Toledo

Book excerpt: In half a century Toledo was transformed from a fever-ridden swamp into a prosperous town with all the amenities of a major Midwestern city. The 1890s signaled the beginning of Toledos greatest architectural era, with new-fangled skyscrapers being constructed up and down Madison Avenue (without any power tools), grand theaters, a new luxury hotel, and the most lavish mansions in the Old West End. New inventions gave Toledoans more time to visit Walbridge Park, shop at Tiedtkes, or attend a Mud Hens game at Swayne Field. Toledo: A History in Architecture 18901914 looks at the cities most notable buildings and at the personalities and institutions of a long vanished era. Innovations like steel framed and reinforced concrete construction were revolutionizing architecture, and Toledos architects were working overtime on what would be their most important commissions, including the Nasby Building, Valentine Theater, and Lucas County Courthouse. Elegant churches rose on Collingwood Avenue, and in 1912 the white marble Toledo Museum of Art, the citys glittering jewel, was built.