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History of the newspaper and Web site

The Blade newspaper was first published on December 19, 1835. It is the oldest continuing business in Toledo, Ohio, USA. In fact, it is older than the city itself. The city was not incorporated until 1837.

Our publication was founded by a group of prominent Toledoans. When our paper was first published, it was only four pages per week.

Where did The Blade get its name? Toledo, Ohio has a sister city in Toledo, Spain. So it made sense that the newspaper be named after a well-known product of that city - the steel-bladed sword. Also, at the time the newspaper was founded, the Ohio-Michigan War was being waged for control of Lucas County, Ohio. It was believed that The Blade would "always leap from its scabbard whenever the rights of individuals, or the community, shall be infringed."

Over the years, The Blade changed owners several times. In 1867, David Ross Locke bought The Blade. Mr. Locke had worked as an editor of several newspapers and brought The Blade national recognition for satires he wrote under the pen name of Petroleum V. Nasby.

The present owners of The Blade, the Block family, bought the newspaper from the Locke family in 1926. In the same year, the present Blade building was constructed. On May 1, 1927 the building was opened with great fanfare. President Calvin Coolidge touched a gold key in Washington, D.C. to start the new presses.

Today, The Blade covers 14 counties in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan and toledoblade.com makes information about the area accessible to the world.

toledoblade.com, the Web site of The Blade, was launched in 1997. In 1999, a digital media department was formed at the newspaper to manage the development of the site. It is our ongoing goal to be the premier source of news and information about northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan on the World Wide Web.

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