Deveaux Neighborhood (Questions) (Toledo: renters, how much, houses)

[Tobias C]

My fiance and I are both living in separate locations outside of the greater Toledo area, but are in Toledo all the time. We may quite possibly be moving to Toledo soon though as weve never owned a home before, and we may be inheriting a home of a deceased family member in the Deveaux area. Im just curious as to whether anyone has any insight on what the neighborhoods like. And by that I mean, what its like to live there, day to day. Im completely familiar with the area geographically and I know all the streets, schools, businesses, etc. but im just curious about anyone elses experiences. A particular concern I have is safety. It seems safe enough, but I know that some of the areas to the immediate east and south progressively get rougher as you travel in that direction (like upton), and im wondering how much of that bleeds over into the Deveaux area. Im not too concerned about threats to my physical safety, but im curious as too how much of a threat there is even concerning thefts or burglaries and things of the sort.

Any insights or opinions would be appreciated from anyone who lives and or works there, or knows someone who does or anything really. Thanks!

[grmi66]

What part around DeVeaux? I grew up in that neighborhood, but that was over 20 years ago and I have not been back since. Still have some friends in the area that I could email to get the inside scoop. From what I remember, anything west of the railroad tracks and east of Secor was pretty decent. As a kid I had free reign to ride my bike or walk to visit friends anywhere within a couple of miles of DeVeaux.

I used to deliver the Toledo Blade when I was in high school, so I am very familiar with every neighborhood around DeVeaux. Had to pick up the papers at a building next to DeVeaux and walk or ride my bike back to my route. If another carrier was on vacation, I would deliver their route as well. So I have probably either ridden my bike or walked every block in the DeVeaux neighborhood.

[Tobias C]

Without giving away a specific address... the area off of Berdan, to the east of Douglas, and on the Douglas side of the tracks (as opposed to the Upton side).

[grmi66]

I grew up two blocks north of where you are describing between Roanoke and Bellvue. Know the area well. When I grew up there in the 70's and 80's most of the people in the neighborhood tended to be skilled factory workers, young professionals in their first home, retail managers, teachers, cops and small business owners. Basically a good mix of "middle" middle class families. Back then the neighborhood was very stable, most of the people owned the homes they lived in and there might be 1-2 duplexes full of renters on every block.

Guessing the stores in DeVeaux Village are gone, but there used to be a drug store, a grocery store and a department store so you did not have to drive far to get household items.

[Tobias C]

The Deveaux youre describing sounds ideal to me. I highly doubt that the class of people has risen at all, if anything im guessing the neighborhood has declined since then, but I have no first hand experience to know this, and it honestly still seems like a nice, decent, area to me. I know for a fact those stores arent there anymore.

Theres a sports bar, goodwill, buckeye cable office, little caesars, a Cedar Creek Church and maybe a few other minor things I cant think of. El Camino on the corner and a Fifth Bank. Theres the empty remnants of what used to be a grocery store still there. The plaza part of it has been remodeled and looks new and refreshed but it would be cool to see the plaza transformed into a commercial if not mixed use development, including the grocery and department types of stores you recall. I think it would be nice to have a legit, downtown Deveaux I could walk to.

[grmi66]

Looked it up on Google street view, the church used to be a K-Mart-like department store called Rinks. El Camino was a fancy restaurant, Little Caesars has been there since about 1980, right next to where El Camino is used to be a Friendly's Ice Cream. Where the restaurant on the corner closest to the school is, used to be an upscale furniture store. Sad to see what that shopping center looks like now. Beneath the facade is classic mid-century modern design from the 50's, nice brickwork with big windows. Now it looks tacky.

The row of shops on the other side of DeVeaux used to have a candy shop where we went after school, a pet store and a couple of service companies.

Other than the retail decline, the old neighborhood looks exactly like I left it 20 years ago. Surprised that the houses still look to be in good shape.