The Toledo was a steamship built for freight and passenger trade in the upper lakes area. Commissioned by Charles H. Lee and Associates in 1854 and taken over by the American Transportation Company in 1855, it belonged to a fleet of eleven freight and passenger steamers that originally carried European immigrants traveling to Wisconsin and Minnesota. On October 22, 1856, while bound for Chicago, the Toledo docked at Port Washington, Wisconsin. Some passengers ended their journey there and disembarked, but an estimated 80 remained aboard. After taking on cordwood for fuel and departing, the ship was hit offshore by strong gale force winds that drove it back toward shore. It used all its power and tried to anchor, but failed to hold. The vessel struck bottom with tremendous force and was quickly pounded to pieces by massive rolling waves. Only two passengers survived. In 1900, the anchor was recovered by Delos Smith's fishing tug and placed in Union Cemetery in Port Washington, where it remains as a memorial to the lives lost in the Niagara and Toledo tragedies that year.