By Jay Smith-
Toledo, with a population slightly larger than the city of Buffalo (287,000 in 2010 U.S. Census) is well known for its history of glass innovation and industry, as well as its massive Jeep assembly plant. The “Glass City’s” top attractions include its world-famous zoo, Toledo Museum of Art, Old West End and Westmoreland neighborhoods, Fifth Third Field (home of the Toledo Mud Hens IL baseball team), Huntington Center (home of the ECHL Toledo Walleye), and the Erie Street Market. Toledo lies on the exact opposite end of Lake Erie as Buffalo. Historically, much like Buffalo, the city was once an important rail hub and port town and still is today. It is said to be the third-largest rail hub in the Midwestern United States.
I recently took a 9-day vacation in August to visit three of my favorite cities, Chicago, Detroit, and Toledo. Since I am from southern Ontario (living in a town near London, Ontario) and I don’t own a car, it is trains, buses, taxis, walking, bicycling, and public transportation for me. I took the VIA train into Windsor and from there walked downtown to the bus depot, where Transit Windsor (the city’s bus service) offers a Tunnel Bus (one way $4.00 CAD or USD), which takes passengers between Windsor and Detroit and vice-versa through the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel, with a stop at customs. The tunnel bus comes in very handy for those who don’t own a car and want to get to the United States. Many Detroit sports fans, concert goers, and big city visitors living in Canada also take advantage of the tunnel bus. The Windsor-Detroit tunnel completed its own bus lane and customs building, which has significantly eased travel into Detroit and saving us having to go through the traffic waiting for officers to interview them at the booths.
From there it was on to the Greyhound station, just west of downtown Detroit on Howard, about 4-5 blocks from the Rosa Parks Bus Terminal, where Transit Windsor has a stop. The station is undergoing a significant renovation. I hopped on the bus going to Columbus, but I was making my destination Toledo, just 50 miles south on I-75 on the Ohio/Michigan border.
Unfortunately, like many cities in the Midwest rust belt, Toledo has been long suffering from a stagnant economy and crumbling infrastructure. Despite that, I found Toledo to actually be a friendly, welcoming place in all the times I have visited here. The locals are very friendly.
I stayed overnight for two nights at the Park Inn downtown, which overlooks Fifth Third Field. There was an Ohio postal workers’ convention taking place in the Seagate Convention Centre, which is attached to the hotel, so it was a busy place. Unfortunately, downtown does not have a lot of hotel options, only two real choices, the Park Inn and Best Western. However, there is a rumor that the Fiberglas Tower, the city’s second-tallest building, will be renovated into a mixed-use development including apartments and a hotel.
Downtown Toledo I found is very similar to downtown Buffalo. Both downtowns have incredible architecture and are very close to a waterfront, but at the same time, both downtowns could generally be considered 9 to 5 type of places as both downtowns seem to have a lack of pedestrian traffic after those hours unless there’s an event taking place. From my experiences, downtown Toledo has even less traffic than Buffalo at those hours. Also, not a lot of people live in downtown Toledo, while there’s an increasing amount of people living in downtown Buffalo.
Across the street from Park Inn is the historic warehouse district, which has dramatically changed over the last several years with new businesses opening up. It is slowly helping downtown Toledo become more of a destination. All this would be thanks to the Fifth Third Field and the Huntington Center. The warehouse district has a surprising number of old commercial blocks and buildings still intact.
Another highlight near downtown would be the riverfront paths that extend from Monroe Street all the way down to the Cherry Street Bridge. The city’s downtown provides a nice backdrop as you’re walking along. Across the river lies the Docks entertainment complex, a collection of bars and restaurants.
The first night I ate at Tony Packo’s at the Park downtown in the warehouse district. If you’ve ever watched the TV show M*A*S*H, you might know that corporal Max Klinger was played by Toledo-native Jamie Farr. Farr as Klinger in a 1976 episode mentioned Tony Packo’s in east Toledo which serves up the best Hungarian hot dogs. The chili dogs served here are delicious, they include mustard, hamburger, chili sauce, and onions. There’s even a massive hot dog called a MOAD, which is over a foot long. Tony Packo’s is a Toledo institution, much like Buffalo’s beloved Anchor Bar.
From there it was off to Ye Olde Durty Bird, also in the warehouse district. located in the historic Grand Hotel building, built in 1867. I chatted with some locals about Toledo, a lot of people do take pride and like the city for what it has to offer. I even chatted some people visiting from the Detroit area.
As far as sports is concerned, most people from Toledo cheer for Detroit sports teams as well as their own minor-league teams. The two bartenders who were working, Meg and Matt, told me a lot about the city and its up-and-coming downtown, and, of course, like many Toledoans, were friendly. In fact, if it weren’t for Buffalo, I would say Toledo may be the friendliest city in America. They mentioned they don’t get a lot of Canadians visiting Toledo, however there are some. They recalled seeing from hockey teams from southern Ontario come to Toledo for a hockey tournament and the occasional Tigers fan or Red Wings fan possibly coming down to see the minor league team.
We also talked about safety in Toledo and it’s pretty much like any other city in the United States, with its share of good and bad neighborhoods. Overall, the violent crime rate is actually pretty high for a city of its size, but in 2013, the violent crime rate actually decreased compared to 2012. The city’s homicide count is actually very low, only about 30-40 murders happen on average in Toledo each year. The two major crime problems the city has are robbery/burglary and arson.
The next day I toured the historic Old West End, home to most of Toledo’s historic homes, mansions, and buildings. Two of the most striking buildings in the neighborhood include the amazing Rosary Cathedral church on Collingwood Boulevard. It was built in 1931 in the Spanish Plasteresque architectural style in the spirit of its sister city, Toledo, Spain.
Just across the street from the Rosary Cathedral is the historic Jesup W. Scott high school, built in 1913. The building recent underwent a $42 million renovation.
Also of note in the neighborhood is the Edward Libbey house, where the founder of Libbey Glass lived. The house is owned by the Libbey House Foundation, which is in the process of restoring and transforming the house into an interactive centre showcasing the history and innovation of glass in Toledo. The staff working were kind enough to allow me to check the place out, even though the touring was for Libbey glass staff and relatives only. I didn’t take pictures inside out of respect for the restoration process and detailing inside, which was taking place inside and the house inside is immaculate and so unique. I look forward to coming back when the glass interactive center opens in the house. I also passed by some incredible 19th century and early 20th century mansions in the Old West End. I also passed by the Toledo Museum of Art and the Glass Pavilion.
Then it was dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse in the warehouse district. The manager of the restaurant took interest with me and my camera wondering what I was taking pictures of and I mentioned downtown and Old West End and told him I’m making Toledo look good. He was surprised and mentioned not many people take the time to do that.
After supper, it was on to Fifth Third Field, home to the famous Toledo Mud Hens baseball team. The ballpark opened in 2002 has a capacity of over 11,000 and it is a fantastic place to watch a baseball game. It’s been consistently named one of the best minor league parks (I would have to think Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo is on those lists as well). There was even a spectacular fireworks show afterwards, which is usually a tradition with all professional ball parks in the United States. A lot of Tigers fans from the Detroit area enjoy the atmosphere and come down to see a game in Toledo every once in a while.’
Personally, I like the direction downtown Toledo and the warehouse district are going in. The city just needs to get more residential downtown and hopefully bring in young professionals and urban enthusiasts to make downtown even better. A couple of more hotels could help as well. But overall, Toledo is very much a family-friendly place to visit, thanks to its attractions, sports teams, and more-or-less its amazingly friendly people.