Metroparks Toledo

Metroparks Toledo
Clockwise from top: Wildwood Preserve Metropark's Manor House, the Toledo Botanical Garden, a canal boat and mule team at Providence Metropark, canal locks at Side Cut Metropark, wildlife in Pearson Metropark.
TypePublic park district
MottoGet Outside Yourself[1]
LocationLucas County, Ohio, United States
Area12,700 acres (5,100 ha)[2]
Created1928[3]
Operated byBoard of Park Commissioners of the Metropolitan Park District of the Toledo Area
Visitors6 million (2021)[2]
OpenYear-round, 7 a.m. until dark daily[4]
Budget$20.4 million (2022)[5]
Websitemetroparkstoledo.com

Metroparks Toledo, officially the Metropolitan Park District of the Toledo Area, is a public park district consisting of parks, nature preserves, a botanical garden, trail network and historic battlefield in Lucas County, Ohio.[6]

Founded during the Great Depression and initially built using labor from federal New Deal programs,[7][8] the present park district includes 12,700 acres (5,100 ha) across 19 metroparks and nearly 200 miles (320 km) of trails throughout the Toledo area.[6]

The largest park, Oak Openings Preserve Metropark, is a centerpiece of the Oak Openings Region and features ecologically significant oak savanna landscapes and globally rare plant communities.[9] Pearson Metropark contains one of the last remaining stands of the Great Black Swamp.[10]

The district includes historically and culturally significant sites, including the Fallen Timbers Battlefield, surviving Miami and Erie Canal infrastructure at Side Cut and Providence Metroparks, and a variety of shelters and buildings built by the federal Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps.[11][12] Wildwood Preserve Metropark features one of the last remaining public, free-admission gardens designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman at the former manor house estate of Champion spark plug magnate Robert Stranahan.[13]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2015 Annual Report was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b "2021 Roots and Branches" (PDF). Metroparks Toledo. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  3. ^ "2018 Annual Report". Metroparks Toledo. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Rules and Regulations". Metroparks Toledo. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  5. ^ "2022 Budget and Annual Planning". Metroparks Toledo. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Explore Your Metroparks". Metroparks Toledo. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  7. ^ "The Men Who Built The Metroparks". Metroparks Toledo. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  8. ^ "A Rich History". Metroparks Toledo. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  9. ^ "Oak Openings Preserve Highlights" (PDF). Metroparks Toledo. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  10. ^ "Pearson Metropark". Metroparks Toledo. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Providence Metropark Highlights" (PDF). Metroparks Toledo. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  12. ^ "Side Cut". Metroparks Toledo. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  13. ^ Barnes, Melvin. "The Manor House". See Ohio First. Ohio Humanities. Retrieved 11 January 2022.