What to See in Toledo, United States: Free Audio Guide

The best things to do in Toledo include exploring the Maumee River waterfront, discovering one of the United States’ leading glass collections, and admiring historic churches and downtown landmarks. Known as the “Glass City,” Toledo combines industrial and maritime history with an unusually rich collection of architecture and cultural institutions. Neywo offers a free audio guide to Toledo with 48 narrated places.

What to see in Toledo

National Museum of the Great Lakes and the Willis B Boyer

The National Museum of the Great Lakes traces the maritime history of the Great Lakes from a U.S. perspective. Its displays include model ships covering 350 years of navigation history, along with memorabilia from the region’s former fleet.

Outside, the Willis B Boyer is a genuine Great Lakes freighter launched in 1911. It once carried iron ore, coal and grain between Great Lakes ports and is now preserved as a museum ship in Toledo. Its riveted plates and pre-radar pilothouse offer a close look at early twentieth-century shipping technology.

Imagination Station

On the Maumee River in downtown Toledo, Imagination Station is a hands-on science museum with more than 300 interactive exhibits. The displays cover physics, chemistry, biology, engineering and technology, inviting visitors to experiment rather than simply observe.

It is particularly suited to families and younger visitors. The building has also had several lives: it opened in 1984 as Portside Marketplace before becoming COSI, the Center of Science and Industry, in 1997.

Pythian Castle

At Jefferson Avenue and North Ontario Street, Pythian Castle is one of downtown Toledo’s most distinctive buildings. Constructed in 1890 for the Knights of Pythias, it has a Romanesque design, grand arches and elaborate stonework.

Its black steeple and spires rise above the surrounding streets, while the turret on Jefferson Avenue reaches 122 feet. The building originally served as a meeting place for the fraternal organization and also contained retail spaces.

Trinity Episcopal Church

Trinity Episcopal Church is one of Toledo’s oldest continually used buildings. The congregation was founded in 1837, and the current Gothic Revival sanctuary was built between 1863 and 1866.

Inside, wooden arches and stained glass create a richly detailed interior. The church also contains a historic pipe organ installed by the Skinner Organ Company in 1910, which was then the largest organ in Toledo. Trinity Episcopal Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Toledo Museum of Art

In Toledo’s Old West End, the Toledo Museum of Art is a cultural landmark founded in 1901 by Toledo glassmaker Edward Drummond Libbey. The museum moved into its current Greek Revival building in 1912, designed by Edward B. Green and Harry W. Wachter.

Its campus now covers 280,000 square feet, with 45 galleries, classroom studios, the 1,750-seat Peristyle concert hall and a lecture hall. The collection contains more than 30,000 objects, with particular strength in glass, as well as European and American art and smaller collections of Renaissance, Greek and Roman, and Japanese art.

Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion

Across the street from the main museum, the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion focuses on the medium that gave Toledo its nickname. Its collection includes glass art from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, alongside works from the museum’s broader holdings.

The pavilion also connects directly with Edward Libbey’s role in the museum’s history. The institution’s earliest works came from his own glass collection, making the building and its subject especially important to Toledo’s cultural identity.

Our Lady Queen of the Holy Rosary Cathedral

Completed in 1931, Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo. Its Spanish Plateresque design was created with Toledo, Spain, in mind, and it is described as the only American cathedral built in that style.

The limestone façade features a recessed barrel-vault entrance, carved details and a statue of the Virgin Mary. Above it, a 28-foot rose window depicts scenes from Mary’s life. The window was financed by pennies collected by children throughout the diocese, giving the building a striking connection to the local community.

Ashland Avenue Baptist Church

Ashland Avenue Baptist Church is a prominent Romanesque landmark established in 1886 and dedicated in 1896. Designed by David L. Stine, the building is distinguished by robust masonry, rounded arches and carefully preserved stonework.

It was originally constructed as a school before becoming a church. Inside, painted ceilings, marble finishes and stained-glass windows depicting Holy Faces bring color and detail to the sanctuary.

Congregation B’nai Israel

Founded in 1866, Congregation B’nai Israel is Toledo’s oldest synagogue. It remains an important part of the city’s Jewish heritage and is a Conservative congregation.

First Church of Christ, Scientist

The former First Church of Christ, Scientist, on Monroe Street, was built in 1898 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. By the time of its designation, it was no longer home to the original congregation and had also been known as the Universal Community Church and the United Missionary Baptist Church.

Jermain Carnegie Library

This former Carnegie library recalls the public-learning institutions funded by Andrew Carnegie across the United States in the early twentieth century. Although it is no longer a library, its solid construction and welcoming entrance preserve the character of that tradition.

Stranahan Theater

Built in 1969, Stranahan Theater began as the Masonic Auditorium and later took its current name with support from the Stranahan Foundation. It has the largest proscenium stage in Northwest Ohio and includes a 3,000-square-foot foyer and the adjacent Great Hall.

The venue hosts concerts, Broadway shows and community events, including performances by the Toledo Symphony Orchestra’s Pops concerts, the Toledo Ballet and the Toledo Rep.

Explore Toledo with a free audio guide

A Toledo self-guided walking tour is an easy way to connect the city’s museums, churches, riverfront and downtown architecture. Neywo’s free Toledo audio guide includes 3 walking tours and 1 bus route, with 48 narrated places in total. Narration is available in 11 languages.

The walks include:

• Frogtown to Madison Avenue: Toledo’s Glass City Downtown — 4.29 km, 116 minutes and 12 stops.
• Old West End: Glass, Gothic and a Spanish Cathedral — 5.01 km, 113 minutes and 8 stops.
• Ballpark, Brewery Row and Riverside Towers — 2.55 km, 57 minutes and 5 stops.

There is also TARTA Line 22: From Bancroft Street to Downtown Toledo, a 10.4 km bus route lasting 45 minutes with 7 narrated stops.

Download Neywo and explore Toledo at your own pace: the app tells the story of each place as you reach it, with no group and no schedule. Toledo is part of Ohio, in the United States. You can also continue exploring nearby cities such as Cleveland, Columbus or Dayton.