Most are familiar with the Michigan-Ohio football rivalry, an intense but usually good-natured contest that stretches back over one hundred years. Yet far fewer may know that in the early nineteenth century Michigan and Ohio were locked in a different kind of battle---one that began before Michigan became a state.

The conflict started with a long-simmering dispute over a narrow wedge of land called the Toledo Strip. Early maps were famously imprecise, adding to the uncertainty of the true boundary between the states. When Ohio claimed to the mouth of the Maumee River, land that according to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 fell in the territory of Michigan, the "Toledo War" began.

Today the fight may bring a smile to Michiganians and Ohioans because both states benefited: Ohioans won the war and Michigan got the Upper Peninsula. But back then passions about rightful ownership ran high, and it would take many years---and colorful personalities all the way up to presidents---to settle the dispute. "The Toledo War: The First Michigan-Ohio Rivalry" gives a well-researched and fascinating account of the famous war.

Don Faber is best known as the former editor of the "Ann Arbor News," He also served on the staff of the Michigan Constitutional Convention, won a Ford Foundation Fellowship to work in the Michigan Senate, and was a speechwriter for Michigan governor George Romney. Now retired, Faber lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Jeannette, and indulges in his love of Michigan history.

Illustration: Tourist Map of Michigan, 1835, by J. H. Young (Courtesy of the Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)

"An engaging account of the Toledo War of 1835, a seriousconfrontation whose outcome established the borders of the state of Michigan. Faber expertly narrates the history of a dispute conducted by fascinating characters practicing political shenanigans of the highest order."
---Andrew Cayton, author of "Ohio: The History of a People" and a general editor of "The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia
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The Michigan-Ohio football rivalry is well known and stretches back many years. But far fewer may be aware that Michigan and Ohio were engaged in a different kind of battle more than a century earlier---one that began before Michigan became a state.

It was a fight over a narrow wedge of land called the Toledo Strip. Disagreement over ownership of the Strip dated to the early nineteenth century. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which created the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, described an east-west boundary line between the northern and southern states in the Northwest Territory. That line began at the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan and ran eastward to where it intersected Lake Erie, thus placing the mouth of the Maumee River in the Territory of Michigan.

But maps in those days weren't precise, and there was considerable doubt as to the exact location of Lake Michigan's southernmost point. Adding to the uncertainty was the absence of a good survey. When Ohio became a state in 1803, the importance of a harbor on Lake Erie became evident. To provide for this need, the state's constitution included a provision that claimed the mouth of the Maumee River for Ohio, disregarding the boundary line placed by the Northwest Ordinance.

Today the fight over Toledo in 1835 puts a grin on most people's faces---on Ohioans because they won, and on Michiganians because Ohio won Toledo while Michigan ended up with the Upper Peninsula. But passions about rightful ownership ran high, and it would be many years---and involve a colorful cast of characters all the way up to presidents---before the dispute was settled. "The Toledo War: The First Michigan-OhioRivalry" gives a well-researched and fascinating account of the famous war.

Don Faber is best known as the former editor of the "Ann Arbor News," He has also served on the staff of the Michigan Constitutional Convention, won a Ford Foundation Fellowship to the Michigan State Senate, and was a speechwriter for Michigan Governor George Romney. Now retired, Faber lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Jeannette, and indulges in his love of Michigan history.