The Maumee River, originating from the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers in Fort Wayne, Indiana, meanders 137 miles northeast through Ohio's rich agricultural land before emptying into Lake Erie at Toledo. Historically known to Native Americans as the Miami and central to pivotal conflicts like the 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers, the river saw significant land cessions through treaties such as Greenville in 1795.
As Ohio's "breadbasket" and the largest watershed feeding the Great Lakes, its two-thirds farmland contributes five percent of Lake Erie's water but has also led to severe algae blooms, famously making Toledo's drinking water unsafe in August 2014. Once part of the extensive Great Black Swamp, the Maumee was designated an Ohio State Scenic River in 1974 and remains important for both commercial shipping near its mouth and recreational use upstream.