Toledo Overview: No Longer a Punch Line, Toledo Moves Ahead
There was a time when Toledo, Ohio was usually runner-up to Buffalo, NY in the informal “most jokes made about a city” contest. It was the fondly-remembered hometown of Cpl. Max Klinger in the TV hit M*A*S*H (and the real hometown of actor Jamie Farr who played that character), and the unfortunate recipient of musical praise (?) by John Denver’s non-hit “Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio”.
But, Toledo has never been as bad as the jokes, and in most ways has as much to offer as most cities considerably bigger; it’s the 57th largest city in the U.S. Its location on the Maumee River and Lake Erie has meant it has long been a port of major consequence and center of commerce. As such, it has also become a manufacturing center and transportation hub to similar cities in the Midwest.
One of the advantages of the city is its location. It is just 40 miles from Detroit, and not far from Chicago to the west and Cleveland to the east. Just across Lake Erie is eastern Canada, that country’s population center.
Fast Facts
- Location: Along the Maumee River at the western edge of Lake Erie and south of the Ohio-Michigan border
- Area: 84 square miles
- Population: 313,619 (2000 U.S. Bureau of Census)
- Housing Units: 139,871
- Average Annual Rainfall: 33 inches
- Average Annual Temperature: 50 degrees F