LUCAS COUNTY, Ohio — President Trump's visit to Toledo for a rally with supporters this week is one in a long list of visits to the Glass City by sitting presidents, and those who like to be.
Usually those visits and rally events take place during an election year, but not always.
The president who might have spent the most time in Toledo while not campaigning in the last 75 years, may be a toss up between Dwight Eisenhower and George W. Bush.
According to historical records, President Eisenhower's executive sojourns to Toledo were more out of a love for hunting than politics. He was known to have come here at least two times during his 1950's administration, in 1954 and 1958.
In November of those years, he came here for duck hunting season. An avid hunter, Ike liked to meet up with his hunting buddies at the very private Cedar Point Club in the Little Cedar Point Wildlife area, east of Toledo. It is now the area generally known as Maumee Bay State Park.
Fifty years later, George W. Bush made two visits to Toledo, both outside of election years.
The first was September 6 of 2001, when he came to the city to meet with Mexico's president, Vicente Fox. They spent the day in the city discussing immigration and trade issues, appearing at Savage Hall and meeting with children at the Aurora Gonzalez Center.
It was the first time that two world leaders had ever come together for an official state visit in Toledo. Five days later, the world was shaken by the terror attacks of 9-11.
The next trip to Toledo for Mr. Bush was in early 2004, after the State of Union address when he visited Owens Community College to talk about the need for more community education schools such as Owens.
His father, George H.W. Bush campaigned in the area during the 1988 campaign and then as President in 1992 when he made whistle stops on a train tour through Ohio in October of 1992.
President Lyndon Johnson came to Toledo one time for a non-election year event and it was for tragic reasons as he toured many communities in the Midwest that had been ravaged by the deadly force of the Palm Sunday tornadoes of 1965. The storms devastated areas of Washington Township near Point Place and left many dead in Ohio and Michigan.
President Gerald Ford was no stranger to Toledo. Having played football at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, he enjoyed a geographical connection to the area...and his wife, Betty had been a resident at one time of Maumee when she worked in a local department store. His opportunities to visit Toledo as Chief Executive were limited as he served in that role for only two years, after being defeated for re-election by Jimmy Carter.
He did have one memorable moment here while he was running for reelection in 1976. While appearing before a packed house at Anderson Arena in June, he was leaving the arena when a flash camera popped close to his face, and Ford took a dive to the floor. He got up, smiled and said he was okay.
Presidents Carter and Reagan found themselves in the 419 area during their campaign seasons, with few appearances otherwise.
Carter in 1980 came to town during October as the Iranian hostage crisis remained at a stalemate. He had little to say to reporters about what steps might come next to win their release. During the trip, he visited Start High School for a rally and also took his entourage and national press out to the Don Schaller farm near Waterville before departing.
President Bill Clinton, while not traveling often to Toledo did so in 1996 during a high point in the history of the Jeep plant as the two-millionth jeep rolled off the line at the century-old jeep plant.
President Obama also used Jeep as a backdrop for his visit in 2011. Three years after his first election, he came to Toledo to pay homage to the legacy of Jeep and to thank Chrysler for paying back the money it received during the big auto bail out of 2009.
Presidents Kennedy and Nixon did not visit Toledo while they were residing in the White House, only as candidates. However Nixon was Vice President when he came here during the 1960 in the first election bid. It was during that trip that he made a major faux pax.
As the story is relayed by those who were there, as he was being given a glass key to the city, as is the custom for dignitaries, he took the gift, looked at it, and said "Thanks for the beautiful plastic key,".
Mayor Ollie Czelusta loudly reminded him it was a glass key as Toledo is the "glass" capital of the world.
President Harry Truman made his first visit as president to Toledo on September 6 of 1948. He was aboard his special train blazing across the countryside on a whirlwind campaign tour. The train made a stop for the night at the Penn Station on Summit Street and more than 5,000 Toledoans reportedly turned out to visit Truman aboard the train and hear his post-midnight speech.
Truman must have felt safe in Toledo, because when he made another stop in Toledo as president while staying at the Commodore Perry Hotel, he got up early one morning, elude his Secret Service detail and went for a walk.
The Secret Service Agents, upon realizing Truman was gone were in a panic. Meanwhile Truman is reported to have met a woman on the street and began to chat with her about the issues of the day.
He even wrote a note to her employer to explain why she was late for work and signed it "Harry Truman."
When he strode back into the lobby of the hotel he said "Why is everybody so excited?"