A look at the township’s past, present and future
SPENCER TOWNSHIP – Located in Lucas County lies Spencer Township, a rural community that has been around since the 1800s, though many people might not know much about its history or how it came to be.
Spencer Township is located in the central western part of Lucas County, bounded by Richfield Township, Springfield, Monclova and Swanton. The population remains fairly consistent, holding steady at about 1,800 people.
Some of the first settlers in the township were Germans who arrived between 1832 and 1835 when many immigrants were headed toward Michigan. Spencer Township was part of the territory claimed by Michigan until it was founded by the Lucas County Commissioners in 1845.
Jacky Dale, the interim director of the Spencer Township Neighborhood Center, said she has lived in the community for 25 years.
“It’s passionate, it’s diverse, and most of the people are very pleasant and welcoming, so it’s always nice,” Dale said.
Michael B. Hood, a Spencer Township trustee, says he has been a part of the community his entire life.
“When I was coming along back in the 1960s, 63 percent of the community was African American,” said Hood. “A lot of the people who came here settled from the South. My parents came here from Mississippi and settled here, and they liked this area [as] opposed to being in the city, because it reminded them of being in the South.”
Hood has been a township trustee since 1986 and is currently in his ninth term. He’s successfully been reelected nine out of 11 times and has remained in office since 2010.
“When I started, we only had one full-time employee who worked here,” he said. “Now we have administrative staff, the trustees and the fiscal officer – a total of five employees.”
Before he was a township trustee, Hood said he always considered himself active in the community.
“I was active in the community and volunteering, and I’ve always had a hand in dealing with young people and youth,” he said. “So I just saw that as a natural progression to move from that to becoming more involved and concerned with community issues overall.”
As community involvement in the township grew, so did their awareness of the challenges they face today.
One of the biggest challenges the township faces today is being unknown. While it has always been part of Lucas County, the township has often been overlooked as its own community.
The township has taken certain steps to make its presence known, such as putting up a sign, developing a website, and installing an electronic display board to advertise any meetings or functions in the community.
“We weren’t even on the older maps; we were just considered another part of western Lucas County,” Hood said. “We just erected a sign, probably four or five years ago, to intentionally let people know that we’re here because a lot of people thought we were a part of Springfield.”
Dale said not having the convenience of stores close by has been a challenge in the community.
“Just not having access to the fresh produce or even a local gas station, you’re five miles away from the closest store, and we don’t have public transportation,” Dale said. “The resources are quite small as far as that goes, and that’s why we started our ‘share table’ where people can donate canned goods and stuff like that.”
The township once had a variety of shops in the 1970s, such as a laundromat, drive-in theater and auto shops. But during a period of urban renewal, or “urban removal,” as they call it, that began to disappear, and the community lost the little industry they did have.
According to Hood, the former Spencer-Sharples Local School District faced decreasing enrollment and a shrinking tax base, leading to its closing and consolidation with Toledo Public Schools by 1980. As a result, Spencer Township has been merged with Toledo Public Schools for the last 45 years.
Hood said the township is exploring the options of implementing its own school system, noting that kids in the township have to travel through two school districts just to get to school.
“I would have loved to say we would have had a good working relationship with our surrounding communities, but that was not the case,” he said. “We tried to get and meet the Swanton and Springfield schools, but they both rejected us. And that’s how we ended up in Toledo Public Schools.”
In terms of plans, the township recently created an organization in October 2025 called the Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) to pursue economic development projects. The organization has the task of performing any economic development that takes place in Spencer Township.
Spencer Township is home to many due to its nice, family-oriented community. The community features amenities such as a nature park for fishing and kayaking. It also has historic landmarks such as Old Spencer Township Hall, Spencer Sharples High School and the current Spencer Township Hall.
“It’s always been a good place for raising families because we are isolated away from so much that’s happening in other areas,” he said. “Spencer Township was and has been a hidden gem that people are discovering. It’s the only place I’ve ever called home, and I don’t plan on leaving it.”
Dale said the passion of the people is what she likes most about living in Spencer Township.
“It’s a small community, but they’re close-knit, and everybody checks on everybody,” she said. “The general people are very nice and caring, and they look out for each other.”
Hood says Spencer Township has been under the radar for the past 10 to 15 years, but due to the new influx of people from all over, the community is getting discovered.
“We want people to know that we’re here. We’re Spencer Township; we’re our own entity,” he said. “We are tired of being in everyone else’s shadow, and so this is our coming out period.”
