USA > Ohio > Lucas County > Toledo > Polk's Toledo City Directory (1858) > Part 17
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THE TOLEDO AND DETROIT RAIL ROAD,
Also a branch of the S. M. & N. I. R. R., affords us a speedy connection with Detroit, and by the union, which it there affords us with the Great Western, Canada road, is really one of the most important roads that enters Toledo. The claims of Tole- do to a great future development would be imperfectly stated, without taking into account the position she occupies in refer- ence to the trade of the Canadas. This important country having now a population of about two and a half millions of industrious and intelligent people, doubles its numbers once in fifteen years. In climate, it embraces but a small portion ad- apted to productions, congenial to the regions of the States lying southward and south-westward from Toledo. In its in- tercourse with all this region, Toledo is its appropriate gate- way, whether that intercourse be by water or by land. For all southern products, Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis are the great gathering centres. For these products Toledo is the best distributing point for the Canadas. The accumulations of the river cities, will be transported by canal and river and by railway directly to the most easily accessible port on Lake Erie for distribution ; and on the other hand that part of the lakes will gather in from the north lands, their peculiar pro-
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TOLEDO.
ducts to be sent forward to the great river cities for distribu- tion. The quantities of fruits, vegetables and other products to be interchanged by these great regions will soon become immense. At the end of the next fifteen years, the Canadas will be as populous as all the States of our Union were sixty years ago, and probably possess double the wealth. Whichever of the principal interior cities establishes the best connections with Toledo, will control the trade, and one needs but to make himself familiar with the rapid progress of the British Colonies and their trade, to become satisfied that there will soon be in their southern commerce a source of greater wealth to the towns controlling it, than is at present the trade of any one of the surrounding States.
The construction of the Detroit and Toledo Road gives To- ledo another Rail Road route to New York via. the Great Western Rail Road to Niagara Falls and Rochester of about the same length, and requiring only about the same time as the route via Cleveland, which will act as a wholesome check upon fares and keep them at a proper standard.
THE DAYTON AND MICHIGAN RAIL ROAD.
This Road is a continuation of the Cincinnati Hamilton and Dayton Road, in a due north direction to Toledo. It is com- pleted to Lima in Allen County, seventy miles distant from Toledo, and its completion to this city, in all probability will be effected during the current year. When completed, the dis- tance between Cincinnati and Toledo will be 200 miles-making Toledo by many miles the nearest lake terminus to the Queen City. It will be difficult to compute the amount of business, which will be commanded and drawn to Toledo, when this Road is finished. The entire line to Cincinnati being made shorter than any other to the Lake, and the expense of trans- portation up and down the lake, between Toledo and Buffalo, being the same as between Cleveland and Buffalo, would dur- ing the navigable season have a preference in connection with
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TOLEDO.
eastern freighting business, in both directions, over every other competing line.
The Road from Toledo to Detroit, also, being 56 miles in length, and now in full operation, forms, with the C. H. & D., and the D. & M. Roads, a continuous line of 256 miles from Cincinnati, which, there being no rival line, must necessarily command all the trade between that city on the south, and the whole of southern Michigan on the north. The further junc- tion at Detroit with the Great Western Railway of Canada, opening a route from Detroit to Niagara Falls and Montreal, within a few miles as short from Cincinnati as that of any other existing line, and passing through one of the most beautiful countries in the world, insures a certainty of passenger busi- ness from Cincinnati to the East, which must ultimately give it equal, if not superior returns of profit, as compared with other lines. The junction of the line also at Lima with the P., Fort Wayne and Chicago Road, cannot fail to yield a good share of Eastern through business by way of Pittsburgh, and of Western by way of Chicago.
The people of Toledo, Michigan, Canada West, and the Lake Superior country are calculating largely upon this road. Every day renders the fact more certain that as the natural exchange of products is between different climates, the heaviest trade of the country is soon to be North and South, and that those roads will be most profitable to the stockholders as well as to the towns they connect which occupy the best routes between the cities which are centers of northern trade, and those which gather in the commercial articles of the south. Cincinnati also is beginning to perceive that while this road has advantages over both her other Lake roads for Eastern freight, this alone can bring to her the trade of Michigan and the Canadas-and for the purpose of hastening it to as rapid a completion as pos- sible, an investigating committee of the Cincinnati Hamilton and Dayton Road, made a detailed report of the condition, business and future prospects of the road, to which we are
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TOLEDO.
indebted for a portion of the foregoing description. In conclu- sion they recommended such an arrangement with the D. & M. Road as should insure a connection of the two, leaving the details of such an arrangement to be adjusted by the Board of Directors of the C. H. & D. Road.
CLEVELAND NORWALK AND TOLEDO
Being the Southern Division of the Cleveland and Toledo Road, forms an important link in the Lake Shore Road. It is 112 miles long, its alignments are good and its grades remark- ably easy, and freights are carried at the lowest rates. It has done a good passenger business, and by its connections at Clyde with the Mad River Road, and at Monroeville with the Mansfield Road, furnished Railroad communications with Cin- cinnati and the interior of Ohio. Business on this road must always be thriving, and the passenger trade immense.
CLEVELAND SANDUSKY AND TOLEDO,
Though consolidated with the Road last named is in fact a distinct route, traversing the Lake shore. It touches at San- dusky and crosses Sandusky Bay-giving to Toledo the shortest practicable connection with Cleveland. The distance is 105 miles-and the grades are equal to those of the Southern division.
TOLEDO, WABASH & WESTERN RAIL-ROAD,
The location of the City of Toledo and the geographical por- tion of the bay on which it is situated with reference to the large and productive valley of the Wabash river, and the equally productive prairies of Central and Southern Illinois, very early attracted popular attention to the formation of such channels and modes of intercommunication as should admit the cheapest and most rapid transit of the productions of these fertile regions to the waters of Lake Erie.
The Wabash and Erie Canal as one of the fruits of this pub- lic interest, and attention was undertaken in 1837, and com- pleted about the year 1842. The construction of that great work, fostered by State and national liberality, was an era in 34
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TOLEDO.
the History of that portion of the Mississippi Valley, which is south-westerly of Lake Erie. It is not the proper place in this article to estimate the amount of capital or of population which that internal arm of the Sea (if we may'be allowed the expres- sion) has added to the region of country which it traversed; but it is not amiss to say that it became, and is now one of the mighty elements of the great public wealth and importance of the Wabash Valley and Southern Indiana.
The rapid advance in later years of the rail-road system of the United States and the revolution, which, as a consequence, was soon experienced in every department of business, seemed to require its introduction to this interesting and promising section of the country. Companies were organized as early as 1852 in both the States of Ohio, and Indiana, looking to the connection by iron bands of the city of St. Louis and the Great Father of waters, with the city of Toledo and the chain of northern lakes. ' In the spring of the year 1853, an association of Eastern Capitalists regarding this territory hitherto unoccu- pied, as a promising field for the investment of capital in a rail road enterprize, united in organizing a company in the State of Ohio, and became possessed of the charter of a company recently organized in the State of Indiana. Under the authority of these several corporations, the road was undertaken and the work let to contractors in part, during the fall season of the same year, and the residue in the spring and summer following. On or about the 1st of July 1855, the first principal division of the road, reaching from Toledo to the city of Fort Wayne, was opened to the public. By the latter part of November 1856, the road was so far completed as to form a connection at the Illinois State Line, with the Great Western R. R. of Illinois, and freight and passengers from St. Louis and Springfield were immediately transported over it to Toledo.
Unexpected and most embarrassing obstacles, arising from natural causes, as well as from financial pressure, delayed the progress, and seriously threatened the successful issue of this
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important work. It will be remembered that the summer of 1854, brought with it in all parts of our country, and more particularly at the west, the cholera in its most dreadful and fatal form. All labor and all business were for a time suspended, and contractors, with their men, fled from their work panic stricken, many of them to return no more. The following sea- son was characterized by continuous heavy rains, so much that large parts of the flat level country on which the road bed was being thrown up, were flooded with water-the road itself often times washed away, and for long distances totally submerged; added to which in the summer and fall of that season, the diseases common to the climate, prevailed in a mor~ virulent form than ever before known, and prostrated the workmen on all parts of the line.
In all this time of disaster and trouble, there was superadded the financial revulsion, which, commencing in the summer of 1854, and prostrating with the violence of a whirl-wind all rail-road securities, and sweeping among bonds, and stocks, and credits, found its culmination at last in the disaster of 1857. It is not to be wondered at, that some of its original friends s ould have become disheartened, and should have abandoned the work to its own fate. But the large majority of them have given to it the energy and resources of their own wills, and have brought it to its successful completion.
The result of these casualties has thus far proved unfortunate in a pecuniary point of view to the party, which in 1853 sought in this enterprize a profitable investment of money-but the end is not yet. No favorable season has since transpired to test the capability of the road for business and for profitable returns. The years 1854, '55 and '56 were disastrous to the farming and producing interests of the west. The crops of 1857, and the business of this succeeding spring, are the first indications of a return to the normal condition of the business ... of this part of the world. Not to be deterred by reverses so evidently arising from temporary causes, the directors of
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TOLEDO.
the road have completed, furnished, and equipped it in a style commensurate with its importance, and fully equal to any western rail-road now in operation, and their existing plans for securing the business, which in a short time must be brought to the city of Toledo, renders it next to impossible that this enterprize should eventually fail of success. And here, if it be proper to make honorable mention of any one of the parties engaged in this enterprize, by whose firmness, talent and varied resources the work has been carried through to completion, despite the obstacles which surrounded it-that credit is due to the Hon. Azariah Boody, now of the city of New York.
The two roads, namely the Toledo and Illinois, of the State of Ohio, and the Lake Erie Wabash and St. Louis, of the State of Indiana, by virtue of concurrent acts, passed by the Legis- latures of each of these States, were consolidated in the year 1857, and a new company formed by the union, under the title of "The Toledo Wabash and Western Rail Road Company."
The Capital Stock of the consolidated Company consists of $2,750,000, divided into shares of fifty dollars each. Its funded debts is as follows :
First Mortgage Bonds, $3,400,000
Second 66 66 $2,000,000
Income 66
$1,800,000
Real Estate "
$300,000
Total Funded Debt, $7,500,000
The road commencing at the city of Toledo and running in a general direction south-westerly, continues near the bank of the Maumee river to the city of Fort Wayne, and passing thence to the Wabash river, near Mahons, continues by the side of that stream until it leaves it at or near Attica, in the State of Indiana. It passes through the towns of Maumee City, Napoleon, Defiance and Antwerp in Ohio, and Fort Wayne, Huntington, Lagro, Wabash, Peru, Logansport, Delphi, Lafayette, Attica and Williamsport in Indiana, and meets the
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Great Western R. R., of Illinois about seven miles east-wardly from Danville. The length of the road in Ohio is eighty miles, and one hundred and sixty-two in Indiana, making the entire distance to the Illinois State Line two hundred and forty-two miles. At Fort Wayne the road intersects the Pittsburgh Ft. Wayne and Chicago Rail Road, at Peru, it meets the Peru and Indianpolis Road, at Logansport, the Cincinnati and Chicago Road, and at Lafayette, the Lafayette and Indianapo- olis Road, and intersects the New Albany and Salem Road.
As before stated, at the Illinois State Line the T., W. & W. Road joins the Great Western R. R. of Illinois, which is now in operation as far as Naples, on the Illinois River. From this point a connection is about to be made, by a Rail Road, with the city of Quincy, on the Mississippi River, which road is now so far in progress that but sixteen miles remain to complete the union. At Springfield, by means of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis R. R., the connection with St. Louis is com- pleted, making the entire distance between the cities at either terminus, 457 miles, and the time of running the same about 22 hours. Arrangements were early made between these several roads for transporting both passengers and their baggage, and freight, the entire distance, without change of cars.
The Hannibal & St. Josephs R. R., passing through the northern part of the State of Missouri, to the frontier town of St. Josephs, on the Missouri River, is so far advanced as to give ground for the belief that it will be entirely finished in. the early part of the year 1859. Connecting, either at Quincy or Hannibal with the Great Western Road continued, or per- haps at both points, it will furnish the most direct line of com- munication between Lake Erie and the fertile plains watered by the Missouri.
One other important work in connection with this Road must not be omitted in this sketch. A road from Logansport to Peoria, on the Illinois River, has been projected for some
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TOLEDO.
years past, and a considerable part of it graded and ready for the iron ; but the embarassments in money matters of the past few years, have caused a suspension of the work until recently. It is now understood that measures will be taken for its early completion. A remote, and, to our business, almost inaccessi- ble region of rich and well cultivated fields and thickly peopled, will be closely connected by a very direct channel of communication, and a very large addition of business to the road of the T. W. & W. Company will soon be realized.
It has not been possible to obtain an accurate statement of the business done upon this road during the past year. Any statement of the kind for the past year would necessarily give but an imperfect view of the value of the Road itself, or of the ability of the conutry through which it passes to furnish it employment. The handsome crops of the last fall, and the promising appearance of the present spring, will make the business of the current year a much more satisfactory test of the value of the Road and its capability of adding to the busi- ness of the city of Toledo.
A reference to the map will show that this Road, with its numerous connecting lines is destined to make tributary to the business of Lake Erie, the productions of central and southern Indiana, southern Illinois and northern Missouri, and that it will furnish the most direct, speedy and cheapest transit for the emigration to the fertile plains of Kansas and Nebraska. And if the great Pacific Railroad shall ever be constructed, having one of its termini at the town of St. Josephs, on the Missouri, as is now proposed, then the Toledo, Wabash & Western Rail Road will probably form one of the links in a chain of railway extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the most important on the American continent.
TOLEDO FREIGHT AND PASSENGER DEPOT.
One of the noblest features of the ample Rail Road system of Toledo, is the large Passenger and Freight Depot. The buildings comprising this grand Rail Road focus, are erected
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TOLEDO,
upon a point of land, which seems to have been adapted by nature for this express purpose. Until it was purchased by the S. M. & N. I. R. R. Company, it was the most unsightly object about the city, and from its locality in the river itself, was as conspicuous as unseemly. It was purchased in 1852, and the Company immediately commenced the work of im- provement. Wharves were erected, and rail road tracks built over it, to the main shore, where by means of steam Excavators, the earth was speedily removed, and used to fill up this dis- gusting swamp. The low point which had annually produced its crop of water-lilies and wild rice, soon began to show itself above the water, and every vestige of it now has given place to a long tongue of land which extends down to the very front of the city, and though not two minutes walk from its business centre, is as completely insulated, as if it were miles distant. On the lower end of this point are erected the offices of the Rail Road Company, and a commodious Steam-Boat Dock. Just above these, and fronting the large harbor formed by the river, affording a water view-that is bounded by the blue wa- ters of the Lake, stands the Island House, a fine brick Hotel erected by the Company, and now kept by the well known popular host R. P. Angier Esq. Attached to the rear of the Island House, and extending back upon the middle ground, to a depth of four hundred feet, with a width of 150 feet, stretches the immense passenger depot, where the trains of all the roads entering the city are accommodated. This is divided through the centre, to seperate the Eastern from the Western trains- and all passengers arriving or departing enter and leave the depot through the Island House. Meals are always ready on the arrival of the cars, and the convenience for passengers is superior to that afforded by any other depot in the country.
The freight depot of the M. S. & N. I. R. R., extends along side of the Passenger depot, and has a dock front upon the river of eight hundred feet. It is constructed upon the most liberal scale, and with a view to unite the amplest accommoda-
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tions, with the greatest convenience for transportation by ves- sel or car.
ยท Above this, and with similar dock and track facilities, stands the Elevators of the M. S. & N. I. R. R., a large well arranged and strongly constructed building, supplied with ample steam power to unload cars and freight vessels with great rapidity. Still above this is a freight ware-house belonging to the Toledo and Illinois Road, which together with the large elevators above, similiarly equipped to those of the M. S. & N. I., com- plete the buildings on the river front. On the opposite side to these are several freight ware-houses, and offices belonging to the Toledo and Cleveland Roads. Several of them, we under- stand, are soon to be supplanted with better buildings.
Further up the point, stand the car-house, and the company's Gas Work's, an enterprize entirely their own, for lighting the depot and offices. Near the place where the roads leave the point, and pass on the main land, at the distance of a mile from the business part of the city, stands the large brick round-house of the Toledo Wabash and Western Road, surmounted by an immense dome. Many more buildings will doubtless be needed and erected upon the middle ground, and that, which but a few years ago, was an eyesore to all our citizens, will soon become the greatest ornament of the city.
All the buildings erected by the S. M. & N. I. R. R., are of the most substantial character, built of brick. The appearance of the Depot and its surroundings, when approaching it, in one of the magnificent Steamers belonging to the Company is very imposing, and impresses the beholder with an opinion as favor- able to the beauty as to the business of the city.
The advantage of this arrangement, consists chiefly in the happy union of convenience with safety. The streets of our city are entirely free from cars, and yet the rail roads them- selves are but a moment's walk from our business centres. No city in the union has similar accommodations for its own citi- zens, and for passengers and visitors who pass through it.
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TOLEDO.
JOBBING BUSINESS.
Toledo is the centre of a large wholesale and jobbing busi- ness. Its easiness of access by the canals and railroads that traverse the surrounding country, gives it the advantage over any other interior city in the competition for the trade with merchants of southern Michigan, northern Indiana and north- western Ohio. This trade is yet in its infancy, and may be extended indefinitely. Indeed, more wholesale jobbing houses, by increasing home competition and adding greater variety to stocks, would operate to attract a greater trade from abroad, and enlarge instead of diminish the business of those already engaged. We have obtained from our dealers the average an- nual amount of business transacted by each during the last three years, and append the list as well to show what may be, as what has been done in this line in our city.
Bolles, Bell & Hubbell, Dry Goods and Groceries,
$375,000
Secor, Berdan & Co., Groceries &c.
200,000
Rogers & Lyman, 66
200,000
Bishop & Co., 66
160,000
Schmucker & Co.,
66
150,000
Dunham & Dunning,
130,000
May & Hathaway, 66 105,000
S. & J. H. Whitaker, Hard-ware, &c.
156,818
Roffs & Co., 66
75,000
G. Wilder & Co., Liquors &c,
60,000
Brand & Lenk, 66
65,000
L. Wheeler & Co.,
40,000
Brooks, Southard & Co., "
65,000
P. Lenk & Co., Lager-Beer,
71,000
L. Chapman & Co., Hides, Leather &c.,
300,000
Coghlin & Brooks, 66
150,000
C. Bronson, Tobacco,
125,000
West & Truax, Drugs &c.,
100,000
J. M. Ashley & Co., 66
40,000
J. Hartwell, Crockery &c.,
20,000
H. Stebbins, 66
20,000
D. Anderson & Co., Books and Stationery, 50,000
Nye Brothers, 66
40,000
L. Wachenheimer, Clothing &c., 75,000
J. & H. Thorner, 66
50,000
35
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TOLEDO.
G. Goldsmith, Clothing, &c., 25,000
Kraus & Romer, 66
30,000
Berdan & Hunt, Dry-Goods &c.,
W. H. Ketcham & Co., 20,000
20,000
W. J. Finaly, Miscellaneous, 75,000
Sawyer & Chamberlain, " and Stone-ware, .. 40,000
All others by Estimation, 50,000
$3,011,818
LUMBER.
The traffic in Lumber has been steadily on the increase dur- ing the past five years. About 35,000,000 feet were received from the pineries of Lake Huron, last year, and 20,000,000 feet of this were disposed of to various purchasers, scattered through south-western Ohio, Northern Indiana, Illinois, and even beyond the Mississippi. One firm, that is engaged in a very extensive business, send a large part of their lumber up the Missouri, into Kansas. This trade may be profitably ex- tended, until Toledo becomes a competitor with Chicago. The means for obtaining and distributing lumber, are as cheap, and every way as favorable for an extensive business, and the mar- ket is equally unlimited.
Manufactured lumber is becoming an article of extensive traffic. There are two large Planing mills, and Sash, Blind and Door Factories in operation, which have a trade with a wide extent of country. There are also five large saw-mills which are doing a fine local business. The following figures have been furnished by one of the heaviest of these establish- ments, belonging to H. B. Hall & Co .: Two upright saws- One flooring saw-One Planing mill-One lath mill.
This establishment purchased during the past year 2,800,000 feet of logs, and maufactured 2,300,000 feet of lumber, 1,000,- 000 lath and pickets. The mill has the capacity of sawing three millions of feet of lumber-two millions of lath, and one million of dressed lumber. The following figures give the receipts and sales of five firms, engaged in the business :
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