People often say you can’t know your future without knowing your past. And the same can be said for the future of an academic institution continuing to shape future generations. But, as students, faculty, staff and alumni of the University of Toledo, how well do we know its history? This series, entitled #RocketBlastFromThePast, was started by Juice House as a social media series to discover our shared legacy as Toledo Rockets by diving into the digital archives of the Canaday Center and sharing interesting tidbits and fun facts of UToledo’s rich history that encourages a sense of pride in our institution. Now brought to you as a collection, it’s more than a trip down memory lane; it’s an exploration and transportation from the past to the present, with a vision and inspiration guiding us into a bright future and beyond.
There are occasions when students need to take the initiative to achieve desired results. Today’s #rocketblastfromthepast 🚀 features a group of female students coming together in the university’s time of need to make a change. In early 1928, a levy was put on the ballot to raise money to relocate the university to a new site. After WWI, enrollment jumped, and the university — which had been operating downtown — could no longer accommodate its growing student body. As the student population increased, the university made an agreement with the city to obtain another location on Nebraska Avenue.
However, after only six years with the additional location, the university surpassed its student capacity again. Then, a catalyst came in the form of an incident involving the beating of a female student near the downtown location, making it more urgent to push for a new space for the university. The need for better facilities and the recent outcry mobilized students to work alongside faculty members to raise public awareness of the university’s overcrowded and underfunded condition. At the end of 1928, the levy was passed by a vote of 48,905 to 38,477, which made the university one of the largest municipally-funded universities in the U.S. at the time. The levy funded the construction of University Hall, its most iconic building on campus still to this day.
This series is continuing to grow! To stay up to date with new posts in this social media series, follow The JuicePress at @thejuice.press.
