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DON"T MISS YOUR CHANCE TO TOUR

THE JAMES AND NORA HAYES HOUSE

Home of "Jimmy" Hayes, reputed kingpin of the 1920s Toledo gaming!

See his lavish home.  Hear a story of crime, passion and murder--his own!!!

TOLEDO, OHIO

JUNE 2 AND 3, 2012

10:00-5:00

$4.00 for a single admission.  All proceeds benefit the Old West End Association

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OWE Festival 2012

Just $29.95!

Get your book at the Old West End Festival on June 2 and 3 for the special festival price of $25. 

Available at the information booths and 2709 Collingwood.

The first book written about the Old West End was published in 2005 and sold out in six months. All proceeds benefit the Old West End Association.

The book has an 8 1/2 X 11 inch glossy soft cover with 176 pages and over 380 rare and vintage photographs. It was written by Old West End resident Lawrence Stine with assistance from David Clawson, Fred Folger III, Kent Illenden, and the late Vince Rupp, Jr.

Available in Toledo at these fine outlets: (Please note that prices may vary)

 Classics Gift Shop-Friends of the Library 325 Michigan Street

Cutting Edge Barber Shop The Toledo Club

Libbey Glass Factory Outlet Store 205 South Erie Street

Old West End Antiques Market 2023 Collingwood Blvd.

If you have older photos of the Old West End, we would be pleased to consider using them in our next book and this website. Your vintage Toledo photos are very important to us and our website viewers. Call 419-255-6956 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it your photograph.

3210 Parkwood Avenue was the home of the widow of Titanic victim William H. Harbeck, early filmmaker and Toledo native.  The Blade incorrectly identified the residence of Catherine Harbeck as 3201 in their April 15, 2012 issue.  Mrs. Harbeck resided at 733 Michigan after her husband's death in 1912 but had moved to this Old West End address in 1918 and lived there until her death in 1940.  The Lucas County Auditor's records indicate that the house was constructed in 1918.  Stanley Harbeck was the resident of record for this address in the 1940 Polk's Toledo Directory.

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Edna B. Rowe School of Organic Education

2154 Parkwood Avenue

1934-1984

Edna B. Rowe, born in DuPont, Ohio, spent much of her life in Toledo, where she attended pulblic schools.  She founded the area's first kindergarten in Rossford, Ohio.  Her idea for the education of the young child was not popular and when she opened her first school, no child was in attendance.  She canvassed door-to-door in Rossford where she was met with skepticism and doubt.   

After six years, Miss Rowe began work in Nathan Hale School where she was the director of the kindergarten there and was in charge of the operattas.

A 1920 newspaper article stated "Text books written by Edna B. Rowe, Toledo, Ohio, are used in Christian Sunday schools all over the world".  From about 1918 until at least 1931, Miss Rowe roomed at 622 Islington Street.

Miss Rowe represented Ohio as a delegate to the World Convention of Religious Education held in Glasgow, Scotland in 1924.

In 1928 she founded and operated a parents' class in the newly-opened parish house at St. Mark's Espicopal Church on Collingwood Avenue in Toledo.  For several years Miss Rowe lectured in child development at Toledo Hospital.  She also lectured at the University of Toledo.   

Miss Rowe was an instructor at Bowling Green State University and the former Teachers' College in Toledo.  She was instrumental in securing through the Ohio legislature means which financially benefitted all kindergartens in Ohio.

Her vision of a school crystallized in the idea of organic education which means unified education-equal strength emotionally, socially, physically and mentally-or education in total living.  In the midst of the depression she used her savings, pension and all assets to found the Rowe School.  Miss Rowe designed and built the furniture and equipment for the former George Bishop house, circa 1907, located at 2154 Parkwood Avenue at Bancroft Street which she secured for the location of her school and home.  The school was chartered by the State of Ohio and was operated by a board of directors.  Miss Rowe was a salaried person as everyone else.  It opened on September 10, 1934.  The curriculum included civics, history, geography, physical science, music, literature and the arts.  The first child enrolled was Jay Webb, the son of Mr. & Mrs. Willard I. Webb Jr.  His teachers included Miss Rowe, Anne Chambers, Lillian Helburn and Bloehma Geleerd.

One memorable description was "The new school is a child's world in a child's size environment.  Here he lives in a democracy of youth."

Her school was opened in cooperation with the Toledo Hospital School of Nurses, the University of Toledo, the Toledo Teachers' College, the Toledo Museum of Art and the Toledo Conservatory of Music.  The school, which initially accepted students from ages 2 to 6 years of age, held daily health inspections, noon luncheons based on nutritional research and afternoon naps.  Marie Dorfmeyer was the cook and dietitian for 18 years at the school.  When Rowe School had its reopening on September 15, 1941, the students were divided into four groups, not to come in contact.  Eighteen months to 2 years made up one group, 2 1/2 to 3 years, four-year olds and five-year olds in the others.

"The children are from weathy, middle-class and improverished families-from all walks of life,"  was a quote from Miss Rowe in a February 11, 1951 article in the Toledo Blade.  "The whole purpose of the school would be defeated if children from all walks of life were not a part of it."  Her school was recognized throughout the nation as one of America's foremost nursery schools.

Miss Rowe also founded a summer camp for young children at Elks Lake in northern Michigan.  Anna Chambers acted as the director of the summer camp, retiring in 1960.

Miis Rowe, who published textbooks on childhood education, religious education and stories for young children, was elected president of the Toledo Writers' Club in 1935.

On her desk at the Rowe School was the motto "Prayer Changes Things."  She had two hobbies.  She collected replicas of hands which she displayed in the school including those of George Washington Carver, Albert Einstein and childrens' hands among others.  Her other interest was in barns which she felt told the story of our country.

The December 2, 1950 issue of the Toledo Blade reported that Edna Rowe, who then roomed at 2248 Robinwood Avenue, was invited to attend the Mid-Centruy White House Conference for Children and Yourth in Washington, D. C.

Edna B. Rowe passed away on December 2, 1953 at the age of 65.  There were no immediate survivors.  Miss Rowe was buried in Woodlawn Cemetary. 

The fortunes of the school declined with the racial and economic changes in the Old West End.  In 1978 a Toledo City Council grant helped the school to survive but by 1979 it was merged with two other downtown area nursery schools.  A 1980 newspaper article regarding the retirement of Anna Stern, a 26 year veteran teacher of the Rowe School, held out hope that the school would remain open to see the 50th birthday of its founding in just a short four years.  Unfortunately, its enrollment had plummeted from nearly 100 students in its heyday to a mere 50.

Fifty years after the founding of the Rowe School, the Toledo Blade reported the estate of the Edna Rowe School at 2154 Parkwood would be sold by Richard Flock who was affiliated with Collectors' Corner in the Old West End.  Numerous photos of former students would be available for purchase.  The date was October 22, 1984.

(Much of the information on MIss Rowe related here can be found in an article in the October 2, 1949 issue of the Toledo Blade.)

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The Gordon Mather Home at 2143 Collingwood

Our latest contribution by Gordon Mather's granddaughter of the family's now-demolished mansion on Collingwood near Bancroft Street in the Old West End.

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We are always looking for Toledo Polk city directories to add to our research library.  Call us at 419-255-6956 if you have one to donate or sell.  We may just need the one you have to fill in the missing volumes in our incomplete collection.   Years 1901 through 1906, 1908, 1909, 1913 through 1917, and 1919 are a high priority.

Thank you, Anita of Toledo for selling us your 1911 Toledo directory. 

Thank you, Tom of California for selling us your 1907, 1912, and 1954 Toledo directories.

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OUR MOTTO: SHARING VINTAGE TOLEDO PHOTOS, RESEARCH and MORE.

The messages and photos are coming in fast and furious to our newly updated website.  Here are just some of the comments.

"..wonderful site".  Toledo, Ohio

"This website is a treasure".  Toledo, Ohio

"Thanks for the memories".  Memphis, Tennessee

.."love the site".  Raleigh, North Carolina

"We've enjoyed this wonderful 'tour'."  Mesa, Arizonia

"Great pics"  Oregon, Ohio

"Great website".  Potomac Falls, Virginia

"Coof stuff". Rochester, New York

"Great collection of Toledo photographs."  Portland, Oregon

"A wonderful collection of Toledo history photos."  Interlochen, Michigan

"What a fantastic website!"  Surprise, Arizonia

"Fantastic collection."  Minnesota

"I will recommend oldwestendtoledo.com highly to my friends..."  London, England

I encourage your comments . If you have vintage pictures that you would like to share, please email them to me for consideration to be included on this site.  Your vintage photos are very important to us and our website guests.

To search by street address or surname, see the search box below.

Be sure to sign the guestbook and tell us your memories.  Be aware it's case sensitive.

Lawrence R. Stine 

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

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Imagine the Old West End of yesteryear: swamps, howling wolves, Indian trails, and virgin forests.  Today only some centuries-old trees of oak and black walnut remain as a picturesque backdrop for the vintage architecture for which the neighborhood is so well known.

By the late 1870s Frank Scott, son of Toledo pioneer Jessup Scott, platted a new subdivision on family land off Monroe Street and west of Collingwood Avenue.  Toledo's leading families began to build "out in the woods" in the west-end.  Business and churches soon followed.

The "woods" district of Toledo would become the most prestigious address in the city by the end of the nineteenth century.  Rapidly growing northward, farm after farm was platted into building lots.  The growth would continue through the 1920s when the last of the available lots had been improved.  The old town of Tremainsville was absorbed by the rapidly expanding west-end of Toledo.

Forming a triangle with roughly Detroit Avenue (The Great Trail) on the west, the Museum area (the Scott property) on the South, and Collingwood Boulevard (Territorial Road) to the east, and with the lost settlement of Tremainsville at the northern point, the Old West End neighborhood is a potpourri of architectural styles popular from the 1870s through the 1920s, many of the houses were designed by Toledo's leading architects of the day, including Fallis, Bacon, Stine, Mills, and Wachter: these architects built for the leading citizens of the day, including Reynolds, Libbey, Spitzer, and Bartley.

Today, the Old West End boasts one of the largest remaining collections of late Victorian and Edwardian homes in the nation.

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