Downtown Toledo Associates Records

As Toledo sprawled in the postwar period and residents became less inclined to shop downtown, merchants in the core city began to suffer. In response to this worsening state of affairs, a group of downtown businessmen, mainly retailers, organized the Downtown Toledo Associates on June 1, 1955. Its goals were, at the outset, twofold: to work as a civic group with units of local government on matters concerning downtown revitalization. This second goal was sparked by the call, made by visionary Norman Bel Geddes in a Toledo Blade-sponsored study in 1945, for a master plan which would determine needs and priorities for the development of Toledo over the next thirty to fifty years.

The issues with which the Downtown Toledo Associates concerned itself and the activities it undertook changed over the years. Its first activity was to advertise in the newspapers special sales and parking rates. Lack of parking space was then felt by the group to be the chief impedance to attracting business downtown. By 1959, a major concern was the development of a downtown mall, a plan attempted in other cities but not successfully in Toledo. The DTA also sought, about 1959, to enforce state blue laws, as a means to fend off the threat posed by discount stores, but again, without success. Urban renewal was an important concern, at least until the late 1960s. It was seen as a way to make the downtown area physically attractive and to locate prosperous residents closer to the area. Finally, issues relating to transportation--expressways and mass transit especially--were prime concerns throughout the 1960s.

The composition and purpose of the organization seems to have changed over the years. Initially its members were primarily retailers, large and small, who banded together to find ways to improve their business. By 1970, however, the organization was dominated by bankers, corporation executives, and real estate developers, although the larger retailers still carried a voice. These people, influential in their own right, were more concerned with larger issues of development and planning than with the more immediate promotional activities of the group's founders. Phillip J. Zeller sered as executive secretary from the end of 1955 to January1962. He was succeeded by Burt Silverman, who held the office of executive vice-president until his death in 1978. These men carried on the lion's share of correspondence of the organization and coordinated its activities. At first, these activities were mainly luncheons that brought merchants together to hear experts on urban planning. Later, members participated in such groups as the Mayor's Parking Committee (1969-1971) and the Convention Center Advisory Committee (1969). The organization was also involved in the selection of parking structure consultants and architects for the convention center.

The Downtown Toledo Associates continued as an organization under the leadership of executive vice-president Lois Nelson until 1983. At that point the organization disbanded, Nelson becoming director of the Office of Promotion of the Toledo Chamber of Commerce.