MikeFromDayton

Is anyone familiar with a freeway/expressway in Toledo, that was planned sometime in the 50s or 60s, then cancelled? I saw this drawn out as a proposed highway on a 1969 city map. This highway was to start from the current terminus of the Anthony Wayne Trail at I-75, then head to downtown Toledo, then run along the Maumee River waterfront, then continue on to either I-280, or perhaps end all the way up at I-75 again in the north end of town. Evidence for this unbuilt freeway still exists. First, there's a ramp stub on I-75 NB just north of the AW Trail exit. Second, there used to be a "ramp to nowhere" on I-75 SB, I think on the same off-ramp as the Indiana Ave. exit. The ramp just went up in the air and stopped, as if a motorcycle daredevil was using it as a launch. This "ghost ramp" was demolished within the last 20 years and the earth landscaped, but there still appears to be some evidence of grading. Third, if you look at the end of the AW Trail, notice that the NB lanes make a rather sharp curve to the right where it was originally planned to continue in alignment with the SB lanes, though I'm not sure if any grading was done. This also explains why the AW Trail/I-75 interchange is so overbuilt. If it were done today without plans for the future freeway, an SPUI (single-point urban interchange) or parclo (partial-cloverleaf) would probably suffice, though I'd include a flyover ramp to I-75 SB. (A similarly overbuilt interchange exists in Dayton at US-35 and Steve Whalen Blvd., which was for the cancelled Belmont expressway/freeway; reconstruction to a diamond interchange is planned.) I'm not aware of any artifacts on the northern end of this never-built freeway, though someone suggested it was the reason for the odd configuration of the (soon to be closed?) interchange I-280 and Summit St. Does anyone know what this proposed freeway was to be called or numbered?

Best, or Best Products, was a well-known discount store in the format known as "catalog showroom". You browsed items in a showroom, and made a note of what you wanted to buy. Then you took it to a service desk who sent the order to an onsite (upstairs) warehouse (sometimes via pneumatic tube!). You then had to wait until you were paged to the "Main Checkout", then you picked up your item at the pickup area -- a long inclined conveyor belt from upstairs. The Best stores I was familiar with had a toy/baby goods department in a separate compartment on the left, but they used the traditional store setup. Service Merchandise was also a catalog showroom store, but I think there were some later stores that were traditional off-the-shelf. Both chains are gone now. Before the B-E-S-T logo in different sizes, they had a stylized "B" with red, yellow, and blue coloring in its loops. Best was also known for building these post-modern stores that looked like they were somehow damaged, though none were in Ohio. http://www.metropolismag.com/images/images_0403/bst/notch_op051_t.jpg http://www.metropolismag.com/images/images_0403/bst/BEST_int_ext04rev_t.jpg http://www.metropolismag.com/images/images_0403/bst/BEST_hialeah_built01_t.jpg The Best in Toledo was at Westgate; there's now a Home Depot on the site. The Best in Trotwood was on Salem Ave. near the mall. The building still stands as a church, last I checked. The Best near the Dayton Mall was on SR-741, east side, south of the mall. Not sure what's there now. There was a Best inside the Charleston Town Center mall in WV. Someone mentioned mixing up Best and Best Buy. Actually the former was built right to the latter in Annapolis, MD back in '97 or so. They finished building the Best just in time for the chain to call it quits. Whole thing reminds me of where at the Westland Mall in Columbus, there was a Wendy's Bridal shop right next door to a Wendy's hamburger restaurant. That, I say they had to have done on purpose.

Dayton seems to be particularly notorious for having roads that have multiple names. The granddaddy of them all is: Turner Rd. > Shoup Mill Rd. > Needmore Rd. > Harshmann Rd. > Woodman Dr. Whew! -- All of these roads are given the "honorary designation" (a blue sign atop the standard street sign) of "Wright Brothers Parkway", which also turns on to Stroop IIRC. -- According to some older maps, Turner Rd. was supposed to join into yet another road: Brumbaugh Blvd. But when the Turner extension was finally built, it avoided Brumbaugh and went on to its terminus at the Trotwood Connector. -- Looking at an old freeway planning map, it seems that the reason Needmore suddenly becomes Harshman at Brandt Pike (SR-201) is because a freeway was planned to go from there to SR-444, right where it currently vanishes into Valley St. If that were to be built today, the road would have to run close to, or right through, the Meijer store. Another source of confusion, in Kettering: County Line Rd. > Stroop Rd. at the same intersection that Dorothy Lane > Indian Ripple Rd. Dayton also has: 3rd St. > Airway Rd. > Colonel Glenn Hwy. (parts of this road have an honorary designation for MLK) 5th St. > Burkhardt Ave. > Kemp Rd. Garber Rd. > Denlinger Rd. Main St. (Dayton) > Far Hills Ave. > Main St. (Centerville) > Dayton-Lebanon Pike -- Some older maps also had "Dayton-Covington Pike" to the north. Main St. (Trotwood) > Free Pike > Siebenthaler Ave. N. Dixie Dr. > Keowee St. Patterson Blvd. > Riverside Dr. (but the former is one-way northbound; the latter has an honorary designation for baseball legend Mike Schmidt) Patterson Blvd. > S. Dixie Dr. > Kettering Blvd. (southbound only - the road divides) > Central Ave. (W. Carrollton) > Main St. (Miamisburg) Patterson Rd. > Research Blvd. > Shakertown Rd. Philadephia Dr. > Peters Pike Stanley Ave. > Findlay St. Westbrook Rd. > Dog Leg Rd. Whipp Rd. > Feedwire Rd. Wolf Creek Pike > James H. McGee Blvd. (formerly Western Ave.) There are also some places where the type of road changes but the name stays the same, e.g., Springboro Rd. > Springboro Pike Troy Rd. > Old Troy Pike In Trotwood: Union Rd. > Broadway > Union Rd. (Umm... OK, whatever.) For Columbus, the only one I could think of is: James Rd. > Stelzer Rd. Someday we might see Morse Rd. > Bethel Rd.

I seem to recall that the Fiberglas Tower had a fancy restaurant at or near the top floor. It was called, of all things, the "Top of the Tower" restaurant. They used to advertise "...pie, high in the sky". Is that still around? Oh, and "Fiberglas" is not a typo; the trademark has only one S. Lots of cities have upscale restaurants on the uppermost floors of their tallest buildings. The Kettering Tower in Dayton (formerly the Winter's Tower) has one called the "Racquet Club". Any like that in the 3-C's? I know that the hotel (still a Quality Inn) across the river from Cincy in Covington, KY has a restaurant at the top that apparently revolves -- unusual in that the exterior structure is stationary. And of course, the late great World Trade Center had "Windows on the World" near the top of Tower 1.

Another former Ohio department store: The Metropolitan. It was a smaller fashion-oriented department store based in Dayton. At its height, there were at least 5 Metropolitan stores. Four of the locations were: Downtown: East side of Main Street, I think between First and Second. 3 selling floors with elevator access only. The store facade had a giant block letter "M". Dayton Mall: A "junior anchor" position near the original JCPenney location (which is now Elder-Beerman). The store had an exterior and interior mall entrance. When it closed, the space was divided into 5 or 6 specialty mall stores. Salem Mall: A "junior anchor" right to the west of center court, marked by a full-height tile (marble?) wall. Had an outside entrance, but I'm not sure if it was used, and in any event was sealed off when the mall expanded in 1981. When it closed, two stores and the new food court took over its space. Town and Country Shopping Center: Located towards the middle of the strip center, the store had a curved "M" that looked remarkably similar to a McDonald's arch, except this one was, in fact, gold colored -- as in reflective gold. Not sure where the 5th store was. I want to say somewhere in the Woodman Dr. area. in eastern Kettering.

We already have a thread on Ohio Department Stores. What about the fallen discount stores in the Buckeye State? Akron Click/Acme Super Center Miracle Mart Twin Valu Cincinnati Swallen's - closed Rink's - closed Cleveland Atlantic Mills/Spartan Atlantic Clarkins Giant Tiger > Gaylords Mr. Wiggs - only based in Cleveland Uncle Bill's > Cook United > Cook's Columbus Hart's > Big Bear Plus - both chains closed Dayton Concord City - now part of Value City E.F. MacDonald - closed Goldman's - closed Toledo Arlan's Bargain City > Rink's - closed Ontario - closed Topp's - closed Youngstown Almart Also, let us not forget the regional and national discounters that left Ohio when the parent chain closed: Best Products, G.C. Murphy/Murphy Mart, Gold Circle, Grant's, McCrory, Service Merchandise, S.S. Kresge, Twin Fair, Woolco, Woolworth, Zayre A few details about some of the stores: Concord City - the commercials were kind of a cultural landmark in Dayton. Four copies of owner Jerry Cohen would appear onscreen, each taking turns describing what's on sale. At the end, all four of them would say in unison "See you. Pleeeeeeeeease." Goldman's - one of these, in Moraine, was quickly turned into a Kmart in the early 80s. There was also a larger one with a gabled roof bearing the store's name, located on the north side of the former traffic circle at N. Dixie Drive and Wagner Ford Rd. and I-75. I think that one became a flea market. E.F. MacDonald Co. - In high school, I asked a schoolmate where he got the neat new boom box, and he answered "MacDonald's". I was like, "Huh?" Who knows, the discount chain may actually have been popular in Dayton before the golden-arched bearer of a similar name came to town. Swallen's - Commercials out of Cincinnati used to sing "You'll find it at Swallen's!"

I was in the Dayton Mall area recently, and I noticed that the former Imperial House South hotel had been razed. The Imperial House South was located along I-75 in the northwest quadrant of the exit with SR-725. ISTR the property literally abutted the off-ramp. The hotel had two wings, and the one on the western side was long. They also had an upscale restaurant, and a ballroom that was popular for local dances and such. They even once had a nightclub called "The Boom-Boom Room". (???) In the 80's, the Imperial House South changed hands at least a few times, one of which was Ramada. I also remember that the hotel was closed for periods of time. Never found out if that was because of structural problems such as asbestos, or just management-related difficulties, but it was puzzling considering how busy that exit is -- it's right smack in the shopping district that has everything retail-wise. Does anyone know the story of why the hotel was torn down? There was also an Imperial House North in Dayton at the Needmore Rd. exit. For the longest time that was a Radisson, with a nightclub called Georgio's; the hotel now appears to be a Best Western. I think there was a third Imperial House further north on I-75, but my memory's a little fuzzy on that one.

Hi, this is my first post on this board. :-) There was one other department store from Toledo: Lamson's. This store was located in both the Southwyck Mall and the Franklin Park Mall. Both stores closed around 1976. The Franklin Park location became a Jacobson's (now demolished for the new section to the south), and the Southwyck location became "Lion for the Home" to complement their existing Lion store there -- it eventually became a Dillard's home store, and closed a few years ago. Both stores called themselves "Lamson's of Toledo", and used parallel escalators rather than the common criss-cross arrangement. There was also a downtown flagship store; I think that closed about 1969. I had heard that Lamson's was sold to Value City. Indeed, a store would later open up at the corner of Secor and Dorr called "Lamson's Value City". That store, along with the rest of the shopping center, has been razed for an expansion of the University of Toledo campus. Funny how all three homegrown Toledo department stores began with L: Lamson's, LaSalle's and Lion.