TOLEDO, Ohio — The strong winds this weekend gave north Toledoans a rare up-close look at the remnants of a massive explosion that happened in Point Place a century and a half ago.
Due to the sustained west/southwest winds on Saturday, water from the Western Basin on our end of Lake Erie was pushed eastward toward the eastern Buffalo end of the lake.
Due to that phenomenon, water levels here in Toledo were down about 9 feet below normal, exposing much of the lake bottom for all to see.
One of the secrets of the past that is normally submerged under feet of water is the remnants of the so called “Dynamite Dock”, located near 326th and 145th Street.
In the 1880s, the dock located there belonged to the A.J. Rummel Company, a gunpowder and sporting goods store, according to the Point Place Heritage Society.
The dock was used to load rowboats with nitroglycerine, which by law couldn't be transported by cart through the city.
In November 1884, a box of nitroglycerine on or near the dock blew up, destroying the dock and Rummel’s buildings.
The explosion was reportedly felt as far as 40 miles away and the massive cloud of smoke it caused could be seen as far away as Perrysburg.
The ripples of the explosion could be seen on an eerie night 140 years late in January 2024 when posts from the dock, still buried in the lake bottom, revealed their location once again.
You can read more about the ‘Dynamite Dock’ and what set off the explosion here.
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