Toledo, Ohio - March 12, 2011 - Sunny & Nice --> Cold, Gray, & Miserable

[Robert Pence]

Toledo, Ohio - March 12, 2011 - Sunny & Bright -> Gray, Cold, & Windy

All Photographs Copyright © 2011 by Robert E Pence

I drove to Toledo to attend an All Aboard Ohio meeting at Central Union Terminal, and afterward I set out to take some photos around the city.

The westbound Lake Shore Limited is due at Toledo at 5:55am. When I pulled up in front of the station about 9:30am, the train was sitting at the
platform, delayed by a track washout and detour in New York State.







Viewliner sleepers and a baggage car bring up the rear.









Saturday's New York Times, headlined with news of the 8.9 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.













After the meeting, I picked a street and followed it to see where it went. The morning had started sunny and pleasant,
but by 11 0'clock overcast was building and the wind was picking up. The day quickly turned cold, damp, windy, and unpleasant.



















The siren echoed through mostly-empty streets.











By the time I got to the Erie Street Market, the winter farmers' market already had closed for the day. The Libbey Glass Factory Outlet was open,
though, and doing a brisk business. I sought respite from the cold wind and found some things I liked, on sale.







From the market I saw this imposing old building and went to check it out. The faded letters painted
on the bricks said "Fireproof Storage" but I wonder if it had an earlier, more interesting use. The design
reminds me of some late-19th century powerhouse buildings for large factories.





I had a flashlight in my pocket, and in younger, more reckless times I might have been tempted to explore. Now, not by myself.





A burnout next door.





This might have made the firefighters nervous.











Good Shepherd Catholic Church.





Been here long?



Nice!









Kessler Park, a pocket park off Main Street. The script above the arch says "Lucas County Power Station."





Former Movie Theater?





Acme Power Plant, inactive since 1993 and undergoing partial demolition. I'm not a fan of drive-by photography, but by this time I felt like I was on the brink of hypothermia,
notwithstanding multiple layers under a jacket that's usually resistant to wind.









That's all I can stand! I'll find a large hot coffee, and then I'm headed for home!

[ShadowMaster]

Awesome stuff! I like the arch, is it located between two brick-homes ? Can't tell from the picture.

Love the railroad pictures also. Keep up the goodies!

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures. This part of Toledo looks pretty deserted and run down. Was this an old industrial area or did you find lots of places to look like this?

[Robert Pence]

Originally Posted by ShadowMaster

Awesome stuff! I like the arch, is it located between two brick-homes ? Can't tell from the picture.

Love the railroad pictures also. Keep up the goodies!

The arch is from an early electric power station, and it's located between old commercial buildings. Most of those in that area are brick. I'm not sure if that was the original location of the power station, or if the arch was preserved and rebuilt there.

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Nice pictures. This part of Toledo looks pretty deserted and run down. Was this an old industrial area or did you find lots of places to look like this?

I'm not a Toledo native or resident, and it's about 100 miles from where I live. I do go there occasionally, though, and look around. Toledo generally is on hard times economically, and this probably is one of the neighborhoods that leans toward the less-prosperous end of the local scale. Toledo does have some first-class cultural and entertainment venues, though. They have a downtown arena and ball park that I've heard are highly regarded by sports fans, and their zoo and art museum are widely recognized for the quality of their collections and displays. I had hoped to get some photos in the the Old West End neighborhood of some of the remaining mansions built by Toledo's industrial barons in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but the weather became unbearable and I had to cut my trip short.

I have a couple of other sets of Toledo photos here.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Always look forward to your photos!

[Expat]

You are not kidding. Miserable, but still interesting.

[stepper77]

Beautiful decay? Yes. These are great shots. I especially liked the photos with pops of bright color amongst an otherwise near colorless background like this:

Originally Posted by Robert Pence

[LSyd]

just the way i like it, great thread. that sucks when you're forced into drive by photography, but it's better than the alternative: nothing.

-

[Thundertubs]

Neat tour. Toledo can be a little desolate in places, but there's good stuff there. The art museum in particular is simply outstanding for a city it's size.

[diskojoe]

great thread. love the old fire supply warehouse. very interesting building. looks like it would make an awesome loft to live in. but toledo looks really desolate. too bad, town has some nice bones in it.

[Bedhead]

Compelling stuff - some fine buildings there.

[ChiTownCity]

this does look miserable (nice photography by the way). I'll be here for a few fays in july to visit some family and just seeing this set isn't exactly giving me any inspiration to make the trip....

[Robert Pence]

Originally Posted by ChiTownCity

this does look miserable (nice photography by the way). I'll be here for a few fays in july to visit some family and just seeing this set isn't exactly giving me any inspiration to make the trip....

You'll find it entirely different in Summer. Winter wind chills are nasty and the weather is gloomy, and people just burrow in and try to avoid it. In summer, folks get out and enjoy the river and the lake, and the place looks a lot better when it's green instead of brown and gray.

While you're there, check out the zoo. It's one of the nation's top-ranked ones. If you're into art of all kinds, you'll find Toledo's world-class art museum well worth your time.

A lot of my Toledo photos so far have been in old industrial areas and down-at-the-heels neighborhoods, and the events that have taken me there all have taken place on winter weekends. I hope to make some weekday trips there just for photography, once the weather warms up.

[PHL10]

I spent 3 days in downtown Toledo for a conference a couple years ago. I couldn’t believe how dead it was – a total urban renewal nightmare. For these midsized rust belt cities, they are really nothing more than a suburban office park with a bunch of cleared lots, parking garages, under-utilized buildings, and poorly conceived civic/public areas. Sad really.

[tallboy66]

Toledo was meant to be part of Detroit.

Nice shot's though.

[CRE8IVEDESTRUCTION]

I really like looking at your photographs. Your pictures have a certain style to them that's really unique. Toledo looks a lot like Detroit in some of your photos. If you haven't been to Detroit yet I'd love to see a thread someday.

[the pope]

Nicely done Rob.

I don't have positive memories of waiting at the Toledo Amtrak. Its marginally beaten by the Greyhound station, at least that had a party store around the corner.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Something tells me that you like trains...

Great shots. Rundown city indeed. Somehow there are some nice old industrial buildings. A real shame that they let them rot like this.

[pallo]

What happened to this city? Why does it look like a nuclear bomb has just exploded in it?

[plinko]

Honestly I almost feel worse for Toledo than I do Detroit. The art museum and the zoo are both top notch, but beyond that it's a really depressing place in my experience (went to HS about 30 min NW).