Toledo (USA)

Inland port in Ohio, USA, at the mouth of the Maumee River on Lake Erie, 153 km/96 mi west of Cleveland; population (2000 est) 313,600. It is an oil- and gas-pipeline terminus, and a shipping centre for coal, iron-ore, vehicle parts, and grain. Industries include oil-refining, shipbuilding, plastics, food-processing, and the manufacture of cars, electrical goods, steel, and glass. A French fort was built in 1700, but permanent settlement did not begin until after the War of 1812.

History
Toledo was created from the merging of two villages, Vistula and Port Lawrence, in 1833. It grew rapidly with the arrival of the railway in 1836, and development of two canals in the 1840s. Oil and gas were discovered locally in 1884, and a glass industry established in 1888. The opening of the St Lawrence Seaway in 1959 made it a prominent port with foreign trading connections and special terminals for coal and iron ore.