North Gallery, opened in 1993, is Toledo’s oldest independent art gallery. In 2008, the gallery celebrated its one-hundredth exhibit. 20 North showcases Black History Month and Derby Days exhibits annually in addition to other, temporary collections. The gallery closed in 2013 but reopened in 2016 with an exhibition of the work of Adam Grant, a Holocaust survivor and painter.

20 North Gallery & Venue

On July 4, 1805, the Treaty of
Fort Industry Square transferred over 500,000 acres of land belonging to the
Muncie, Delaware, Pottawatomie, Chippewa, Ottawa, and Shawnee tribes to the
United States. This land later became parts of Huron and Erie counties in Ohio.
The Native American tribes received $18,916.67 as compensation. Despite this
treaty’s existence today, much is unknown about Fort Industry, such as where it
was located, what it looked like, and why it was named Fort Industry.
Historians are not even sure that it was a fort; it was possibly just a
stockade with a few cabins. However, this bit of history is embedded in Toledo:
a rendition of Fort Industry appears on the city’s seal and a collection of
buildings downtown is known as Fort Industry Square. The Fort Industry Block
was built by Richard Mott in 1843. It was renovated in 1874 when it was raised
six feet, allowing for more commercial space. It was later demolished in 1962
to make way for more modern structures.

One building in the Fort Industry
Square, or Fort Industry Complex, that survives is the Water Street Station, constructed
in 1896. Businessman Norman B. Ream hired Daniel Burnham to design the plant,
which was built to provide electricity for new trolley cars in Toledo. Burnham
also designed the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington
D. C. The Toledo Traction Company, owner of the Water Street Station, merged
with Toledo Railways and Light Company in 1901. Four years later, it merged
with Toledo Gas, Electricity &amp; Heating Company. When the demand for electricity
in Toledo grew even larger, the company expanded into the Acme Power Station. The
Water Street Station itself was expanded in 1910. In 1930, the plant converted
to steam power and remained in operation until 1985. The building then sat
empty for thirty years, despite its addition to the National Register of
Historic Places in 2003.

Some of the other businesses to
reside in Fort Industry include The Bagpiper restaurant, the jazz club Murphey’s
Place, and Mootz Candy Shop. For the most part, however, Fort Industry has been
used for office space. Many of the buildings in Fort Industry Square were
renovated in the 1980s at a cost of $14 million. In the 2010s, ProMedica Health
System bought most of the buildings there, though they announced plans to sell some
of them to Karp Associates in 2017. Karp Associates is a development company
based out of Lansing, Michigan. The group plans to convert the buildings so
that they can be used for residential and commercial purposes.

Fort Industry Square is a row of commercial buildings downtown, some of which date to the late Nineteenth/early Twentieth Centuries. It is named after the Fort Industry that existed in Toledo before Ohio was a state. While historians are unsure about the details of Fort Industry, it remains an important piece of Toledo history from before the city was founded. Recently, ProMedica Health Systems moved its headquarters into the neighborhood, though it sold many of the buildings to the Karp Associates developers in 2017. Karp Associates plan to renovate the spaces for residential and commercial use.

Fort Industry Square

The Toledo Traction Company Power Station, TTCPS for short was designed by D.H Burnham and Company in a Romanesque Revival Style. The station was constructed in 1895 due to a merger by various Toledo electric utilities companies. The TTCPS was notable for two main reasons, it was the first and only Toledo plant to utilize Edison’s new “three-wire system”. It was also one of the largest power plants in the Midwest, the station powered almost every buildings, residence and streetcar lines.                     The building was manned by the Chicago based firm of Sargent and Lundy, the station was equipped with boiler rooms that produced electricity for the city. Due to an increase in demand for electricity, the station was given an additional boiler room between 1900 and 1905. In 1907 the station was once again upgraded, adding a new turbine generator unit to the building. A second turbine was installed in 1908 and the company was supplying energy for all of Toledo’s gas, electric and steam utilities. The station was taken over by Cities Service Company, led by Henry L. Doherty in 1913. Two more turbines were installed in 1915 and 1916 due to an increase in need for industrial power do to new manufactures such as Champion Spark Plugs, Willys-Overland, Libbey Glass and Toledo Scale.                     In 1929 the station was converted from a steam power plant into a heat supplier. The plant supplied heat for downtown offices, stores, hotels and theaters. The station was still in use up till 1984, when the Company requested the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to retire the plant. Permission was granted and the building ceased function in 1985. After being decommissioned the boilers, turbines and floor structure were removed from the building. This compromised the integrity of the building, forcing the installation of iron steel to stabilize the building. The site sat vacant until 2015 when the company Promedica bought the property as part of their downtown headquarters. In order to keep the building structurally sound the engineers renovating the building had to weave new steel frame throughout the building. The building has since been renovated and Promedica houses their headquarters in the historic building.

The Toledo Traction Company Power Station, TTCPS for short was designed by D.H Burnham and Company in a Romanesque Revival Style. The station was constructed in 1895 due to a merger by various Toledo electric utilities companies.  The TTCPS was notable for two main reasons, it was the first and only Toledo plant to utilize Edison’s new “three-wire system”. It was also one of the largest power plants in the Midwest, the station powered almost every buildings, residence and streetcar lines. 
The building was manned  by the Chicago based firm of Sargent and Lundy, the station was equipped with boiler rooms that produced electricity for the city. Due to an increase in demand for electricity, the station was given an additional boiler room between 1900 and 1905. In 1907 the station was once again upgraded, adding a new turbine generator unit to the building. A second turbine was installed in 1908 and the company was supplying energy for all of Toledo’s gas, electric and steam utilities. 
The station was taken over by the Cities Service Company, led by Henry L. Doherty, in 1913. A third turbine was installed was also installed during this time period providing an extra 12,500 kilowatts of power to the station. With the creation of new industrial complexes such as Champion Spark Plug, Willys-Overland Libbey Glass and Toledo Scale the need for electricity in Toledo rose quickly. To meet this demand two more turbines were installed in 1915 and 1916. 


Toledo Traction Company Power Station/Promedica Headquarters 

The Imagination Station is
located in what was originally the Portside Festival Marketplace. The two-level
mall opened in 1984 and lost millions of dollars. It was over twenty-five
percent vacant when it closed in 1990. After a multi-million-dollar renovation,
Portside was converted to COSI Toledo, a branch off of the original COSI in Columbus.
The hands-on science center opened in March 1997 and hosted millions of
visitors before it closed in December 2007. Lucas County residents hated to see
COSI Toledo go, however, so they voted to approve a levy that would fund a new
center, which was known temporarily as the Toledo Science Center. The name “Imagination
Station” was chosen from thousands of suggestions from the public.

Imagination Station opened on October
10, 2009. The center showcases permanent and temporary exhibits, such as “Titanic:
The Artifact Exhibition.” One of the more recent permanent exhibits is the IDEA
Lab, which includes a Tinkering Space for guests to come up with their own
inventions. Seven years after its opening, Imagination Station was honored
twice: locals voted to renew the center’s operating levy, and they were a
finalist for the IMLS National Medal for Museum and Library Service.

Imagination Station, an interactive science center, opened in 2009. Imagination Station was conceptualized after its predecessor, COSI Toledo (located in the same building) closed in 2007. The science center features both temporary exhibits, like “Guitar: The Instrument That Rocked the World,” and permanent exhibits, like the new “Simulator Theater Experience – Over the Edge.” It also partners with local universities and organizations to introduce children and young adults to STEM fields. Imagination Station welcomes over 200,000 visitors each year.

Imagination Station

Trinity Episcopal Church services date back as far as 1837. They were held in private homes and government buildings until the church was constructed. The congregation bought property on Adams and St. Clair Streets for one dollar in 1844. The next year, the original church was completed in the New England style. The present-day Gothic-style church was built from 1863 to 1866. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

The church’s history is closely tied to other parts of Toledo. In the 1850s, firemen had access to the church’s bells so that they could sound an alarm that would be heard throughout the city. In 1903, Trinity allowed the local Greek Orthodox congregation to meet in their chapel while an Orthodox Church was being built. Trinity Episcopal Church also founded nine Episcopal mission churches in the Toledo area.

Trinity Episcopal Church was chartered in 1842 and moved into its first building in 1845. Its present home, which was finished in 1866, is one of the oldest buildings in Toledo that has been in continuous use. Today, the congregation still meets in this Gothic-style structure, which was designed by architect C. C. Miller.

Trinity Episcopal Church (Toledo)

The Valentine Theatre was George Ketchum’s tribute to his father, Valentine Ketchum. The senior Ketchum moved to Toledo just before it was officially founded. He then operated a number of successful businesses in town, becoming the first millionaire in the city. The inheritance he left his son allowed George Ketchum to start his own business ventures, including a string of theaters throughout Ohio. After an opera house in Toledo burned down in the 1890s, many businessmen were eager to build a new one. They all stepped aside when Ketchum announced his plans to do the same. His amount of funds and property meant he was likely to build the grandest opera house the area had ever seen.

Ketchum hired the city’s leading architect, Edward O. Fallis, to design the theater. Fallis used cutting-edge designs for the balcony and seats so that everyone in the auditorium could have a good view of the stage. He also included eighteen dressing rooms with private baths to entice big-name performers. The interior was decorated with silk and velvet and furniture in the Dutch and Colonial styles. The luxurious Valentine Theatre opened on Christmas night 1895 at a total cost of $300,000. The entertainment was a play based on the Rip Van Winkle folk tale.

Because of Toledo’s location, many nationally-renowned acts could stop for a performance in town on their way from one bigger city to another. The Valentine Theatre hosted such greats as Sarah Barnhardt, Anna Pavlova, Mark Twain, and the Barrymore family. The Loews theater chain purchased the Valentine in 1917 and shifted its focus to vaudeville and acts like Harry Houdini. One year later, Loews added a screen to the theater so that it could be used for films as well as live performances. Around this time, other spaces in the Valentine Theatre complex were used as offices and restaurants. From the 1890s until 1929, it was the home of Toledo’s city council. In 1936, the Hotel Willard moved into the space.

The Valentine Theatre underwent its first major renovation in 1932. This was partially a reaction to the allure of the grand Paramount Theatre that opened nearby. Work was done between eleven at night and eleven in the morning to allow the theater to operate normally. The next set of big changes came ten years later when the theater was stripped of its Victorian and French details in favor of a Chinse/Art Deco style. The project was overseen by the same architect who helped design&nbsp;the Paramount which was the Valentine’s main competitor. Once the theater was finished, it celebrated its new façade with the premiere of Stand by for Action starring Robert Taylor.

During the 1950s, with the rise of suburbanization and the popularity of television, downtown theaters suffered. Loews sold the Valentine, but it fared better than the Paramount, which closed in the 1960s and was razed for a parking lot in 1965. The Valentine acted as an independent movie house during the 1960s but started showing second-run movies at cheaper prices in the 1970s. In 1976, it tried to show classic movies and host concerts, but rising costs led to its closure that same year. After being used briefly by a local radio station, the city government bought the Valentine (also called the Renaissance Building at this time) for $468,000 in 1977. It was practically abandoned in the 1980s and suffered from a leaking roof and a lack of heat. In 1983, surveyors recommended that it be demolished.

The destruction of the Paramount had upset many in the community, and citizens were more resistive in letting another theater be lost to history. The Friends of the Valentine, as these local activists came to be known, raised awareness and funds to preserve the structure. After over twenty years and $28 million, the restored Valentine Theatre reopened on October 9, 1999, with a performance by the Toledo Opera. The next day, thousands of Toledoans showed up to tour the theater. Since then, over one million guests have visited the Valentine.&nbsp;The Toledo History Museum moved into the Valentine Theatre building in 2018. The museum works with other nearby historical organizations to display Toledo-related artifacts and educate the community. The museum was founded in 2005 and was officially incorporated a year later. It was previously located on the second floor of the Milmine-Stewart House, above the Old West End Antiques Market. The house was designed by architect James Young and completed in 1874.

The Valentine Theatre opened in 1895 as an opera house. In 1917, it was purchased by the Loews vaudeville theater chain who later converted it into a movie theater. After closing in the 1970s, the Valentine sat vacant until local preservationists fought to restore it. The extensive project was completed in 1999, and the Valentine Theatre has hosted community and national acts ever since. In 2018, the Toledo History Museum moved into this building. The museum was established in 2005 and offers a variety of local history exhibits and events.  

The Valentine Theatre and Toledo History Museum 

The Spitzer Building was under construction from 1893 to 1896; the building was commissioned by Celina Spitzer and his cousin Adelbert Spitzer. The cousins had established a firm known as Spitzer and Company. Spitzer and Company specialized in buying and selling railroad bonds as well as municipal bonds. Construction on the Spitzer Building began in 1893, however, after completing two stories, construction stopped due to financial concerns. Construction began again in 1895; the building was fully completed in February of 1896. The building held a shopping mall on the first floor and law offices above; it was the first shopping mall built in Toledo. The mall held stores such as restaurants, coffee shops, jewelry stores, drug stores, dress and card shops, and hair salons. The mall contained 25 store spaces and 7 counters. Law offices mainly occupied the offices in the Spitzer; however, there were also insurance agencies, accountants, stockbrokers, custom jewelers, tailors, employment agencies, and mortgage offices. The architecture firm Bacon and Huber designed the building. The building is believed to be one of the first structures in Toledo designed with a metal skeleton. The building features a red terra cotta ornamentation and a brick façade. The bay windows, as well as an arched entrance, the style is reminiscent of the Chicago’s turn-of-the-century skyscrapers designed by famed architect Louis Sullivan. The Spitzer building saw continued use as a mall and office space until 2013. The building was sold in 2008 to a private equity group located in San Francisco. The building was closed due to financial concerns stemming from dropping occupancy rates as well as the expenses of additional staff needed for fire safety checks after the building failed a fire alarm test. The Spitzer Building remains abandoned, no further efforts to renovate the building have been made.

The Spitzer Building was constructed in 1896, commissioned by Celina Spitzer and his cousin Adelbert Spitzer. The Spitzer Building was constructed for two purposes, its bottom floors acted as a mall, while the upper floors were home to many different offices. The mall had 25 different shops and was home to a variety of stores. Law firms mainly occupied the offices in the Spitzer; however, there were also insurance agencies, accountants, stockbrokers, custom jewelers, tailors, employment agencies, and mortgage offices. The Spitzer Building was purchased from the Spitzer family in 2008 by a private equity group located in San Francisco. The building was officially closed in 2013 due to financial concerns stemming from dropping occupancy rates as well as the expenses of additional staff needed for fire safety checks after the building failed a fire alarm test. The Spitzer Building remains abandoned, no further efforts to renovate the building have been made.

The Spitzer Building (1896-2013) 

Toledo, which was named in 1833, became a part of Ohio is 1836 after the “Toledo War” boundary conflict between Ohio and Michigan. The city was incorporated in 1837 after the merging of the towns of Fort Lawrence and Vistula. Despite the appeal of the Maumee River for commercial transportation, the population spurred on slowly due to the devastation of a series of epidemics in 1838 and 1839. Once the Miami-Erie Canal was completed in 1845, the population began to rise more steadily.

The growth of industry and the presence of railway and water transportation turned Toledo into a city. A number of companies, from breweries to furniture producers, sprang up. One particularly successful venture was Libbey Glass Works, which earned Toledo the nickname “City of Glass.” It and other glass companies came to Toledo after natural gas was discovered there in 1888.

By the turn of the century, Toledo had become one of Ohio’s biggest cities. The city continued to focus on manufacturing, which led to it suffering high unemployment rates during the Great Depression. However, during World War II, many of Toledo’s factories turned to producing items for the war effort, including jeeps at the Willys-Overland Company. Toledo has continued to be the home of a great deal of manufacturing and is now the fourth largest city in Ohio.

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow"></a><div>Over fifty&nbsp;firefighters responded to the fire. Unfortunately, many people, including children, came to witness the scene of what they assumed was a controlled fire. The&nbsp;explosion harmed many of the onlookers as&nbsp;flames shot hundreds of feet into the air. Four homes were destroyed and had it not been for the prompt action by members of the fire and police departments, the damage might have been even more devastating.</div><div> </div><div>One year after the trail fire, the widows of the four firefighters broke ground for this memorial that was dedicated in 1963 in Chub DeWolfe Park. Every year since on or about June 10th, Toledo firefighters have gathered for a “Last Alarm” ceremony to commemorate those firemen killed in the line of duty and those who have passed on.&nbsp; </div>The fire is known as the Anthony Wayne Trail fire because it occurred on that Toledo street. Wayne was born on January 1,&nbsp;1745&nbsp;in Paoli, Chester County, Pennsylvania to Isaac and Elizabeth Wayne. He was one of five children of a Protestant Anglo-Irish family. Wayne was educated as a surveyor and assisted in&nbsp;starting settlements on land that his family owned in Nova Scotia. He served in the Pennsylvania legislature from 1774–1780. Anthony Wayne married Mary Penrose in 1766 and they had two children, a daughter named Margretta who was born in 1770 and a son named Isaac Wayne who was born in 1772. In 1792, Wayne was appointed by President George Washington to serve as commander in chief of the U.S. Army.&nbsp;He had a&nbsp;victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers which enabled Wayne to negotiate the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow"></a>Treaty of Greenville.&nbsp;Anthony Wayne was revered as one of America’s great soldiers, and the&nbsp;Anthony Wayne Trail is just one of the many places named after General Wayne. Today, Wayne's skill as a military leader is tempered by a recognition that many of the Native American tribes he fought were trying to defend lands that had been guaranteed to them by previous treaties.&nbsp;

This memorial was dedicated in 1963 and commemorates the firefighters and Toledo residents who perished in one of the city's worst disasters. On June 10, 1961 where Vinton Street meets the Anthony Wayne Trail, a tanker truck that was coming towards River Road uncontrollably flipped over and burst into flames. The truck burned for about fifteen minutes before exploding. Four Toledo firefighters perished while they battled the blaze while another six were injured along with 81 civilians who were also injured. 

Toledo Fire Department Memorial; Anthony Wayne Trail Fire (1961)

The James M. Ashley & Thomas W. L. Ashley U.S. Courthouse is one of Toledo's finest landmarks. Formerly known as the United States Courthouse, Toledo, Ohio, the building is a fine example of Neoclassical architecture, incorporating elements of other architectural styles as well such Georgian and Greek Revival. Designed by James A. Whetmore, it was built in 1932 after two years of construction, replacing a much smaller building constructed in 1888 that became overcrowded. Today, the building houses the U.S. District Court, Bankruptcy Court, and the Marshals Service.

Center City Toledo Walking Tour

City of Toledo Marker

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information