The Ohio Story: Port of Toledo

Presented by The Ohio Bell Telephone Company
Narrated by Nelson Olmstead
Directed by Ray Culley
Supervised by Stuart Buchanan
Filmed in Ohio by Cinecraft Productions, Inc.

[@murda2999]

I just found this almost 12-years after you uploaded it. Thanks for preserving this history of our city!

[@lilxbill4814]

Hello I am 22 and I am from the south end of Toledo , I was desperately looking for history about Toledo and stumbled upon this . Thank you I have learn something new that I never knew before !!

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Well glad you do now. Don't let anyone tell you this town is s--t either!

[@lilxbill4814]

Christopher Sobieniak True 👌🏾

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@lilxbill4814 Thanks! People try to make us look as bad as Detroit or Flint but we really aren't there yet, and hopefully never.

[@picustchuck]

Thank you for this video. Great memories for me at the coal docks picking my father up when the boat came in. He ran coal up to Superior and brought taconite back.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Nice!

[@lochinaze1839]

Talking bout time traveling! Wow! Awesome

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Glad to make your day!

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@SgtKittypos Glad to help. This was all I had otherwise I had saved from a library rental I copied years ago. I really didn't know much about the show but got curious in noticing several Toledo-related films on 16mm I checked out at the time.

[@jongoldman3868]

These short films were produced by a Cleveland company that still exists doing video production. They were often used as filler in the days when there were still 15-minute blocks of programming. I think that they may also have been used in the schools as part of a state mandated program to teach Ohio history. The funny thing is that my memory had a completely different actor associated with the name Nelson Olmsted who I had assumed was chosen because there are suburbs of Cleveland named Olmsted Falls, Olmsted township and North Olmsted. My vague recollection was that a semester of Ohio History was made part of the eighth grade curriculum in public schools. How long this lasted I don't know. It was, I have always assumed, part of the intense focus on patriotism during the 1950s. I would guess that major libraries had 16 mm collections of these films and examining the online catalog of the Cleveland Public library it appears that Frank Siedel, the writer of these films published a few books collecting the scripts or narratives drawn from the scripts and apparently there were also radio programs based on the scripts as well. Or perhaps the films evolved from the radio programs. A friend who is a native of Montana said that there was a similar state history mandate there when she was a child.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Thanks for the info. I technically borrowed this from my city's public library here in Toledo over 20 years ago, not sure if they still have it though today, they got rid of plenty of their 16mm collection during the end of the last century.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I suppose in some way, this is similar to the sort of films the BBC had produced called 'Interludes" in the 50's that were played during the afternoons when they had nothing else to play. Later on they had "Trade Test Transmissions" where films of random ephemera were broadcast as part of color testing. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIbdeHlqZZapgsU kzbin.info/www/bejne/eqLMYZ6Dp9V8mck kzbin.info/www/bejne/hmiqiYqridyefJo

[@marjieason9029]

@@ChristopherSobieniak why did they get rid of that film?! Where did the film go? Was it burned or was it sent to a museum?

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@marjieason9029 I really don't know what happened to the film. It was over 25 years ago when I transferred it here.

[@marjieason9029]

@@ChristopherSobieniak 😪

[@larssweede2123]

Hell of a city. Wonder how much of it, if any is left? What a great little film. 419 ❤️

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Thanks again for your comment, and I had commented to your blog already (sorry if it seems like I'm repeating myself here). Still don't know which station did besides there being only a couple on the air for the first 15 years of TV in Toledo.

[@dheujsnrhfydhehehshshhdggsd]

Thank you for a great 8 minutes of time traveling

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I'm glad to help.

[@TimL2005]

Retro Toledo: I have been looking for an example of "The Ohio Story" on KZbin for ages and will be featuring it on my blog..Do you have any idea as to what year this is from..Also out of curiosity, Do you know what station in Toledo carried The Ohio Story?

[@johnmalik7284]

I remember viewing these port activities from Bay View Park when very young in the late forties, early fifties. The air was much dirtier back then, and the lake and river used as a dumping ground for silt and waste.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I wouldn't doubt how polluted the area was.

[@marjieason9029]

I was born and raised here, and never knew that. I mean, I see maybe a couple of those mills still in operation today, but a lot of the structures along the river are gone or empty. 😪

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

They at least kept the steam plant. It's now a Promedica building.

[@marjieason9029]

@@ChristopherSobieniak 🤦‍♀️

[@marieappert7979]

The music at the end is priceless!

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Didn't think it was anything special but thanks!

[@blutoblutarsky6529]

The Glass City

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

diamond dave Yes, that's what were called.

[@marjieason9029]

@@ChristopherSobieniak along with "T-Town" and "Frogtown". 😁

[@danielthompson2894]

My name is Daniel. I currently work for CSX coal dock.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

It was nice to have kept this when I did.

[@marieappert7979]

Thank you for posting.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@marieappert7979 You're welcome. I was glad to do this while I could.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@MrSeb81 Comes in handy if you took a class on my town's history like I did!

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@MrSeb81 A lot of people haven't, Toledo more so!

[@braylonfuqua1192]

Moved here 6 years ago from ft Wayne and grew up the south. Still not very fond of the city. Total culture shock. In a bad way. So I just mind my business and plan to move away soon. I’m sure it was better back in the day but I’ve had it.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I could understand. Very hard to sell your town 70 years later.

[@braylonfuqua1192]

@@ChristopherSobieniak I enjoyed the video for what it was though. Love finding nostalgic clips like this online. Not sure if you seen the Tiedkes video on here, that was awesome. So I do appreciate you in that aspect.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@braylonfuqua1192 You're not alone. My mom told me a lot about Tiedkie's, especially the time she was caught shoplifting there, she felt so ashamed about it she wrote a long letter as her apology to the store. It's those stories I cherish.

[@braylonfuqua1192]

@@ChristopherSobieniak o m g 😂👏 what a story. I love it

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@braylonfuqua1192 Thank you. I love to tell it as I felt it was a story of Toledo. It may not be as remarkable but I feel I learned something important of my mother"s life. It's an honesty that I feel is lacking today. It's for that reason I took a class on Toledo's history in college.

[@danlaunder673]

i damn near live in the port old iron vill

[@BroskiTheGreat]

T-TOWN💪💪💪💪

[@mikebrooks5703]

Very cool.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@FORMATERMAN I have one or two other films but hadn't gotten around to capping those.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

It happens.

[@thegamingrhino5864]

lots changed since then, huh

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Somewhat. They still use the port though.

[@jimculley904]

My father, Ray Culley, was the director. Could you please correct the spelling of Dad's name? Thanks for posting this

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

OK, thanks for letting me know about this! Glad to find some help along the way!

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@cdafiddlinwonder true.

[@o-hi-omaumee3031]

👍

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Thank you!

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@cdafiddlinwonder Well it's not a total loss.