Old Central Post Office | |
 Front Entrance of Building. | |
| Built | 1911 |
|---|---|
| Architect | J. Knox Taylor |
| NRHP reference No. | 72001030 |
The Jefferson Center or Old Central Post Office is a historic building in downtown Toledo, Ohio originally built in 1911 and used by many different organizations. It was designed by government architect J. Knox Taylor in a classical architectural style and features a sandstone exterior.
Built in 1911 the building was first used as a U.S. Post Office until the 1970’s. Created in 1970, the Jefferson Center Vocational Rehabilitation School moved into the old U.S. Post Office building at 1300 Jefferson Avenue in 1972. The school hoped to be a trendsetter nationally and aimed at TPS students that had issues with their home schools. Instead of having principals, teachers, students, and a separate set of rules for adults and children, the school was set up with the titles of director, supervisors, evaluators, and trainees. After much renovation to equip the building for instruction, the school was able to provide programs in building maintenance, child care, fabric service, food service, health care, manufacturing and construction, merchandising, office services, and warehousing. [1]
Despite its intentions to serve troubled teens, the Jefferson Center still had problems with attendance and graduation rates throughout its history. [2] After a short debate on whether it was living up to its original expectations, the school was spared from closure in 1989 along with Macomber-Whitney High School. [3]
The Jefferson Center remained open until June 2000 when TPS decided to save $15.2 million by cutting the alternative school, along with Old Orchard Junior High and 67 teaching jobs. [4] The Head Start program moved into the building the following year.
In April 2011, TPS considered demolishing the building unless an alternative use for it could be found. A majority of the school board has voiced opinion in favor of keeping the historic 1911 building standing. [5]
In March 2019, the Toledo Board of Education sold the building to ProMedica Health Systems for $1.2 million. Following this sale, Bitwise Industries a technology company based out of Fresno, USA partnered with Promedica to open a Toledo campus. Construction began in 2021 and was expected to be finished in 2023. Founder Irma Olguin Jr. attended college in Toledo, Ohio which spurred her to open a campus in Toledo. The campus was projected to include a cafe, restaurant marketplace, outdoor gathering areas, and patio seating. The intent was to host a multi-use space with coworking, event and presentation areas available to tenants and the surrounding community. As of June 2023, Bitwise laid off its entire staff, including 15 in Toledo, putting this project in jeopardy. [6]
Toledo is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 270,871, making Toledo the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. Toledo is also the 79th-largest city in the United States. It is the principal city of the Toledo metropolitan area, which had 646,604 residents in 2020. Toledo also serves as a major trade center for the Midwest; its port is the fifth-busiest on the Great Lakes.
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The 1,338-acre (541.5 ha) main academic and residential campus is 15 miles (24 km) south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the natural and social sciences, education, arts, business, health and wellness, humanities and applied technologies. The institution was granted a charter in 1910 as a normal school, specializing in teacher training and education, as part of the Lowry Normal School Bill that authorized two new normal schools in the state of Ohio. Over the university's history, it has developed from a small rural normal school into a comprehensive public research university. It is a part of University System of Ohio and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
Owens Community College (OCC) is a public community college with campuses in Toledo and Findlay, Ohio. Owens was founded in 1965 in Toledo and chartered in 1967. The Findlay campus opened in 1983. Owens Community College is named after Michael J. Owens, the Toledo-based inventor of automated glass bottle-making technology.
The Toledo City League is an Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) high school athletic conference that was formed in 1926 and comprises the six high schools in Toledo that are from Toledo Public Schools, along with one high school from Lima, Ohio
Robert S. Rogers High School is located in west Toledo, Ohio, United States. It has been part of Toledo Public Schools since 1964, when Adams Township was annexed by the city. The school motto is "Writing success stories... one student at a time." As of 2008, with the exception of 2012-13, the school principal is Kelly Welch.
Toledo Public Schools, also known as Toledo City School District, is a public school district headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, in the United States. The district encompasses 70 square miles, serving students of the city of Toledo. Toledo Public Schools (TPS), serves 23,324 students and is the fourth largest district in the state. Since 2013, TPS has experienced growth in student enrollment from 21,353 students to 23,324 for the 2018-2019 school year.
Jesup Wakeman Scott High School is a public high school located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It is part of Toledo Public Schools. It was named for a former editor of The Toledo Blade from 1844 to 1847. Scott was an entrepreneur, philanthropist and well-known civic leader who envisioned Toledo as the "Future Great City of the World." The current high school building was built in 1913. After receiving a $1 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Scott High School began a transformation from a comprehensive high school to four small learning academies. Each academy, or "Small School" is based on a different career pathway.
Edward Drummond Libbey High School was a public high school building located on the south side of Toledo, Ohio which held classes from 1923 until 2010. It is part of Toledo Public Schools and contained the Smart Academy and Humanities Academy. Libbey was named after Edward Drummond Libbey, the founder of the Toledo Art Museum and Libbey Glass. Edwin Gee was the building's architect.
Calvin M. Woodward High School is a public high school located in the north side of Toledo, Ohio, that was built in 1928. It was named after an early advocate for vocational education. The original Woodward Technical High School was located in the former Central High School building at the corner of Adams and Michigan streets before the present location was chosen. Woodward is part of the Toledo City School District.
Fifth Third Center at One SeaGate is the 2nd tallest building in Toledo, behind the Cleveland Cliffs Furnace Tower. Until 2006, the building served as the world headquarters for Owens-Illinois. In 2007, Fifth Third Bank moved their Northwest Ohio headquarters to the building. The building's name comes from the plaza in which it is located, which includes three other small buildings. The tallest is only nine floors high. The plaza also includes the entrance to a near-abandoned mall which leads to Imagination Station. The fact that there is no beach on the Maumee River allows buildings to be built on the river's edge - a characteristic used in the design of One Seagate. Other Toledo landmarks built on the river's edge include Promedica's downtown offices, Promenade Park, the Toledo Port Authority, Renaissance Toledo Downtown Hotel, Owens Corning, and Imagination Station.
Thomas A. DeVilbiss High School was a public high school in Toledo, Ohio from 1931 to June 1991. It was part of the Toledo Public Schools, serving students from the DeVeaux, Elmhurst, Grove Patterson, Longfellow, Mayfair, McKinley, Nathan Hale, Old Orchard, and Whittier elementary schools. The building still sits at 3301 Upton Avenue near the Central Avenue intersection.
Irving E. Macomber Vocational Technical High School was a vocational public high school in Toledo, Ohio, USA, from 1938 to June 1991. It was named for the man who helped develop the city's schools and parks, and who used to live on the property the school was built on. Macomber served the entire city and was part of the Toledo Public School District. The school began as Vocational High School in the original Toledo high school in 1927 before moving to its location on Monroe Street in 1938. In 1959 the school became joint-operational with Whitney High School, an all-girls vocational school located just across 16th St., and the two buildings came to be known as Macomber-Whitney. The building still sits on Monroe Street, just northwest of Fifth Third Field.
Harriet Whitney High School was a girls vocational public high school in Toledo, Ohio from 1939 to June 1991. It served the entire city and was part of the Toledo Public School District. In 1959 the school became joint-operational with Macomber High School, an all-boys vocational school located next door, and the two buildings came to be known as Macomber-Whitney. Despite the fact that they shared an urban campus and some operational efficiencies, the two schools were completely separate in faculties, enrollments, and curriculum until the 1973-1974 school year. In the spring of 1972, an assembly was held for Macomber sophomores. They were told that they could major in one of several programs offered at Whitney, taking core courses at Whitney and other courses required for graduation at Macomber. The available programs included Distributive Education, Business Technology, Marketing, and Data Processing. Some 50 boys signed up. The only change from the assembly announcement was that the boys were transferred completely to Whitney. While the faculty and staff at Whitney had to make some adjustments to accommodate the boys, the program change worked well. The boys did have to undergo some questions from peers, some of whom didn't believe they actually attended Whitney (the most common response was "you mean, Whitmer?"—Whitmer being another co-ed high school in the metro Toledo area. And, even after the former Macomber boys were completely and fully registered as Whitney students, the school newspaper and the yearbook kept their original names from when Whitney was a girls-only school.
ProMedica is a non-profit health care system with locations in northwest Ohio, southeast Michigan, and southern Pennsylvania The system includes a health education and research center, the health maintenance organization Paramount Health Care, nursing homes, a ground/air ambulance service, or a local business network of private practices, and several hospitals. About 2,900 ProMedica physicians care for approximately 2 million patients each year.
ProMedica Flower Hospital is 311-bed non-profit hospital in Sylvania, Ohio operated by ProMedica as a division of ProMedica Toledo Hospital.
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The University of Toledo is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a 450-acre (180 ha) Health Science campus, which includes the University of Toledo Medical Center, in the West Toledo neighborhood of Toledo; a 160-acre (65 ha) satellite campus in the Scott Park neighborhood of Toledo; the Center for the Visual Arts is located in downtown Toledo at the Toledo Museum of Art; and a research and education facility, known as the Lake Erie Center, at Maumee Bay State Park.
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Bitwise Industries was an American company focused on computer programming instruction, technology sales, and real estate operations. Founded in 2013 by Irma Olguin Jr. and Jake Soberal in Fresno, the company grew to have campuses in additional cities before furloughing its workforce and terminating the co-CEOs in June 2023.