The advantages of Toledo as a distributing point by lake and rail, its prox imity to raw material and fuel, have caused its industrial interests to dominate all others. As an example of this is the fact that the renowned Lake Superior iron ores and the coal and coke from the Ohio and West Virginia fields meet at its wharves on a common basis of economy. This resulted in the building in 1903 and 1904 of a blast furnace and steel plant on the river front by the Toledo Furnace Company with a capacity of 400 tons per day. This company is now capitalized at $4,000,000 and its capacity has been doubled_ Other great industrial estab lishments nationally known and with large capi tal invested in Toledo are the Company, $75,000,000, producing passenger au tomobiles. This is the second largest automo bile plant in the world; the Paragon Refining Company, $25,000,000, which refines petroleum ; the Owens Bottle Machine Company, $15,500, 000, producers of the bottle-making machine, which has revolutionized that industry; Na tional Supply Company, $14,000,000, producing oil well supplies and machinery; the Electric Auto-Lite Company, $13,000,000, producing au tomobile starting and lighting systems; the National Malleable Castings Company, $8,000, 000, with the largest malleable casting slant in the world; the Sun Company, $5,000,111, refin ers of petroleum products; the Toledo Machine and Tool Company, $3,000,000, builders of presses and machine tools; the Towar Textile Mills Corporation, $2,500,000, producing heavy ducking and belting; the Champion Spark Plug Company, $2,000,000, which produces more than 50 per cent of all the spark plugs in the world; the Ed. Ford Plate Glass Company, $2,000,000, manufacturers of polished plate glass; the To ledo Shipbuilding Company, $2,000,000, which has built some of the largest ships on the Great Lakes; the Libbey Glass Company, $1,000,000, manufacturers of fine cut glassware and elec tric light bulbs; the Hettrick Manufacturing Company, $1,000,000, manufacturers of tents, awnings and canvas goods; the Toledo Sugar Company, $1,000,000, which refines sugar from beets extensively cultivated in the territory sur rounding Toledo; the Toledo Scale Company, $900,000, manufacturers of the famous Toledo scale; Milburn Wagon Company, $700,000, builders of farm wagons and electric vehicles. There are more than 600 other busy manufac turing plants in Toledo) in the Manufacturing Directory, issued by the Toledo Commerce Club, there are 921 different classifications of articles made in Toledo. Toledo is the centre of the metal wheel industry in the United States. There are four plants in Toledo capitalized at $1,250,000, producing bicycles and children's vehicles and giving employment to more than 1,000 men. More than 60,000 people are em ployed in the industries of Toledo. Most of the power used in the factories is supplied by the Toledo Railways and Light Company. The Acme Power Company, a subsidiary company of the Railways and Light Company, has com pleted the first unit of an $13,000,000 plant, which will be utilized to further electrify To ledo's industries. The Standard Oil Company of Ohio has erected a $5,000,000 refinery. This company has a pipe line direct to the mid-con tenent field, through which the crude oil is pumped. The $20,000,000 nitrate plant started by the government in 1918 in Toledo is to be converted into a permanent arsenal. Toledo is one of the busiest wholesaling and jobbing centres in the Middle West. The many rail roads and electric lines make shipping easy to any territory surrounding the city. Post office records show that 42,000,000 people can be reached with over-night mail service. Large manufacturers in the East and West maintain branch houses and distributing stations in Toledo.
There are four national banks and 18 State savings and private banks in Toledo. The capital of the national banks is $3,500,000, and the surplus and undivided profits of these banks amount to $4,499,382. The capital of the other 18 banking institutions totals $4,140,300, with surplus and undivided profits of $2,366,619. In addition to these banks there are eight build ing and loan companies with a combined capital stock of $26,700,000. At the beginning of 1918 the bank deposits in Toledo passed the $100, 000,000 mark; clearings during. 1918 totaled $539,114,5%. Toledo also is the home of nine bond houses, which do a business upwards of $85,000,000 annually. In 1918 Toledo lead all
cities of its class in postal savings deposits. Records show there were 2,950 individual de positors and $1,318,173 on deposit. The post office receipts in Toledo in 1918 totaled $1,391,000.
Municipal Conditions.— The slope from the river on both sides is gradual, but amply sufficient to ensure good drainage. It is well laid out, with wide streets. These aggregate 423 miles in length, of which 400 miles are sidewalked, 256 miles electrically lighted and 244 miles are paved, chiefly with wood block, brick and asphalt. The residence streets are beauti fully shaded, and the absence of all fencing gives this section a park-like appearance. The sewerage system is excellent, there being a total of 292 miles, all emptying into the Maumee River. The waterworks originally cost about $1,400,000 and has a capacity of 70,000,000 gal lons daily, with 353 miles of street mains. The city is supplied with natural gas brought from three fields, northwestern Ohio, central Ohio and West 'Virginia; and there are 25,000 con sumers, the gas being used only for household purposes. The electric car system is very com plete, covering 120 miles of streets and accom modating all sections of the city. There are 10 distinct interurban electric roads in addition, with freight and passenger stations in the busi ness centre. They have a total of 1,546 miles of track, connecting Toledo with a large num ber of surrounding cities and villages, including Cleveland and Detroit. The discovery of gas and petroleum in northwestern Ohio in 1&7 was one of the contributing causes for the growth of Toledo, as this city is the natural metropolis in the oil area and this business still remains a potent factor. The rapid growth in population caused the expansion of the resi dence section in Toledo. In the west end of the city, which is the newer area, there are thousands of beautiful homes set among the original forest trees. In more recent years beautiful residential sections have been de veloped by real estate operators. Ottawa Hills is one of the most beautiful high-class residen tial developments in the country. Many large homes have been built in the up-river section. Toledo has a greater per cent of home-owners than any city of its size in the country. The working man owns his modest home and takes a pride in his lawns and garden patch. All of the residential streets are well paved and lighted with 3,160 arc lamps.
Buildings.—Among the notable buildings are the courthouse, in front of which is a fine bronze statue of President McKinley, erected in 1903; Museum of Art; the Young Men's Christian Association building; the Masonic temple; the Young Woman's Christian Asso ciation building; Newsboys' building; the City Market; the Terminal Auditorium, which will seat 5,000 persons; handsome Toledo Club building; Woman's building; a Soldiers' Memo rial building; armory of the Ohio National Guard; the Public Library (which has 50,000 volumes and five sub-stations); the Valentine Theatre, one of the finest and most artistic in teriors in the United States, and many modern office and business blocks.
Churches and There are 91 church edifices in the city, nearly all having Sunday-schools. Some of the rooms devoted to the latter are up to the best modern stand ards in plan and equipment. Nearly all have large libraries for the use of the scholars. There are two public high schools, built at a cost of $750,000 each, a manual training school and a vocational high school. There are 51 public school buildings, besides 22 parochial schools belonging to and controlled by the Ro man Catholic Church. The latter Church also supports an academy under the Ursuline Nuns, a similar schocil by the Notre Dante Sisters. and Saint John's College, an institution for boys and young men, under the direction of the Order of Jesuits. Toledo University with an enrolment of 1,200 students is maintained by the city. There are 10 private schools; two large busi ness colleges, one of which has 500 students. The Museum of Art is an organization for the advancement of art, numbering in its member ship the most progressive citizens. It occupies a building built at a cost of $1,000,000 and a val uable gallery of paintings and objects of art.