Toledo ( tÉ™ LEE doh) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, of which it is also the county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the 4th most populous city in Ohio and 88th most populous city in the U.S., with a population of 270,871 at the 2020 census. The Toledo metropolitan area has an estimated 601,000 residents. Toledo also serves as a major trade center for the Midwest; its port is the fifth busiest on the Great Lakes.
At a Glance
- County: Lucas County
- County seat of Lucas County
- State: Ohio
History of Toledo
The region was part of a larger area controlled by the historic tribes of the Wyandot and the people of the Council of Three Fires (Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa). The French established trading posts in the area by 1680 to take advantage of the lucrative fur trade. The Odawa moved from Manitoulin Island and the Bruce Peninsula at the invitation of the French, who established a trading post at Fort Detroit, about 60 miles to the north. They settled an area extending into northwest Ohio.
By the early 18th century, the Odawa occupied areas along most of the Maumee River to its mouth. They served as middlemen between the French and tribes further to the west and north. The Wyandot occupied central Ohio, and the Shawnee and Lenape occupied the southern areas.
When the city of Toledo was preparing to pave its streets, it surveyed "two prehistoric semicircular earthworks, presumably for stockades." One was at the intersection of Clayton and Oliver Streets on the south bank of Swan Creek; the other was at the intersection of Fassett and Fort Streets on the right bank of the Maumee River. Such earthworks were typical of mound building peoples.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Toledo, Ohio, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.