These aerial pics are from the library archives. Some make me want to cry. I also included some construction pics of significant landmarks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you have any similar pics from today to compare?

 

Is that an old high schools with the stadiums behind?, its quite nice.

Nice collection of pictures there.

Great find C-Dawg.

I see a bit of Akron and a bit of Detroit in those photos.  Interesting stuff.

Those picture are absolutely amazing.  Thanks for sharing!  :clap:

Great collection!  I really like those big rail yards for some reason.

The rail yards and coal loading docks are indeed impressive.  I also can recognize a glass factory I think.  And there is even a steel mill in the set (one can recognize the stoves and the blast furnaces), which I never knew Toldeo had.

 

Whats really impressive is how dense the downtown was.  Dayton was dense, but nowheres near as built up as this.  I could spend hours studying these pix.  I really like the one of the ballfield set in the middle of the city neighborhoods, and the ones of the lakers and the area around Swan Creek, I think.  Just really fascinating stuff to look at.

 

This was a great find and  a big thanks to C-Dawg for sharing these.

 

 

i also appreciate all of the railyards leading to the docks....very cool.  I wish rail was more prevalent today.

Oops! Looks like the pilot missed the swing bridge opening by just a tad.

 

 

The shipyard photos are remarkable. Jacksonville Concrete Shipyards is just what the name implies; because of steel shortages during World War I, ship builders experimented with hulls of poured, reinforced concrete. These 1919 photos must have been pretty near the end of that enterprise, because steel became available with the end of the war, and the concrete ship business foundered. Only about a dozen were completed and commissioned.

Yowza!  Great find, C-Dawg!

This was before anyone would have thought of decimating a city with parking lots.  Great pics and sad to see cities changed like that.

A few black & white film shots downtown Perrysburg on a summer evening in 1986.  Broskies was a pretty nice little restaurant for both breakfast or dinner... and the independent gasoline station next door just looked like something out of the 1930's or 40's.

Thanks!

This is awesome.  If it weren't for the 80's styled cars, I would have thought it was from the 1930's or 1940's.

Yeah, in black & white it really has the old-fashioned look.  There is at least one vintage car, however, if you look closely.... a 1967 Corvair.

Very cool!

Yeah, in black & white it really has the old-fashioned look. There is at least one vintage car, however, if you look closely.... a 1967 Corvair.

Yeah I noticed that.  I was wondering what it was too.

This downtown has been replaced by: http://www.shopleviscommons.com/.  So suck it up ya urbanists...some people like new not old.

Let me get this straight.  The area in my photos has been transformed, or is this "town center" at a different location.

nice, very atmospheric photos.

 

i've been to broskies and that gas gas station in '86. ha! there was a pub & a decent restaurant around there too that we went to on occasion. i cant remember anymore, except this stuff was the only civilization between bg & toledo.

Timewarp plunge.

Let me get this straight. The area in my photos has been transformed, or is this "town center" at a different location.

 

What C-Dawg said and Levis Commons is located on Route 25 south of I-475 which doesn't help Perrysburg downtown.  It is taking the businesses and population from the central of Perrysburg out to the outlying areas.

This is just incredible:

 

http://www.shorpy.com/node/11519?size=_original

 

Judging by historical photos, Toledo seems to have gone through three somewhat distinct phases:

 

1. Shipping, shipbuilding, rail, and warehousing boom (1850-1910). You can see in this photo that Toledo only had a couple of high rises and no real skyscrapers. Church steeples dominated the skyline almost to the point of looking European (though with Great Lakes heavy industry). It was a bustling shipping port that had quickly grown into one of North America's major industrial cities. By the later part of this era, the city's first glass companies were formed. Toledo went from about 4,000 people in 1850 to 168,000 in 1910. This is why the city has so much Victorian architecture. Half of its population arrived during the Victorian era, which makes Toledo older than any cities west of the Mississippi River besides San Francisco.

 

2. Automobile, grain, general manufacturing, and glass industry boom (1910-1930 and then again 1940-1970). The city continued to increase in size from 1910-1930 as second wave immigration transformed it with neighborhoods of Poles, Hungarians, and Arabs. The population went from 168,000 in 1910 to nearly 300,000 by the start of the Great Depression. The auto industry exploded and Toledo's Willys-Overland became the nation's second largest automaker. Toledo's ties with Detroit became much stronger. These new industries brought with them new corporate headquarters downtown and new factories throughout the central city. Foreign-born immigration reached its peak as men were needed to work the sprawling auto and glass factories. The city's skyline added some much taller buildings and many new residential neighborhoods were built on the outskirts of town. Some landmark buildings in downtown were lost in order to be replaced with larger, more modern ones.

 

3. Massive economic decline and Detroitification (1970-today, with a fast acceleration in the 2000's). Population starts to decline both in the city and metro area, arsons spike, many historic buildings are lost, and people flee for the suburbs or other regions. Toledo loses six Fortune 500 headquarters and all its major banks to mergers, acquisitions, or liquidations. It goes from one the wealthiest cities in the country to one of the poorest. Inflation-adjusted incomes and standards of living plummet.

 

In my opinion, the most interesting phase of Toledo is the first one. It was a very different city at that time, and sadly, not much survives from that era. The late 1800's was a time period when obviously a lot of great stuff was happening in Toledo, but most of the details have been lost over the years. For some reason, the auto and glass industries are all you really learn about growing up in the Toledo area. I'm most interested in the industries that came before that. This lost era contained the biggest boom in shipping on the Great Lakes, with Toledo leading the torch. Freighters literally piled up in rows along the Maumee River. This was also a dangerous time to be a sailor. The industry saw thousands of lives lost. The smaller freighters of those days didn't hold up as well during the gales of November. Most of the major shipwrecks on the Great Lakes occurred during this time period, and many of the men designing, building, and manning theses ships were Toledoans. Their stories have never been told.

Thanks for posting.  Simply amazing.

Viewing these high res panoramas from Shorpy's is like stepping back in time. Terrific!

If that picture doesn't scream "INDUSTRY MOTHEF$%$*, WELCOME TO OHIO," I don't know what does

I think the building on the other side of the river, just  to the left of the Hull Umbrella Factory, may be this one:

 

Awesome.

Wow! That is amazing. Also, thanks for the summary of Toledo's historical eras.

If that picture doesn't scream "INDUSTRY MOTHEF$%$*, WELCOME TO OHIO," I don't know what does

 

Haha, love this!

Toledo was certainly a bustling city back then!

 

we knew this, but how stunning to actually see it. your jaw just hits the floor.

 

if only even a fraction had been saved...although some of those structures look to be on their very last legs even then. just wow.

It looks like only the really big buildings were saved- Secor Hotel, Nicholas Building (tallest building in this photo), Spitzer Building, Ohio Building, Gardner Building, the Edison Steamplant, St. Patrick's Catholic, a few other churches, the Madison Building (though it's covered by a crappy facade now), and a handful of warehouses (though some were built after this). What's funny is that downtown was transformed soon after this photo was taken, so I think you're right that many buildings were on their last legs in 1909. 1910-1930 was a major building boom, the last one until the 1960's to 1980's "renewal" (when Toledo got its modern skyscrapers, parking garages, and downtown started its march towards death). If the city could have been frozen in 1960, it would still be an amazing urban place (I believe this was the peak of downtown employment). Once the skid rows dominated Cherry, Summit, and a few other downtown areas, disaster ensued. Demolitions were not well-targeted. There was some wholesale clearance and street reconfiguration (look at what happened to the eastern terminus of St. Clair). Cherry and Summit are unrecognizable today. What survives from this photo is further back (Toledo still has a lot of beautiful buildings along Huron and Madison). It is shocking to see how much was lost along the waterfront.

 

The coolest stuff by far was the stuff to the right of Fort Industry Square. I always knew the city's historic riverfront was incredible, but to see that density and architecture really makes you sad for the losses. Fort Industry Square and the Steamplant are all that survive on the water. I think that waterfront would have been an incredible place to experience. I can only imagine the level of activity and noise. I've heard at least part of the reason so many buildings were lost in that area was due to floods (maybe from seiches?), and ice flows. The water table is high there and there are some areas of landfill. I'd imagine the environment did some serious damage to the buildings. Look at the crookedness on some of the old buildings between Jefferson and Madison. I think there could be an environmental reason so much of Toledo's waterfront became parkland...

If that picture doesn't scream "INDUSTRY MOTHEF$%$*, WELCOME TO OHIO," I don't know what does

 

Haha, love this!

+2. Really an awesome photo; great find. I really enjoyed looking at all the signage and the amount of density present in this sweeping panorama. Again, thanks for sharing.

Another Shorpy photo of Summit Street, circa 1909.

 

You can see that Toledo had a good stock of antebellum architecture, most of which is long gone. Pittsburgh is the same way. Early architecture gave way to the building booms of the 1920s, and then the urban renewal disasters of the 1950s-1970s.

An absolutely incredible (in fact, mesmerizing!) panorama, C-Dawg!  Thanks for bringing this stunning photograph out of the archives and adding such an astute commentary.  No matter about the lack of skyscrapers then; Toledo appears densely populated, fulled with energy and potential, and (as you mentioned) almost European.  God, I'll bet there were beer steins being raised everywhere in the CBD when shifts ended--I only wish the tremendous vitality witnessed in this panorama was that of today.

Toledo's greatest mixed-use neighborhood is one faded in memory. Today, the majority of the buildings in these photos are gone, but some still stand as reminders of Toledo's glorious past. These pictures are from the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library archives.

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/15CPF

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/xdzZO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/L1WYo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/8ukfr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/8jeB6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/Jvr0F

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/2X7rn

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/Caezy

Thanks for this, and the other (far more depressing) thread of Uptown Toledo. After your comment in the Marina District thread the other night, I had interest in finding out more about Uptown but didn't know where to start, so these threads were posted just at the right time.

Wow, looks like it was quite an impressive neighborhood.  It would be nice to see a current photo thread of this area, though I'm sure it would be incredibly depressing.  Are the larger/taller structures gone now, too?

Wow, looks like it was quite an impressive neighborhood.  It would be nice to see a current photo thread of this area, though I'm sure it would be incredibly depressing.  Are the larger/taller structures gone now, too?

 

What survived is the stuff over five stories tall. All three of the historic hotels (Hillcrest, Park Lane, and Lorraine) are still standing. Demolitions and arsons hit low-rises much harder. There is a theory in the Rust Belt that the big buildings are much harder and more expensive to tear down, which is why more of them survived. You see the same thing in Detroit and Buffalo.

 

A few of the row housing complexes survived too (but are vacant), including some great ones not pictured here. What is most heartbreaking is how much Flemish Revival architecture was lost in Uptown Toledo. I can only think of one or two Flemish Revival buildings still standing in Uptown. Uptown Toledo contained a lot of that style, including this awesome block-sized apartment building that looks straight out of San Francisco:

 

 

It's criminal how much Flemish Revival was lost in Uptown Toledo. Only a handful of Flemish Revival buildings are still standing in Uptown. Downtown Toledo still has some surviving examples, but they are less impressive than the demolished Uptown examples. Uptown had the greatest mix of architectural styles and greatest mix of uses in Toledo. It also was one of the highest-density neighborhoods in the city, peaking around 30,000 people per square mile over a large area. It was Toledo's Over-the-Rhine type of district, but lost significantly more buildings due to Toledo's dismal post-industrial economy. What survives today are the hotels (now residential), a few of the factories (one is now Toledo School for the Arts), random Chicago-style apartments (mostly not pictured here), a few row housing complexes, institutional buildings, and a handful of commercial blocks. I'd say it lost more commercial retail buildings and housing than anything else. The holes on Monroe, Jefferson, Madison, and Adams are huge in Uptown (Adams is probably most intact which is why it's where Uptown's revival is centered). The numbered streets contained most of the housing and are very gap-toothed. The Cleveland Double-Deckers and Toledo Triple-Deckers are almost entirely gone from Uptown Toledo (though survive in other neighborhoods). Old West End Toledo still has some Quad-Deckers, which are pretty remarkable Victorian flats (renovated too). Most of the surviving Uptown buildings looked vacant on my last trip to Toledo in 2015, though I read Promedica renovated one of them and put a grocery store in it. It's a large neighborhood in terms of land area, so a grocery store is really needed:

 

 

For some unknown reason, the Flemish Revival buildings got hit the hardest. It's remarkable how much of that style was built in Uptown and how little of it survives today. Maybe that style fell out of favor? Old West End has better surviving examples of Flemish Revival now. Even though that neighborhood is mostly Victorian, some of the Uptown styles worked their way in there. Uptown was Toledo's transitional zone from Downtown commercial to Victorian residential, which is why it was such a great neighborhood. I find those transitional neighborhoods are always the best neighborhoods in every historic American city (San Francisco's Tenderloin and Nob Hill are the best surviving examples IMO). Over-the-Rhine Cincinnati is Ohio's best surviving example.

 

*Also of note is that the University of Toledo was originally located on the border of Uptown and Downtown. Can you imagine how different Toledo would be today had the university stayed in the urban core? They moved to their current campus during the Great Depression due to space constraints in Uptown and Downtown. On the flip side, had the university stayed in Uptown, they probably would have clear cut some whole city blocks for educational buildings. But most of these buildings were lost in the 70s and 80s anyway...

 

I actually think UT should move some of its departments back to Uptown. It's way out on the edge of the city, which I'd argue hurts Toledo.

In terms of Uptown's Flemish Revival buildings, this grey building is still standing (the smaller yellow one adjacent to it is gone):

 

Yeah, these are great photos.

At its peak, Toledo was one of the busiest bulk cargo ports in the world. These pictures capture the glory days of Great Lakes shipping and the early days of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Photos range from the 1870s to 1970s and are from the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library archives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/RW4z3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/OM2oE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/9Ide9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/rUg8j

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/ehfo2

That's a lot of boats.

flemish revival is very hard to keep up. you can almost be glad they tore them down. in nyc they just level off the fancy cornices over the years and the bland the old bldgs out, often in the course of putting in new roofs, cell towers, etc. architecturally speaking, this is a fate worse than tearing the bldg down.

Yes, a lot of boats. But it also was interesting too look at the land use downtown in the background -- the amount of space on the edges of downtown and along the waterfront given up to the storage of cars.  Downtown parking lots -- not the unloaded Volkswagens.

Wow.

http://www.toledo.com/

 

http://www.shorpy.com/

 

Summit Street, back in the day...

 

Skyline shot!

http://www.toledosattic.org/