The Toledo Zoo began in 1900 with one large woodchuck in a box at Walbridge Park and grew steadily after the organization of the Toledo Zoological Society from 1905 to 1910, especially after 1923 under the leadership of Percy C. Jones. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, an ambitious federal construction program provided several major structures. The Anthony Wayne Trail, built in the 1930s, followed much of the shared route of two canal systems: the Wabash and Erie, which linked Toledo with Indiana from 1843 until 1874, and the Miami and Erie, which linked Toledo with Cincinnati from 1845 until 1913. These developments in the Maumee Valley were responsible for the creation of the Great Lakes port city of Toledo.
