Books on Local History

From politics to architecture to history to art, here are some suggestions for books about Northwest Ohio, written by local authors. Please feel free to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. of local history.  Click on the title to access the library record and explore other works on the top by clicking on the subject links in the record.  Most selections will be available for on-site use only at the University of Toledo Library's Ward M. Canaday Center or the Toledo Public Library Main Branch (Local History department).  Some UT dissertations and theses are stored offsite, and will require a 48-hour advanced notice.  The original lists were concerted into a Chicago style bibliographies using Generative AI (Gemini).

WorldCat - Find a book at a library near you

 Area History  --   Architecture  --   Automobile History  --   Ethnic & Social History  --   Glass Industry  --   Labor History  -- Other Industrial Histories -- Pictorial Histories  -- Transportation History 

Area History (General)

Barclay, Morgan, and Charles N. Glaab. 1982. Toledo: Gateway to the Great Lakes. Photography by Hazen and Sue Keyser. Tulsa, OK: Continental Heritage Press.

Breymaier, Mary Nassar. 2002. George W. Pearson: A Modest Hero. Toledo, OH: Bihl House Publishing.

Egen, Richard A., Thomas Patton, Dennis Lamont, and Manny Marotta. An Annotated & Illustrated Atlas of the Lake Shore Electric Railway Company: From the 1880s to the 1930s, with Occasional Excursions into Earlier and Later Times. United States: Self Published, 2025. [order here]

Faber, Don. 2008. The Toledo War: The First Michigan-Ohio Rivalry. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Floyd, Barbara. 2004a. Toledo: The 19th Century. Images of America series. Chicago: Arcadia.

Floyd, Barbara. 2004b. Toledo: The 20th Century. Images of America series. Chicago: Arcadia.

Gindy, Gaye E., and Trini Wenninger. 2000. Sylvania, Ohio. Images of America series. Chicago: Arcadia.

Hise, Kirk F., and Edward J. Pulhuj. 2005. Toledo Railroads. Arcadia Publishing.

Hise, Kirk F., and Edward J. Pulhuj. 2006. Toledo Trolleys. Arcadia Publishing.

Honneffer, Frederick N. 2005. Bowling Green. Charleston, SC: Arcadia.

Jacobs, Charles M. 2003. Wayne's Trace: Fort Deposit to Fort Industry. Charleston, SC: Arcadia.

Kopytek, Bruce Allen. 2013. Toledo's Three Ls: Lamson's, the Lion Store & Lasalle's. Charleston, SC: History Press Library Editions.

Krupp, Paul H. 2002. Fostoria, Ohio (2 volumes). Images of America series. Chicago: Arcadia.

Paquette, Jack K. 2005. A Boy's Journey Through the Great Depression. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris.

Porter, Tana Mosier. 1987. Toledo Profile: A Sesquicentennial History. Toledo Sesquicentennial Commission.

Stine, Lawrence. 2005. Historic Old West End Toledo, Ohio. Bookmasters.

Wendler, Marilyn. 2000. Maumee, Ohio. Images of America series. Chicago: Arcadia.

Witten, Sally Sue. 2000. Port Clinton, the Peninsula, and the Bass Islands. Charleston, SC: Arcadia.

Index

Architecture

Boyd, C. Robert. 2005. Perrysburg: A Historical Architecture. Charleston, SC: Arcadia.

Johannesen, Eric, and Allen L. Dickes. 1973. Look Again: Landmark Architecture in Downtown Toledo and Old West End. Pittsburgh: Ober Park Associates.

Speck, William. 2001–2003. Toledo: A History in Architecture 1835–1890. Chicago: Arcadia.

Toledo: A History in Architecture, 1914 to Century's End. 2003. Chicago: Arcadia.

Toledo: A History In Architecture: 1890–1917. 2002. Chicago: Arcadia.

Wendler, Marilyn Van Voorhis. 2002. Then and Now: Cottages and Castles of Maumee. Chicago: Arcadia.

Index

Automobile Industry

Collins, Amy E. 2005. Bricks and Bombs as Arbitrators: The Electric Auto-Lite Strike of 1934. Delaware, OH: Ohio Wesleyan University.

Fowler, William. 1993. Jeep Goes to War. Philadelphia, PA: Courage Books.

Korth, Philip A., and Margaret R. Beegle. 1988. I Remember Like Today: The Auto-Lite Strike of 1934. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press.

Korth, Philip, Margaret Beegle, and Claude Kazanski. n.d. Oral Histories of the Auto-Lite Strike of 1934. [Michigan]: Michigan State University.

Index

Ethnic and Social History

Anderson, Elaine S. 1974. The Jews of Toledo, 1845–1895. PhD diss., University of Toledo.

Awada, Hanady M. 2009. Planting the Cedar Tree: The History of the Early Syrian-Lebanese Community in Toledo, OH, 1881–1960. MA thesis, University of Toledo.

Barden, Thomas E., and John Ahern, eds. 2002. Hungarian American Toledo: Life and Times in Toledo's Birmingham Neighborhood. Toledo: University of Toledo Urban Affairs Center Press.

Messer-Kruse, Timothy. 2004. Banksters, Bosses, and Smart Money: A Social History of the Great Toledo Bank Crash of 1931. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.

Metress, Seamus, and Molly Schiever. 2005. The Irish in Toledo: History and Memory. Toledo, OH: UT-UAC Press.

Philiposky, Richard, and the Toledo Polish Genealogical Society. 2009. Toledo's Polonia. Charleston, SC: Arcadia.

Williams, LeRoy T. 1977. Black Toledo: Afro-Americans in Toledo, Ohio, 1890–1930. PhD diss., University of Toledo.

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Glass Industry

Fauster, Carl U. 1979. Libbey Glass Since 1818: Pictorial History & Collector's Guide. Toledo, OH: Len Beach Press.

Keefe, John Webster. 1968. Libbey Glass, a Tradition of 150 Years, 1818–1968. [Toledo, OH]: Toledo Museum of Art.

Paquette, Jack K. 1985. A History of Owens-Illinois Incorporated. Toledo, OH: s.n.

Paquette, Jack K. 1994. The Glassmakers: A History of Owens-Illinois Incorporated. Toledo, OH: Trumpeting Angel Press.

Paquette, Jack K. 2005. Blowpipes: Northwest Ohio Glassmaking in the Gas Boom of the 1880's. Xlibris.

Paquette, Jack K. 2010. The Glassmakers, Revisited. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris.

Skrabec, Quentin R. 2007. Glass in Northwest Ohio. Charleston, SC: Arcadia.

Toulouse, Julian Harrison. [2001–2004]. Bottle Makers and Their Marks. Caldwell, NJ: Blackburn Press.

Index

Labor History

Borden, Timothy G. 1994. Richard T. Gosser and Comprehensive Unionism in Postwar Toledo, Ohio. MA thesis, University of Toledo, College of Arts and Sciences.

Kraus, Henry. 1993. Heroes of Unwritten Story: The UAW, 1934–39. Foreword by Nelson Lichtenstein. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Webne, Sam. 1949. United Automobile Workers—Toledo, Ohio: A Chapter in the History of Labor Strife and Development. MA thesis, University of Toledo.

Index

Other Industrial Histories

Krupp, Paul H. 2002. Fostoria, Ohio (2 volumes). Images of America series. Chicago: Arcadia.

Strobel, Frederic W., II. 2007. Gendron, 1872–2007: Pedal Cars, Bicycles, & Victorian Carriages. Edited by John Rastall. Montpelier, OH: Timeless Collectibles by Gendron. Distributed by Pedal Car Books.

Terry, Bob. 2000. Honest Weight: The Story of Toledo Scale. [Philadelphia]: Xlibris Corp.

Index

Pictorial Histories

Block, John Robinson, Joseph H. Zerbey IV, Kelly J. Norwood, and Sara E. Welborn. 2005. Toledo: Our Life, Our Times, Our Town (3 volumes). Toledo, OH.

Brinkerhoff, R. M. n.d. Men of Toledo (And Their Neighbors): Presented in Cartoon With a Historical Preface from "Official" Data. Toledo, OH.

Clark, Bob, et al. 2008. The Streets of Toledo: A Pictorial History, 1920s–1970s. Toledo, OH: Bihl House Pub.

Cochran, Robert Henry. 1895. Men of Toledo: Those Whom You Meet in the Business and Professional Walks of the Commercial Key to the Lakes. [Toledo: n.p.].

Miller, Gregory M. 2007. Historic Photos of Toledo. Nashville, TN: Turner Publishing.

Index

Transportation History

Barclay, Morgan, and Charles N. Glaab. 1982. Toledo: Gateway to the Great Lakes. Photography by Hazen and Sue Keyser. Tulsa, OK: Continental Heritage Press.

Boylan, James A. 2011. Toledo Municipal Airport. Images of Aviation. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.

Camp, Mark J. 2005. Railroad Depots of Northwest Ohio. Images of Rail. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.

Dyrek, Thomas. 2022. Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway. Images of Rail. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.

Eaton, Edward M. 2004. A History of Ohio's Airport Development. Westerville, OH: Ohio Aerospace Institute.

Egen, Richard A., Thomas Patton, Dennis Lamont, and Manny Marotta. An Annotated & Illustrated Atlas of the Lake Shore Electric Railway Company: From the 1880s to the 1930s, with Occasional Excursions into Earlier and Later Times. United States: Self Published, 2025. [order here]

Greenwood, John O. 1993. The Northern Lights: The Stories of the Great Lakes' Light Stations. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

Hale, Chester G. 1999. Toledo's Aviation Heritage. Toledo, OH: Hale Publishing.

Heintzelman, Harley T., and W. L. "Doc" Watson. 1989. The History of the Toledo Express Airport. Toledo, OH: Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority.

Hilton, George W. 1964. The Toledo, Port Clinton and Lakeside Railway. Montevallo, AL: Montevallo Historical Press.

Hise, Kirk F., and Edward J. Pulhuj. 2005. Toledo Railroads. Images of Rail. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.

Hise, Kirk F., and Edward J. Pulhuj. 2006. Toledo Trolleys. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.

Jacobs, Charles M. 2003. Wayne's Trace: Fort Deposit to Fort Industry. Charleston, SC: Arcadia.

Killian, Michael J., and George R. Wharton. 2007. Toledo Harbor. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.

Pietrusza, Jim. 2017. Toledo Express: The Story of a Great Lakes Airport. Charleston, SC: The History Press.

Rathke, Theodore E. 2011. Toledo's Maumee River: The City and Its Waterway in the 20th Century. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.

Rathke, Theodore E. 2013. Toledo's Maumee River: The City and Its Waterway in the 19th Century. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.

Witten, Sally Sue. 2000. Port Clinton, the Peninsula, and the Bass Islands. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia.

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