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Washington Twp. tries to incorporate
Washington Twp. in 1875 with today’s major street names superimposed. This is another what-might-have-been story, as once upon a time, Lucas County’s Washington Township stretched from Maumee Bay to...
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New, beautiful Maumee Downs
The closing of Raceway Park in 2013 brought an era of over a century of the ponies in Toledo to an end. Horse racing was not an insignificant part of my upbringing since my father, as the old joke...
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Woodward High’s “Gus” Benjamin
Anyone who went to Woodward High School, and, especially, anybody who played sports for the Polar Bears anytime from the 1950s through 1980, would likely remember Gus Benjamin. Gus was a school...
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Hasty House Farm
Toledo had a horse in the Kentucky Derby? The year was 1954, and in fact, Toledo had not one but two horses in the Run for the Roses that year (Goyamo, who finished fourth, was the other). The most...
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A Mary Alice Powell appreciation
Mary Alice Powell was The Blade’s long-time restaurant reviewer, food writer and much more. She worked at the Blade from 1954 to 1995, and every time I’m looking The Blade’s microfilm archives and I’m...
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How WIOT ruined rock ‘n’ roll for me
“Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it.” – Stevie Wonder And let me follow up by saying these memories can...
View ArticleThe Shotgun Lady
Some time ago I wrote about “The Bag Lady,” Elaine Higgins, a very popular post about someone whom everybody recognized on sight, or by the nickname, downtown in the 1970s and 80s but otherwise knew...
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Yet another 1970s Toledo Restaurant Post? Yes!
Editor’s note: And so, after a two-year hiatus, I am back. I did not die and get better or anything; in fact, I wasn’t even sick. I have written here in the past about how the newspaper business, which...
View ArticleThe obligatory Sylvania Southview Post
Here’s another story of the further historical adventures of the good old Sylvania City Schools district, and how they became the first Toledo suburban school district (and still the only one, as far...
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The Lorraine Motor Hotel – updated!
An update to this post on the Lorraine Motor Hotel on Jefferson Ave. downtown is in order. It’s been through a lot. What started this history lesson was this June, 2017 story in The Blade (that...
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