Article published April 03, 2010
Spared razing, Libbey has rich history
By TOM TROY
BLADE POLITICS WRITER

At one time, Libbey High School had so many students that the young scholars had to be scheduled in shifts.

That was 1959, and Libbey’s brick walls bulged with 2,382 students.

In recent years, though, some school officials have said the near-600 young people trickling in from the aging South Toledo neighborhoods near Libbey just don’t justify the cost of maintaining the sprawling structure.

The Toledo Board of Education voted 3-2 Thursday night to find money to keep the school open.

Built with an imposing five-story facade in 1923 at a cost of $1.5 million, Libbey became the third high school in Toledo, joining Scott and Waite.

It was named after one of Toledo’s greatest industrialists and benefactors, glass industry pioneer Edward Drummond Libbey, who died three years after it was built.

An online history maintained by the Libbey High School Alumni Association says the 35-acre site at 1250 Western Ave. was “exceptionally large.” Mr. Libbey contributed $35,000 to alter the course of Swan Creek and fill in land behind the school site.

In 1927, his widow, Florence Scott Libbey, gave another $50,000 to build the school a football stadium. A field house was added in 1955, followed by the skill center in 1976.

The opening of Bowsher High School in 1962 about two miles southwest took a big bite out of Libbey’s enrollment.

Libbey’s alumni filled the ranks of Toledo leadership - among them former Toledo City Councilman Betty Shultz, retired WTOL-TV, Channel 11 sportscaster Orris Tabner, retired Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Ronald Bowman, and sitting Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Charles Doneghy.

Thanks largely to the appeals of students and alumni, the school has survived while others have been closed as Toledo’s school enrollment has dwindled.

But Libbey’s likely fate was sealed in 2002 when voters approved a levy to help finance an $821 million school reconstruction program, with Libbey on the demolition list.

Not all of the almuni have been as eager to see the school preserved.

Jimmy Gaines, a retired city administrator, class of ‘67, said in 2002 that Libbey’s students needed a modern high school. “The place just doesn’t meet the needs of the students and teachers anymore,” he said.

Contact Tom Troy at:
tomtroy@theblade.com
or 419-724-6058.