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Chapter 7: The Boom Busts

           For most of 1929, Toledo seemed poised for a bright, prosperous future as its economy continued to grow.  Toledo ranked twenty-sixth nationally in 1928 for industrial production, and its per capita income was also among the highest in the state.  Many new taxpayer-funded construction projects were underway, including a new campus for The University of Toledo on Bancroft Street.
           But signs of trouble could be seen, beginning with the auto industry, which began to cut back its workforce.  In October of that year, the stock market crashed, causing banks around the country to close by the end of the month.  By December, signs of a serious recession were obvious.
           In Toledo, 1930 brought reduced tax revenues for the city, tax delinquencies, requests for jobs, and a demand for poor relief.  Rising unemployment meant many of the city’s residents who bought homes on easy credit during the boom years were unable to pay their mortgages.  Banks began foreclosing on the homes, but could not find new buyers.  In June 1931, Toledo’s Security-Home Trust failed to open on June 17.  Later, the Ohio Savings Bank and Trust Company went bankrupt. With no access to money, small companies and professionals followed. 
           The housing situation was the worst: some lived in a “Hooverville” along the Maumee River.  By the end of 1932, the gap between the haves and have-nots widened, charitable giving declined, and over 17,000 families needed emergency relief. 
           Labor unions began organizing workers and demanding higher wages, better working conditions, and collective bargaining.  In February 1934, workers at the Toledo Electric Auto-Lite factory attempted to unionize, but the company refused to recognize the union. On May 24, a battle broke out between the striking workers and Ohio National guardsmen, and two workers were killed.  This strike led to the formation of the United Automobile Workers International Union.
           Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s election victory in 1932 elevated the hopes of many.  Federal assistance came under the Federal Emergency Relief Act.  Toledo welcomed the new money, which enabled the city to begin construction of the Anthony Wayne Trail, the Toledo Zoo, a new public library downtown, and a football stadium at the university. 
           While federal aid helped, it was Toledo’s war industries that finally helped the city pull out of the Depression.  After the war, the city gained national attention with the “Toledo Tomorrow” exhibit which depicted a brand new Toledo at some unspecified time in the future.   But like most grand schemes, little of the plan ever became reality.
           In many ways, “Toledo Tomorrow” coincided with the beginning of the city’s economic decline.  Without the war engine stoking the industrial fires, industries had to adapt to a post-war economy.  For a company like Willys-Overland, that involved coming up with a civilian use for its product.  Pent up demand for automobiles, for housing, and for all of the items that filled new homes—especially needed with a booming post-war population—helped ease the transition.  But the economic trauma of the Depression left huge scars on the city that could not be healed.  The next three decades would see dramatic changes in the city’s economic health.

 

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