Quote:
Originally Posted by edale
I never spent any considerable amount of time in Toledo, but I do know it has a very well regarded art museum and zoo. The art museum, in particular, gets lots of praise, and they have a very impressive glass pavilion, as Toledo is known as 'the glass city' due to its role in producing windows and windshields for the auto industry.
Their Old West End neighborhood is pretty, and has some gorgeous old homes:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.6612...7i16384!8i8192
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.6625...7i16384!8i8192
The museum, zoo, old wealthy neighborhoods, relatively big downtown...these are all legacies of when Toledo was much more prosperous and growing. Its fate is very much tied to Detroit and the auto industry, but it lacks the size, wealth, and coolness factor of Detroit. It's a pretty stagnant city/region, but even still, I imagine it still has quite a bit that a place like Fargo does not. |
I grew up in Toledo... live in Austin now. Toledo has a better museum and zoo than any of the big cities in Texas by a long shot IMO. Don't forget fiberglass... insulation is really where the glass thing came from. That is because of all the ideal glass making sand on the western end of lake Erie. It benefits from proximity... 45 min to Detoit, 90 min to Cleveland, 3.5 hrs to Chicago. Right on 2 main interstates (75 and 80/90). Ottawa Hills and the Old West End have great housing stock. Love some Tony Packos and Mudhens (great stadium setting downtown), but too damn flat and grey up there though lol. Gotta love the ability to get right onto the lake and head to the islands or cedard point amusement park... Feels like a coastal city in Connecticut.
Regarding the actual topic I think the US Census draws line at 500K, 2M, 5M and 10M.... but those are just man made arbitaries. IMO what makes a city feel big vs small is the mixed use density, transit options and amount of global business... population is a poor metric.