Hittin’ the Town: Glass City Garters, Gambling, Gangsters and Gin Bus Tour

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - There is no doubt about Toledo’s rich history in glass and the automotive industry, but how about gangsters and gambling?

There is a bus tour that highlights some of the tales of gangsters and gambling.

Toledo is famous for all kinds of glass products, Jeeps and plenty of other innovations that can be found around the world.

“The more people hear about Toledo’s past it explains a lot about where we are now,” vice president of the Toledo History Museum London Mitchell said. “I think there are a lot of Toledoans who really don’t know the rich history of Toledo.”

In addition to innovations and trailblazers, the tale of Toledo is also full of stories involving ladies of the night who worked in an area called the Tenderloin District. There were also gangsters, gambling and rum runners.

That steamy history is the focus of a Toledo History Museum bus tour called, Glass City Garters, Gamblinb, Gangsters and Gin.

“I think there is a fascination with the underworld and this is a safe way of experiencing what happened,” Donna Rehfeldt, the president of the museum said.

Rehfeldt is also one of the tour hosts and said the two-hour tour makes stops all over town and includes names you might recognize.

“The Licavoli Gang, they were into bootlegging, rum running, they were also into gambling. And that’s where they made their money, they were also in the protection racket while they were here,” Rehfeldt said. “Even during prohibition and the gangster era, gambling was the money-maker, not the rum-running or bootlegging.”

Tickets for the two-hour tour are $30 for Toledo History Museum members and $45 for non-members. The remainder of the 2023 tour is sold out but dates for the 2024 tour will be posted soon.

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