The area was first settled by European Americans in 1794, after the Battle of Fallen Timbers, with the founding of Fort Industry. However, with the War of 1812, many settlers fled the area. Resettling around 1817 a Cincinnati syndicate purchased a 974-acre tract at the mouth of Swan Creek and named it Port Lawrence. The syndicate failed 3 years later, and the settlement joined with a river settlement to the north called Vistula. The inhabitants of this joined settlement chose the name Toledo, although the reason for this choice is unknown. The most popular version attributes the naming to Willard J. Daniels, a merchant, who reputedly suggested Toledo because it 'is easy to pronounce, is pleasant in sound, and there is no other city of that name on the American continent'.
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