August 28, 2022
History
The building, now home to (business name redacted) was built in 1929 in East Toledo’s Ironville neighborhood. Prior to the current tenant it housed businesses such as Industrial Steel Castings Company, Unitcast Corporation, Wine Railway Appliance Company, and Saylor Cafe. With the exception of the cafe all of the businesses were owned by one man, William W. Wine. In 1990, the current owner purchased the property.
Prior to its development in 1929, the property was a community park called “Lincoln Park Place” which served the mostly Hungarian immigrant community.
“The Birmingham and Ironville neighborhoods were so named because of their early iron industries located along Front Street and the Maumee River. This became Toledo’s first area of heavy industrial development with iron manufacturing, coal shipping, oil refining, shipbuilding, and flour milling operations. In 1864 the Manhattan Iron Company built a charcoal blast furnace near the river’s mouth, securing fuel from nearby forests.
The neighborhood adjoining the site became known as Ironville and is now part of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority site. In 1890 the National Malleable Casting Company sponsored nearly a hundred Hungarian families to move to East Toledo. These immigrants formed the core of the Birmingham neighborhood which continues to retain its strong ethnic heritage and cultural pride.”
“The neighborhood adjoining the site became known as Ironville and is now part of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority site. In 1890 the National Malleable Casting Company sponsored nearly a hundred Hungarian families to move to East Toledo. These immigrants formed the core of the Birmingham neighborhood which continues to retain its strong ethnic heritage and cultural pride.”
Taken from the historical marker https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=196960
Ironville was a thriving immigrant community with its own school, neighborhood house, a park, stores, church, and other shops to meet the needs of its residents. The Ironville School sat at the corner of Milliard and Tiffin Avenues. It housed grades 1-6 and students in grades 7 and 8 could walk to Franklin School on Oak Street,a short distance away. In 1917, an addition was added to the school, and the name was changed to Washington Irving School. The school closed in 1962 when the city rezoned all the surrounding area for commercial use. This was the beginning of the end for this historic neighborhood. The residents were forced to moved to other areas and the houses were demolished to make way for the city’s planned industrial park. But the plans never materialized. This once thriving area became a ghost town.
Employees and business owners at this large warehouse located in the old Ironville neighborhood believe they may actually have a literal ghost in residence.
Ironville historical photos
https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p16007coll33/id/96412
Claims
Employees hear footsteps above their office coming from the upper floor as well as what sounds like a heavy object being dragged across the floor in that same area. There are also reports of unexplained noises and singing. Some people have experienced a very uneasy feeling and a feeling similar to vertigo after spending even a few minutes on the 3rd floor. At least one person has witnessed the apparition of a little girl outside in an open space in the building’s yard.
girl was seen
Investigation
The Fringe team arrived on an early Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm. As the activity reported by witnesses seemed to only occur during the day when people were at work, we decided that a daytime investigation was in order. When we arrived we interviewed Jeff, a manager at the company, and got a refresher on the activity people had been experiencing.
After a tour of the facilities we began our investigation. We rode a service elevator up to the second floor and began with some EVP sessions. Other than one or two light taps activity was scant. After a while we went up to the third floor. The third floor is an open expanse which runs the length of the building. As we sat at one end we started hearing noises at the opposite side of the area. We heard a series of intermittent knocks. They did not correspond to any EVP questions or requests for acknowledgment. We could find no obvious source of the noises in the immediate area so we took a walk around the outside of the building. We could find nothing to account for the knocks. There were no wires or piping or anything else that could be banging against the sides or roof of the building.
We spent time outside in the courtyard. This area is where a witness spotted what he described as an apparition of a little girl. In addition to a traditional EVP session, we also tried a session with a spirit box using the Estes method. Kelly was the receiver and Don asked questions. Kelly wore soundproof headphones tapped into the spirit box (so she could not hear the questions being asked) and her back was to Don so she could not guess/read lips at what was being asked. Kelly, as the human receiver said out loud any words or phrases she could make out. Most of what came across during questioning did not seem to hold significance to the history or the paranormal claims of the property.
At 4:15 pm we ended the investigation.
Analysis
During this particular investigation we did not obtain any solid evidence of paranormal activity. We did leave with a lingering interest in what may be occurring in this old building. We attempted to find a historical record of any death or murder that may have occurred on the property to explain the sighting of the little girl. Jeff, the manager, heard that the body of a female had been found on the property in the 1970s. Without a date or more information, it is nearly impossible to verify or dismiss this claim. However, our research did turn up some interesting tidbits. In 1902, a 76 year old man was found deceased at his home on or near the corner where this current structure stands. In 1936, a 55 year old female died in her home which sat on the same site that now houses this business. Future investigations should look more deeply into whether these death events may be playing a role in any activity at this site
Investigators present
Don C
Kelly S
Jeff M
Environmental Summary
We track environmental conditions to see if there is any correlation with any possible activity during our investigations. This information is used for the specific investigation in this report and also can be used to track trends over time at this location
| Temperature (°F) High temp Low temp Day avg. temp | Actual 83 66 72.4 | Historic Avg. 83.5 62.4 73 |
| Precipitation (in) (past 24 hours from 11:52:00) | .24 | 4.00 |
| Dew Point (°F) Dew Point High Low Average | 63.82 66 62 63.82 | |
| Wind (mph) Max Wind Speed Visibility | 10 10 | |
| Sea Level Pressure (in) | 29.36 |
| Daylight | Day length | Rise | Set |
| Actual Time | 13h 34m | 6:52 am | 8:27 pm |
| Civil Twilight | 6:23 am | 8:56 pm | |
| Nautical Twilight | 5:48 am | 9:31 pm | |
| Astronomical Twilight | 5:10 am | 10:09 pm | |
| Moon: waning crescent |
Daily Observations
| Time | 12:52 | 1:52 | 2:52 | 3:52 | 4:52 |
| Temp (°F) | 80 | 81 | 83 | 83 | 82 |
| Dew Point (°F) | 65 | 64 | 63 | 63 | 63 |
| Humidity | 60% | 56% | 51% | 51% | 52% |
| Wind/Speed | N 8 mph | NW 6 mph | NW 9 mph | NNW 10 mph | NNW 8 mph |
| Wind Gust | 0 mph | 0 mph | 0 mph | 0 mph | 0 mph |
| Pressure | 29.36 in | 29.34 in | 29.32 in | 29.31 in | 29.32 in |
| Precip | 0.0 in | 0.0 in | 0.0 in | 0.0 in | 0.0 in |
| Condition | Mostly cloudy | Partly cloudy | Fair | Fair | Fair |
Deaths on the property
There are two documented deaths on the property: John Boote in 1902 and Caroline Tiedjen in 1936
Prepared for Fringe Paranormal by Don Collins
Fringe Paranormal 
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