20th Century Toledo from the view of the Toledo Blade and Toledo News-Bee, with some personal recollections thrown in for no good reason. WITH A NEW LOOK!
Toledo Images in Time
Toledo History Box,
(Featured photo above: Clyde Mock’s Hi-Speed filling station and eatery at present day Airport Highway and Reynolds Road, 1924.)
I look at the “Images in Time” archive of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library a lot. Perhaps too much. I lean on it for historical photos of long-lost buildings, street scenes, people. It is a fantastic resource.
There are often some great finds in there, but they’re photos I can’t do much of anything with, post-wise. Here are some examples. Some are cool. Some are historic. Some are odd. All photos, however, are courtesy of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, obtained from http://images2.toledolibrary.org/.
View of the pedestrian mall in downtown Toledo, which existed between 1958 and 1959. We are looking west down Adams St. towards Huron. Jeans and t-shirts were all the rage, I guess. The Paramount Theater was across the street from Lasalle’s. Here’s what it looks like today.Just piecing it together from the keywords, this is a Toledo Terminal overpass under construction at Bancroft St. in 1902. It was replaced with the current one in 1924 (you can see the date on one of the viaduct walls in Google Maps). It would seem odd to put the rails in first but I’ve never built a railroad bridge before.A photo of Swayne Field, the original home of the Toledo Mud Hens. The baseball field was bordered by Detroit Avenue and Monroe and Council Streets. (This chimney stood for a long time where I-75 meets Detroit Ave., long after Toledo Edison pulled out. This photo says it’s from 1945 but it might be a bit later, since Jeeps are being advertised)From the Herral Long Collection, a 1973 portrait of a crying toddler boy as he stands among a group of mannequin torsos. The photo was taken by Blade photographer Dick Greene.
A couple of views of the 600 block of Cherry St., approximately 1967. By the late 60s, Cherry Street near downtown had become extremely run down and a target for urban renewal.Hasty House Farm was a successful race horse training farm in Ottawa Hills owned by Allie E. Reuben and his wife, Billie, from the 1940’s to the 1970’s. These three photos were taken on January 29, 1955 at Hialeah Race Track in Florida. The top photo shows the Royal Palm race with the horses near the finish line. The bottom left photo, shows Allie and Billie Reuben in the winner’s circle with their horse, Sea o Erin, Ken Church, the jockey, and Harry Trotsek, the trainer. The bottom right photo, shows the presentation of the trophy to the Reubens (Note: I’d say the library’s archive has about 200 Hasty House Farms winner’s circle photos)Can’t stop rockin’! From the Herral Long collection, a circa 1990 view of a TARTA bus after an accident in an unidentified location. The passenger bus had hit a utility pole and was resting on top of the pole next to a tree.Spectators, some with bicycles, watch as the Al Sobb Auto Service, 2817 Lagrange Street burns from a two-alarm fire in 1941.The Star-Lite Drive-In Theatre located at 5702 Monroe Street in Sylvania. The photo dates around 1965.Referring to the post-WW2 era, the book, “University of Toledo” by Barbara L. Floyd, explains: “The university also purchased nine surplus Army barracks from Camp Perry in Sandusky and brought them to campus for use as classrooms and research facilities. Constructed behind University Hall, they were intended to be temporary, but a few of them stood until they were torn down in 1979.” (That’s usually the case with buildings: they stand until they’re torn down)Circa 1960, a traffic accident at Monroe Street and Secor Road causes traffic congestion.A photo of an unidentified woman in a Liquor Store in 1978. (State liquor stores were a throwback to Prohibition but I gather the state still has a monopoly on the liquor business)Dated 1932, the roadway of the Anthony Wayne Memorial Bridge, also known as the High Level Bridge. From the Charles F. Mensing collection. I can’t find any information on Mr. Mensing but there are over 700 pictures of his in the archive.From the Ted J. Ligibel Collection, a crowd gathers to watch as smoke billows from a fire at Weissenberger Chevrolet’s body and paint shop on Phillips Avenue on July 15, 1974. The “ballpark” damage estimate was $200,000.The Reynolds Rd. underpass at the New York Central Railroad tracks under construction in 1952.If anybody has any ideas about this photo, other than “It’s a cat eating some canned salmon,” let me know.From 1913, Toledo Railways and Light Company Car #302 on S. Erie Street after being unable to stop for an open bridge over Swan Creek. The motorman claimed brake failure.A photo of the T. S. Ferguson storefront and filling station. Mrs. Ferguson and her son Charles, are standing out front. The business was located at Central Avenue near Secor Road.
Charles Frederic MENSING
1880–1950
BIRTH 24 SEP 1880 • Toledo, Lucas, Ohio, USA
DEATH 12 JUN 1950 • Bedford, Bedford, Pennsylvania, USA
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/170681315/person/332215477976/facts
Thank you for this it’s great. I’m a history geek.
Is an Interurban rail map available for the Toledo area?