Ralph Waldo Emerson in Toledo!

Morris Hall, 1854. Lectures on “Wealth” and “Economy” and “Worship” and “Faith.”

Was located on the northeast corner of Summit and Jefferson. Opened December 31, 1952. First called Jefferson Hall. A third-story amusement hall. Emerson gave four lectures in Toledo on this visit. In a letter regarding his visit he wrote that he found a “population of Yankees out there and an easy welcome for my Massachusettes narrowness everywhere.”

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Stickney Hall, January 30, 1860. To Young Men’s Association (Y.M.A.) Lecture on “Manners.”

1868 Map of Toledo. “Stickney H” shown on the northeast corner of Oak and Summit.
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Opened October 11, 1855. Later renamed the Opera House. Located on the northeast corner of Summit Street and Oak (later Jackson). A second-story auditorium. Stickney Hall was the major theatre in Toledo from 1856 to 1861, until White’s Hall was built.

The Blade noted a “large and intellectual audience.” Regarding the lecture The Blade wrote that “Every sentence was a living thought and the intellectual power, freely exercised, became absolutely painful.”

White’s Hall, February 5, 1866. Lecture on “Table Talk.”

White’s Hall was located on the third floor of this building.
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Toledo as it appeared to Emerson, c1865. View north to Summit Street from Swan Creek.
The later lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1843-1871

White’s Hall (formerly known as White’s Concert Hall) was located on the third floor of a retail building in the 200 block of Summit Street, on the west side, between Jackson and Adams. The structure was built in 1861 and destroyed by fire in 1892. Toledo’s first entertainment hall, and for ten years Toledo’s leading theatre. After the opening of Wheeler’s Operahouse, White’s Hall was “reduced to a minor show house.” White’s Hall hosted theatrical performances, sporting events, and lectures. Frederick Douglas, Horace Greeley and Edwin Booth all appeared there in the mid-1800s. On February 5th 1866 the lecture “Table Talk” was given by Ralph Waldo Emerson.