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CHAPTER XV

SANDUSKY ( CONTINUED)

SANDUSKY IN 1846

Howe thus describes Sandusky and the churches in 1846: "The Methodist Episcopal church, a small frame building, and the first built, was erected in 1830; the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches in 1835; the Wesleyan chapel in 1836, and the rest since. Sandusky contains 1 Episcopal, 1 Methodist, 1 Congregational, 1 Reformed Methodist, 1 Catholic and 1 German Lutheran church, -1 high school, a large number of dry goods and grocery stores, several forwarding and commission houses, 2 furnaces, 1 oil mill, 2 extensive machine shops for the manufacture of the iron for railroad cars, 2 printing offices, 2 banks, and a population estimated at 3,000. This town is now very thriving, and promises to be, ere many years, a large city. A great impetus has been given to its prosperity by the construction of two railroads which terminate here; the first, the Mad River and the Little Miami railroad, connects it with Cincinnati ; the other connects it, with Mansfield, from which place it is constructing through Mount Vernon and Newark to Columbus ; a branch will diverge from Newark to Zanesville. This last is one of the best built railroads in the country, and is doing a very heavy transportation business. The commerce of Sandusky City is heavy, and constantly increasing. The arrivals at this port in 1846 were 447 ; clearances, 441; and 843,746 bushels of wheat were among the articles exported. On the farm of Isaac A. Mills, west of the town, are some ancient mounds and works. In the late Canadian 'patriot war,' this city was a rendezvous for 'patriots ; ' they had an action on the ice near Point-au-Peele Isle, and with British cavalry in the winter of 1838. They were under Captain Bradley of this city, who has since commanded a company of volunteers in the war with Mexico. In this action the 'patriots' behaved with cool bravery, and although attacked by a superior, force, delivered their fire with steadiness, and repelled their enemy with considerable loss."

On May 13, 1882, Mr. C. C. Keech informs the Register that when he came to Sandusky in 1847 the parks had a post and bar fence all around them, with no opening through east and west. The next improvement was to tear down that fence and build a circular picket fence with no street through east and west, and then the next improvement was to tear down the fence some time in the '60s.

The following invitation to attend a reception to President-elect Zachary Taylor was presumably an elaborate affair of 1848 :

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" OLD ZACH 'S PARTY. "

"You are respectfully invited to attend a party to be given at McKenster & Boynton's Exchange at seven o'clock on Wednesday evening, November 29th, in honor of General Zachary Taylor, President-elect of the United States. Managers : J. B. Camp, Eleutheros Cooke, Daniel Tilden, A. H. Moss, George Reber, W. H. Caswell, E. F. Osborne, S. S. Hosmer, Pitt Cooke, C. S. Higgins, George Thomas, A. Lytle, L. S. Hubbard, William Durbin, J. A. Camp, Jr., J. W. Hollister, James B. Monroe, C. S. Parks, J. N. Newell, L. N. Gibbs, William Hollister, G. E. French, E. H. Wetherell. Carriages will be in attendance at six P. AI. precisely. Sandusky City, November 22, 1848." (McKenster & Boynton's Exchange was the hotel formerly known as Colt's Exchange.)

CARNEGIE LIBRARY, SANDUSKY

In 1851 the prominent commission merchants were L. S. & L. F. Hubbard, Sheldon & Co., Boalt & Gibbs, S. W. Butler & Co., Henderson & Pettibone, August Smith & Co., and A. H. Barber. At the west end of Water Street were the machine shops of the Mad River Road, employing hundreds of workmen in building locomotives and cars. The Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark Railroad shops at the east end of Water Street employed many men in the same work until the road was leased to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. The firm of Wetherell & Leonard, in the west end of the city, were extensive manufacturers of railroad cars and passenger coaches until they were ruined by the failure of the Illinois Central Railroad to pay them $200,000 for cars they had built. This failure was the first severe blow the business interests of Sandusky received. The D. C. Henderson Company Mower and Reaper Works employed a large number of men, but had not sufficient capital to compete with the McCormicks.

Barney Occoback & Torrey employed a number of men in their wood works and organized the Sandusky Wheel Works, then the largest con-

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cern of its kind in the state. The destruction of the factory by fire, together with the exhaustion of the wood supply, explains the loss of that plant. About this time the city gave the Gay Shipyard Company the extensive grounds of the East Battery and $15,000 to start a shipyard on the premises now occupied by the Sandusky Tool Company. This was the first tramp enterprise assisted by our people that failed, and was the predecessor of a long string of successive failures of the same kind.

J. B. & H. P. Radcliffe manufactured extensively candles, which, together with camphene and sperm oil, were the only means of illumination at that time.

The grocers were Whitney & Wetherell, Porter & Lytle, S. S. Hosmer & Co., W. A. Simpson, Barber & Berry, Radcliffe & Co., Casper, Parsons & Co., Geiersdorf & Co. and Nathan Bear.

After the close of the war Winterstein &.Arndt manufactured wooden- ware until a fire destroyed their factory. After the factory was rebuilt D. M. Arndt continued the business, adding fish packages and butter tubs. until the supply of timber was exhausted.

The dry goods merchants were W. T. & A. K. West, Charles Converse, Monroe & Peck, John N. Sloane, Everett & Drake, Hubbard, Shepard & Wilcox, T. D. West, C. E. & G. A. Cooke, and D. M. Arndt & Co.

Before the completion of the West House, the Townsend House, later called the Mississippi Hotel, after the steamboat Mississippi ; the Colt's Exchange, renamed the St. Lawrence Hotel, after the steamer St. Lawrence ; the Veranda Hotel, the Mansion House, the Exchange and the Steamboat Hotel at the west end of Water Street were the principal hotels of the city.

The Register of December 31, 1851, describes the census taken by George S. Patterson. showing Sandusky with a population of 7,901. The Register of December 8, 1851, shows this population divided as follows:

American - 3,435

Germans - 2,188

Irish - 1,849

English - 277

Blacks - 106

Miscellaneous - 46

Total - 7,901

The Register of June 21, 1852, described the Bay City kills, then in process of erection on Jackson Street wharf, by Henderson & Pettibone. The main building was 60 by 40 feet, four stories high, with wings for storing grain on each side extending its whole length and capable of storing 30,000 bushels of wheat, with a capacity of about 400 barrels of flour a day. At this time vessels would go to Venice and load as much as the shallowness of the water would allow them, and then come down to Sandusky and complete their cargo at the Bay City Mills.

PAGE 199 - VIEW SANDYSKY (PERRY CELEBRATION)

200 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

Joshua B. Davis says : "I came here in 1854. The Wayne House at the foot of Wayne Street was the old St. Lawrence Hotel. There was a stone flour mill on the north side of Water Street, near Franklin, where the B. & O. now is. The Euterpian Hall'was the theater then on the third floor over the American Express Co. on Water Street. The Empire House was the hotel afterward known as the Mansion House, kept by R. E. Colt. This building was on southeast corner of Franklin and Market streets.

"The strap railroad came in on Water. Street, and ran down to the corner of Wayne and was the road to Republic and Bellevue. The Mad River depot was in a frame building where the Big Four depot now stands. The old Veranda Hotel had nothing between it and the bay. The bay came up to Water Street, and in a storm the waves broke over the railroad. The old Bay City Mills stood where Booth & Co.'s fish shanty is now at the foot of Columbus Avenue, and boats would go up to Venice and partially load with flour and then come down to the Bay City Mills and finish their load. The old Congregational Church on the corner of the square was built over a former church, which had steps on the outside of the building. The old High School Building to the south of the

Congregational Church was used as a cholera hospital in 1852 and 1854."

The Sandusky Directory of 1855 contains the following: "In railroad enterprises Sandusky was the pioneer city west of the Allegheny mountains. The Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad, connecting this point with Dayton and Cincinnati, was the first commenced in the Western States. With the completion of this road began the career of success which has since advanced Sandusky, to a commercial position of primary importance. Other railways have since been built, East, West and South, connecting her with all the principal towns and cities in those directions. The Cleveland & Toledo Railroad has recently been completed, affording a direct connection with the each of these cities, and forming an important link in the great 'south-shore line' of railway uniting the Atlantic seaboard with the Mississippi river. The Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark Railroad has been in operation several years.

"Gas works erected in 1855. The erection of the gas works by Messrs. Lockwood & Co. during the past year has been of vast improvement and benefit to the city. Nearly five miles of street mains (pipes) have been laid during the season. The construction of water works, by which pure lake water will be introduced into every street and house, is a necessity now forcing itself upon the attention of our citizens; and doubtless a favorable action upon the subject will be taken before long by the authorities."

This picture represents Sandusky about 1855. Beginning at the West House, going south, the next building was a two-story frame building containing Adam Smith's bakery (now between the Ramsey flat and Schweinfurth's grocery), then an alley, then a stone building with outside stairs, containing the Sandusky Bank, then a one-story saloon building, then a saddler's shop, then Robinson & Brown's grocery, all one-story frame buildings. Where the postoffice stands was a two-story frame

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building containing Mrs. Quick's millinery shop and George Reber's law office. Then two or three small houses, one of them Doctor Donahue's office. Then a two-story brick building occupied by Doctor McMeens. Then on the corner the house and garden of Eleutheros Cooke.

Beginning at the southeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Water Street, there was a two-story frame building with the hardware store of W. V. Moss, then a one-story frame building occupied by the Moss Bank, then a one-story cobbler's shop, then Nellie Brown's grocery, then the Moss Bank Building under process of erection where the Donahue hardware store is now, then the alley, then a book store, then the office of Giddings, Converse & Giddings in the old Cooke house, then the one- story brick Union Bank Building, then the Union Block, now part of the Cooke Block, then a rough white stone building where Lane, Stone & Lane and Mackey & McLouth had their law offices. Where the Interurban station now stands was a one-story frame building occupied by Mrs. Humphrey 's millinery store, then Francisco's harness shop, then a stone residence occupied by S. E. Hitchcock, then a cow stable belonging to the residence of David C. Campbell, the publisher of the Clarion, which stood on the corner.

Beginning at the east end of Washington Row came the residence of A. F. Porter on the corner, then the residence of General Mills, then the residence of Frank D. Parish, then the residence of Walter F. Stone. Crossing Columbus Avenue on Washington Row came, first, the residence and office of Doctor Cochran, then a small brick building, the office of L. S. & J. T. Beecher, then Beecher's residence (now the telephone office), and his garden extended to Jackson Street.

The directory of 1858 shows the city had at that time two breweries, three dentists, twenty-two lawyers, six barbers, three banks, eleven shoe stores, eight dry goods stores, twenty-eight groceries, eleven hotels, four newspapers, fifteen doctors, twenty-seven saloons, fourteen churches.

The directory of 1873 shows fifteen attorneys, three banks, twelve barbers, thirty-five shoe stores, four breweries, fourteen dry goods stores, fifty-four groceries, nine hotels, fifteen doctors, ninety saloons, twenty IF churches.

The directory of 1874 shows thirty-two shoe stores, twenty-one lawyers, eighteen dry goods stores, forty-five groceries, fifteen hotels, eighteen doctors, five dentists, ninety-four saloons, five breweries, twenty churches.

SANDUSKY IN 1860

The directory of 1860 gives the names of the business establishments as follows :

J. M. Frisbie had a photograph gallery at 135 Water Street ; W. V. Latham was a merchant tailor at 145 Water Street. The Townsend House at the corner of Decatur and Market Streets was then conducted by J. E. Bourne. The town had three breweries, one by E. G. P. Mittleberger at the west end of Water Street, where also Philip Dauch had a brewery. The third brewery was on Harrison Street, kept by W. Fox.

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Schaub & Company made sash, doors and blinds on Railroad Street between Jackson and Columbus Avenue, and Peter Gilcher had a lumber yard on Water Street. The city had three newspapers, the Register and two German weeklies, the Bay Stadt Demokrat and the Intelligenz Blatt. The city had twenty-three lawyers, L. S. & J. T. Beecher, J. G. Bigelow, Henry C. Bush, F. W. Cogswell, J. W. Cowdrey, John J. Finch, Homer Goodwin, A. W. Hendry, William Lane, Samuel Lewis, 0. C. McLouth, John Mackey, John G. Miller, S. Miner, Geo. Reber, — Stryker, J. M. Root, E. B. Sadler, R. R. Sloane, W. F. Stone, T. Sullivan, S. C. Wheeler.

It had three banks, Barney Hubbard & Durbin, who had a bank at 20 Columbus Avenue ; Converse Brothers, who had a bank on Columbus Avenue, and Moss Brothers, who had a bank at 413 Columbus Avenue.

The town had thirty-five shoe stores and fifty-two groceries. It had sixteen doctors, A. H. Agard, A. Austin, C. Cochran, H. J. Donahue, C. Enderly, Philip Graefe, D. T. Kramer, I. Hargett, Lane, F. R. Lange, R. R. McMeens, H. D. Mann, I. V. Massey, F. E. Pape, Louis Silva, Mrs. M. A. VanTine.

It also had sixty saloons.

There were 11 Protestant churches and 3 Catholic churches and 14 school buildings, of which five the high school, the first grammar, the second grammar, the third grammar and the preparatory school stood on the public square where the high school and courthouse now are.

According to the Register of March 9, 1863, the northeast corner of Market Street and Columbus Avenue, now occupied by the Commercial Bank, was then occupied by the third stone building in Sandusky, the back part of the residence of F. D. Parish, then standing, in 1863, where the east end of the Kingsbury Building does now, being the second stone building, which was built in 1828. The old building which was torn down to make room for the building now occupied by the Commercial Bank was begun in 1829 or 1830, for Dr. Anderson, who died of the cholera in 1834, and was built by a Mr. Fairchild with stone brought from Castalia. Fairchild carried his own stone and made his own mortar, and completed the building by the 4th of July, 1832, when a cannon was fired from the roof. When the streets of Sandusky were laid out this building and the Townsend House were landmarks. For many years it was occupied as a cabinet shop by West & Scovey and by a man named Ballard, who died of the cholera in 1849. In 1852 the Daily Register was born there and was issued from there for two years. Later the building was used as a postoffice, and Homer Goodwin and others had offices there.

The Sandusky resident of today will hardly appreciate the description of the parks given by the Register of May 30, 1866. The Register says:

"We would like to see the two beautiful parks north of the Court House and churches open to the public. When passing by on a warm day, tired and hot it is tantalizing to know that you are forbidden to enter in and sit beneath the umbrageous trees and rest. Of course it

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was proper that they should be closed while the trees were too small to afford shade, but now we can see no reason why they should not be free to the citizens.

"We understand that when the land was dedicated to the city it was with the express condition that it should remain open. We presume that the city authorities intend to open them soon. In behalf of many of the citizens whose desires we have heard expressed, we suggest the matter for an early consideration. With a coat of white wash upon the fences, a few graded walks, and several seats scattered through the grounds, all of which would cost but a few dollars, they would add much to the beauty of that part of the city, and to the happiness of many people. We feel particularly anxious to have this attended to now, inasmuch as in about two weeks our city will be crowded with strangers upon whom we should desire to make a favorable impression, and we can if we strive to. We presume that it is argued that the miserable swine and cattle, which roam at will over our streets, would injure the parks if they were open."

In 1869 the Sandusky Directory was combined with several other towns and published by A. Bailey. It shows that at that time Sandusky had 15 lawyers, 2 banks, 8 barbers, 12 blacksmith shops, 4 book stores, 29 shoe stores, 4 breweries, 5 clothing stores, 14 dry goods stores, 12 fish houses, 6 furniture factories, 44 groceries, 12 hotels, 8 lumber dealers, 10 milliners, 13 doctors, 7 restaurants, 134 saloons.

In the height of the panic of 1873 the labor of Sandusky was well employed. The B. & O. shops employed 180 hands, the C. S. &. C. Railway 130, the Sandusky Machine and Agricultural Works 29, Butler's Planing Mill 30, Schoepfle's Sash and Blind Factory 20, the Western School Supply Company 22, the Sandusky Wheel Company 135, Woolsey's Tool Company 50, the Butter Tub Factory 32, and Ryan, Johnson & Company 35. During that year the opera house was built.

THE PUT-IN-BAY CABLE TELEGRAPH LINE.

The Register of July 3, 1873, contains an account of the completion of the cable between Sandusky and Put-in-Bay, by the Put-in-Bay Telegraph Company, of which F. G. Beach was president, Mrs. A. C. McMeens secretary and treasurer, and W. H. Brimson was superintendent. The line was built by Geo. H. Bliss of Chicago, and work upon it was commenced in May, 1873. The chief difficulty in construction was the marshes on both sides of the bay, where the workmen were obliged to work in water and mud nearly to their shoulders. It took some time to properly splice the cable to the shore line, but when that was done and the cable was ready to pay out, it only required about twenty-three minutes to pay out the entire three and one-half miles of cable. The steamer "Riverside" did the work, without a single accident. The cable runs nearly north and south and consists of seven No. 21 copper wires twisted spirally and forming a core insulated with gutta percha and

PAGE 205 - STORM SCENE, SANDUSKY

Showing Destruction of Trees in Sandusky Parks

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then a bedding of woven banding tarred, and outside of all an armor of ten No. 7 galvanized iron wires spirally laid. The diameter is five- eighths of an inch and the weight 4,050 pounds to the mile. The Put-in-Bay terminus is near the steamboat landing and the cable strikes the shore on the south side of Mouse Island, a short distance from Ottawa City. Thence the line runs to a point about a mile east of Gypsum Station on the Lake Shore Railroad ; thence along the railroad line crossing the draw by a short cable to the Big Four Railroad; thence to the city, the line being about 191/2 miles long. The first despatch was sent June 25, 1873.

In the summer of 1873 a project was set on foot to ,establish a steel rolling mill at Sandusky, to manufacture Silicon steel rails. The Register of August 28 contains a five-column description of the process, which like many other subsequent projects went up like a rocket and came down like a stick. The mill was established south of the Lake Shore track on five acres of land contributed to it by Sandusky citizens and built with the proceeds of $165,000 worth of bonds subscribed for by Sandusky people. The sole remnant of this large expenditure at the present time is the history of the project set forth in the case of West vs. Klotz, 37 O. S. 420, where an interesting point of law was settled.

The Register of July 18, 1873, contains a two-column account of the opening of the Sandusky Wheel Company, whose buildings had just been finished at the southwest corner of Water and McDonough streets, but have since been destroyed by fire. It must have been some time. The Great Western Band was present and performed the* Anvil Chorus with an anvil accompaniment, executed by workmen of the establishment. The assembled guests inspected the various departments of the four- story building and rode up and down the elevator. Mr. John R. Minor, the manager of the company, was presented with a gold-headed cane, and at nine o'clock in the morning in the third story some toasts were drank in champagne. The premises occupied an entire block on Water Street, one building being 136x99 feet. The first story was devoted to bending material and sawing and planing. The second story to wheel and hub- making and bending, and the third story to manufacturing bodies, seats and gearings by the Sandusky Seat Company, the fourth story being used for storage.

On July 4, 1879, there was a Fourth of July celebration here and Gen. James A. Garfield was the orator of the day.

The Register of September 21, 1878, contains a complaint that the town clock, then located in the tower of the Congregational Church, does not run, and says the clock cost $1,000.

The Register of April 9, 1880, contained the following editorial about the old town clock : "Yesterday it was reported in our city columns that the old town clock in the belfry of the old Congregational Church is to be sold and its proceed given to the Hospital. We question the propriety of such a sale. Mrs. General W. H. Mills was the first donor to the fund for the purchase of the clock and the late Mrs. Martha Cooke

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was the second. The two ladies gave $75 and it is doubtful if the clock would fetch that amount if sold. Mrs. Mills suggests and the proposition is more sensible than the proposition to sell that the clock be placed in the Fifth or Sixth Ward school house and used for the benefit of one of those wards."