Items displayed on the middle shelf
The left side contains publications and reports on future visions for Toledo, the Master Plan, and Urban Renewal, as well as a postcard showing the Toledo Blade building. There is also a map of Toledo and Vicinity showing the roads around town in 1947-48.
Toledo Tomorrow (PDF)
July 1945
“Toledo Tomorrow” exhibition photographs and brochure, 1945. Downtown Toledo Associates Records, MSS-027.
Toledo-born Normal Bel Geddes presented the city with a futuristic vision for the city that would operate efficiently and build on the city’s established railroad, surface, marine, and aviation routes, allowing passengers to transfer between different transportation modes through the Union Terminal. Today, the model’s whereabouts are not known, but the photos in this prospectus show how Toledo could have developed into a future metropolis.
Toledo Tomorrow
July 1945
This is the photograph of the model's overview. The model has since vanished.
Toledo City map
1947-48.
Maps of the City of Toledo and Environs, 1947-48 Edition. Ward M. Canaday Center Local History Vertical Files.
These maps show the roads, including the major interstate and state highways running through Toledo in the postwar years. The folding map, published by Dreher’s, shows the streets of Toledo and neighboring towns and villages, and covers a small part of Monroe County in Southeast Michigan.
Master Plan, Phase 2
February 1953
Toledo Master Plans of 1951 and 1956. Downtown Toledo Associates Records, MSS-027.
The 1951 city master plan was based on the Housing Act of 1947, which called for clearing out depressed areas of the city to make room for improvements. It called for improvements in housing, streets and highways, and other critical systems that were in disrepair following the war and the Depression.
Future Improvements
August 1957
On recommendations in the Master Plan, this report presents ideas for developing the Central Area of Downtown Toledo.
Urban Renewal
September 1958
Based on the Master Plan of 1951, Urban Renewal aims to eliminate blighting conditions and achieve other long-range plans for specific residential and industrial areas of Toledo, such as Gunckel East/West, Cherry Street, Buckeye Basin, and Ironville.
The Toledo Blade
ca. 1930s
Postcard, Toledo Blade building, ca. 1930s. Donald Duhaime Collection, MSS-077.
In 2010, The Blade celebrated its 175th anniversary, making it the oldest continually operating business in the city. This postcard shows the iconic building that houses the paper, which is one of the few family-owned newspapers still in existence today. The Block family has taken a special interest in the development and revitalization of downtown Toledo.