Transcripts For CSPAN3 C-SPAN Cities Tour Visits Toledo Ohio 20240713

Expanders. Continue the tour and learn more about world war ii battalion eight stations. Unday at 6 00. N american artifacts tv and American History tv on the road, with the support of the buckeye broadband cable partners. Visit notable locations. In about 15 minutes, the battle of Fallen Timbers and its native american removal in the west. Later, we learn how toledo became known as the glass capital of the world. We begin with the toledo war. The toledo war goes back to 1787 and a northwest ordinance that established the area that by state andcame establish in order that started at the bottom of Lake Michigan iran east to lake erie. The strip of land formed was called the toledo strip. It was formed by two different surveys and that was a wedgeshaped strip five miles knows theat we indiana border today. Eight miles wide by the time it reaches lake erie. It is a pie shaped, 454 square mile edge that became the toledo strip that ohio and michigan really started to wrangle over. Point both ohio and michigan were focused on was what back then was referred to as the port of miami, the indian term for the mommy river, it is really that connection to the river basin and lake erie. Everyone knew that would eventually become an important important port. Now opening in 1825, people are flooding down across new york and lake erie in this area. People recognize the canal system and now you have the miami. Canal being built. By the 1830s, people see that as a reality. Both michigan and ohio wanted that. For trapper familiar with the area came down to the legislature and reminded them if they jury that line as described in the ordinance, they will lose the toledo area, we know today. They made an adjustment and moved the line northward as they reached lake erie. That went into the statehood application, was approved by congress, and there was a committee that said we should take a look at that and no one really stopped it. The 1830s, michigan territories getting ready for their state for statehood and they want to settle this. Same time, the miami canal would be a huge Economic Development project at the time. That was when the militia came down and confronted the surveyors who tried to affirm the ohio line. They fired fired shots over their head and rescued nine of the survey crew. Things in washington began bubbling up. This could turn into a civil war, the last thing we need. We really just need to get the whole thing settled. Have been mediating for quite a while trying to figure out a solution Neither Party was willing to agree to. Late 1835, jackson brings in several of his smarter and more consultants and they start working out a plan in particular with lucas from ohio and approach michigan and say, here is what we will do. And to keep the state lines the way they are now, and then give michigan the upper peninsula. About 9000 square miles. To most people, it like a real downer in terms of the solution. In the end, it worked out well because of copper and iron ore deposits and the his beautiful territory, still a highly regarded still highly regarded as a tourism today tourism area today in winter and summer. All of this happened over what i consider to be, at that time, their version of aol. Everybody thought it was the next thing. Then the railroad came. The canals were quickly regulated to smaller stuff and the railroads really took over the country. It is similar to what happened to aol and the internet. We were all scrambling because the next thing was going to be aol, than the browser appeared and the internet blew up and most people dont listen to you have mail anymore. By december of 1836, michigan except the program put forth by the federal government to accept the border with ohio. This is actually their Second Convention where they accept that. The earliest convention in september they voted it down. They did not think it was fair that they were getting the upn ohio is getting toledo. Things started to shift because they were in financial straits, and they realize to the federal government was getting ready to release money but only to states, not territories. By december they have a Second Convention referred to as the frostbitten convention, and they accept the proposal. Michigan becomes a state and toledo became a part of ohio. The whole toledo war probably still has an effect on how toledo looks at itself. We sit on the border. A lot of people like to say that toledo is not part of the three season ohio, you have cleveland, columbus, cincinnati, and toledo sits on the michigan border. A lot of folks used to refer to it as the mini detroit. We see ourselves as our that michigan cultures sitting inside ohio. Continuing our special look at toledo, we continue the Fallen Timber Fallen Timbers battle war. The battle of Fallen Timbers actually took place and is a convergent convergence of unitass america and the western confederacy of native americans here protecting tribal homelands. The battle phone timbers was the last battle in president washingtons indian war. This effectively stopped the native american and american thelers confrontations of northwest territory, opening the area for settlements. After the American Revolution and the signing of the treaty of paris in 1783, United States from greatreignty britain. Now, northwest territory. This is what americans actually gained from the treaty of paris. The native americans who had been living in the land were not in the negotiations. They had been here farming and hunting for hundreds of years. When you have people moving into what you believe is your land, you are bound to have problems with what ucs invaders into your homeland. Time, weis point in have treaties taking place through the ohio river and upcoming toward where we are standing now. These treaties were never properly enforce were properly. Egotiated you also have native americans not viewing the americans as really bargaining appropriately. General Anthony Wayne was a revolutionary war hero. After some debate, he is chosen to lead the legion of United States of america. We have trade routes established. You follow the ohio river and then come up to get to the maumee river, this land that is a suitable homeland for folks to start moving into. It is important for Anthony Wayne to start to come up and provide the safety of the settlers living around these areas. As he pushes farther into the northwest territory, or the maumee river valley. Anthony wayne begins his travels 18 months after he was commissioned as the new Major General of the u. S. Legion. As he marches up, it takes him one year from 1793 to 7094 to travel the length. Little turtle is watching. As he does so, they attack Anthony Waynes legion. He realizes this army is different than the other two armies he had previously faced. He goes back to the ground counsel and says this army is different. He says i am not sure the british are actually going to involve themselves in our fight. We might need to consider negotiations. At this point in time, the Council Votes and they decided they want to continue with military action. When they do decide that, Little Turtle hands over the reign to blue jacket and he is warrior minded and he is ready to take this fight to the United States legion. Native americans have built their village right behind the fort, which is a fully constructed for, garrisoned with the british at this point with general campbell. Anthony wayne on august 17 has made it. As he comes a little bit outside of the battlefield, he is going to stage their and build camp deposit. As he does that, he sends of volunteers out and these volunteers come to about this area where we are at now, the Fallen Timbers battlefield. They are captured. They bring them back to their village and find out what Anthony Waynes battle plans are. Anthony wayne is marching with a line that is about two to four miles long. He is actually going to come to this area of the Fallen Timbers. He is going to start to meet native american resistance. He will send out an advanced guard, they will start to engage in the firefight that will eventually lead to the larger battle. As it starts to take place, the native americans are engaging and advanced scout group, giving an f time to the main body of the legion of United States to deploy, allowing them to set up sustained firepower, which will eventually outmatched the native americans, which will force them to retreat. Though we cant be sure, about two years before the battle of Fallen Timbers, there were records from settlers who spoke about swirling winds coming through the town, uprooting trees. When Anthony Wayne right some to the secretary of war, henry knox, he said we fought the native americans at the location of the Fallen Timbers. As Anthony Wayne is marching to the fort, the native americans have reached it first. They expect to be able to go into the fort or have reinforcements sent out from the fort. Campbell has been given specific instructions that he is not to intervene militarily. Basically what that would be doing is declaring war on the United States of america. At this time Great Britain had no intention of declaring war unless they could win and really win big and they were not going to make the decision at the fort to do that. What ends up happening is the native americans now see the british were not going to fight with them. They leave very disheartened and very betrayed. This battle has forced the native americans to reevaluate their alliances with the british and how they are going to withstand the onslaught of the settlers who are going to continue to push into their land. The battle of Fallen Timbers lasted two hours with the heaviest losses taking place at about 45 minutes. We are seeing that between 30 and 50 were lost on each side. Although losses were lower than what we would expect to see would we say the americans definitively won the battle of Fallen Timbers, but we are seeing happened is disillusionment taking place with the native americans with the british. Theyre starting to see the british are not going to step in and help them keep their homeland. As they have now seen, the United States can fight. The army is different. It is run by a different general and there are different people fighting. It is starting to look like the native americans only have one option left and that option is to negotiate as their own tribe with the United States government. 1795, the added states of america sends delegates to meet with the representatives of every tribe held land in the mayn maunmee river valley and they signed the first treaty that deals with native americans who lived on the land. Every tribe has a representative and the appropriate representative to sign. What this ends up doing is it opens up for those indian removal acts that removes native americans out west, which opens up the United States for manifest destiny and pushed further west than the original tree line. Our staff travel to toledo ohio to learn about its rich history. To watch more video from toledo and other stops on our tour, visit cspan. Org. Up next, we learned about fort meigs history. Today, we are here at fort meigs historical site. It was constructed in winter and early spring of 1830. Largestay, it is the ford in north america. That detroitor was have fallen to the british and the entire army of the northwest had been surrendered. Everything north just over here is under british control. Toew man was put in charge rebuild the army of the northwest and his idea was to build a large fortification. The most shallow crossing point. His plan was to get as much troops as possible together. Then go up to detroit and retake that for the United States and invade canada. To berd of 1812 tends quite a bit forgotten in American History. With the time on is the United States was a young nation. We just got over the revolution. Towere really just trying make a goal that. Great britain was fired fighting with the empire and the United States decided it would make money off of the war. Neither side was too happy the United States was supplying goods and supplies, so the british actually were pulling up alongside merchant ships in the atlantic and stealing cargo and impressing sailors. Freetrade and sailors rights is one of the reasons the United States decided to declare war. Another reason is the land right out here. This territory part of ohio was given to the native american tribes here. The promise was they would be no settlers, no military action in this area. Of course that did not happen. Settlers were coming in, building their farms. As you can imagine, a lot of the American Indian tribes in this area were not very happy about it. The great shawnee war chief to decided to band together with a bunch of different tribes and ally himself with british to help fight that encroachment into their territory. Construction of fort meigs began in february of 1813. Its winter in northwest ohio at that time, so it was a really hard thing to do, but during the construction, there were over 3500 men here who just worked night and day to build this fort, and they got it finished, as you see it today, by the end of april of that same year. The cold here at the fort was bad, as you can imagine, winter. This was never supposed to be a longterm fortification. They really put up the things that were going to be used for defense. The wall, the gates, the traverses you see here. It was a really rough place to be out in this territory, and theres all kinds of threat. You have some of the hostile native american tribes, and on top of that, there were 3500 men here. Youve got disease, injuries on top of Everything Else they are being exposed to. This is actually a different design than most of the forts of this time period. You tend to see the forts of this time period being geometrical in shape, but if you look at an overview of the fort, it really follows the lay of the land. It is on a 40foot bluff that overlooks the river and harrison wanted to use that as a defense mechanism. It was going to be extremely difficult for the british, should they decide to storm the fort, to get up that hill, and he wanted to use that as a defense mechanism. With the fort construction ending around the end of april, it ended specifically because the british showed up. The americans knew the british were going to be on the move as winter faded into spring, so they were ready for it. The british arrived just across the river near the end of april and started besieging the fort the beginning of may 1813. The beginning of the war did not go well for the United States. Mackinaw had fallen. Fort dearborn had fallen, detroit had fallen. Everything north of the river was british territory. The whole idea was basically just to keep the fort standing and not let it be occupied. The british attacked the fort for nine days at the beginning of may. The majority was artillery bombardment. Thats why you see these earthworks inside of the fort here. Across the river where the british were bombing the fort from is actually nine feet higher, so they could look into fort meigs and see everything that was going on. General harrison overnight had the men construct these earthworks. They were originally 15 feet wide and about 15 feet high as well. This was to protect them from any of the cannon fire coming in. The cannonballs would bounce and skip and roll and then hit these earthworks. From there, american soldiers could pick them back up and fire them back across the river. There were about 1200 men here at the time. Most of them were ill. General harrison really needed reinforcements. He had about 1200 men coming up from the kentucky militia and new they were on their way. The evening of may 4, he had gotten word that these kentucky troops were actually just two miles downriver. Harrison sent a runner out to the colonel in charge of the militia and told him he needed to take 800 men across the river. They were to spike the british canon, simply make them inoperable, and then they were supposed to come back to the fort. That was very important. Come straight back to the fort. The colonel takes 800 kentucky militia across the river and manages to take some of the british cannons, but the british run back to fort miami, which is their headquarters during the battle of Fallen Timbers. Just located a few miles down the river. The british ran back there for reinforcements. As the kentuckians are hanging around after they have taken their cannons, some of the American Indians that were allied with the british started firing at them, and all 800 kentuckians took off into the woods after them. The native americans got the kentucky soldiers are scared and confused, which was the plan, and then attacked. Unfortunately, it was a complete and utter massacre. Out of the 800 men that went over there, 650 were killed or captured. The entire plan was for the british to just take the fort over. Thats what they wanted to do. They wanted to move farther south into ohio, but they were not able to take fort meigs over. In september 1813, the battle of lake erie takes place. This was a big moment because the lake had been controlled by the british up to that point, and that was under american control, so after the americans gained control of lake erie, the british moved out of the area and there really was not a threat here anymore. Because there was not such a huge threat, they decided to downgrade fort meigs to a one square acre fort, so they used this quarter here and just abandoned it. The city of harrisburg was founded a year later. We know a family by the name of hayes had a farm on this land. They knew what the earthworks were and what fort meigs was, so they only graze cattle in this area. We like to say they were the first to preserve fort meigs because without them, this would not be here. In the 1970s, the Ohio History Connection was able to reconstruct fort to look as it would have in the spring and summer of 1813. We really hope that when visitors come to fort meigs, they take a minute to pause and think about what happened here at the fort. We tend to forget about the war of 1812, but i think it is important for us to remember that, you know, men fought and died for this war, american, british, native american, canadian, so we really want to honor and remember all of those people. We want people to come away with a sense of reverence, a sense of respect for what took place here. This is filled with many memorials. The one behind us now, john was ben had an Office Downtown and saw newsboys on the street. At swere mostly left street urchins. In christmas, they formed the. Ewsboys association and really stepping up. This became a National Model used all over the country. The newsboys were a unique group back then. Newspapers had no other way to distribute their papers. They were an important part of the whole process. Some say, he was put onto this keep the kids active and working. There had been a strike in new york that brought them down to their knees but i like to think of him as more of a bighearted guy who just wanted to help these kids. See this work still today, i think toledo is the third boys and girls club in the country and still very active today toledoreat work in thanks to john gunckel. They pay tribute to gunckel. The first and third weekend of each month as we take the tv in American History tv on the road. Tour andpan. Org cities follow us on twitter at cspan cities tours that the cspan cities tour, exploring the american story. I think places like toledo are often taken for granted which is a shame because there is a wonderful history here over the years, toledo ends have built things. We are known as the glass city because the first big break moved from boston to toledo in rich was n by reservoir national get natural gas, brought his new England Glass Company to toledo and opened a plant on north toledo and it is on the exact same site today. In 1880 eight, right over my shoulder in downtown toledo, a , the Glass Company company was big and important. We startedvolved, other things. About 100 years ago and automobiles started coming to market, toledo moved very quickly, started doing that. The company was the largest employer in toledo for a number of years. Built wins created and the worlds first suv. In 1941 when the federal government was looking for the vd looking for what general toenhower felt he needed traverse the rocky road to the Overland Company in north toledo won that contract and created something we now which is still a primary employer. More whitecollar from dips in the auto industry. I think we should market ourselves as the water belt. And other cities 20 of all the water in the earth is in the great lakes. By the end of the century when water is a desperately sought scarce not only in this country but across the globe, it will not be a bad that to sit on top of capacity. We can see a growth that would turn the tables until the scales in our direction. When she was launched in 1911, she was called the queen of the lake, the largest ship on the great lake at the time. Up next, just how much cargo this great ship could carry. From a museum perspective, we like to think of it as two football fields of education and entertainment. It is a great hook for us to get people appreciating an understanding a little more the history of the great lakes. Were on the deck of the National Museum of the largest artifact. It was a commercial freighter built in 1911 until went into a longterm way up in the 1980s and became a museum ship when the owner purchased it around 1987. Her main purpose was to deliver high and or from Lake Superior down to places like ohio and then it was taken into. Ittsburgh it was the largest carrier, meaning it can carry more than ,ny other from 1911 until 1927 a very long time when every year, it was a little longer. Build so billed wide, more cargo in 16 years than any other boat constructed at the time. The pilothouse, where command decisions were made. The first mate would be in here would be here as well as other Junior Officers who would assist the captain with navigation, steering the vessel, communicating with the engine room with respect to how fast they want the book to go and what direction, command central of the 20th century great lakes fall carrier. Steale a wheel that would steer the boat. Navigation,d basic and as technology improves, sometimes Old Technology is kept. When radar is introduced on the great lakes over here and here, it is introduced after world war and that vastly improves the ability to see what is coming in as well as an, iconic piece of equipment everyone seems to recognize from the movie titanic. The engine telegraph, the system between thetion pilothouse and the communication room. About 62 feet wide, perfect in order togh maximize the amount of cargo she could carry from Lake Superior down to the lower legs. We are now in the cargo hold, number two. This is where literally thousands upon thousands and tons of cargo, probably millions in several years of bulk cargo like iron or an coal and limestone would have been transported across the great lake. It has dallas tanks to help with navigation of the boat by being able to sit low in the water or raise up in the water. It has arched girder construction, which was developed in the first decade of the 20th century. This allowed more and more cargo to be placed in the cargo hold. To make the boats more efficient. There are three cargo holds roughly holding about 4800 tons of cargo per trip. By the time the schoonmaker was built in 1911, the cargo would be removed with unloaders. They were mechanized arms that were attached to massive dockside infrastructure which would reach down through the cargo holds of the vessel. With these huge clamshell buckets they would scoop up to tons to three tons of cargo each time. Take them out of the cargo hold and deposit them in Railroad Cars waiting at dockside. A boat like this could take 710 hours to unload, which was a vast improvement over earlier systems of unloading which could take up to two days. Boats on the great lakes are always looking for as many cargoes as they can possibly carry. They generally have a principally cargo. For many years, all freighters try to carry iron ore, which is the main cargo. But there is also coal, which is still shipped on the great lakes. Limestone. Construction material stone. Salt. They carry a variety of products. There are still boats on the great lakes that carry grain. Grain silos on riversides across the great lakes place grain in the cargo hold of a boat and it will be shipped off the great lakes to the st. Lawrence seaway. If you took a photograph of a lake like toledo or cleveland or milwaukee in 1911, the port would look chaotic. There would be hundreds of vessels operating out of that port on any given day. It would be different because they would be a wide variety of styles of vessels. In 1911, you still had hundreds of sailing vessels. Versus a boat like the schoonmaker, which was operated with steam. We are now in the engine room. This is where the power that is created to move the boat through the water comes from. Originally, the schoonmaker had an expansion steam engine. But that technology became supplanted by steam turbines. The old engine was taken out and the new steam turbine system was placed in it. All of this equipment is based on steam turbine technology. Except for the engine room telegraph, which stayed the same. Judge gregory it is now the other end of the Communication System with the pilothouse. When the captain once the boat to go full ahead, he sends a signal back to the engine room. They acknowledge it and put it into full ahead steam power. The major control system here for this steam turbine allows the chief engineer to ensure there is enough steam to turn the turbine, which then in course turns the shaft of the propeller, which turns the propeller. All of the things that go into the production of steam, the amount of heat and water and boilers. The amount of pressure that creates, is all controlled through a mechanical systems here that are more sophisticated than when the boat was built in 1911. Behind us are the two major boilers on the schoonmaker. Before its conversion to a steam turbine, you wouldve had men with shovels from the cold mens taking coal and heating the water to create steam. The ultimate end of the commercial career for the schoonmaker was more about demand for steel and Industrial Products like coal and limestone and salt than it was for the condition of the boat. In the late 1980s, the city of toledo developed an idea to bring an attraction to the downtown area. The boat was here and it had not been used in eight years. The company is waiting for some condition to change that might justify it being brought out again. The city of toledo purchased it for a couple hundred thousand dollars and began the process of turning it into a museum. It is a great way to get people to think, i will get to go on one of those ships that i saw our my father saw when he lived up here on the great lakes. To get them involved in history. They come to the museum and they are amazed about what happens over the last 300 years on the great lakes. It is a great hook for us to get people appreciating the history. Continuing our special look at toledo, we visit the Fallen Timber battlefield. The battle marked a turning point in the indian wars. The battle of Fallen Timbers takes place on august 20, 1794. It is the convergence of a legion of the u. S. And the western confederacy of native americans who are here protecting their tribal homeland. It was the last battle in president washingtons indian wars. This effectively stopped the native american and american settlers confrontations in the northwest territory. Opening the area for settlement. After the American Revolution and the signing of the treaty of paris in 1783, the u. S. Again sovereignty. The great lakes, 21 of the worlds freshwater, 84 of freshwater, and that is part of who we are. Five lakes. We are here at the National Museum of the great lakes, dedicated to the history of the great lakes. We have a huge history in terms of the great lakes. 1830s operating the fourth today. When we develop the museum here, we started by looking at the great lakes as powerful forces. It helps give life and bring life here. There is a shaping force which shapes how this area was developed as people moved in here. The weather has traded hundreds if not thousands of disasters across the great lakes. We are here in the shipwrecks andsafety gallery inflatable liferaft from fitzgerald. Was 729 feet long, built in 1958. Meaning she was the largest ship sailing on the great lakes. In a terrible storm in november of 1975, all 29 men on board went down with her and it was a massive tragedy across the Great Community were still not 100 sure what happened that night the part of the investigation included anything on the surface including rafts that would have been attached to vessels and when they had a certain water pressure, they automatically inflated and came to the surface. We have one of them here on display. Night thethe fitzgerald died, about half of those guys were actually from ohio. Toledo, it wasls a very big deal across great lakes especially ohio and even more so here in toledo. Were really very common. A lot of ships out there, we did not have great weather capabilities. More traffic, and we are really sure what was happening. We saw a lot of shipwrecks shipwrecks. 8000 shipwrecks across the great lakes. When Mesa Fitzgerald more interesting is it is 1975. By then, there has been no major shipwreck for a leak at least a decade. Of not expected that something of this size could really succumb to the weather we have. It really was unthinkable. One thing i think people do not realize about the great lakes is we are innovators here as well. What were looking at here is the steering will from the first in the world. It was built here in toledo. She worked on the great lakes for another eight or nine years when she finally sank off the coast of indiana in 1889. Most great lakes traveling vessels were two scooters. Parallel their sales down the length of vessels. Once you start adding more and get more sail area along the boat. Sizable for the festival smaller bodies of water like the great lakes, that is a lot of. Anpower to deal with i believe in the early 1970s, about 10 years ago. Just the toledo story but the worldwide story. The small exhibit about the innt race between the city 1901. Passenger travel became something fairly productive on the great lakes for great lakes. A lot of people wanted to travel. They can hold regular scheduled and kim about who could be the fastest. A little taken aback that his vote was not considered part of finally, the owner of the buffalo company, said ok, we will race. The two vessels left cleveland, headed toward. , pennsylvania. It was surprisingly a tight race. The city of year he hanging along. Something happened in the. Ttachment just at the end 45 seconds ahead. Traveled 100 miles in the city of. Wins by 45 seconds. The owner did admit if everything had gone right, attachment probably would have one won. He has bragging rights because he did when. The wheels blonde to a longtime collector. And donated it to the museum. To the city ofl urine for quite a long time. Put the two of them together. The great lakes were very involved in world war ii. One of the most interesting and wecinating stories is actually did training for aircraft carriers on the great lakes. Once we sent all of our aircraft carriers into the multiple trainrs, we had no way to future pilots. Not safe places to be doing training missions. The u. S. Navy looks and ended up coming, too passenger steamers. Into small but training aircraft carriers. Those are the only two coalfired steamers that were ever aircraft carriers as well. They tore off all of the upper decks at all of the passenger they laid down basically a 550 foot deck. Every pilot had to have seven successful takeoffs and landings. Carrier pilot. Saying we trained president. Eorge h. W. Bush herelly hope people come ,nd realize the great lakes something that really shaped giving life to an affected all of us across the country and across the country. The cspan cities tour is exploring the american story. We continue the special will look at Toledo Special look at toledo. The reigning heavyweight champion. Against the underdog contender,. Ack dempsey that was a hot day in toledo, ohio. 110 degrees. Were standing across from bayview park in toledo. Famous for hosting the july 4, 1919 World Championship heavyweight fight. Etween jack dempsey it had an awkward reputation for a death in the ring recently and gambling are organized crime involved. Tweet amid an offer and it was decided to host the fight here july 4 of 1919. Both fighters worked out and they built and 80,000 seat wouldnt stadium made of michigan pine. Read here is a replica of a stadium with the same design the july 4, 2019 centennial celebration fight. The day of the fight, it was extremely hot. The newspaper boys were all selling newspapers for people to sit on. Look at the photograph, a lot of straw hats and tells him the back of the next. It was really warm. Empsey was the underdog he plummets willard in one of the most violent three rounds of boxing you will ever see. Willard did not even answer the bell for the fourth round. He went down multiple times in the first round, a lot of money was gambled for that fight. Some of which was bet on a first round knockout. Dempsey was doing his best. There was a questionable bell at the end of the firstround that nobody heard so willard was able to make it to the second round to continue getting a beating. One of the most interesting things is that Jimmy Breslin wrote that the warring 20s were born in toledo ohio on july 4, 1919. The people who came to the fight, the list is incredible. Its a whos who of the roaring 20s. Toledo was centrally located within all of the railroad systems. It was very easy for people to get here. Plenty of hotels and an 80,000 seat arena, it was the perfect venue. Toledo, ohio, is known as the glass capital the world. Up next, word we learn about edward libby and his role turning dileo into the glass city. Glassedos notice the capital the world because all of these have built this economy of glass here in toledo. Standing in the pavilion. The purpose is to showcase the glass collection, one of the significant parts of our thirdtion here, almost a here in toledo. It is one of the larger collections of glass in the United States. The city has a history of glass in terms of industrial contribution in toledo and in terms of what the museum edward libby was the proprietor of the Glass Company and it was through his ties with the Glass Company that he made his fortune. Because he and his wife had no children, he left that fortune to the museum. He also gave us a large glass collection and paintings collection. Edward libbey was born in 1854. The new england last company which was a precursor started in 1818. His father became the agent for the new England Glass Company in 1872. He learned the glass business from his father. In 1883, his father passed away unexpectedly. He took over the business. In 1888, he the brought the libby Glass Company here to toledo. There was high silicon us sand available. The businessmen of toledo gave him the site for the factory as well as sites for his workers to build houses. Once they were in toledo, if altered a bit. The workers were unhappy because they do not have their family around. It was not a highly developed area, so all of the amenities they were used to in the boston area were not available in toledo. He lost a bunch of workers. He went to West Virginia to recruit more workers. Not only did he recruit the workers he needed, but he also recruited michael owens. Michael owens ran the factory, and libby was the one who led the marketing. He was able to go to the worlds fair in order to put the libby Glass Company on the international stage. The place where he did that first was the 1893 chicago worlds fair. He built a glass furnace and studio so that from soup to nuts they could see glass being made and then stop at a gift shop and purchase some glass. Not only did they have the opportunity to see glass being made, they also were able to see this wonderful novelty that nobody had seen before, which was the glass dress. They got this technology where you spun glass threads very thin. Then you can stretch it until the point it is the thickness of a threat. They pulled all of these threats, and they welded into fabric. They made this fabric into a dress that could be worn. It is a phenomenal dress. We are in front of one of the best known works in our collection. It almost needs no intervention. This is known as the libby punch pulled. It was made in 1904 for the worlds fair happening in st. Louis that year. Often companies would make really grand works for the fair as a way of showcasing their greatest abilities and what they could really do. This is a piece of cut glass. It would have been blown as a blank without any decoration on it. The glassblowers would have then passed it off to the cutters, and that would go through several stages of cutting where you first rough out a design and then go in and make these deep cuts and precise. The wonderful thing about cut class is it has this brilliant look to it. When the light shines on it, it reflects and refracts and makes this beautiful brilliant look. The type of glass libby was making at that time was brilliant cut glass. It is what you think of as that very heavy and sparkly design that just looks like diamonds. From the 1880s until the 1920s was the era of brilliant cut glass. That was the time libby was marketing his wares. They were sold in Jewelry Stores , and there were catalogs people could pick out what pattern they wanted, and orders would go back to the factory. As time went on, he changed what they created. There were still a few highend as the time when forward, it changed what libbey glass created. Ghendwere still a few hi things that were handblown, hand cut, but they moved to things that would continue a profit, keep the company going, so it became much more mechanized between 1925ime, and the start of world war ii. When you think about glass and toledo, the phrase the glass city, it is because the libbey Glass Company was kind of the kernel that grew out not only the libbey Glass Company, but bottlemainois was a king company that grew out of the roots of the libbey company. Corning fiberglass, another way of using glass in an industrial setting. So it grew. It wasnt just the libbey Glass Company, but all these other Glass Companies that were outcroppings of the one company that came here in 1888. Toledo has a long history of glassmaking, both in terms of its industry and again in the 1960s, when workshops happened here spearheaded by a ceramics professor. Whatis a case of work by we would call pioneers of the early studio glass movement. Museum,the city and the played an Important Role in a watershed moment in the history of studio glass, which really takes us back to the early 1960s. Man who there was a taught ceramics at the university of wisconsin madison, who wanted to experiment with glass. He worked as a director then at initiate a series of workshops. The first one was in march 1962. He sent a letter to a group of other ceramics professors around the country, and invited them to come to toledo and participate in a glassblowing workshop where they would experiment. So they came here, and set up a furnace, built a furnace. They did not know how to melt glass, so they went to a local scientist who worked at a company that made fiberglass, and they began to experiment. There was a retired glass blower who worked at libbey. He came in and helped them to get the hang of what one does with a blow pipe. Things like these three objects that you see on the deck here. They might look rather primitive, but the idea is that these people were experimenting. Harvey would go on to develop a very sophisticated body of work, and other artists you see represented were also making glass in the 1960s and 1970s. When harvey had these workshops, he had a successful moment in experimenting with glass. He returned to his campus in wisconsin and set up the First University program in the country for teaching glassblowing. Others would follow. While you still see in many peoples work the focus on the traditional glass form, like the vessel, you also see this tremendous range in which people are working today, in various sculptural ways, abstract ways. The possibilities with glass have really exploded in the last 50, almost 60 years. From its beginnings until now, the glass industry has diversified. However, the base is still here. We still love our libbey glass, and in this beautiful glass pavilion im standing in is very industry andnt to th beauty. It is a wonderful testament to our toledo history, and that fundamental history of glass. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] the cspan cities tour is exploring the american story. Toledoinue our look at with a historian and the author of the book forgotten visitors to northwest ohio. Blocks west of the main downtown area of toledo on monroe street. The corner of 21st and monroe. Another forgotten visitor to toledo, j edgar hoover, who came here in 1936, flying from cleveland at 4 00 in the morning, arriving at this location. At that time, it would have been a row of apartment buildings behind me. Hoover kicked a door down and arrested americas most wanted threw him in the back of a car, drove him to the airport, flew him to cleveland where he held a press conference where he announced he had captured americas most wanted criminal. Campbell was part of a gang that had kidnapped a brewers son in st. Paul, minnesota, and ransomed him for 200,000. They got the money and released him unharmed, but hoover promised he would get every Single Person involved in the crime. Harry campbell was the last person, living in toledo under the nose of everybody. After the arrest, it came out the sheriff of the county had been seen drinking with campbell ewerye weekends at a br just down the street here on this corner. Toledo was known as a wideopen town, and i think hoover kind of pointed out, he didnt trust everybody when it came down to make the biggest arrest. Toledos response to the police protesting not being part my statement of refusal to cooperate was broader than the chief stated. Hoover wanted nothing to do with it. In 1936, toledo was coming out of a period where they had just seen a gang come down from detroit and try to take over toledo in the early 1930s. You had a brewery owner who was killed, that brought in the law, and things quieted down. 1936, the late 1930s, toledo was relatively quiet, but still a town where a lot of people were paid off, a good place to come and stay under the radar if you were wanted somewhere else. So campbell was probably pretty sharp, coming here. He was able to stay out of everybodys way for quite a while. They call it the snake on the lake, because it is very gerrymandered. From the heart of toledo, to the heart of cleveland, our district skirts the entire southern rim of lake erie. Toledo is the glass city. We have companies that range from libbey glass to first solar, so Heritage Companies and part of americas rising sun. Right here, birthed in this community. We are not a capital city. We had to earn our way forward, largely through private enterprise, with a very heavy industrial tilt. We see a number of new Industrial Companies rising. Our Port Authority has been very involved. The largest gas discovery on the continent, here in ohio and western pennsylvania. We are seeing a transformation in the economy due to natural gas and the movement of that up into this region. We serve the Steel Industry here. Without this region of america, we could not go to war. Vast automotive and rail industry, which is also part of our heritage. This is the largest watershed draining into the great lakes. You are right near lake erie, the southernmost of the great lakes. We are sitting alongside the river, which is the largest river that drains into the great lakes. I will tell you, the redevelopment along our riverfront would not have been possible without tens of millions of dollars of federal money coming in here, to clean up damaged sites. Federal dollars were essential in preparing the private sector for reinvestment in the heart of the city. Refugesoint to wildlife that have brought tens of thousands of visitors here for our birding areas, among the most precious on the continent. We helped clean up lake erie once, and now we are doing it again. The construction of shipyards on the riverfront region would not have been possible without federal funds. The interconnected, multimodal transportation not possible without the federal government. The federal government has to be a partner for enterprise, at a time in our country when private enterprise so often chooses to locate abroad, rather than reinvest in this country. Our cities tour staff recently traveled to toledo, ohio to learn about its rich history. To watch more from toledo and other stops on the tour, visit cspan. Org citiestour. You are watching American History tv. All weekend, every weekend on cspan3. In history,ectures karen markoe of State University of new York Maritime College teaches a class on the 1920s, talking about