Other Public Historical Monuments
This collection contains information and photographs related to sites of historical significance throughout Toledo, which are not historical markers.
Bicentennial Trees -- Catholic War Veterans Memorial -- Civic Center War Memorial -- Fire Fighter's Memorial -- Richard Gooser Memorial -- William McKinley Memorial -- Memorial Hall Monument -- Toledo Police Memorial Garden -- Port of Toledo Maritime Display -- River Walk: The Middle Grounds -- River Walk: Central Plaza -- River Walk: Warehouse District -- Spanish-American War Monument -- General Steedman Monument -- Veterans of Civil War Memorial Urn
Bicentennial Trees
Location: Civic Center Plaza
Text: This grove of trees was presented by the Standard Oil Company of Ohio in Celebration of the nation's Bicentennial.
Catholic War Veterans Memorial
Location: Next to the Ten Commandments Monument on the Lucas County Courthouse Square
Text: "Cathoic War Veterans of the United States of America, For God, Country, and Home, April 19, 1959"
Civic Center War Memorial
Location: Civic Center, Downtown Toledo
Note: the fourteen plaques honor fallen soldiers fighting in World War II as well as the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Richard Gosser Memorial
Location: At the intersection of Ashland and Woodruff Avenues [Google Street View]
Richard Gosser Memorial (left); Plaque (right)
Text:
William McKinley Memorial
Location: The McKinley Memorial is located on Adams Street outside the courthouse. [Google Street View]
This is not a historical marker but is nonetheless important to regional history. Each side at the foot of this statue has a plaque with text presented below.
Plaque One
Text:
William McKinley - Born At Niles Trumbell County Ohio,
January Twenty-Ninth, Eighteen Hundred Forty-Three,
Volunteer Soldier Of The Rebellion,
Representative In Congress,
Twice Governor Of Ohio,
Twice President Of The United States,
Died At Buffalo, New York, September Fourteenth,
Nineteen Hundred And One
Plaque Two
Text:
He Made This Country Better and Greater,
His Career Shows The Possibilities,
Of American Citizenship,
For All Time And For All Peoples,
His Name Will Stand For The Sanctity,
Of The Individual - The Home,
The Nation.
Plaque Three
Text:
On The Afternoon Of October Fifth,
Nineteen Hundred And One, Anno Domini,
Twenty-Six Thousand People,
Of Toledo And Lucas County,
Whose Names Are Preserved Within This Monument,
Voluntarily Contributed,
To The Fund For Its Construction.
Plaque Four
Text:
The President Fully Realized That His Hour ,
Had Come And His Mind Turned To His Maker,
He Whispered Feebly, Nearer My God To Thee,
The Words Of The Hymn,
Always Dear To His Heart,
Then As The Final Summons Came,
He Finally Murmured Good Bye All Good Bye,
It Is God's Way "His Will Be Done,
Not Ours"
Memorial Hall Monument
Location: Central Library, Toledo
Text: This marker commemorates the old Soldier's Memorial Hall that stood near this site until the 1950s. Memorial Hall was built by the donations of Civil War veterans and included both a Civil War museum and a public meeting hall that hosted many famous speakers.
Toledo Police Memorial Garden
Location: Civic Center Plaza
Text:Toledo Police Memorial Garden - Dedicated May 13, 1981 - In Memory of those City of Toledo policemen who gave their lives in the line of duty.
Made possible by generous contributions of concerned citizens, organizations and businesses and through the special efforts of Patroman Harry W. Broadway. IN MEMORIAM - Toledo Polic Department - Killed in Action
Sgt. J. Boyle, 1897-1908
Ptl. A.H. Schultz, 1908-1914
Det. K. Bartecki, 1911-1915
Ptl. A. Reimer, 1909-1915
Ptl. L.S. Jaswiecki, 1917-1918
Ptl. W.A. Bather, 1917-1919
Ptl. G.F. Zapf, 1917-1919
Ptl. H. Mossbrugger, 1920-1921
Ptl. H.A. Dowell, 1918-1921
Ptl. W.H. Kress, 1918-1921
Ptl. C.W. McGuire, 1921-1921
Ptl. W. Reed, 1917-1921
Ptl. F. Bacon, 1918-1922
Det. W.J. Martin, 1900-1922
Det. W. H. Julert, 1917-1924
Ptl. W.E. Mullin, 1919-1925
Ptl. G. Zientara, 1920-1928
Ptl. E. Obriest, 1926-1931
Ptl. E. Keim, 1931-1932
Ptl. H. O'Neill, 1930-1936
Ptl. F. Disel, 1933-1944
Det. J. McCarthy, 1923-1947
Ptl. H.G. Stevens, 1922-1948
Ptl. A. Fadell, 1947-1948
Ptl. W.P. Boyle, 1958-1961
Ptl. D.C. Brown, 1955-1962
Ptl. W. Miscannon, 1967-1970
Ptl. J. Hassett, 1880-1880
Ptl. C.W. Russell, 1897-1906
Ptl. N.C. Smith, 1910-1911
Port of Toledo Maritime Display
Port of Toledo Maritime Display, Anchor, and Sign
Location: Beneath the west approach of the Cherry Street Bridge
Text (on sign): Toledo and the River - Ships and the River - People and the River. This display has been developed through the courtesy of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. Text and graphics by the Institute for Great Lakes Research, Bowling Green State University. Design by Joseph Vecchio. Artifacts donated by Columia Transportation Division/Oglebay Norton Company and Ninth United States Coast Guard District/Aids to Navigation.
River Walk: The Middle Grounds
Location: Summit and Washington Sts.
Text: The Middle Grounds.
The Middle Grounds served as the nucleus for Toledo's commercial development. In the city's early years it was first called the Middle Ground due to its location between Swan Creek and the Maumee River. Landfill expanded this area which was originally a narrow strip of land adjacent marshes. Docks, warehouses, grain elevators, and the city's train depot were all built on and along the Middle Grounds. There were even hotels, boarding houses and a church for railroaders and sailors. The historic Oliver House (1859) sets on the area's highest elevation.
In 1840 the Hotel sight [sic] had been designated as Courthouse Square. The major means of transportation of the day, lake vessels, canal boats and railroads, all converged at the middlegrounds creating an area of great commercial activity. The destructive 1883 flood changed the face of this area forever. The train depot was moved to higher ground and in time the area was relegated to use for railyards and warehousing. Declining use of the Erie Canal, which terminated at Swan Creek, forced grain elevators to relocate upriver.
By the 1880's this once busy commercial area fell into neglect and was all but forgotten. An attempt at residential development failed in the early 1990s. In 1997 Owens-Corning Corporation dedicated its corporate headquarters on the middlegrounds with a dramatic contemporary building bringing new faces and a new life to the historic area
River Walk: Central Plaza
Location: Summit and Washington Sts.
Text: 1817
The year 1817 marks Toledo's origin. In that year Cincinnati businessmen purchased land along the Maumee River and at the mouth Swan Creek and platted Port Lawrence in what was presumed to be the Territory of Michigan. TRhe first important building was a two-story log warehouse, built near this spot on the west bank of the creek. . . A financial panic two years later caused the community enterprise to default. The village was replatted in 1832.
A rival village of Vistual was established just downstream from Port Lawrence in 1833 by Benjamin Stickney and Edward Bissell. Both towns competed for growth and the lake trade.
River Walk: Warehouse District
Location: Summit and Washington Sts.
Text: The Warehouse District
West of this site on can see a number of older buildings of varying size and design. This area, adjacent to downtown Toledo, served as a center for wholesale warehousing, storage, and shipping for many years.
The growth of this area was largely due to the close proximity of Swan Creek which was commerically navigable at that time. This waterway also served as the northern terminus of the Miami and Erie Canal from Cincinnati until 1913, thus providing access for both lake and canal shipping. Major rail lines including The Clover Leaf Division of the Toledo, St. Louis and Western R.R. (later the Nickel Plate R.R.) offered, direct rail service to the major businesses and warehouses. An electric interurban line and trucking facilities also operated from the area.
General Steedman Monument
Location: Summit and Ash Sts.
Text: Carrick's Ford - Chickamauga - James B. Steedman, Major-General, U.S.V. - Born 1817, Died 1883 - Erected by W.J. Finlay, 1888.
Spanish-American War Monument
Location: Lucas County Courthouse [Google Street View]
The Spanish-American Monument outside the Lucas County Courthouse (Jackson Street side) commemorates the 1898 conflict between the United States and Spain, resulting in the acquisition of former Spanish domains in Latin America and the Western Pacific. The roots of the conflict lie in the 1895 Cuban struggle for independence from Spain, which sought American intervention that prompted Spain to declase war on the US on April 21st of 1898. The US Navy and Army drove out the Spanish fleet from the Philippines and Cuba by May and July, respectively, bringing the conflict to en end by July 17, 1898. Under President William McKinley, Commo. George Dewey (US Navy), and Gen. William Shafter (US Army Volunteer Cavalry) have led the forces which also included Theodore Roosevelt who volunteered with the Army Volunteer Cavalry unit--the "Rough Riders."
Spanish War Veterans Plaque, 1898-1902
Toledo Fire Fighter's Memorial
Location: Huron and Beech Sts [Google Street View]
Toledo Fire Fighter's Memorial (left); T.F.D. Last Alarm plaque (right)
T.F.D.
Veterans of Civil War Memorial Urn
Location: Civic Center Plaza
Text: Dedicated to the Memory of Our Fathers, 1861-1865. Erected by the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Tent No. 66.