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fleck ; treasurer, N. H. Moore; recorder, V. Scott ; C. of G., L. Monat ; Sentinel, F. Kelsey
1874—T. I. M., H. G. Robinson ; D. I. M., G. Hart ; P. C. W., Edward Hadley ; treasurer, Ned. H. Moore; recorder, V. Scott; C. G., L. Monat; sentinel, F. Kelsey.
1875—T. I. M., H. G. Robinson; D. I. M., W. F. Chaney ; P. C. W., Neil H. Moore ; C. G., L. Monat ; treasurer, J. Kronthal ; recorder, V. Scott ; sentinel, F. Kelsey.
1876—T. I. M., L. Monat; D. I. M., W. F. Chaney ; P. C. W., Neil H. Moore ; C. G., H. G. Robinson ; treasurer, J. Kronthal ; recorder, Voltaire Scott; sentinel, F. Kelsey.
1877—T. I. M., L. Monat ; D. I. M., G. Hart ; P. C. W., H. D. Lutz; C. G., W. J. Affleck ; treasurer, J. Kronthal ; recorder, V. Scott; sentinel, F. Kelsey.
1878—T. I. M., A. C. Townsend ; D. I. M., E. M. Colver; P. C. W., E. Gillard ; C. G., S. A. Collins; treasurer, J. Krontthal; recorder, V. Scott; sentinel, F. Kelsey.
1879—T. I. M., H. G. Robinson ; D. I. M., E. M. Colver ; P. C. W., E. Gillard; C. G., L. Monat; treasurer, J. Kronthal ; recorder, Wm. J. Affleck ; sentinel, F. Kelsey.
1880—T. I. M., H. G. Robinson ; D. I. M., E. M. Colver ; P. C. W., N. H. Moore ; C. G., L. Monat ; treasurer, J. Kronthal ; recorder, W. J. Affleck; sentinel, Fred. Kelsey.
1881—T. I. M., H. G. Robinson ; D. I. M., E. M. Colver ; P. C. W., N. H. Moore ; C. G., L. Monat ; treasurer, Jacob Kronthal; recorder, Wm. J. Affleck ; sentinel, Fred. Kelsey.
1882—T. I. M., E. M. Colver ; D. I. M., G. Hart; P. C. W., N. H. Moore; C. G., L. Monat ; treasurer, Jacob Kronthal ; recorder, W. J. Affleck ; Sentinel, Fred. Kelsey.
1883—T. I. M., E. M. Colver ; D. I. M., A. E. Merrill ; P. C. W., L. M. Lea ; C. G., L. Monat ; treasurer, J. Kronthal ; recorder, W. J. Affleck; conductor, W. F. Chaney ; steward, S. M. White, jr. ; sentinel, J. B. Taylor, jr.
1884—T. I. M., E. M. Colver ; D. I. M., D. R. Arnold; P. C. W., L. M. Lea; C. G., C. F , C. F. Schoepfle ; treasurer, J. Kronthal ; recorder, W. J. Affleck; conductor, W. F. Chaney; steward, C. C. Lance ; sentinel, J. B. Taylor, jr.
1885—T. I. M., L. M. Lea; D. I. M., W. F. Chaney ; P. C. W., D. R. Arnold ; treasurer, J. Kronthal; recorder, W. J. Affleck ; C. G., C. F. Schcepfle ; conductor, C. C. Lance ; steward, J. P. Seigfried; sentinel, J. B. Taylor, jr.
1886—T. I. M., L. M. Lea ; D. I. M., W. F. Chaney ; P. C. W., C. M. Keyes ; treasurer, J. Kronthal ; recorder, W. J. Affleck; C. of G., C. F.
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Schcepfle ; conductor, C. C. Lance ; steward, C. T. Stroud ; sentinel, J. B. Taylor, jr.
1887—T. I. M., L. M. Lea ; D. I. M.. W. F. Chaney ; P. C. W., C. M. Keyes ; treasurer, J. Kronthal ; recorder, W. J. Affleck ; C. of G., C. F. Schcepfle ;. conductor, C. C. Lance ; steward, Jas. B. Sanderson ; sentinel, J. B. Taylor, jr.
1888— T. I. M., Lewis M. Lea ; D. I. M., Charles M. Keyes ; P. C. W., Thomas L. Williams ; treasurer, Lucius W. Lewis ; recorder, William J. Affleck ; C. of G., William L. Lewis ; conductor, James B Sanderson ; steward, Cornelius H. Myers ; guard, John B. Taylor.
The total membership of Sandusky City Council No. 26, R. and S. M., at This time is seventy. The regular stated communications are held on the second Friday of each month.
Knights Templar. The order of Knights Templar was reorganized in Europe in the latter part of the eleventh century, and was very popular among the royalty—kings, princes and nobles—the rich and titled especially, taking much of its symbolism from archaeology and claimed allegiance to the other previously organized Masonic bodies or organizations.
Its membership was composed of the ruling classes, those high in authority, both spiritual and temporal. And for a time it seemed to be under the control of the bishops and prelates of the church of Rome, yet its office was rather of a warlike nature than otherwise, and the Pope was one of its greatest patrons, and he used all his power to make the order subservient to his wishes, an instrument to strengthen the power of the church, and early in the twelfth century, at his dictation and under his supervision, a code of rules and regulations to govern the order was duly promulgated.
Though the Knights Templar flourished for a time, and thousands of the youth of Europe joined the order and marched victoriously to the city of David, and those who survived returned with great pomp, yet when the excitement was passed and the sound reasoning of men began to control their actions, and a careful research of the records of the order was made, it was found that its rubrics were too broad and expansive, too catholic in their nature to permit the rules and regulations formulated by the hierarchy to be accepted for the government of the order. When This became known an effort was made to produce a compromise, but all propositions coming from that source were of such a nature that they could not be accepted, and proved futile, and oppression produced a breach that was never healed, a chasm that never closed, a river that was never bridged over.
When the heads of the churches found that suasion and ordinary pressure would not bring the order under abject surveillance and meek obedience, a determination to rule or ruin was made manifest, the machinery was put in operation for its destruction, the bulls of expulsion and excommunication were
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promulgated and sown broadcast through the land, and so far as the Roman or Greek churches knew, it was crushed out through the anathemas issued by the ruling spirits and power brought to bear upon the civil authorities. Yet it lived throughout the continent and Great Britain; it survived persecution through the bigotry, ignorance, superstition and ostracism of the dark ages ; like its confreres, it kept up the line of succession, and its good works and moral teachings and precepts were perpetuated and brought down through the ages of men, a cherished heirloom to the present generation, and its History is of the brightest recorded upon her pages, to which its followers and patrons point with pride and veneration.
Many persons, brother Masons, who came to this country during the eighteenth century were Knights Templar, and when they found themselves congregated in number sufficient, made application through and received from the Grand Lodge and Grand Commandery in Great Britain authority to organize subordinate commanderies in This country, and many were instituted, and in the latter part of the last and early part of the present century, the membership having become quite numerous, several Grand Commanderies were organized in the States. By an agreement previously entered into by and between the several Grand Commanderies, delegates were sent to Philadelphia in June, 1816. The Grand Conclave assembled, and on the 22d of June, 1816, the Grand Encampment or Commandery of the United States was duly organized, and by virtue of the power and authority thereto delegated, assumed control of the order in This country equal to that exercised by that of other countries ; since which time Grand Commanderies have been established in every State and Territory in This country.
Many of the early settlers of Ohio were Knights Templar Masons when they came here, and early in This century subordinate commanderies were instituted, receiving authority as did the other branches of the order from the older States, and as they increased in numbers they began to think that it would be well to have a Grand Commandery in Ohio. Thereupon the proper application was filed with the proper authorities of the Grand Commandery of the United States for authority to organize a Grand Comrnaridery, and October 24, 1843, the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Ohio was duly organized at Lancaster, and Michael Z. Kreider, an eminent physician residing in Lancaster, was elected the first grand commander.
Erie Commandery No. 23, Knights Templar.—In September, 1869, N. H. Moore, J. D. Lea, C. J. Parsons and others applied for and received a dispensation to organize a subordinate commandery of Knights Templar in This city, which was issued of date of November 6, A. D. 1869, and N. H. Moore was elected the first commander of the Erie Commandery No. 23, Knights Templar, at Sandusky. That by authority from the Grand Commandery, a charter was issued of date of September 15, 1870, and the names of Neil H.
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Moore, James D. Lea, C. J. Parsons, E. S. Chester, J. D. Buck, C. H. Giddings, Isaac B. Massey, William Swanson, H. E. O'Hagan, J. A. Hubinger, F. W. Alvord, L. M. Lea, E. Hadley, H. H. Eldis, A. J. Lyon, S. Marks, V. Scott, A. C. Townsend, and John R. Minor, appear therein as charter members, and it was signed by Hernan Ely, R. E., grand commander, and John D. Caldwell, grand recorder. The regular stated meetings of Erie Commandery are held on the first and third Thursdays of each month. Its membership in good standing at This time is 105, and the officers under the charter for the years 1869 and 1870, were as follows :
1869.—E. C., Neil H. Moore ; G. I., J. D. Lea ; C. G., C. J. Parsons ; prelate, J. D. Buck ; S. W., D. G. Pelton ; J. W., J. R. Minor ; treasurer, A. C. Townsend ; recorder, V. Scott ; Str. Br., H. E. O'Hagan ; Swd. Br., Isaac B. Massey ; warder, William Swanston ; sentinel, E. Hadley.
1870.—E. C., N. H. Moore ; G. I., J. D. Lea ; C. G., C. J. Parsons ; prelate, Rev. Samuel Marks ; S. W., D. G. Pelton ; J. W., John R. Minor ; Treas., A. C. Townsend ; recorder, V. Scott ; Str. Br., H. E. O'Hagan ; Swd. Br.,, ; warder, William Swanston ; sentinel, Fred. Kelsey.
And the officers for the years 1885, 1886, 1887 and 1888 were as follows, viz. :
1885.—E. C., E. M. Colver ; G. I., T. L. Williams ; C. G., C. M. Keyes ; prelate, E. H. Wilcox; S. W., H. C. Frederick; J. W., J. P. Seigfreid; treasurer, R. E. Schuck ; recorder, Henry Bricken ; Str. Br., A. C. Townsend ; Swd. Br., J. G. Strobel ; warder, D. W. C. Ruff; sentinel, J. B. Taylor.
1886.—E. C., Thomas L. Williams ; G. I., Charles M. Keyes ; C. G., David R. Arnold ; prelate, Edwin Gillard ; S. W. Charles E. Black ; J. W., Lewis M. Lea ; treasurer, Randall E. Schuck ; recorder, Henry Bricken ; Str. Br., Asa C. Townsend ; Swd. Br., John G. Strobel ; warder, Samuel W. Miller ; sentinel, John B. Taylor, jr.
1887.—E. C., T. L. Williams ; G. I., C. M. Keyes ; C. G., D. R. Arnold ; prelate, E. Gillard ; S. W., C. E. Black ; J. W., L. M. Lea ; treasurer, R. E. Schuck ; recorder, Henry Bricken ; Str. Br., A. C., Townsend ; Swd. Br., J. G. Strobel ; warder, S. W. Miller ; sentinel, J. B. Taylor, jr.
1888.—E. C., C. M.' Keyes ; G. I., D. B. Arnold ; C. G., C. E. Black ; prelate, Edwin Gillard ; S. W., Charles Stroud ; J. W., E. B. King ; treasurer, R. E. Schuck ; recorder, Henry Bricken ; Str. Br., A. C. Townsend ; Swd. Br. J. G. Strobel ; warder, W. L. Lewis ; sentinel, John B. Taylor, jr.
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. "The encouragement and support of brothers of the order when in sickness, distress, or on travel, and for the purpose of benevolence and charity." Such is the object of the order of Odd Fellows ; an order that was first founded in This country as a permanent institution in 1818, although it existed therein as early as 1808. The order is strong in Sandusky as the following record of societies will show:
384 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
Ogontz Lodge No. 66.—This Lodge of the I. 0. 0. F. is the oldest of the order in Sandusky. It was instituted on the 24th of July, 1846, with the following charter members : John G. Camp, jr., John W. Witherell, Theodore Hosmer, William V. Moss, Bryan Hawley, Lester S. Hubbard, Jacob A. Barker and C. J. Chadwick.
From these number the charter officers were elected as follows : Noble grand, Bryant Hawley ; vice-grand, Lester S. Hubbard ; secretary, John G. Camp, jr.; treasurer, Theodore Hosmer ; R. H. S., Charles Chadwick ; L. H. S., Eli M. Barnum. Ogontz Lodge now numbers one hundred and thirty-one active members, among whom are found some of the most substantial elements of the city's German population. It is composed mainly of Germans and does its " work " in that language. The present place of meeting is in the I. 0. 0. F. Hall at No. 127 Columbus avenue. The officers at the present time are : N. G., Sebastian Dussell ; V. G., Philip Linder ; financial secretary, Gottleib Herman ; recording secretary, Charles Osberghaus ; R. S., William Strack ; L. S., Jacob Schmidt ; W., Fritz Eichel ; C., John Fettel ; R. S. S., Jacob Schoor; L. S. S., Paul Herder ; 0. G.; Fritz Lehner ; I. G., Jacob Lentz.; trustees, C. V. Wagner, George Erhardt and William Pfeiffer.
Vallahalla Lodge (English) I. 0. 0. E was instituted under a charter May 30, 1855, but on account of the depletion of its ranks during the war, suspended work, and under that name was never revived.
Sandusky Lodge No. 669 I. 0. 0. F. was instituted July 1o, 1877. Its charter members were J. W. Newman, Allen A. Lyman, Daniel Kunz, Louis Linx, Henry D. Seeley, Frederick W. Alvord, A. W. Dwelle, William Korgele, Herman Kugel, J. W. Traber, C. W. Lane, G. P. Brestol, H. E. Cowell and W. Palmer. The lodge has a present membership of over one hundred persons, and is officered as follows : N. G., Fred. Gerold ; V. G., J. Piercey ; Sec., William Ohlemacher ; Perm. Sec'y, David Staner ; Treas., Paul Swissinger, R. S., J. Fay ; L. S., Conrad Kreins ; Warden, William Bing ; Conductor, Butler Allen ; R. S. S., William Diebold ; L. S. S., Charles Matheas ; 0. G„ Henry Miller ; T. G., Adolph Long ; Trustees, Conrad Martin, Herman Kugle and Walter W. Bowen.
Sandusky Bay Lodge No. 179, Daughters of Rebeckah, I. 0. 0. F., was chartered May 21, 1886, with forty-eight members.
Erie Encampment No. 27 I. 0. 0. F was instituted on March 3, 1848, with Bryan Hawley, Hiram K. Steele, John Tift, Abijah Ives, John W. Buckman, Thomas Johnson and Sumner P. Webber as its charter members. Of the first officers Thomas Johnson was elected chief patriarch ; Hiram K. Steele, high priest ; John Tift, senior warden ; Bryant Hawley, junior warden ; J. W. Buckman, scribe, and Abijah Ives, treasurer.
When first organized, and for some years subsequent to that time Erie Encampment worked in German, but afterward a change was made since which
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the work of the order has been conducted in English. Erie has a present membership of fifty. Its meetings are held on the first and third Friday evenings of each month. The present officers are as follows : Christian Schlenk, C. P.; Butler Allen, H. P.; A. Kolb, S. W.; P. Swessinger, J. W.; Charles Osberghaus, scribe ; C. V. Wagner, treasurer.
Canton Perry No. 38. I. 0. 0. F. was instituted by charter dated April 9, 1886, with these charter members : Butler Allen, Charles Bauman, W. W. Bauman, H. E. Dwelle, M. Falotico, Adam Kolb, Ed. Keiner, Conrad Martin, John Mawby, Charles Osberghaus, Philip Schmidt, J. Smith, Paul Swessinger, John C. Whetstone, C. V. Wagner, Philip Ohlemacher, Conrad Kreins and S. D. Cutliff. The membership of This society numbers eighteen persons, and is officered as follows : Captain, A. Kolb ; lieutenant, Paul Swessinger ; ensign, M. Falotico ; accountant, C. Baumaux ; standard bearer, Philip Ohlemacher ; guard, C. V. Wagner ; sentinel, Christian Schlenk ; picket, Charles Osberghaus.
The combined Odd Fellows organizations, through the medium of an incorporated company formed for the purpose, have made preparatiops forthe erection of a temple on Washington Row, west of the Sloane House. The building, according to the plans proposed, will be three stories in height, and cover an area sufficient for four stores on the ground floor. The second story will be used for office and dwelling purposes, while the entire third floor will be fitted for the uses of the order. The entire cost of the building and land is estimated at thirty-five thousand dollars.
Knights of Pythias. This order is as strong, proportionately, as any of the other similiar organizations of the city, and its object is just as worthy and commendable. Friendship, charity and benevolence are the fundamental principles of Odd Fellowship. The order is founded upon naught but the purest and sincerest motives. Its aim is to alleviate the suffering of a brother, succor the unfortunate, zealously watch at the bedside of the sick, soothe the pillow of the dying, perform the last sad rites at the grave of a brother, offering consolation to the afflicted, and caring, with a brother's love, for the widow and orphan.
Brotherly love and charity are the pillars on which it rests. Friendship and truth the bond and surety of its preservation.
Western Reserve Lodge No. 128 K of P. was instituted July 7, 1881, the charter members being William Altstaltter, Charles Baetz, John F. Bredbeck, Henry Denhel, Louis Duennisch, C. J. Gibaut, Henry Graefe, J. Greenfelder, jr., T. J. Holzaepfel, J. M. Holzaepfel, Joseph Hower, Frank Kerber; Gust. Kirner, Fred. Kranz, R. P. Krudwig, Charles Kubach, F. R. Lange, Charles
Miller, jr., H. Neumeyer, George Peters, W. E. Sloane, William C. Smith, E. L. Steuk, R. S. Tebbutt, I. J. P. Tessier, Charles L. Wagner, G. Zimmerman.
Western Reserve Lodge, though but seven years old, has a membership of sixty-four. It, in common with all other of the Pythian organizations of the
386 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
city, holds its meetings in the comfortable rooms at No. 620 Water street. The present officers are D. G. C., I. J. P. Tessier ; C. C., Charles V. Marquart ; V. C., J. M. Holzaepfel ; prelate, William F. Kubach ; K. of R. S., I. J. P. Tessier ; M. of E., James Flynn ; M. of F., G. Zimmerman ; M. of A., John F. Cameron ; I. G., E. L. Steuk ; 0. G., M. P. Byriel.
Courtesy Lodge No. 252 K of P. was instituted September 6, 1887, with fifty-nine charter members, and is now officered as follows : A. W. Miller, P. C.; George C. Beis, C. C. ; E. J. Fay, V. C.; L. M. Lea, prelate ; C. E. Colton, K. R. S.; Henry Gertig, M. F.; F. P. Zollinger, M. E.; J. J. Deitz, M. A.; Daniel Schaefer, I. G.; J. M. Lloyd, 0. G.
Garfield Division No. 13 K of P. was instituted March 3o, 1882, with charter members, viz : Chas. Baetz, Geo. J. Beier, Ph. Bing, J. R. Booth, Jno. F. Bredbeck, M. P. Byriel, John Cameron, Jobn Campbell, Henry Dehnel, Louis Duennisch, James Flynn, C. J. Gibaut, J, Greenfelder, jr., F. J. Holzaepfel, J. M. Holzaepfel, Joseph Hower, Jacob Keene, Frank Kerber, Gust. Kirner, Chas. Kubach, Chas. P. Fuchs, Richard Budd, Wm. F. Kubach, Christ Kuebeler, F. R. Lange, Geo. J. Marquart, Chas. Miller, jr., Henry F. Nusly, Geo. A. Owram, Geo. Peters, Chas. Reinheimer, Fred. Schwenk, Wm. C. Smith, E. L. Steuk, R. S. Tebbutt, I. J. P. Tessier, Fred. G. Till, Chas. H. Walther, Frank Ward, jr., G. Zimmerman.
The present members of the division are: Sir Knight Captain, I. J. P. Tessier ; lieut., John F. Cameron ; herald, John R. Booth ; sentinel, M. P. Byriel; guard, F. A. Kerber ; recorder, G. Zimmerman; treasurer, James Flynn ; chaplain, W. C. Smith ; quartermaster, John G. Dorn. Division membership forty.
Endowment Rank Section No. 528 K of P. was instituted in November, 1882, with fourteen charter members, viz : James Flynn, John R. Booth, G. Zimmerman, Christian Kuebeler, Chas. Wagner, Geo. Peters, Fred. Schwenk, Wm. C. Smith, Herman Miller, E. L. Steuk, Joseph Hower, G. C. Wattles, Chas. Caetz, Jacob Greenfelder. Present membership 13. Officers for 1888: Joseph Hower, president ; Gottleib Zimmerman, vice- president ; William C. Smith, secretary and treasurer.
The Grand Army of the Republic is a military order, numbering in its State membership about forty thousand persons. The order has for its foundation stone the great principles of fraternity and charity. It is not, in the most strict sense of the word, a secret organization, yet it has its unwritten work and rituals.
McMeen's Post was organized on the 18th of March, 1880, with the following charter members: Elisha M. Colver, William A. Till, W. J. Affieck, Christian Henry, J. R. Booth, S. D. Cutliff, B. F. Church, John Heeter, Charles Groesch, Robert Kimball, George A. Free, William Nash, Henry Landan, Martin C. Cross, John S. Murthy, Henry Bernard, John Geiser, Foster F. Neill, T. M. Cook, James Duffy, Philip Cann, and George R. Marvin.
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The officers for 1880 were William A. Till, post commander ; W. J. Affleck, senior vice commander ; J. R. Booth, junior vice commander ; S. D. Cutliff, adjutant ; George A. Free, quartermaster ; T. M. Cook, surgeon ; Martin C. Cross, chaplain ; Christian Walter, quartermaster sergeant ; Christian Henry, sergeant major.
The first four years of the life of This post were full of ups and downs, discouragements and ill luck. Many times it was believed best that the charter should be surrendered, and that the business be closed, but the same faithfulness and courage that characterized the army life of some of the leading members, served them in This dilemma, and they steered the craft through safely ; and the following two years, the fifth and sixth, witnessed the acquisition of new life in the society, giving it an impetus in growth and development, both numerically and financially. The present membership numbers two hundred.
The McMeens Post takes its name from Dr. Robert R. McMeens, formerly surgeon of the Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, who died suddenly at Perryville, Ky., while in the faithful discharge of his duties as medical director. Surgeon McMeens was among the first to offer his services to his country. On first entering the service he was made regimental surgeon, and by his gentlemanly deportment and undoubted professional skill, won for him the confidence and esteem of his brother officers; and at their request he was appointed medical director. Up to the date of his death, October 30, 1862, he continued in active service, filling many important positions in the medical department of the army. In his death the army lost a kind hearted, faithful and efficient officer, the country a true patriot, and the medical profession one of its brightest ornaments.
McMeens Post does not number among its members any officers that attained a high rank during the war, a colonel being the highest. Its officers have been, and still are, mostly from the ranks, and its standing in the department aptly illustrates the quality of the men that went to make up the rank and file of the grand army that saved the nation, and made stable the unity and integrity of the republic.
The present officers of McMeens Post are as follows : Charles B. Dennis, post commander; R. W. Forster, senior vice-commander; Joseph T. Marshall, junior vice-commander ; Josh. B. Davis, adjutant ; Benjamin W. Thompson, quartermaster ; Edwin Gillard, surgeon ; Isaac T. Mack, chaplain ; Lewis M. Lea, officer of the day ; John Heeter, officer of the guard.
Craig Camp No. 143, Division of Ohio, Sons of Veterans, was organized October 22, 1886, with the following charter members : E. T. Rogers, F. H. Heyler, Ph. H. Traub, C. C. Canfield, E. S. Hines, C. N. Weis, Jacob Wilderkehr, E. T. Briggs, Alta F. Cook, H. S. Oram, C. A. Craig, J. W. Cherry and C. W. Kelsey.
Sandusky Lodge, No. 102, Knights of Honor, was instituted April 16, 1875,
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with charter members as follows: L. H. Lyman, B. F. Ferris, P.J. Niederlander, A. C. Niederlander, W. S. Spencer, William H. Van Horn, Frederick Groch, Charles C. Martin, I. B. Massey, Voltaire Scott, A. D. Kinney, E. M. Colver, J. W. Farwell, A. Bear, R. M. Hubbard. The lodge has a present membership of fifty-eight persons, and is officered as follows : Dictator, L. R. Hawes ; vice-dictator, Gottleib Zimmerman ; reporter, B. W. Townsend ; financial reporter, N. A. Hadden ; treasurer, Charles E. Boughton ; guard, F. C. Rehberg ; inside guard, J. W. Farwell ; outside guard, William W. Collins ; past dictator, W. C. Zollinger.
Royal Arcanum. The only representing society of This order in This city is Erie Council No. 152, which was chartered on May 3d, 188o, upon the following membership : J. D. Woolsey, D. C. Powers, J. W. Cherry, E. J. Waye, B. F. Ferris, E. E. Upp, P. H. Clemons, William S. Milne, H. C. Huntington, C. Ruff, Mozart Gallup, Arthur Phinney, Albert Texter, Henry Graefe, U. T. Curran, E. M. Colver, J. Q. Nichols, S. B. Dewey, W. V. Latham, John McKelvey, Charles V. Olds, R. M. Wilcox, J. W. Holland,, E. Hadley, Thomas McFall, E. H. Howe and F. W. Thomas.
The society has prospered fairly well and has fifty-seven members on its roll. It is officered as follows : Past regent, A. J. Neesly ; regegt, J. Q. Nichols ; vice-regent, A. M. Roegele ; deputy grand regent, William K. Marshall ; orator, E. J. Wayne ; secretary, F. H. Schnaitter ; treasurer, Charles A. Gilcher ; warden, J. L. Reiger ; guide, Frank Pelz ; sentry, Otto Ilg.
Knights of Maccabees. Two societies of This order are in existence in This city : Protection Tent No. 7. and Junior Camp No. 1, with uniformed rank. The first, Protection Tent, was chartered on September 16, 1884, with William Forde, Frank L. Welch, DeWitt Herman, Thomas 0. Whitmarsh, Henry Graefe, Henry W. Wagenet, Charles Graefe, Frank E. Jones, Willard A. Bishop, G. A. Marsh, jr., Lewis A. Biehl, Fred. C. Wininger, Charles H. Reeves, Theodore F. Spencer, Herbert A. Chandler, Leonard S. Johnson, August H. Arend, John Traub, A. R. Scudder and Fred W. Stephens as original members.
The uniformed rank, Junior Camp No. 1, of the order, was instituted February 23, 1886, with charter members as follows : Charles H. Reeves, Charles Graefe, L. R. Hawes, J. M. Schumacher, F. W. Stephens, George F. Schmidt, L. A. Biehl, J. H. Jones, J. J. Marquart, J. M. Kistner, Joseph Andres, Frank Spiegel, H. A. Chandler, Clayton Platt, Thomas Hickling, Charles A. Craig, Frank H. Jones, Charles H. Ferguson, C. Arnold, C. G. Shippel, P. Schumacher, William E. Fischer, W. C. Dahnk, M. P. Kinney, C. B Wilcox and Lewis F. Flint.
Sandusky Council No. 2, Order of the Red Cross. This order, over the charter of which appears the symbolic words, omnia pro caritati, was organized on the 18th of July, 1885, with these persons as charter members : George D. Williams, William Balsley, Charles Graefe, George W. Knight,
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Wilber F. Clark. Ed. P. Brohl, Ed. C. Riegger, E. J. Miller, Albert Apple, Wilby Clothier, William Bender, William B. Curth and J. C. Scheifler.
Prominent among the orders of the city not hereinbefore mentioned, is that known as the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the first society of which, in Sandusky, was organized in 1871, and was known as Sandusky Division No. 130. The present organization is known as Put-in-Bay Division, No. 208.
The Ancient order of Hibernians has an organization in the city, as also has the National Union (Bay Council No. 49) ; the Druids, whose mystic initials are V. A. 0. D., by Guttenberg Grove, No. 9 ; the D. 0. H., by Bluecher Lodge No. 109, and the Knights of Labor (K. of L.)
The German societies, other than some above mentioned, are abundant, and are represented by the Active Turn Verein, the Social Turn Verein, the Arbeiter Unterstuetzungs Verein, the Frohsiun Gesang Verein, the Sandusky Liederkranz, the Union Benevolent Association, the Bavarian Benevolent Association, the Harmonie Singing Society, and possibly others, all of,whieli for further mention will be found in the " German chapter " of This work.
The Sandusky Light Guard. This, the only military company of the city, was organized pursuant to the provisions of the State Legislature, in the year 1875, and was mustered into service as a part of the Ohio State Guard on the 3d. of May of that year. Henry Dehnel was the first commandant, and upon his retirement was succeeded by George Bachman, and the latter in turn by Charles M. Keyes, in 1878.
On July 13, 1885, Captain Keyes was made lieutenant-colonel of the Sixteenth Regiment Ohio State Guard, to which the Sandusky Guard was attached, and Edmund B. King succeeded to the command of the company. His commission was dated July 29, 1885.
The Sandusky Light Guard is a well-uniformed and well-disciplined company, and numbers fifty-one young and active men. It is officered as follows : Edmund B. King, captain ; George P. Barker, first lieutenant ; W. L. Lewis, second lieutenant ; W. R. Zollinger, first sergeant,
HISTORY OF SANDUSKY - 389
PORTLAND TOWNSHIP.
The History of old Portland township was made between the years 1827 and 1872. Prior to the first named year it was attached for civil purposes to Perkins township, but in that year it was detached and erected into a separate township and given the name of Portland, signifying "land lying upon the water," a name that years before, by common consent, but not by any competent authority, was applied to This city.
Portland, as a township, never acquired much History except through its connection with Sandusky, by which it was eventually absorbed and passed out of being. Unfortunately its early records cannot be found, and it is pre-
390 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
sumed that they have been destroyed or lost. There does remain, however, a record book, showing proceedings from 1838 to 1859, from which a partial list of its leading officers has been obtained ; and it will be observed that many of these officers were residents, and, occasionally, officers of the municipality of Sandusky, which was an integral part of the township, although a corporation by itself. From an old township record found in the city clerk's office the following persons were found to have served in the local offices of Portland township, from the year 1838 to 1858, both inclusive :
1838—Trustees, Charles F. Drake, John G. Camp and Judah W. Ransom ; clerk, John F. Campbell ; treasurer, William B. Smith ; overseers of the poor, Foster M. Follett and John N. Sloane ; constables, August P. Tower and Roswell J. Jennings.
1839—Trustees, Charles F. Drake, Josiah W. Hollister and Henry Victor ; clerk, John F. Campbell ; treasurer, Foster M. Follett; overseers, Alexander H. Barber and Zenas W. Barker ; constables, Roswell J. Jennings and Orlando McKnight.
1840—Trustees, John Weeden, James N. Davidson and Henry F. Merry; clerk, William Kelley ; treasurer, William H. Caswell; overseers, William A. Simpson and S. S. Hosmer ; constables, Roswell J. Jennings and William Marshall.
1841—Trustees, John Weeden, Abner Root and Alexander H. Barber; clerk, Charles Cochran ; treasurer, William H. Caswell ; overseers, Sidney S. Hosmer and William A. Simpson ; constables, William Marshall and Roswell J. Jennings.
1842—Trustees, John Weeden, Alexander H. Barber and Abner Root ; clerk, Charles Cochran ; treasurer, Foster M. Follett ; assessor, Moers Farwell ; overseers, S. S. Hosmer, William A. Simpson ; constables, Roswell J. Jennings and Charles F. Drake.
1843—Trustees, E. S. Gregg, Daniel Dibble and Leonard B. Johnson; clerk, Earl Bell (appointed by trustees, the election resulting in a tie vote) ; treasurer, Alexander H. Barber ; assessor, Zenas W. Barker ; overseers, William A. Simpson and Charles B. Squire ; constables, Charles F. Drake and George W. Smith.
1844—Trustees, E. S. Gregg, David Campbell and Henry C. Williams ; clerk. Waldo F. Converse ; treasurer, W. W. Wetherell ; assessor, Amos Earl; overseers, Abner Lyman and Moers Farwell; constables, Alonzo Wade and George W. Smith.
1845—Trustees, Charles Barney, Henry C. Williams and Hiram A. Arnold ; clerk, Waldo F. Converse ; treasurer, Henry P. Radcliff; assessor, Philander Gregg; constables, Alonzo Wade and John Youngs.
1846—Trustees, William A. Simpson, John M.,.Booth and Gilbert Harris; clerk, Charles Cochran ; treasurer, Henry P. Radcliff; assessor, Jacob S. Scofield; constables, Charles Rice and Samuel Austin.
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1847—Trustees, Philander Gregg, Charles Barney and Erastus Cooke ; clerk, Charles Cochran; treasurer, Francis Whitney; assessor, John Youngs ; constables, Charles Rice and Washington Dewey.
1848—Trustees, Rollin M. Hubbard, Philander Gregg and John W. Beatty ; clerk, Charles Cochran ; treasurer, James Sanderson ; assessor, Gilbert Harris ; constables, Theodore C. Barker and Horatio Jennings.
1849—Trustees, Horace Aplin, Alexander H. Barber and Elias H. Haines ; clerk, Jacob Hoombeck ; treasurer, Henry P. Radcliff; assessor, Gilbert Harris ; constables, William Spaulding and John W. Upp.
1850—Members of constitutional convention, James W. Taylor and Joseph M. Farr ; trustees, Samuel E. Hitchcock, Robert Hathaway and William B. Smith ; clerk, John B. Norris ; treasurer, John M. Bailey ; assessor, William P. Chapman ; conStables, Jonas J. Perry and Jacob Hertel.
1851—Trustees, William W. Wetherell, John G. Pool and Chris. C. Keech ; clerk, Gilman W. Pritchard ; treasurer, Warren Smith ; assessor, Thomas C. McGee ; constables, Jonas J. Perry and Obadiah C. McLouth.
1852—Trustees, John G. Pool, Chris. C. Keech and Lucas S. Beecher ; clerk, Randall I. Gibbs; treasurer, William W. Jordan ; assessor, Charles Cross ; constable, Obadiah C. McLouth ; justice of the peace, Foster M. Follett.
1853—Trustees, Horace Aplin, John G. Pool and William W. Wetherell ; clerk, George J. Anderson ; treasurer, W. W. Johnson. No further record found for This year's officers.
1854—Trustees, J. M. Bailey, Horace Aplin and Solomon C. Moore ; clerk, George J. Anderson; treasurer, H. W. House; assessor, Louis H. Traub ; constables, Jonas J. Perry and Oliver Rice.
1855 Trustees, John M. Bailey, Horace Aplin and Peter Gilcher ; clerk, John G. Pool; treasurer, Harrison W. Houk ; constables, Nicholas. Smith and Oliver Rice; justice of the peace, George S. Patterson.
1856—Trustees, Peter Gilcher, John M. Bailey and Alexander H. Barber ; clerk, John G. Pool; treasurer, H. C. Bush ; constables, Jonas J. Perry and Enoch Weller.
1857—Trustees, John P. Thorp, William T. West and S. S. Hosmer ; clerk, Rush R. Sloane; assessor, Jacob Winterstein ; constables, Jonas J. Perry and Enoch Weller.
1858—Trustees, S. S. Hosmer, John P. Thorp and William T. West; clerk, Rush R. Sloane; treasurer, James Alder; justice of the peace, Horace Aplin ; assessor, Chris. C. Keech ; constables, Jonas J. Perry and Enoch Weller.
THE BANKS AND BANKERS OF SANDUSKY.
Tradition—we have no record—says that the first attempt at the founding of a banking house in Sandusky was made by some of the prominent business men and capitalists of the town in th( year 1834; and the result of that
392 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
effort was the establishment, under the laws of the State, of the Bank of Sandusky. As was provided by law, the subscription books were duly opened by the commissioners, and the day fixed upon which the books would be closed. At the time designated it was found that less than one-third of the stock had been subscribed, and it became absolutely necessary that " something be done," and that at once. In This extremity, Oran Follett, who was already a subscriber for a considerable amount of the stock, came to the rescue and agreed to take the balance at par value, amounting to something over seventy thousand dollars. He knew, or felt satisfied at least, that the stock could be easily disposed of to New York capitalists, and did make a sale of such part of it as he could not conveniently carry. This timely act on his part made possible the establishment of the bank. A board of directors was chosen and a full complement of officers, William Townsend, then a leading merchant of the town, being elected president. The banking house was located on Water street, on the ground now covered by the West House.
Mr. Townsend remained president for two years, when he was succeeded by Mr. Follett, under whose management the institution prospered for several years, and until Congress passed the " Specie act," by which a radical change in the management was necessitated. About This time, too, the eastern stockholders desired to sell their interests, and for the purpose of purchasing, Mr. Follett made a journey to New York State, only to find that Burr Higgins had preceded him and bought the stock. After This the bank was short-lived, and, putting it modestly, soon went into liquidation.
Immediately following the dissolution of the Bank of Sandusky, in 1847, another was started, and known as Sandusky City Bank. In This a number of persons were interested who had held stock in the old bank, but that institution lived but little longer than its predecessor, although its ending was quite different. Its affairs were wound up about 1854 or 1855.
About the year 1850 the Union Bank opened for business, but shortly afterward passed into the hands of Freeland T. Barney, Lester S. Hubbard and William D. Durbin, under the name of Barney, Hubbard & Durbin. This firm managed the affairs of the institution with a good measure of success until the death of Mr. Durbin, in 1863, after which the firm changed to Hubbard & Co., Lester S., Rollin B., Watson and Langdon Hubbard becoming proprietors and owners. This firm did a banking business for only a few months, when, in January, 1864, their business was merged in the, Second National Bank, a further mention of which will hereafter be made.
The Moss National Bank is the junior, save one, of the banking houses of Sandusky at This present time, but it was the direct outgrowth of the first National Bank established in the city, and among the first of the United States. But let us observe and note the events that led to The founding of This enterprise.
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Augustus H. Moss came from Oneida county, N. Y., to Sandusky in the year 1837, and established a mercantile business on Water street. He was thus engaged until the 8th day of June, 1850, when he opened a banking business in the city, conducting it alone for three years. On the loth of June, 1853, Augustus H., Truman and Horace 0. Moss, under the firm name and style of Moss Brothers, succeeded to the business. Under the careful and successful management of This firm the bank was conducted for a period of ten years, or until the passage of the national banking act of Congress.
The firm had carefully noted the progress made by the advocates of This act ; they saw the advantages of such a system, and being actuated by motives of patriotism, and a desire to support the general government in its endeavors to establish a uniform and safe system of banking throughout the country, therefore immediately upon the final passage of the law an application for a bank charter was filed with the proper officers at Washington ; but, owing to some defect in the certificate of authority, or charter granted by the department, a delay was experienced in the premises, so that when the charter was granted it was numbered sixteen, whereas, had the proceedings on the part of the government been in due and correct form the charter of the First National Bank of Sandusky would have been numbered " two " in the stead of that it in fact received, and would have been preceded in organization only by the First National Bank of Washington.
The articles of association provided for the first board of directors of the First National Bank as follows : Augustus H. Moss, William S. Pierson, Homer Goodwin, Wildman Mills, and Jay Osborn Moss. The capital stock of the bank was one hundred thousand dollars, divided into one thousand shares. The first officers were as follows : President, Augustus H. Moss ; vice-president, William S. Pierson ; cashier, Horace 0. Moss ; assistant cashier, Jay Osborn Moss. The bank was opened for the transaction of business on the 1st day of July, 1863. Under the efficient management of these men the affairs of the bank were conducted and continued in successful operation for the term of twenty years ; and that period of its existence was perhaps remarkable for the fewness of radical changes, both in its directorate and immediate officers. Augustus H. Moss remained president and Horace 0. Moss cashier throughout the life of the charter. William S. Pierson continued vice-president until the time of his death, when Jay 0. Moss succeeded to the position.
Having lived to the end of its charter it became desirable to, in a measure,. effect a reorganization for a further continuance of business, but that the full honor and credit of its most excellent standing might be awarded to those to whom it was due, a change in the corporate name of the institution became necessary. To accomplish This end the First National Bank, as a body corporate, liquidated its business and passed out of existence, and on the 20th day of October, 1883, the Moss National Bank of Sandusky, with S, capital stock of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, took its place.
394 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
The directors were Homer Goodwin, James Woolworth, John T. Johnson, Augustus H. Moss, and Jay 0. Moss. Augustus H. Moss was elected presi(lent, and Jay 0. Moss, vice-president. Charles H. Moss was appointed cashier, and Augustus C. Moss, actuary,
At the present day the above named officers remain, except that Horace 0. Moss is cashier, and Charles H. Moss, assistant cashier. The present board of directors is as follows: Augustus H. Moss, Charles N. Ryan, Homer Goodwin, Horace 0. Moss, J. 0. Moss, John T. Johnson, Augustus C. Moss, James Woolworth, and Charles H. Moss. The surplus of the bank is $40,000.
The Second National Bank. This institution had its origin in the banking house of Barney, Hubbard & Durbin, which was in turn succeeded by the firm of Hubbard & Co., also private bankers, to whose business reference has been heretofore made. The latter firm was in business from May, 1863, until January, 1864, when the Second National Bank of Sandusky opened its doors for business.
The Second National Bank was incorporated November 24, 1863, with an .authorized capital stock of one hundred thousand' dollars, in shares of one hundred dollars each. The first board of directors was composed of the following persons : Rollin B. Hubbard, Lester S. Hubbard, Watson Hubbard, William T. West, Halsey C. Post, Lester H. Latham, James H. Stead, Chris. C. Keech, and William A. Simpson. The first officers were Lester S. Hubbard, president, and Andrew W. Prout, cashier.
Lester S. Hubbard continued as president of the bank until the time of his death, July 12, 1875, when he was succeeded by Rollin B. Hubbard. After the term of the bank's charter had expired, it was renewed and business continued without interruption and with little or no material change in management. The present officers are as stated heretofore, and the directory comprises these persons : Watson Hubbard, C. C. Keech, George A. Cooke, H. C. Post, R. B. Hubbard, H. J. Donahoe, A. J. Stoll, John Whitworth, and A. W. Prout.
The Third National Bank of Sandusky was an institution founded and opened for the transaction of a general banking business on the 10th of October, 1872. It cannot be said to have been the outgrowth of any former similar business, but rather an original enterprise, necessitated by the growing manufacturing and mercantile business of the city and vicinity.
The first board of directors comprised the following persons : Peter Gilcher, Jacob Engles, Henry J. Donahoe, Philip Graefe, Christian F. Schoepfle, George J. Anderson, and Lawrence Cable. The last named, Mr. Cable, was elected president ; Jacob Engles, vice-president ; and George J. Anderson, cashier. The capital stock of the bank was, and now is, one hundred thousand dollars.
From the time of the starting of the bank to the present, Lawrence Cable has ably filled the office of president. Mr. Anderson resigned the cashiership
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after about a year's service, and Henry Graefe was appointed in his stead. The latter continued until January, 1884, when he was, in turn, succeeded by Frederick P. Zollinger.
Upon one occasion, during the cashiership of George J. Anderson, This bank was the victim of a forged draft to the extent of twenty-five hundred dollars, but through the prompt action of Mr. Cable, the president, the forger was overtaken just as he was about to leave the city, and compelled to deliver up his ill-gotten gains. His story was so exceedingly plausible, and his protestations of innocence so well feigned that the president did not seek to arrest and detain him, but rather to recover the cash. Subsequent events, however, clearly proved that the person was an expert criminal, and not a " minister of the gospel," as he had proclaimed himself.
The present surplus of the Third National Bank is thirty-two thousand dollars. Its officers are : Lawrence Cable, president; R. E. Schuek, vice-president ; Frederick P. Zollinger, cashier ; and J. M. Schumacher, teller ; board of directors : Lawrence Cable, Henry J. Donahoe, R. E. Schuek, William H. Gilcher, Norman Kelley, Jacob Kuebler, and C. G. Neilsen:
The Citizens' National Bank. This institution is the youngest of its class in Sandusky, having been incorporated on the loth of February, 1884; but, notwithstanding its recent organization, its business has been of such magnitude that its management has declared an annual dividend of eight per cent. for four successive years, and the bank now has an accumulated surplus of five thousand dollars.
The first board of directors of the Citizens' Bank comprised these men: George A. Marsh, Homer Goodwin, Truman B. Taylor, Albert E. Merrill, William Schade, Philip Graefe, George Feick, Gustavus Graham, and Joseph Kronthal. The officers were: president, A. E. Merrill ; vice-president, Gustavus Graham; cashier, Henry Graefe. The original capital stock of the concern was authorized at three hundred thousand dollars, but the bank has thus far transacted its business with a single hundred thousand.
Mr. Merrill has held the presidency since the organization of the bank. John Krupp succeeded to the vice-presidency in January, 1886. Mr. Graefe still continues as cashier. The present directors are William Schade, Joseph Kronthal, Vincent Kerber, William Graefe, John Krupp, George A. Marsh, Albert E. Merrill, George Feick, and Truman Taylor.
LOCAL IMPROVEMENT COMPANIES.
Sandusky Gas Light Company and Sandusky Electric Light, Fuel Gas and Supply Company.—Prior to 1854 there had been a growing public Sentiment in favor of establishing a gas light plant in the city ; but nothing definite was done until May 11, of that year, when a charter was granted to the company first named in the heading of This chapter.
396 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
The original incorporators were A. V. Barringer, Earl Bill, J. A. Camp, L. S. Hubbard and E. B. Sadler. The company's application was certified by F. M. Follett, as notary, and Rice Harper as clerk of court ; Wm. Trevitt signing the charter as secretary of State.
The original capital stock of $75,000 was advertised for sale in the columns of the Daily Commercial Register and the Sandusky Daily Mirror. Subscriptions to the amount of $42,750 were taken, and on May 24 an organization was effected, the five incorporators being chosen as directors. E. B. Sadler was elected president, J. A. Camp secretary, and L. S. Hubbard, treasurer. The works were erected by J. Lockwood & Co., on the grounds still occupied by the company. In April, 1855, the first semi-annual report shows that ninety-one private consumers were taking gas, and that the city was using seventy street lights. A dividend of three per cent. was declared the first year.
Wm. H. Hudson was elected superintendent in June, 1855, to hold the position at the pleasure of the board, which he did to their Satisfaction until his retirement in 1874, when L. Moss took charge until 1878, following T. Taylor, who, after a short term, surrendered the position to the present efficient manager, Mr. Thomas Wood, who is known as an able advocate of electric lighting and fuel gas, if not as substitutes for coal gas, at least as valuable auxiliaries in meeting a popular demand. In 1857 C. Leonard became president of the company, in 1858 S. B. Caldwell succeeded him, in 1860 A. H. Moss followed, and in 1865 W. A. SimpSon was chosen, the last named gentleman filling the position until 1886, when A. J, Stoll was elected to This important office.
The first franchise was for twenty years, and in 1874 the city granted a franchise for ten years, with the stipulation that the city might purchase the property during that time at an appraiser's valuation, otherwise the franchise to become perpetual. The city did not purchase the plant and the franchise is now perpetual.
The capital stock was increased in 1874 to $115,000, and about $40,000 spent in improvements. In 1880 the stock was increased to $125,000, and in 1888 to $250,000. In 1886 a new company, having substantially the same stockholders as those represented in the gas company (which remains unchanged), was organized under the name of the Sandusky Electric Light, Fuel Gas and Supply Company, with H. C. Post as president, C. C. Keech vice- president, A. W. Prout treasurer, and Thomas Wood superintendent and secretary. The last two gentlemen holding corresponding positions in the gas company.
The capital stock now aggregates $270,000, the increase being the initial step in the introduction of fuel gas and incandescent lighting.
The gas company's real estate comprises nearly an acre of land on Lawrence, between Market and Water streets, covered, except sixteen square rods,
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with buildings. Nothing but the land remains of the original plant which was provided, of course, with facilities proportioned to the skepticism of investors, and to the limited demand for gas at that time. There were at first but six retorts, and perhaps two or three miles of mains, all told. But by 1869, when Mr, Wood engaged with the company, the capacity had been increased one hundred per cent. and a gas-holder capable of storing 32,000 feet, erected. At the present writing there are between fourteen and fifteen miles of main pipe, thirty-six retorts, and two gas-holders, with a combined capacity of 100,000 cubic feet.
There are two engines in use, one of one hundred and twenty-five, and the other seventy-five horse power. Barney & Kilbey, who built the two engines, will soon finish one of one hundred and fifty horse power for use by the Electric Light and Fuel Gas Company, in supplying the incandescent lights. The Electric Light, Fuel Gas and Supply Company, at first more directly for electric lighting, was organized in 1886, with a capital stock of $10,000, afterwards increased to $20,000.
The first street electric lights were put in position in 1886, and soon became so popular that by 1888 the whole city was lighted with the arc electric system, one hundred and seventy-five being required for This purpose. The electricity is generated by five dynamos, and fifteen miles of wire conducts the electric current throughout the city.
The gas company has an extensive plumbing and gas fitting establishment in the Sloane block, and with the electric light company gives regular employment to thirty men, and furnishes occasional work for nearly as many more. Wages to hands run from $1.50 to $2.50 per day, according to the class of work performed.
Among public improvement enterprises these companies take high rank, from the fact that their efficient officers have kept up with, if not ahead of, the progressive spirit of the times. They were among the first to introduce electric lighting, and demonstrate its practicability to less enterprising corporations.
The Sandusky Street Railway Company.—This corporation was brought into life under the provisions of the laws of Ohio, dtiring the latter part of August, 1881, the incorporators being W. E. Ludlow, A. J. Stoll, John C. Zollinger, Clark Rude, John T. Beecher, and W. E. Haekedorn, From these, officers were chosen as follows: president, W. E. Ludlow ; vice-president, John C. Zollinger; secretary, W. E. Haekedorn, and treasurer Clark Rude. The capital stock of the company was fixed at $75,000. The first board of directors comprised these persons : W. E. Ludlow, Clark Rude, A. J. Stoll, John Homegardner, John T. Beecher, John C. Zollinger and W. E. Haekedorn.
This company seems to have performed no further act than the organization above stated, and all work of construction therefore fell to their successors.
398 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
On the 8th of May, 1883, the company sold their franchise, and all rights under it, to Messrs. C. W. D. Miller, A. W. Bishop, A. H. Pomeroy, Thomas Curchward, S. H. Dewey, L. D. Alcott and P. W. Barrett, all of Berea, 0., who, having become the stockholders of the concern, elected the following board of directors : C. W. D. Miller, A. W. Bishop, A. H. Pomeroy, P. W. Barrett, and subsequently Thomas Curchward, L. D. Alcott and S. H. Dewey. A. W. Bishop was chosen president ; Thomas Curchward, vice-president ; A. H. Pomeroy, secretary and treasurer, and C. W. D. Miller, superintendent.
Under This organization the work of construction and equipment was completed. The line of the road commenced at the foot of Columbus avenue, and from thence to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern depot by the way of Columbus avenue, Haye's avenue and North Depot street. The road was completed and put in operation in the month of August, 1883.
This company continued in the management of the road until the 23d of January, 1885, at which time they sold their franchise and acquired property, and a new organization was effected by the selection of another board of directors as follows : Augustus H. Moss, J. 0. Moss, Augustus C. Moss, Charles V. Olds and Clark Rude, all well known business men of Sandusky. Charles V. Olds was elected president, Augustus H. Moss, vice-president, Augustus C. Moss, secretary and treasurer, and Clark Rude, superintendent.
As the road was then formed it was operated by This company until May, 1885, when an extension was built, continuing the line from its terminus at the Lake Shore depot, west to Camp street; thence through Camp to West Washington; thence east to Washington Row; thence to Columbus avenue, striking the original line, and following it to its terminus at the foot of the avenue. This extension made .a "belt line," a trifle more than three miles in length. It was completed and put in operation about the 1st of July, 1885.
In July of the succeeding year, 1886, another extension was built, reaching from Haye's avenue south through Columbus avenue to the fairgrounds. A still further extension of This last line will be made, probably, in the near future, as far as the Soldier's and Sailor's Home.
Mr. Olds filled the office of President of the company until his death in December, 1887, upon which event Augustus H. Moss was elected to that position. The present officers are president, Augustus H. Moss ; vice-president, J. 0. Moss; secretary and treasurer, Augustus C. Moss; superintendent, Clark Rude ; directors, A. H. Moss, Jay 0. Moss, A. C. Moss, Horace 0. Moss, Clark Rude. The stables and other buildings of the company are situate on Hayes' avenue, at the east end of North Depot street.
SANDUSKY HARBOR.
Sandusky has, undoubtedly the finest land-locked harbor on any of the great lakes. For safety it is unsurpassed, and in natural advantages shows such su-
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periority over those cities' of the coast that have outstripped Sandusky as to be the marvel of the age why it is thus. When tornadoes and cycloneS sweep over the prairies, and pursue their devastating way on either side, This city remains untouched, and the inhabitants almost believe they live a charmed life. With Cedar Point, the peninsula and the surrounding shore there is such an environment as few cities or harbors possess, and. had the people been quick to see, and wise to plan, Sandusky Harbor would to-day be alive with masts and smokestacks, and Chicago would find a dangerous rival on the shores of Erie.
There were great opportunities in the early days, and at the present time it seems almost incredible that they were not seized and improved. From an old record of that time we learn that "in 1828 there were four hundred and thirty-nine arrivals of vessels. Several steamboats navigated the lake from Buffalo to Detroit, stopping here to receive passengers, and already Sandusky was beginning to be of importance, for it was the only point on the Southern shore where merchandize could be landed for the interior." From an.old Gazetteer we take the statement that "during all This time Sandusky Bay and surroundings were wholly in their natural condition. Not a dollar had Been expended for improvement while the mouths of the rivers, for most part of the time in the business season, were closed up by sand-bars, which, at times, were so firm that loaded wagons could pass over them." Then there came a time that the government put its shoulder to the wheel and said "there must be a better channel," and dredging was begun and carried on until a channel was made from the lighthouse at Cedar Point, to the part of the bay opposite the Baltimore and Ohio docks.
The channel thus made was two hundred feet wide, and sixteen feet deep, and after coming from the light-house it made a sharp elbow opposite the city, and then came in. It is now proposed and will soon be carried out that another channel shall be made, more direct than the old one, whereby the elbow shall be cut off, and a mile and a half of distance saved. This is the great question of the present, and when accomplished the bay will rank with any in our land.
The topography of the coast surrounding the bay has changed so much in fifty years that were one brought to life who was familiar with it at that time, they would scarcely recognize the contour of the shore. In 1821, Peninsula Point, a promontory jutting out toward Cedar Point from the shore This side of Marblehead, was a prominent landmark. The water of the lake flowed into the bay through a narrow strait, not over one hundred rods wide, formed by the two projecting points. One of the oldest inhabitants of the city, Mr. B. F. Dwelle, tells of standing on Peninsula Point with his rifle, and shooting at geese on Cedar Point. At This time the Point in question rose above the water's level fifteen feet in great sand banks where foxes burrowed and raised 'their young. These banks were just in the rear of the sloping beach, and beyond lay a strip of tall timber land, with a stretch of prairie reaching out to the otner
400 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
shore. Then the water began to encroach on the Point, and a marsh was formed that threatened to break off the peninsula from the main land.
A crib of rocks and sand at considerable outlay of labor and capital was constructed to save it, but it was useless, and Point and crib went under together, and sand banks and trees were lost to view beneath the rolling waves.
At the present time where the bold peninsula reared its head fifteen feet above the water, the waves of old Erie lie from six to ten feet in depth. In 1867 Mr. Dwelle walked across This spot on the ice forty or fifty rods from shore, and saw through the transparent ice the remains of the old crib.
Young's Point, still farther to the west is one of the environments of the bay, and at the beginning of the present century was uninhabited by white men, until Mr. Dwelle's father settled here about 1821. Forty or fifty families of the Indians made it their headquarters a part of the year, and gained a livelihood by trapping and hunting. B. F. Dwelle, then a mere boy, caught the fever, and tells of his first money earned by muskrat skins. He remembers distinctly coming from Buffalo in a sailing vessel, when his father moved to the fire-lands, and after Seventeen dayS they readied the lake shore off Cedar Point, where they were put ashore on a kind of raft with a feather bed laid on it.
Cedar Point then was a bit of wild land seven miles long sheltering, by its long arms, Sandusky bay. It was covered with timber, and a sandy beach edged the shore. There was at that time no large amount of navigation on the lake, and no light-house reared its head on the Point to warn of danger. About I 84o or 1841 the lighthouse was built and later the range-lights were placed in the vicinity—one at the mouth of the bay and two inside—forming a series of lights well known to all pilots and navigators on Lake Erie. During the summer season, when fishing and sailing are the pastimes of the hour, it is considered quite the thing to sail to the range-lights, and perhaps, visit the lighthouse on Cedar Point on the return.
In 1882 B. F. Dwelle leased the Point from its owners, Mrs. Adolf and ,Mr. Stoll, and proceeded to make improvements upon it with a view to attracting pleasure seekers to its shores. The first thing to be done was to built a dock where boats could land their passengers, and then a steamboat began making trips across. After partially clearing a part of the land, a walk was built across from the bay to the lake; a house was erected on the side near the bay, and later bathing houses were put up on the lake shore, and Sanduskians began to enjoy their resort by forming parties and excursions to Cedar Point. Mr. Dwelle expended five thousand dollars on Cedar Point, paying no rental for the first season ; a moderate amount for the second, with the same rate of increase each year for the five of his lease. All this time the resort grew in favor. The steamboat, Hayes, made frequent trips, and the bay was aflutter with white-winged sailing vessels through the summer months. So popular did Cedar Point became that boats could scarcely be supplied to meet the demind, and newer and better sailing craft were added to the stock on hand.
THE CITY OF SANDUSKY - 401
Boat building and renting is now an established business, and although some of the firms OWn forty or fifty boats, it frequently happens that every boat is out, and the party waiting must give up their sail until another day. With the delightful breeze of the water; the pursuit of pleasure under its many forms, such as fishing, picnicking, gathering pond-lilies and bathing, the summer in Sandusky is a season of continued gaiety and delight. Under a new arrangement the Point is now leased to a company of five gentlemen, including its former proprietor, Mr. Dwelle. These men are alive to the possibilities of the place and enter heartily into its development until the Cedar Point of the future will rival any of the resorts of our sea-boards in attractive features. A building is to be erected on the farther shore to combine all the features of amusement and entertainment to be found at the fashionable watering places. The old walk across the Point will be taken up and relaid by a plank walk twelve feet wide ; grounds will be cleared and beautified and the delightful stroll to the lighthouse made more agreeable. This company expect to make an outlay of $20,000 the coming season. The new building will be one hun, (lred and fifty feet long by eighty wide.
Those who have travelled and visited the summer watering places come to Sandusky and find here the perfection of a resort. There could be but two features added as an improvement to make it out-rival any that are known, viz., mountain scenery and mineral springs. But when it is remembered that Saratoga has no fishing, no possibilities of sailing and picnicking, and Long Branch lies under a glare of sunlight with little variety to its daily program, then contrast these with Sandusky and its many attractions. First among these we have placed Cedar Point because the aged or infirm, or those with moderate purseS can all enjoy the bathing, sailing, fishing and sociability of This near delight. Then there are the various islands, each of which is a gem in its way. A steam tug from Sandusky will take a party to Canada's shores or Pelee Island, where the Pelee club owns an elegant club-house with all the accessories of such an institution. This is one of the events of the season, and the memory stores it up as a red-letter day. On Pelee Island the dock is lined with blocks of native sand-stone, rich with fossils of by- gone ages, waiting for shipment. A walk through a delightful grove over velvety grass brings the visitor to the club house with its broad piazzas and welcome shade. Then lunch and the trip home in the early evening.
Put-in-Bay, with its noted wine cellars, is sure to attract strangers who have heard of it from afar. Ives wine cellar is a curiosity, in and of itself, and when it is estimated how great the amount of the wine made, really is stored here, the figures seem almost incredible; 750,000 gallons yearly is the standard amount of This cellar, but the proprietor says it always exceeds these figures, and, with the exception of Heidelberg, Germany, here is found the largest wine cask in the world, containing over fourteen thousand gallons,
402 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
and large enough for a cotillion to form on its head. With its bands of brass it is beautiful to behold.
Just across from Put-in-Bay is Gibraltar, the summer home of Jay Cooke. It is built of native stone upon a rocky, jutting point of land; and its name is peculiarly fitting to it. Here, through the heated term, it has been the custom for Mr. Cooke to invite eight or ten clergymen at a time to spend a week or two in bodily recuperation, and many a jaded man has had occasion to thank the owner for the first real rest of his life. North Bass, Middle Bass, Catawba and Kelley's Island, have each their attractive features ; and to those who do not enjoy the water, there are delightful drives into neighboring townships. All that is needed to bring thousands every summer to Sandusky, where hundreds now come, is a wider knowledge of its advantages, which may be enumerated under the heads of cheapness, beauty, health, social delight, bathing, fishing and sailing.
The business of the harbor is by no means to be overlooked as an item of prosperity. During the year 1887 the following entries were made of dutiable articles in their natural state :
No. - Value Per cent. Amount.
Cattle - 32 - $398 - 20 - $79 60
Pigs - 2 - 4 - 20 - 80
Horses - 2 - 215 - 20 -43 00
Corn (bu) - 21 - 5 - 5 - 2 10
Pills (England) - 21 - 50 - 10 50
Smoked or frozen fish (lbs) - 1, 109,441 - 5,647 23
Butter (lbs) - 794 - 31 76
Potatoes (bu) - 169 - 2 48
Lumber - 51 20
Vegetables - 54
$5,769 21
There were entered commodities free of duty :
Fresh fish, 3,024,984 lbs - 37,211 00
Furs undressed - 98 00
Green hides - 30 00
House goods - 175 00
Fine wool and other commodities - 11,054 00
Round timber - 4,220 00
Sand - 59 00
$52,838 00
$5,767 21
$58,605 21
Investments in fisheries, etc $300 000 00
Value of fish handled annually in This port - $1,000,000 00
Received from Canadian fisheries (lbs) - 4,137,435
Foreign entries of vessels - 606
Foreign clearances - 585
Foreign entries of merchandise - 595
Domestic entry of vessels. - 1,725
Domestic clearances - 1,740
THE CITY OF SANDUSKY - 403
In addition to the above are entries from the district islands. The district lies between Vermillion
River on the east and Portage River on the west.
SANDUSKY'S FISH TRADE.
It is always interesting to trace the rise and progress of a large industry and note the steps by which it has grown to its vast proportions. This is certainly true of the fish business of Sandusky, 0., which is still comparatively young, but of world-wide notoriety. To read of its early start, seems like a page of romance, and merely a thread of identity connects the primitive trade of its first beginning with the large interests of to-day. Sandusky ranks among the first of the fresh water fish-markets of the world. In quality, quantity, and the mercantile value o. f its fisheries, it is unsurpassed by any other city on lake or river.
Fishing began first in the bay, while Sandusky was but a mere village, and for many years there was no market for the fish caught. Thee were mostly catfish, caught with hook and line, and they were exchanged for household commodities through the firms of Hollister & Co., and William Townsend.
The population of the neighboring region must have salt and flour, and such necessities, and others needed leather for their shoes, and a few groceries; so the exchange was effected. Large covered wagons, drawn by four or six horses, and loaded with maple sugar, flour, geese feathers, etc., drove into town, and passed the night in the large yard opposite the present I. B. and W. R. R. depot. In these wagons were all the conveniences for primitive housekeeping, such as bed, frying-pan, coffee-pot, etc. This was the first demand for catfish, which were scalded, salted, packed and kept on hand by the two dealers mentioned. There was no hotel, and but little money in Sandusky at that time, and the barter was carried on in produce exchange. At that time the business yearly, in fish, amounted to less than five hundred dollars a year. To contrast This with the present business, that aggregates about $600,000 per annum, shows the marvelous strides made in the course of a single lifetime.
Fish are classified by dealers into two general divisions, viz. : hard and soft. To the former belong pickerel, black bass, muscalonge and whitefish To the latter : perch, catfish, bass, pike. These terms have no reference to the siquality, flavor or fibre of the fish, but relates simply to their marketable value. This has greatly changed in the course of years. Herring, formerly considered the most worthless of all fish, and absolutely without any value, as alSo sturgeon, that were constantly thrown away when caught, are now the most profitable fish in the trade. Last year, 1887, the catch of herring sent from Sandusky was valued at more than $240,000.
Two great industries have sprung up in connection with the fish trade— salting and freezing. The latter is the newer and more recent. The first fish
404 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
were frozen in 1867 as an experiment. It was a success. Year by year This has increased until during the past year 3,715,000 pounds were frozen. To visit the fish houses and see the operation of preparing for and freezing This vast amount of fish, is one of the most interesting sights imaginable. Sheet iron pans a few inches in depth by two feet long and a foot wide, are used for This purpose. Into these, with their noses all one way are laid the herring, or fish to be frozen, and This pan is packed in large wooden boxes with salt and ice interspersed. When the box is full (and each box holds half a ton), the lid is put on, and these boxes are set in a row around the warehouse. This is called the process of sharp freezing, and at the end of six hours they are frozen as hard as ice. They are then taken from the pans and packed in storing rooms from floor to ceiling until the rooms are solid with frozen fish, whose noses all point one way. These Storing rooms are about sixteen feet square, and kept at a steady, freezing temperature. When the fish are Shipped they are packed in wooden boxes and sent off in refrigerator cars.
In 1851 J. Spencer, with that foresight peculiar to New Englanders, came to Sandusky from Westbrook, Conn., to engage in the fish business. He brought the first pound ever used here, and drove the stakes in the bay. At This time whitefish were unknown in This locality, and no one had thought it possible to fish in the lake. Spencer would come in the spring, remain two months and then go back to Connecticut. All his nets were made there by women and brought here and joined together. In 1852 he persuaded Captain Kize, of Sandusky, to go in the business with him, and the latter having just been appointed to take care of the light-house at Marblehead, urged the experiment of trying a pound there. Not to lose too heavily, Mr. Spencer bought a second-hand shad net in Connecticut for fifteen dollars, to which they put leaders and heart, and put it out there, and the experiment resulted in a season's catch that amounted to $1,800.
The largest catch in the fall of 1887 was Said to be 1,200 tons on the 6th and 7th of November, whereby all hands were kept at work day and night. A large amount of the fish brought to Sandusky come on steamboats that run to the different islands. The Eagle brings as many as three hundred boxes per day, and other vessels are laden in proportion.
There was a change inaugurated This year in the prices paid for fish, whereby one-eighth of a cent was added each month. In December two and one-half cents were paid, in January two and three-eighths cents, etc., etc. Dealers at a distance, in order to take advantage of This rate, made it a rule to crowd their orders upon the latter part of the month, and thus escape the added fraction. The demand for salt fish was never better than during 1887. Over 3,000,000 pounds were packed and shipped, amounting in dollars and cents to more than $100,000 in salt fish alone.
From reliable Statistics the following figures give some idea of the business:
THE CITY OF SANDUSKY - 405
Capital invested, $500,000; nets operated, 558; fishermen employed, 325; other employees, 200. Fish caught are in the following quantity: Herring, 11,914,500 pounds ; saugers, 980,000 pounds; whitefish, 567,950 pounds; hard fish, 508,620 pounds; perch, 352,165 pounds; catfish, 151,56o pounds ; sturgeon, 550,000 pounds. The value as follows: Herring, $238,280; saugers, $19,606; white, $37,656; hard, $30,517; perch, $5,281; cat, $9,693; sturgeon, $27,500. Of the total receipts, 4,000,000 pounds came from Canadian waters. There are eight firms engaged in scale-fish and two in sturgeon. The latter was for many years considered worthless and thrown away as a monster of the finny tribe, but in 1867 Siemon Schacht began the caviare business in a small way. This, opened a market for sturgeon for which the fishermen were paid twelve and a half cents for the female, while the males were thrown away. Then Mr. Schacht began smoking and packing sturgeon meat. By degrees other parts of the fish were utilized for fish oil and isinglass, until now every sturgeon brings one dollar each. This fish is rapidly decreasing, although the firm Fruechtnicht & Neilson received two hundred and twenty-five tons of sturgeon, from which they produced nine hundred kegs of caviare. The senior member of This firm is in Germany at present, that being the market for caviare, and from that country it is shipped back again as an imported article.
There are ten firms engaged in the fish business in Sandusky. Of these eight deal in scale fish, and two in sturgeon—the firm of Fruechtnicht & Neilson, also Paysen & Co. Of the former trade are Adolph & Zollinger, Arend Brothers, Hosmer & Co., Lay Brothers, Henry Lay, H. C. Post & Co., Siemon Schacht, A. J. Stoll.
In amount of business done, perhaps This list should be headed by the firm of H. C. Post & Co., and A. J. Stoll, but it is known that several of these firms do more than $100,000 worth of business yearly.
H C. Post & Company. The first regular business in packing and exporting fish from Sandusky in large quantities began about 1856. At that time the firm of Jackson & Post commenced business in a little building fourteen by sixteen on the corner of the dock near their present spacious quarters For This building they paid a rental of one dollar a week for the time they occupied it, which was but a portion of the year. Their rent at the present time is about one thousand dollars a year.
In This small way they began by buying fish from fishermen, mostly from Spencer & Kize, at Marblehead. At that time their trade scarcely amounted to $5,000 per annum.
In 1860 Canadians began bringing fish from other waters in pound-boats or sharpies. The firm changed to Post & Lewis, and has since become, and now is known as that of H. C. Post & Co. The first experiment in freezing fish took place in 1867 and was a decided success. Since that time an enormous industry has been added to the old method of salting and packing,
406 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
until now This firm alone handles the fish caught in one hundred and forty pounds.
Herring, formerly considered worthless, is now the principal article of trade, and is exported by This firm in immense quantities to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington.
In the year 1876 the steam tug Louise was built by Beemiller, Schatt, and the engineer, and after two or three years was bought by H. C. Post & Co. to. run to Canada for fish. This firm also run the City of Dresden, for the same purpose. They bought a farm of eighty acres on Point Pelee, where they have built a house for dressing fish that measures forty by ninety, also a boardinghouse for their employees, and ice-houses and boats. This gives them the control of the point, which with the shore of the mainland under their control, gives them more than fifteen miles of fishing waters. They catch in April, May, June, and July, and sell fresh or salt. From September till the lake is they export them, fresh, salt, or frozen, and through the season employ from seventy-five to one hundred men. They have ten freezing rooms sixteen feet square, and the fish purchased by them This fall amounted to sixty thousand dollars, while their spring trade will be at least twenty thousand dollars. more. H. C. Post has been a leader in the business from the first, and eminently successful, and to visit his packing-house and storing-rooms convinces the observer that in the course of a single life-time, by the use of ordinary means, an industry may grow from a child to a giant. The sales from This film for 1887 amounted to 6,795,7oo pounds of fish—an enormous quantity when the mind fully grasps it.
A. J. Stoll.—In 1877 A. J. Stoll bought from L. Anthony his present commodious place at the foot of Columbus avenue, formerly occupied by O'Hagan & Anthony. He proceeded to fit up the building for the business of salting, freezing and packing fish, with rooms for freezing and preserving, storing, etc. With a frontage of one hundred feet and a depth of two hundred, he has a. capacity for storing four hundred and fifty tons. Their most profitable business is in handling and exporting fresh and frozen fish. Salting is not considered profitable, and only the surplus is thus used.
Mr. Stoll handles the fish from seventy-five pounds, employs during the busy season one hundred and twenty-five men, has his ice-houses capable of holding a year's supply of ice, and carries on a large and successful business. He buys fish from the south shores of Lake Erie, the islands of the lake and the shores of Canada. His business has trebled itself in ten years, and he is known as one of the most prosperous men in the trade. During the fall he ships mostly to Buffalo, New York, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. During the entire year he supplys towns in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Adolf & Zollinger - In 1856 Ferdinand Geiersdorf started This business.
PICTURE OF A. J. STOLL
THE CITY OF SANDUSKY - 407
and continued in it for many years. He died in 1870, and two years later Mr. Adolf took charge of it. In 1880 it became the firm of Adolf & Zollinger. It is one of the most prosperous houses in the trade in Sandusky, and has a capacity for storing four hundred tons of frozen fish and an unlimited quantity of salt fish. It controls seventy-five pounds and employs about seventy-five men. In 1887 its business amounted to $75,000.
Henry Lay & Co.—The firm of Henry Lay & Co. was established almost a quarter bf a century ago by A. Biemiller, who, at that time, occupied a little building fourteen by sixteen, and began fish business in a small way. He continued in the business until 188o or 1881, when Henry Lay went into partnership with him, and the firm became Biemiller & Co. Six months later Mr. Biemiller died and Henry Lay became proprietor, and the firm was changed to Henry Lay & Co.
The buildings occupied in salting and packing cover two hundred feet in length by sixty-four in width. This firm gives employment to from twenty to sixty men. They use their own boats, and put up annually eight thousand packages of salt fish, besides freezing about one hundred and fifty tons. His trade extends to all parts of the United States, and is one of the most pros. perous firms in the city.
Siemon Schacht—The business of which Mr. S. Schacht is sole proprietor was established in 1865 by the Schacht Brothers. The trade at that time was the usual wholesale business of frozen, fresh and salt fish for home consumption and distant cities. Schacht Brothers were succeeded by Schacht & Co., and these in turn were succeeded by Schacht & Fruechtnicht. On the retirement of Mr. Fruechtnicht in 1880, Mr. S. Schacht became the sole Owner.
The building occupied by This firm is one hundred and eighty feet in length by twenty-five in width. The firm gives employment to fifteen men, and during the busy season often more. They send out four thousand packages of fresh, six thousand of salt, and sixty or seventy tons of frozen fish annually. Their trade is mainly located in Ohio, Indiana and New York.
Hosmer & Co.—This well-known house was established in 1857 by Mr. Alvord, and was known as Alvord & Co. It is one of the oldest firms in the city, and has done a large business in fish, buying in Canada, and following the ordinary custom of salting, freezing and packing for distant markets. In 1887 the firm was changed to J. Hosmer and Co. Last year they did a business amounting to $45,000.
Paysen & Co., wholesale and retail dealers in fresh and smoked sturgeon, caviare, isinglass, and fish oil, was founded by F. Deuklefsen in 1878, and in 1881 became Paysen & Co. (the firm consisting of H. C. Paysen, Mort Mangelsen and Jens Brickling), to be changed in 1883 to Paysen & Co. (H. C. Paysen and William Schoehemahn). The business employs from-ten to fifteen hands, and their building is one hundred and sixty by sixty feet. Their busi-
408 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
ness last year amounted to $20,000, and their caviare is sent to Germany and all principal parts of our own country.
Fruechtnicht & Nielsen are wholesale dealers in sturgeon, caviare, isinglass, etc., and were first established by Schacht & Fruechtnicht in 1866. Their warehouse is one hundred and eighty by twenty-five feet, and in it are employed from fifteen to twenty-five hands. The general trade reaches not only to many parts of our own country, but quite an extensive trade has been opened with Germany. The firm was first known as Schacht Brothers, who were succeeded by Schacht & Co., and in 1881 by the present firm, Claus Fruechtnicht and Carl G. Nielsen, both natives of Germany. An average of fifteen thousand sturgeon are handled every year. For home consumption these are smoked, but for eastern markets they are frozen, as they are apt to get strong. From the bladders isinglass is made, and caviare from the eggs, while the offal is used for fish oil, thus utilizing those portions of the fish hitherto considered most worthless, and bringing into good repute a coarse-grained fish that has always been cast out and despised. ,
Lay Brothers.—This firm was first established over twenty years ago by John Lay, and afterward, about the year 1880 or I 1, the present firm was formed. It occupies a two-story building, thirty-five by sixty feet in dimensions, and employs several boats and a working force of many men to carry on the business. They freeze three hundred tons annually and have a sale of five thousand half-barrels of salt fish, and the Same amount of fresh fish. The amount of capital invested in nets, boats and appurtenances is twenty or twenty-five thousand dollars. They are also one of the seven dealers who are interested in the Sandusky Salt Fish and Steamboat Company.
Arend Bros.—In the year 1864 Casper Boigt founded a business in fresh and salt fish, and native wines. From the magnitude of its business it rose to a prominent position among the fish houses of Sandusky, and in 1885 passed into the hands of Arend Brothers.
The building is situated on Railroad street between Wayne and Columbus avenue, and has a first-class position. It is a fine substantial building sixty- six by one hundred and forty feet with ice houses and ample facilities for its business. The buildings have a capacity for one hundred and ten tons of frozen fish, and a large amount of salt fish. The annual trade at the present time amounts to two hundred tons of frozen, three thousand barrels of salt fish and three thousand barrels of fresh fish. Beside a large local trade This house carries on an extensive wholesale business all over the United States.
The Sandusky Steamboat and Fish Company.—This was incorporated in 1887 as a stock company with twenty thousand dollars stock on an equal basis. There are seven firms interested, and the purpose was to hold the Canada trade for these houses. The following are the firms included in This syndicate or corporation: Adolf & Zollinger, Schacht & Co., Lay Brothers, Henry Lay &
THE CITY OF SANDUSKY - 409
Co, Arend Brothers, Hosmer & Co., A. Stoll. These men put in an equal amount of capital and share in the profits equally. They have also pooled their united interests in a salt fish trust company to control the trade in salt fish also.
Hugo Ohly and August Gunther.—This firm have just established a house at the foot of Sycamore street for pickling fish. This industry promises to be as successful as have been everything connected with the fish trade of Sandusky.
Bear & Ruth have been for so many years connected with the mercantile life of This city, and more particularly with the fish trade, that a History of the business cannot well be written without giving their names a place, although they went out of the business last year. They did a large business for many years as Hosmer, Bear & Co., but in 1873 it passed into the hands of Bear & Ruth. This firm occupied a large two-story structure one hundred and eighty by thirty-three feet in dimensions, where the business steadily increased until they left it in 1887.
SANDUSKY ICE INTERESTS.
The present mammoth ice houses of Sandusky were almost unthought of twenty years ago, indeed the man who then dared to build even one of the largest of them might have expected to be set down at once as rash, if nothing worse.
The first to put up ice in any considerable quantities and to see with any degree of certainty the future of Sandusky's ice trade was, as far as we can ascertain from any accessible data, Mr. E. E. Upp, a life long resident here, and successor to his father's ice interests established as early as 1852, though he did not begin shipping until about 1858-9. The demand gradually increased from the latter date until in 1868, he, with Rush R. Sloane and W. V. Latham put up an ice house with a capacity of sixteen thousand tons. The move was regarded by many business men a very risky experiment, from the fact that the expense of storing was then comparatively heavy, and the market quite uncertain. The experiment however proved a marked success, and was the forerunner of the very extensive trade since established.
Mr. Upp soon after invented the switch for inclined runways, and in 1870 introduced the use of steam elevators, thus facilitating in a wonderful degree the process of putting in ice, and lessening the expense in a proportionate degree. He is president and manager of the Cincinnati Ice Company and is interested in the Sandusky and Cincinnati Ice Company, besides being a member of the firm of Upp & Walker, and associated with Henry Graefe and J. W. Smith in the firm of E. E. Upp & Co. These firms have a combined storing capacity of fifty thousand tons.
John McKelvey & Co. own ice houses covering over an acre of ground, and
410 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
have all the modern facilities for handling immense quantities of ice. Mr. McKelvey began active operations in ice about the year 1876 and has continued in it more or less actively since.
There are numerous other prominent men who have been and are connected with the ice business in Sandusky in a considerable degree. At present Wm. J. Affleck and Jno. Mackey, Arend Bros., Bear & Ruth, Gager & Co., Holland & Tebbut, Kerber & Son, Alexander Motry, Smith, Zimmerman & Schmidt, A. J. Stoll, E. E. Upp and Wagner & Co. are the principal names that occur to the writer, though there are many others of substantial business reputations whose names have been long familiar to the trade.
The ice business though very extensive, and quite profitable at times, is subject to so many difficulties in the way of an uncertain market and lively competition between the many firms along the great lakes that fortunes are made and lost in it at times with a facility that would do justice to the modern stock exchange. When an open winter occurs those who have stored a large quantity the previous year reap a rich harvest during the following summer, but on the whole it seems most reasonable to conclude that the business is not at present generally profitable except to the old and well established firms, one of which has a record of 850 car loads shipped over one railroad south in a single season.
The several packers of note including brewers and wine men, put up about 300,000 tons of ice in the year, at an expense for help of not less than $60,000, or about twenty cents per ton. Employment is thus furnished for several weeks, at a time of year when it is most valuable to them, to nearly 2,000 men. The ice is taken from the bay not over half a mile from shore on an average. With the small army of men cutting and fishing out the ice, horses scraping or planing the surface to remove roughness or dirt, and the tons of smooth, square blocks from six to sixteen inches thick, flying up the inclined runways to the gable ends of over a score of great dark buildings, the scene is quite an inspiring one, and not unfraught with a certain amount of danger.
Hardly a season passed without a number of serious accidents, such as broken limbs, or immersions in the channels from which the ice has bee,n taken. The latter, though not apparently a very serious affair, might quite easily become so if the unfortunate victim should by some means, get in under the ice, instead of remaining in the channel. But the men, like all hardy cheerful American and German laborers, go to their tasks with glad hearts, thankful for the opportunity to earn a few dollars in mid-winter, and caring little for the necessary exposure to secure an honest living.
Most of the ice dealers who do the extensive packing for outside markets are provided with facilities supplying the home trade. Subscription routes are laid out in the early spring, and the clumsy covered wagons rumble their daily rounds throughout the season.
THE CITY OF SANDUSKY - 411
GRAPE CULTURE AND WINE MAKING.
These interests, when carried to any considerable extent, are necessarily so closely related, that it is deemed best to treat of them here under a general head, although grape raising in a very small way was begun on the islands in This vicinity some years before grapes were produced in such quantities that it became necessary to convert them into wine for want of an accessible and profitable market.
Mr. Charles Carpenter, of Kelley's Island is credited with being the first to foresee the great future in store for This uncommonly favored grape producing section. He came to the island in 1842, and noticing the few vines growing in gardens there, he was struck with the superiority of the fruit over that of the same varieties in the East. Mr. D. Kelley brought cuttings of Catawba and Isabella from Elyria in 1843, and setting them in his garden was much gratified at the result, as the Catawba, which ripens so imperfectly in inland places, matures to perfection here because of the protection afforded from frost by the waters of the lake.
In 1845 Mr. Carpenter began planting in limited quantities, on account of the scarcity of vines, but by 1850 he had increased his vineyard to an acre ; This was quite the most extensive vineyard to be found in This vicinity at that time. In the latter named year he pressed two small casks of wine (one each of Catawba and Isabella), which, when it was a year old, was pronounced by Cincinnatians the best wine they had ever tasted.
Planting in a small way soon became quite general, and a ready market was found for the fruit, at from ten to fifteen cents a pound, a price that would make millionaires in a few seasons of some of our present grape raisers who are making very comfortable incomes by selling their fruit at from one to three cents. Vineyards increased in size very gradually, there being considerable skepticism manifested with regard to a market when all should come into bearing. Mr. Carpenter when asked if he thought it safe to plant as much as a quarter of an acre, replied that almost any quantity could be sold as soon as general attention was attracted by the planting of large vineyards.
Phylloxera did not trouble the earlier grape growers as it does those of the present time ; and for some years there appeared to be nothing in the way of discouragements. So promising indeed was the outlook, that land which in 1845 could be purchased for fifteen dollars an acre, was sold within a few years at from five hundred to a thousand dollars an acre, usually paying good interest on the investment.
In 1854 Mr. Carpenter built a wine cellar 30 by 90 feet; but This was soon outgrown, and in 1859 he commenced one in a seam between lime rocks in his quarry ; he made the second cellar 36 by 123 feet, and covered it with a stone arch sixteen feet high. The Kelley's Island Wine Company was formed in.
412 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
1866 ; renting Mr. Carpenter's cellar for a few years, they found the business so profitable that they purchased it later on and created a main building 82 by 128 feet, and three stories in height. The present large cellars are crowded to their utmost capacity, and sale for the product is found in all the leading cities of the world.
Ten other establishments make wine in greater or less quantities, and it is estimated that six hundred thousand gallons are produced annually on This island alone, while the grape interests have extended to adjacent islands and to the mainland surrounding. Thousands of acres of grapes grow in This vicinity, and the annual sales bring millions in money to our people.
The grape interests nearer Sandusky did not begin a general development until about 186o or 1861, most dates being approximately fixed by those who depend on memory for their statements, at "about the commencement of the great Civil War." Grape planting on a large scale began, we may say, in Erie county at Kelley's (the only island within its borders), and on the mainland east of Sandusky, in what is known as the "big field.',' From these points it spread toward the west side of Sandusky, and in many other directions, but in no case extending back to any great distance from the water, which is the great climatic equalizer that makes grape culture a success.
The exact dates of many beginnings is not obtainable ; but in cases where it can be had, the uniform rule of This writer has been to place induStries in chronological order, rather than to try arranging them in alphabetical order, or with respect to their relative importance, concerning which opinions might differ very widely, and still the difference of opinion be perfectly honest.
Before taking up the wine producing establishments, mention may be made of the Lake Erie Wine and Fruit Growers Association, established March 12, 1886, and officered as follows : President, W. V. Latham ; vice-president, William Altstaetter ; secretary, I. F. Mack ; treasurer, Otto Engels. The objects are to promote harmony among fruit and wine growers, prevent hostile legislation, and to improve the quality of fruits and wines, as well as to widen the market for such products.
Probably there is very little if any impure wine manufactured in This vicinity, but the practice of gallusizing wine, (putting water and sugar into the pure grape juice), is commended by consumers and dealers, though most agree that This is not in any sense adulterating, and that it improves the quality, (when not carried to excess), by reducing the acidity of the product. The general verdict is that wines from the sweeter varieties needs no reducing, and, that the first flow of Catawba, before the press has been applied, is quite sweet enough in the natural state. There is, then, no reason for believing that the wines of old Erie are in any sense impure, or inferior to those of any other portion of the country, or the world. Aiming now to give a straightforward History of an important and growing industry, we will proceed with one who, as nearly as we can
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learn, is the oldest grape grower and manufacturer of wine in This vicinity after Mr. Carpenter already mentioned.
Thaddeus Lorch, a pioneer in the grape and wine production on the east side of Sandusky, purchased ten acres of land from Mr. John Upp about the year 1860, and has been engaged in grape raising on the original lot ever since, making several additions as the demand for wine increased. He is credited with having as many varieties of vines as any raiser in This section.
The cellars are located on the Huron road east of Hancock street, and have a capacity of from fifteen to twenty thousand gallons. Much of the work is performed by himself and family, and the wines produced are kept up to a high standard by his personal supervision. From twelve to twenty thousand gallons is about a fair estimate of his annual product, the quanity depending of course, to quite an extent, on the crop from year to year.
Sweet and dry Catawba, Delaware, Ives, etc., are produced more of late, but Mr. Lorch was in the business when Isabella wine was quite generally produced. The latter grape was discarded on account of a tendency to mildew, and because of the rankness of the flavor as compared to Catawba and the finer varieties.
The wine of This establishment finds a market mostly in Ohio cities, although like his larger competitors the proprietor fills occasional orders from distant places.
Conrad Ernst. This establishment is an outgrowth of the wine business of A. Biemiller & Co., begun in 1869 by Vincent Kerber, A. Biemiller and C. Ernst, the present owner. Mr. Kerber and Mr. Ernst each had vineyards prior to their partnership. The former was one of the earliest grape growers on the mainland, having begun in 1860.
In 1873 Scott Sanford bought into the firm of Biemiller & Co., and Messrs. Kerber and Biemiller retired. Mr. Sanford retired in 1875, leaving Mr. Ernst the sole owner.
The business location was changed in 1875 to its present site, and the building now occupied was erected. The cellar is twenty-four by eighty feet, with a press room above. The capacity of This establishment is about 35,000 gallons of wine per year, which is shipped over a wide portion of our country. Two men are kept at work the year around, and during six weeks in the fall from ten to twelve men are employed.
Engels & Krudwig. In 1878 Messrs. H. and 0. E. Engels, with R. P. Krudwig, established the business which now amounts to an average annual product of two hundred thousand gallons. The manufactory consists of a commodious stone storage building with a brick structure for the press, engine and machinery. The grounds, occupying the corner of Water and Wayne streets, are quite extensive, and afford facilities for the large business transacted.
414 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
The wine is kept in one hundred and thirty storage caskS with an average capacity of eighteen hundred gallons each. The grapes are mainly raised in the vineyards of the proprietors, though considerable quantities are purchased from other grape raisers on the islands and mainland.
A twenty horse power engine furnishes the power for pressing and other purposes. The shipments of This firm extend over the entire United States. Nearly all the leading brands of native wines are produced. This establishment is the outgrowth of one started by Jacob Engels, who began the importation of wines to Sandusky about the year 185o, and commenced grape growing here in 1860, on a ten acre tract east of the town.
Adam Bauer, Still Wines. Factory on Decatur street, near Monroe, a frame building thirty by sixty feet. Mr. Bauer commenced the grape and wine business in 1861, and has been connected with it ever since, some seasons producing about eight or nine thousand gallons of wine which is mostly sold in the State of Ohio. Mr. Bauer is a German by birth, but is a very old resident, having come to this city in 1844. He was one of the first men to purchase a part of the Upp property and plant it with grapes, and still has the same vineyard with several acres added. The direct management of his work at the cellars is in the hands of his son, the father spending most of his time at the vineyard.
William H. Mills commenced raising grapes in 1861, planting eighty-two acres on his farm of three hundred acres, in the west end of the city at that time. The first wine from This vineyard was pressed in 1865, since which time he has produced an average of 15,000 gallons per year. French makes of champagne are a specialty with Mr. Mills, and more of an effort is made to produce an excellent quality than to produce a great quantity of wine. The original vineyard has been reduced somewhat of late, but more vines are to be planted in the near future. A cellar, thirty by one hundred and sixty-five feet, with eighteen feet walls, and an arch fifteen feet in height, constitutes the storing capacity of the establishment.
The date of Mr. Mills's first planting will show that he. was one of the pioneers in grape culture on the mainland in This vicinity, and his familiarity with the products of the vine is evident to all who have heard him talk on the subject.
His wines were awarded high honors at the Centennial Exposition, where the superiority of Lake Erie wines over those of the Pacific slope was very clearly demonstrated. He remembers when the so-called Greek wines were sold at $3.50 per bottle, but considers their quality quite inferior to those of local vintage now selling at one-fifth the price.
Catawba and Delaware grapes are the varieties mostly pressed at This establishment. About two years is taken in preparing the wine for the market, and a second fermentation is obtained in the process of manufacture.
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This second fermentation, he says, can only be produced when pure juice is used.
E. L. Steuk, manufacturer of dry wines, but making a specialty of Catawba, is located at the corner of the West Market Square and Decatur street. This business was started in 1863 by Wm. Steuk, father of the present owner. Mr. Steuk conducted the business under his own name up to 1874, when he associated E. L. Steuk with himself under the firm name of Wm. Steuk & Son. In 1876 the father died and left his part of the business to his wife, who acted as a silent partner up to 1882, when the present owner purchased her interest and has retained the entire management since. He makes from eighteen to twenty thousand gallons a year, exclusively dry or unsweetened wines, which he sells throughout Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and to some extent in New York State.
Like many other producers Mr. Steuk does much of his own work, and gives his personal attention to the conditions and methods, so nearly alike in many cases, but after all, depending for their results, very largely on the tact and judgment of the individual who carries them out. The building is of 'wood, and is about forty by sixty feet, two stories high, and has a large cellar in the lime rock which underlies the city.
George Daniel. Wine cellars located at the corner of Adams and Lawrence streets. The business was begun by the present proprietor in 1865, and has been continued since in a greater or less degree. Mr. Daniel manufactures from six to eight thousand gallons per year of Catawba, Ives Seedling and Virginia Seedling wines, the last named variety being bottled by him. His sales are made to the retailers in different towns in Ohio. Little help is employed except in the pressing season. The cellars are twenty-eight by thirty, and eighteen by thirty respectively, with a storage room fourteen by eighteen. Mr. Daniel was appointed postmaster at Sandusky, by President Cleveland, in 1887.
John G. Dorn, grower of grapes and manufacturer of all varietieS of native wines, both dry and sweet, is located at No. 418 to 424 Water street, in a stone building sixty by one hundred and ten feet and three and one-half stories high.
All necessary facilities are found in the building for handling the immense quantity of wine which This well known firm is called on to furnish the wide market in which their products are sold. The trade extends to all principal cities of the Union—east, west, and south, and to the upper lake cities.
The business was begun in 1872 by John P. Dorn, father of the present proprietor, and conducted very successfully up to the time of his death. In 1886 it came into the hands of the son who is still widening the field of sale, and the source of supply. Mr. Dorn has a vineyard of about one hundred acres near Venice, This county, and in 1887 planted eighty acres of young vines.
416 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
In addition to the many tons of grapes raised by the proprietor, considerable quantities are purchased from year to year of other growers who have limited wine-making facilities, or none at all.
The establishment produces not far from a hundred thousand gallons of wine a year, and a still running in one of the departments of the enterprise turns out from one fifty to two hundred barrels of grape brandy. The firm has a large ice-house in which about six thousand tons are stored annually for use in the business. Mr. Dorn intends increasing his facilities in the near future, and to This end has enlarged his vineyard as before stated. His business furnishes employment for fifteen men during a greater part of the year, and at times a much larger force is required. The buildings are well located and commodious, with convenient storerooms, and a well furnished and comfortable office on the ground floor.
E. R. Moos, Hayes avenue, near Tyler street, Succeeded in 1876 to the wine business established by his father, A. Moos, in 1868.
The present cellars, etc., were erected in 1882. The building is of limestone, is twenty-six by sixty-four feet, and is one and one-half stories in height with a basement.
The average product is thirty thousand gallons per year of red and white dry wines. One man is employed steadily, and a dozen or more are kept at work during the fall. Mr. Moos is his own traveling salesman, and sells his wines mainly from Detroit to New York. Sales have been made as far south as Richmond, Va.
William. Altstaetter, whose wine cellars on Lawrence Extension, near Monroe street, produce about 20,000 gallons of wine per year, began the business with his brother at the corner of Market and Decatur streets in 1876, but removed to the present location in 1879, and purchasing his brother's interest has conducted the. business alone since that time.
All the leading dry native wines are produced at this establishment. The goods are marketed very largely in Ohio, Indiana, and New York, but occasional orders are filled in places much more distant. The work is conducted under the personal supervision of the proprietor, who gives most of his time and some physical strength to the work.
M. Hommel commenced the manufacture of champagnes and still wines in 1878 at his present location on Clinton street, near Sandusky street. By close personal attention to business he has been able to increase his trade and facilities until he now uses several hundred tons of grapes annually, making some 200,000 bottles of champagne and 100,000 gallons of still wines. His customers are mostly in the Mississippi Valley, but orders are received from San Francisco and New York. His champagnes are all made by the old French method which he learned by practical experience in France. Hommel's Extra Dry and Lac D'Or are the brands most largely manufactured. The work is
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conducted in a building thirty-six by eighty-eight feet, five stories in height, the lower part being of stone and the upper three stories of wood. During a portion of the year Mr. Hommel runs a fruit distillery, manufacturing about 2,400 gallons of grape brandy. Besides the main building he uses a storing cellar twenty-four by thirty- six feet, and numerous other auxiliary buildings perform their service in the work. No traveling salesmen are employed, but the proprietor makes a great many business trips during the year.
J. G. Stroebel, on Hayes avenue near Tyler street, has a wine cellar with a capacity of thirty thousand gallons, which was established by himself in 1881. He purchases from forty-five to fifty tons of grapes per year and manufactures about ten thousand gallons of wine. Catawba is the leading white wine and Concord and Ives Seedling the red. The wines are all dry or unsweetened, and are sold mostly throughout southern Ohio.
A. Schmidt, jr., & Co., of Tiffin avenue, makes a speciality of Sherry and Port wines. This company succeeded in 1883 to the property and business of the Sandusky Wine Company, which was one of Sandusky's first organized efforts to produce wine, having commenced operations on Water street in _____. The present building, which is 120 by .5o feet, and three stories in height, having ample cellars for the storage of wine, was erected in 1875 by the original company.
This establishment has a capacity of 200,000 gallons a year, and averages 175,000 gallons of sweet wines which are marketed from the Mississippi River to Boston and south as far as New Orleans.
Large quantities of grapes are annually purchased by This firm from the adjacent vineyards between Sandusky and Venice, and from growers on Marble Head Peninsula and Lake Erie Islands. Mr. Smith does most of the soliciting in person, leaving the direct management of the cellars in charge of the competent superintendent and his other employees.
A. Textor, Columbus avenue, adjoining the L. S. & M. S. R. R. makes ten or twelve varieties of dry and sweet wines, which he Ships to all parts of the United States, from Kansas eastward. Only a wholesale trade is solicited.
The building is of limestone, substantially built, and is three stories in height with a length of one hundred, and a width of forty-five feet; it is thoroughly heated with steam, and so arranged that except during the pressing season nearly all the work can be accomplished by steam power.
The services of ten men are required during the busiest portion of the year. The average is mo,000 gallons of the various sorts of wine. Concord, Catawba, Delaware, Riesling, Norton's V. and Claret comprise the sour wines, and Sweet Catawba, Port, Angelica, Sherry and Ives the sweet. The business was begun in 1883 by Wehrle and Farciot, but about six months later passed into the hands of A. Textor.
418 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
BREWERIES.
A. Ilg & Co's brewery at the foot of Harrison street, was established in 1849 by Winson & Fox, who conducted the business until 1864, when Messrs. Soergel, Dorn and Raible became proprietors carrying the business up to 1871. Strobel & Ilg purchased the brewery in that year, and in 1879 the present firm of A. Ilg & Co. became owners of the entire establishment.
The grounds comprise about five acres of land, and the brewery building, a limestone structure two and a half stories high, has a base eighty feet wide by one hundred and sixty long. The ice house is a frame building ninety feet square, and is packed to its fullest capacity every winter.
Thirteen men are steadily employed, and the annual product is about twelve thousand barrels on an average. Agencies are located at Findlay and Elyria. Otto Ilg, son of the proprietor, and lessee of the Sandusky Opera House, keeps the books and supervises the home establishment. Most of the beer is disposed of throughout northern Ohio—none, is shipped beyond the limits of the State. The necessary traveling is done by the proprietors in person. The business is having a steady growth.
Frank Stang's brewery was built in 1857 by Dauch & Fischer, and the first named gentleman Succeeded to the business a few years later, conducting it until 1864, when Messrs. Bricht, Cable & Alder purchased the property and continued the business until 1867. It then passed into the hands of Fox & Windisch, and Fox alone, who carried it until 1875, when Jno. Bender became proprietor, soon after associating with himself Mr. Stang, who afterwards retired from the business.
At the death of Mr. Bender in 1878 the property reverted to Lena Stang, who, in 1880, disposed of it to Frank Stang, the present owner. The brewery about 225 by 250 feet, and three stories high, is located north of Madison and east of King streets. With the large ice houses which hold about 10,000 tons of ice, the building occupies nearly a square, and has an annual output of from fifteen to twenty thousand barrels of beer. From 35,000 to 50,000 bushels of barley are used annually, and the business furnishes regular work for some eighteen or twenty men, besides a large number needed during the ice packing season. Seven teams are required in delivering the beer.
The trade is mostly with neighboring counties. Shipping depots are located at Elyria, Crestline, and other towns in This vicinity. Two men are on the road constantly, and the shipping demand is rapidly increasing. Quantities of the beer are sold in the home market, and to the islanders, who in some respects seem to prefer it to their "juice of the Nine," which is so easy of access that it loses its charm in a measure. Emil Pusch has for a number of years. conducted the local business and had charge of the books of the establishment.
J. Kuebeler & Co.'s brewery was established in 1867 by the brothers, Jacob
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and August Kuebeler, who have remained at the head of the establishment since that date, and from a very modest beginning have brought the business up to its present proportions.
The buildings consist of a limestone structure, one hundred and five feet square and four stories high, with an "L" fifty-four by eighty and a frame addition fifty by one hundred and twenty, the last named containing a modern refrigerator or ice manufacturing machine, with a capacity of thirty-five tons per day. This machine obviates the necessity for ice, except what is needed for shipping purposes, but the firm still packs abont five thousand tons for the latter purpose and as a reserve in case of accident. From fifty to sixty thousand bushels of barley are malted annually, and thirty-five thousand pounds of hops are consumed, the best of which are imported from Germany.
This establishment produces from one to two hundred barrels of beer per day, which is disposed of in the city and at various other points within a radiuS of sixty miles. Steady employment is given to thirty men and nine teams, and the annual expense account is very great ; but a fine balance is secured by annual sales of the product,
Besides the home brewery there are branches at Bellevue, Monroeville, Findlay and Elyria. Within the past two years the brothers have each erected a fine brick residence with modern conveniences. In 1887 the ice machine, mentioned above, was "put in at a large expense, and a gas well was drilled on the premises ; but the supply of gas is limited, not being sufficient to light the establishment. The flow of gas is somewhat stronger when the well is pumped dry, but not of enough account to pay for the cost of pumping, which would be considerable, as the well is quite wet.
Streube & Engels, manufacturers of cider and cider vinegar, have one of the most extensive establishments of This kind to be found in Erie county. The building is a frame structure, thirty by eighty feet, two stories high, with a basement, and is thoroughly supplied with vats, grinding machinery and storage casks. Throughout the cider making season some ten or twelve men are employed, but during the remainder of the year only three are required. The mill is located on Columbus avenue, north of the Lake Shore Railroad, and was erected in 1882 by H. C. Struebe, Mr. Engels becoming connected with the business later on. The local apple supply makes no difference in the amount of cider and vinegar produced, as the firm ships in apples from other sections when they are scarce in This vicinity. The annual production of cider averages in the vicinity of fifteen hundred barrels, and about the same amount of vinegar is made. The trade is confined to Ohio, and the firm finds the field ample for their present capacity. Occasionally orders are received from other States, but no special dependence is put on them in making up the year's supply of cider. A powerful engine, in a brick addition, furnishes the necessary power for the establishment.
420 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
Bottling Works. Charles Baetz, for over thirty years a resident of Sandusky, and for a long term just closed This year leader of the Great Western Band, has for the past ten years or more carried on the bottling business. He puts up the Pilsener beer, especially prepared from Frank Stang'S brewery, and has the sole agency for the beer thus prepared. His establishment is located in the basement of Biemiller's Opera House. The beer, when subjected to his process of treatment, will keep for any length of time in almost any temperature, and can be shipped to a great distance. His goods are shipped throughout Ohio and adjoining States, and meet with a very ready sale in all cities.
J. Murschel & Son's bottling works was established in 1882 by the present proprietor at the corner of Hayes avenue and Tyler street. The business is carried on in a frame building thirty-six by forty feet. Belfast ginger ale, pop, birch beer, and carbonated drinks in general are prepared by This firm for shipment to the islands and to surrounding towns on the mainland. Surely, if there is. another beverage needed after one his done justice to the many already mentioned as manufactured here, the want is supplied by the above mentioned firm.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
Wood Working Establishments.—R. B. Hubbard & Son. This planing- mill, run in connection with Tucker & Daniels's lumber mills at Algonac, Mich., was established in 1840 by Hubbard & Co. In 1844 Mr. Hubbard associated with Mr. G. S. Lester and purchased timber lands in Michigan and erected a saw-mill. Watson and Langden Hubbard became interested later on, but in 1874 the planing-mill at the corner of Water and Lawrence streets, which is the object most directly of This sketch, was, with the lumber interests in Sandusky, purchased by the present firm. The building, which is sixty by one hundred feet, two stories high and of stone, is occupied partly by the Woolsey Wheel Company, but belongs to the firm whose name leads This sketch. A powerful engine, made by Barney & Kilby, and a large boiler made by the predecessor of the present Portland Boiler Company, furnish the power for both establishments. R. B. Hubbard & Son plane and match flooring, siding and lumber, and saw posts, etc. Last year's work amounted, in round numbers, to nearly two million feet of planed lumber, of which 750,000 feet were flooring, 100,000 feet matched siding, and 1,200,000 feet general planed lumber. This business has been in operation for about thirty-five years, and the present building was erected over twenty years ago. The firm ,does a general retail and wholesale trade over a considerable portion of Ohio, but the bulk of the business is with local builders and those in adjoining counties. A large force of men is constantly employed. The business is conducted by the proprietors, with William Marshall as accountant and salesman at the office.
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G. W. Iscman ; long pine and hardwood lumber and timber ; corner Meigs and Washington streets. Mr. Iscman, the present proprietor of these important mills, succeeded to his father's interests here some years ago, and is carrying it forward very successfully. B. Iscman, the projector of the enterprise, and father of the present proprietor, commenced the lumbering business at Muskallonge, in 1841, removed to This city Shortly after, and established the original Iscman saw-mill on Market street ; but for the sake of procuring better shipping facilities and larger grounds, removed to his present location later on.
The building is of limestone and has an upper story of wood ; the dimensions are forty by one hundred feet, without the engine and boiler rooms, which are in a wing erected for them especially. The engine, of eighty horse power, is frequently taxed to its utmost capacity to propel the extensive and powerful machinery used in turning out the very heavy work in long timber. Quite an extensive retail and wholesale trade in hard wood and pine timber and lumber, is carried on by This firm, the annual output being nearly one and a half million feet. Ten men are regularly employed at the mill, and considerable work is necessarily furnished choppers and lumbermen at the other end of the line, as it were.
The pine logs are rafted down from the Michigan forests, and at times have been quite an inconvenience to the small sailboats with which Sandusky people recreate during the summer season. Of course, the writer has no intention of reflecting on the proprietor or others connected with the mills, as they probably do all in their power to accommodate their neighbors.
Jay C. Butler & Co., at the corner of Water and Decatur streets, established their present firm relations in 1880, at which time they succeeded Jay C. Butler, before whom were Wells & Butler, Upp & Wells, Norcross & Upp, Norcross alone, and Thorp, Norcross & Thorp, who started the business on Water street, near Fulton, in 1855.
The main building is two hundred and sixteen by fifty-two feet, of brick, three stories high with a basement. It is supplied with all modern conveniences, heated by steam and lighted with gas. The power is furnished by a one hundred and fifty horse power engine, and there is a great variety of improved wood working machines in the various departments of the factory. The principal products are sash, doors and blinds, but a large trade has been recently built up in telegraph arms and insulator pins, many of the leading constructors getting their supplies from This firm. Boxes and fish packages are also made to quite an extent.
The factory grounds are quite extensive, and there are several auxiliary frame buildings. An average force of one hundred and fifty men is employed throughout the year, while the annual product is somewhat above one hundred thousand dollars in value. The principal sales, are made in Ohio, to builders,
422 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
but large orders are received from all parts of the United States. The business is increasing steadily, as each year finds a wider area over which the sales extend, and there is no falling off in the territory already covered. They have a private dock at which much raw material is received for the factory, and from which a portion of the products are sent abroad.
Woolsey Wheel Company was founded by Pierce, Woolsey & Company in 1855. The firm name afterwards became Hubbard & Woolsey, and in Several subsequent changes the name of Woolsey remained prominent in the transaction of the business of the establishment.
In 1877 a stock company was organized with a capital of $45,000. The stock has since been increased to $70,000, and the business enlarged in proportion. From one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty men are employed steadily, and their wages aggregate over $60,000 per annum. The manufacture of all styles of wheels is carried on, taking the material in the rough and turning out one hundred and twenty-five sets per day under favorable conditions and with the maximum force. The, machinery is extensive and necessarily quite varied, as the bending of felloes, turning of spokes, boring of square sockets for the tenons, and most other parts of the work, including the final polishing, are done by machinery. Native hickory, elm and oak are used in the construction of the wheels, which are shipped to all parts of the United States, and bear an excellent reputation in the market.
Lawrence Cable is president of the company, and George A. Cook, treasurer ; E. McFall is secretary. Superintendent E. Flickenger has direct charge of the business.
Schoepfle and Sloane. This enterprising establishment dates back to January, 1860, when it was started with a limited capital by Jacob Schaub, C. F. Schoepfle, Andrew Riesterer and Casper Schneider, under the firm name of Schaub & Company. The firm then manufactured sash, doors and blinds, in a stone building on the do-...k north of Railroad street, where the Woolworth Handle Factory has since been established in a new building, the old one having been destroyed by fire.
Mr. Schaub retired from the business in the fall of 1860, and the Style became Schoepfle & Company, continuing until 1862, when Mr. Schneider sold his interest to Martin Groehr. In 1863 the business was removed to its present location on Water street, where a large stone building, then owned by Pitt Cooke, was leased, and subsequently purchased by the present proprietors.
Mr. Riesterer, in 1877, sold his interest to Schoepfle & Groehr, who carried on the business together until 1883, when F. G. Sloane purchased Mr. Groehr's interest and the present firm relations were established. The building is located at the corner of Water and Fulton streets, and the business has been enlarged to include the manufacture of desks, bar fixings and hard wood trimmings for the inside of houses, such as banisters, wainscoting, etc., which
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they have furnished for many principal buildings, both public and private, throughout the State. They are also securing a large trade in telegraph arms which have been used so extensively lately in the United States. Their factory buildings include a three-story and basement stone building, having a width of sixty-two feet on Water street, extending back to Railroad street, and an office and ware-room, frame building, twenty-two by sixty-four feet. The dock is one hundred by five hundred feet, and has an ample depth of water for the boats employed in their trade. The power for the factory is furnished by an eighty horse power engine. Their dry kilns have a capacity of 70,000 feet per week. Fifty-eight hands were employed by This firm during the past season, and produced a large amount of finished work.
D. J. Brown & Company ; patent sawed elm hoops, and bilge sawed keg staves. This large and important industry was established at Oak Harbor, in 1862, by Otto Schimansky, who removed to the present location, at the foot of Anderson street, in 1865.
The present mill comprises a main building forty by eighty feet, two stories in height, with three additions, thirty by eighty, and a warehouse forty by one hundred and eight feet. There is a one hundred and fifty horse power sawmill capable of turning out thirty thousand feet of lumber a day.
Messrs. Brown & Schimansky, the present owners, have a capital of $23,000 invested, and employ fifty men during three-fourths of the year, which is all the time given to active operations at the establishment, the remainder of the time being given to disposing of the products and renewing stock. Four and a half million hoops, and two million staves are turned out yearly, and sold mostly in the East and South, trade extending quite uniformly over the several States of the union between New York city and New Orleans.
The monthly pay roll of the establishment averages $1,200 while the mill is in active operation, and the annual product is in the neighborhood of $75,- 000. Large quantities of logs are shipped to the mill from Canada, and from the forests of Michigan and elsewhere. The mill is located on the grounds once occupied by the Sandusky Basket Factory, which with an old mill were purchased by the present proprietors in 1865.
The specialties produced by This enterprising firm show quite plainly how important a business may become when followed with zeal and an enterprising spirit. Though the business itself would at first thought seem to be only a part of the barrel making business, it has grown to be an important industry, from the fact that great skill and concentration of effort make it possible for the firm to produce This part of cooper's stock cheaper than it could be produced where the barrels are made, while the quality is equally good.
The Sandusky Wheel Company, with buildings and grounds extending from McDonough to Shelby street, fronting on Water street, and reaching southward nearly across the block, employs at present from two hundred to
424 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
two hundred and forty men ; has a capacity of two hundred set of wheels and considerable buggy body and other work daily. The main building is of limestone•one hundred and twenty by one hundred and ninety feet, three stories in height, with a brick extension in the rear. A one hundred and fifty horsepower engine drives the entire machinery, which is of the latest improved patterns throughout, and capable of doing many things that men only a few years ago believed could only be done by hand.
The Greggs, and later Barney, Ockobock & Torrey carried on This business in its earlier stages of development; but in 1867 the present stock company was organized with a capital of $200,000. The business of This company extends over a very wide area, and a traveling salesman is employed continually. A monthly pay roll of from $8,000 to $10,000 is regularly disbursed by the company besides large amounts for material from which to manufacture the wheels, bodies, and seats.
Mr. J. M. Boalt, president, has been, a resident of Sandusky from boyhood; vice-president C. M. Cook, came here from Toledo in 1870 ; 0. B. Bannister, secretary, has been 'connected with the firm since 1869. Samuel Irvine, superintendent, has been in the employ of the company for nearly twenty years, and thoroughly understands, all the details of the business.
A. Kunzman, on Water street, near Wayne, conduct's the manufacture of all styles of carriages, buggies, wagons, cutters, etc., and has been at This business in Sandusky since 1867, when he came here from Port Clinton, where he had been in the same line of business since 1854. The main building is three stories high and forty-six by sixty-eight feet on the ground, with a blacksmith shop in the rear. Mr. Kunzman keeps about fifteen men steadily at work in the various departments of the establishment, and gives much of his own time to the inspection of the work turned out.
The average annual product is $15,000, and the goods are shipped over a, wide extent of territory. Considerable local trade is also secured. All the ironing, painting, upholstering, etc., is conducted in the establishment, which, as the description shows, is quite spacious.
A. Schwehr's cigar-box factory. In 1880 the Fox Brothers established This business near the present location, at the corner of Water and McDonough streets. Later, A. J. Hare became interested, but in 1884 the present proprietor took hold of the business and has brought it up to its present flourishing condition. The establishment employs twenty people steadily, and has a capacity of ten to twelve hundred boxes per day. Mr. Schwehr's trade extends about one hundred miles in all directions, and amounts to nearly fourteen thousand dollars a year. Much of the work is done by machines operated by women and boys.
J. H. Soncrandt came to Sandusky in 1885 and established a barrel factory under the firm name of Soncrandt & Bailey ; but the latter named gentleman
THE CITY OF SANDUSKY - 425
retired from the firm recently, and the extensive and increasing business is now conducted by the former alone. Mr. Soncrandt is also interested largely in a much more important establishment at Trowbridge, 0., where he manufactures staves, heading, etc„ and procures the material for the shops in This city. The shop furnishes employment for thirty men, and an annual product Of three hundred thousand barrels is a fair estimate of the average work accomplished. The barrels are mostly used by the lime men of Sandusky and Marble Head Peninsula across the bay. The deftness with which each man performs his allotted portion in the turning out of a barrel is only equaled by that of the men employed in the wheel and tool factories, where co-operation in labor, if not in net results, is brought to perfection. The shops are located on Water street, near Monk's ship-yard. Though the buildings are all of wood, they are conveniently arranged and necessarily quite extensive. The grounds are quite large also, and conveniently located with relation to the lime-kilns in the northeastern part of the city.
Mackey & Merrick, Water street, near Decatur, manufacture wooden ware, step-ladders, clothes-bars, tables, etc., and do contract work in wood. Their factory is twenty-four by eighty feet and three stories in height. The business was established in 1887, but is growing in importance. Shipments are made to Pennsylvania and New York, but the bulk of the business is with Ohio towns.
Iron and Metal Workers.—Portland Boiler Company. In 1849 N. H. Moore began the boiler making business in Sandusky on a small scale. The business was quite successful and increased in volume until in 1883 it was organized into a stock company under its present name. J. F. Kilby is now president, W. E. Chapman, manager, secretary and treasurer. The office is located near the factory.
The company makes a specialty of large stationary and marine boilers, the reputation of which has been well established during the past forty years. The demand is mostly for steel boilers during the later years of the enterprise. The steel is punched by machinery, but the riveting is done by hand. The shops are located on West Water street near the I. B. and W. depot.
The stockholders have been very fortunate in receiving dividends, one of 20 per cent. having just been declared. None but first class work is turned out by This company.
Cutlery and Gun Factory. J. Ambacher, in January, 1868, located at his present place of business on West Market, and began to manufacture and repair guns and cutlery. He is a practical workman himself and the business has had a very steady growth until at the present writing his orders extend as far as California, although the bulk of his business is in Ohio and surrounding States. Four men are engaged regularly, and at times others are needed on special orders. Razors are hollow ground, and repairing outside the regular line is done at times. The buildings and grounds are quite spacious.
426 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
Kranz Plumbing and Gas Fitting Works. Fred. Kranz, at the north end of Jackson street on the bay shore has a very extensive and well equipped establishment for the manufacture of plumbers goods etc. Everything in tin, copper and sheet-iron work is done here at short notice.
The new factory is the outgrowth of a trade established in 1847 and coming under the present management in 1865. Mr. Kranz has by his own energy and business integrity built up his present large trade, and at the same time improved his financial resources to the amount needed in handling the business. Some fifteen men are kept constantly at work in the various departments of the business.
Sandusky Machine and Agricultural Works and Klotz and Kromer Machine Company.—The present firm was incorporated in 1870, but the business was begun in 1845. In 1877 the consolidated business was placed in the extensive shops where business is now done in both names, at the old stand on Water street opposite Norman Hall.
The company manufacture marine and stationary engines, (both automatic and common) circular saw-mills, ax handle and spoke lathes, hub and wheel machinery, wine and cider presses, hydraulic, steam and hand elevators, a newly patented pump, also the Hero binders and self.rake reaper and power corn-shellers.
The firm employs from fifty to seventy men, and necessarily has a large monthly pay roll. The output in all the varied departments of the industry amounted in 1887 to about $60,000, goods being shipped over a very large part of the United States, with some outside orders. The Messrs. Klotz and Kromer still take a very active part in the business, the former being treasurer, and the latter secretary of the consolidated company. Mr. W. F. Converse is president, and F. Rinkleff, superintendent.
Barney and Kilby's Foundry, located on Water and Fulton streets, with offices and machine shops on the former. This firm manufactures engines, sugar and paper evaporators, wood working and mill machinery and all sorts of castings. The frontage on Water street is one hundred and thirty-two feet, and the foundry two stories high, of red brick, extends back three hundred and twenty feet on Fulton, with a width in the rear of one hundred and ninety-two feet. The number of men employed averages one hundred and fifty in Sandusky alone, while many hands are constantly required in other cities to place and start machines and engines.
W. W. Wetherell in 1846 established This business as a car-shop ; afterward it was conducted by D. C. Henderson as a mowing machine factory ; afterwards the business was conducted with various modifications by Barney, Hornig & Pringle, and by Klotz & Kromer until the present firm was established in 1876. The facilities were greatly enlarged by them until the annual product of the establishment amounts to three hundred thousand dollars in
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value. Shipments of engines are made to all parts of the United States, to the dominion of Canada and to Cuba. Considerable work is also done for the accommodation of people located in and near Sandusky.
Jacob Buyer established a file-making and recutting establishment on Water street in 1869, and afterward removed to the present location on Fulton near Market street. He employs seven men regularly, and has a trade extending through Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, with occasional orders from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and several other States of the Union. The annual sales are quite uniform, and range from eight to ten thousand dollars, with indications of an increase in the near future.
OTHER INDUSTRIES.
Sandusky Lime Company. This company represents an investment of about half a million dollars, and a decidedly strong combination of business ability and integrity. The following manufacturing plants make up the Sandusky Lime Company : The Marble Head Lime Company, comprising L. B. Johnson & Co., Daniel Kunz, the Pt. Marble Head Lime Company, and John H. Hudson, contributes sixteen kilns ; the Olemacher Lime Company, twelve kilns; Gager & Zollinger, four kilns ; the Moss Marble Head Lime Company, six kilns. The company also owns three kilns in its corporate name, making forty-one in all, with a combined capacity of 4,500 barrels per day. The lime is shipped in all directions, the following States being the leading markets: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Minnesota, and the Territories also receive large consignments by water to Duluth, thence to the interior by rail. The company is officered as follows : president, Hon. Frederick Olemacher; vice-president, John C. Zollinger; treasurer, Leonard S. Johnson ; secretary, Charles B. Dennis.
The Olemacher Lime Company was organized in 1867 by Fred. Olemacher, and had then a capacity of one hundred barrels per day. Mr. Zollinger took an interest in 1871, and in 188o William Olemacher and others became interested.
Sandusky and vicinity has long been noted for its excellent lime, much of which is burned across the bay on Marble Head Peninsula, but considerable quantities are also burned in the city. By the present combination all the leading manufacturers in This vicinity get a fair share of the trade, and the facilities for handling the product are greatly improved. L. B. Johnson was interested in the production of lime before the Civil War; he was among the first to see the importance to which the lime interest of This section would attain.
Most of the gentlemen whose names appear in This connection have been long interested in the lime business in one way or another. John H. Hudson and Daniel Kunz, like. Messrs. L. B. Johnson and Frederick Olemacher, are
428 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
old residents of Sandusky. L. S. Johnson, C. B. Dennis and John Zollinger represent the younger element of the corporation, but have been actively engaged in the business for a number of years. Several hundred men find employment at the various kilns, and a great deal of money is disbursed by the company at their principal office on Water street, west of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
Few industries are doing more for the city in the way of attracting commercial attention than is the Sandusky Lime Company.
Western School Supply. This firm is one of less than half a dozen such factories in the United States. They manufacture school crayons of pure white, and of several colors ; also railroad crayons and carpenter's chalk. The process of mixing the ingredients is kept a secret, the entire work in This department of the industry being performed by interested parties.
Most of the work of crayon making is done in the spring, fall and summer, on account of the inconvenience attending the operation of drying in the winter. John Cowdery, L. Curtis and H. Curtis conduct the enterprise, and have been very successful in what was at one time considered a somewhat venturesome enterprise.
The crayons are sold all over the United States and in many parts of Europe. The firm manufactures its own boxes in which to pack the chalk and crayons. There are some thirty men and eight girls employed a greater part of the time between March 1st and the middle of December. The men work mostly in the box department and the girls at packing and dipping crayons. The crayons are moulded in brass frames containing several dozen each. After standing a few minutes they are pounded loose with wooden mallets, and put away to dry and harden before packing for shipment.
The buildings are located at the corner of Polk and Prospect streets ; the grounds occupy about half a Square. The buildings are of wood, large, comparatively new, and well adapted to the needs of the business. This enterprise was started in 1869 by M. F. and J. S. Cowdery, the former for many years superintendent of schools at Sandusky, and widely known and honored as an Ohio educator.
The Adamantine Company. The manufactory in which This comparatively new compound is made is located on Water street, near the Sandusky Wheel Company's building. Messrs. Brunck & Marsh organized a stock company for the manufacture of This finish for ceilings, etc., about five years ago. Some two years later H. W. and J. H. Wagenet, with Emil Pusch, bought the Marsh's interest, and have continued the business since with growing success.
The finish is in high favor with many who have heretofore used alabastine and diamond wall finish. The composition is covered by patents. E. Pusch is president and H. W. Wagenet is secretary.
Flavoring extracts, H. A. Lee & Co., Water street, near Jackson. This
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business was established in 1881 by B. F. and H. A. Lee, and purchased in 1885 by the present firm. They do a wholesale business with towns on the lines of the several railroads that terminate in or pass through Sandusky. Mr. Lee does his own traveling, and finds a market in Ohio for all his goods.
The Sandusky Paper Company (not incorporated) is located south of the Lake Shore depot. J. J. Hinde is president, J. J. Dauch, secretary and treasurer, and P. Scanlan, superintendent. The business was started in 188o by W. J. Bonn, and after passing through various hands was purchased in September, 1887, by the present company.
The grounds occupy about two acres. There are five tenant houses on the premises besides the mill proper, which consists of a stone building one story in height and forty by eighty feet, with an engine house thirty by thirty and a frame structure thirty by forty, two stories high ; two engines, with a combined capacity of eighty horse-power. From thirty to thirty-five hands are employed steadily. The force is divided, half working at night and half during the day. The product is straw wrapping paper exclusively, and'an average of twenty-five tons a week is produced. Most of the paper is shipped east as far as Massachusetts.
The straw purchased from farmers goes into a vat at one end of the building and comes out in sheets of paper at the other end, where it is packed am" carred. The annual wages amount to $12,000, and the product brings in the neighborhood of $75,000.
Sandusky Tool Company. This is an incorporated company and began its existence as such in 1869 with a capital stock of $125,000, which was increased to $150,000 later on for the purpose of enlarging facilities. The business has been conducted with none but slight intermissions from the date of its establishment, nearly twenty years ago, to the present time.
From one hundred and seventy-five to two hundred and twenty-five men have found steady employment here, and the company is usually disbursing from ten to fifteen thousand dollars per month, more than half of which is for labor. The principal work is in carpenters' planes, cabinet-makers' tools, planters' hoes, awls, etc., bench screws, handles, coopers' wood tools, and various other sorts of steel and wood implements.
White beech is used in the manufacture of planes ; handles are made of white ash, and the bench screws are made of the hard maple. From three to four hundred car loads of timber are worked up by This company every year, a larger portion into planes, for the manufacture of which they have a worldwide reputation. Small tool-handles are made from hickory, of which thirty or more car loads are annually used. Before making up, all lumber is quite thoroughly seasoned in the dry-houses, a process which, in the case of planes, occupies two years or more. Large quantities of fancy wood, such as mahogany, rosewood, lignum vitae, etc., are made up into croquet balls, extra
430 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
fine planes, and various articles. The iron working department furnishes plane irons in great quantities, the average capacity being not far from seventy dozen a day. Planters' solid steel eye hoes, for which they are famed throughout the South, are quite a specialty at This establishment ; they have facilities for making about fifteen hundred daily. Small awls, gouge chisels, saws, etc., are turned out in sets, which are put up in wooden pocket cases, and sold in great quantities to the trade.
The grounds for manufacturing purposes occupy about five acres adjoining the city water works lot at the east end of Market street. The main building is three stories in height, sixty by one hundred and sixty feet, with a wing twenty-two by one hundred feet, in which the immense two hundred horsepower engine and the mammoth boilers are located. The iron and steel department occupies a grinding room forty by sixty feet, an iron working room fifty by one hundred and four, and hoe finishing department twenty-two by one hundred and thirty-six feet. The warehouse is twenty-four by eighty feet, two stories in height. There is a packing anal storage building two stories in height, twenty-four by sixty feet, with a wing sixteen by sixty, and five timber sheds one hundred and fifty to two hundred and sixteen feet long by thirty feet wide. The office and other minor buildings occupy various portions of the grounds. The lumber is mostly moved on small hand-cars, pushed over wooden tracks that reach all parts of the grounds.
The machinery of the various departments is necessarily very complicated, and many of the devices made by the workmen of the establishment from time to time are very ingenious, performing work that at first thought would seem impossible except by hand. Nearly half a million feet of lumber is used annually by the company for packing-boxes in which to ship the various implements turned out of their extensive establishment.
The president of the company, Mr. Mozart Gallup, is an old and honored resident of Sandusky, and is familiar from long experience with the duties of his position and the details of the business. Mr. Gallup is also the manager and treasurer. He came to Ohio from Massachusetts in the year 1844, and has been connected with the present company since 188o, having come to it from the extensive handle factory of James Woolworth, lately moved to Kentucky. His son, Frank M. Gallup, recently chosen secretary, has been long a resident of Sandusky. He is a practical business man, and quite valuable to the business.
J. A. Montgomery, in 1869, accepted the position of superintendent of machinery, thus being with the company from the beginning of its career. Messrs. George A. Church, foreman of the wood working department, and H. H. West, in charge of the manufactured tools and shipping department, have served faithfully since 1870, and are still in the employ of the company. This establishment, like a number of others it has been our privilege to describe in
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these pages, brings large amounts of money to Sandusky and takes little or none away. The great value of such plants to a city needs no explanation. The products of This industry find a market in our own States, in Europe, Australia and South America.
The G. B. Hodgman Manufacturing Company (Incorporated). This immense wood working establishment began operations under the present organization in September, 1885. The officers are G. B. Hodgman, president, 0. A. Knight, vice-president, and Henry Knight, secretary. The firm manufactures general cooperage supplies, but lists as specialties syrup, lard and pickle packages, butter tubs and patent hoops.
Twenty acres are used in the business and the buildings comprise a warehouse thirty-one by three hundred and forty-five feet ; saw-mill thirty by one hundred and sixty-five feet ; band factory thirty by two hundred and thirty-six feet; cooper-shop thirty by eighty feet; stables thirty-two by seventy-two feet ; blacksmith and wagon shop each two stories in height. They have a brick engine and boiler room, their engine being an automatic with a forty-eight inch stroke, the diameter of the cylinder is twenty-two inches. The saw-mill and factory are heated by steam and lighted with the Edison incandescent light, the company owning its own generator and lighting apparatus. There are six stock warehouses, the first twenty-four by one hundred and fifty- six feet, the second and third each ten and one-half by three hundred and seventy-five feet, the fourth twenty-four by three hundred and thirty-six feet, the fifth ten and one-half by four hundred feet, the sixth twenty by two hundred and twenty-five feet, each of these buildings one story in height. Two steam dry kilns, sixteen by twenty-two and twenty-two by twenty-eight feet respectively. Owing to the bulky nature of their products the firm found it necessary to build cars specially adapted to their shipping requirements. These cars are owned by the firm and handled by the railroad companies on much the same terms that the refrigerator cars are run for the large western meat shipping establishments. The shipments of This company cover a very large portion of the United States, and the products enjoy an excellent reputation. The proprietors are well known for business integrity and thoroughness. About one hundred and twenty-five men are employed the year around in the establishment here, and the business of course gives employment to a great :many others in the pineries, where they own a saw-mill for preparing the lumber. The auxiliary mill is at Lenox, Mich.
In 1887 was commenced the manufacture of long bridge and special bill timber, for which they have a large and growing demand. Mr. Hodgman, the president, commenced the present line of business alone in 1877, and continued it with marked success until the stock company was organized in 1885, as mentioned above.
Kilbourn & Company, on Water street, east of the Baltimore and Ohio
432 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
Railroad, conduct one of the large cooperage establishments of Sandusky. On their lot, which is eight by twelve rods, are two buildings, the factory proper, twenty- eight by ninety-six feet, and the warehouse, thirty by one hundred and twenty-six feet, besides numerous sheds, etc., for storing stock.
Their principal work is in fish, syrup and pickle packages, which are sold in a dozen or more surrounding States. They employ on an average twenty- two men. A branch establishment is conducted at San Francisco. This business was established in 1878 by the present firm. It is the intention of the proprietors to enlarge their facilities in the near future.
Ship Yard and Dry Dock. J. E. Monk, some thirteen years ago, established a ship yard at the north end of Meigs street, on the bay. Mr. Monk was a practical builder, having worked as long for others in the city prior to the establishment of his present enterprise as he has since for himself. Some fine work has been turned out in This yard, and a great deal of general repairing is being done all the time ; fifteen or twenty men are kept at work most of the season. The steamers Ferris and Hayes, the barge Norma, the tug Mystic, the General Burnside, Silver Spray, L. L. Rawson, Rolland and other boats, well known at Sandusky, were built by Mr. Monk at This yard.
Stirrup and Whipstock Factory. Mr. H. H. Knight, Monroe street, near Perry, has been in his present line of business in This city for nearly twenty years. He makes all sorts of wooden stirrups and whipstocks, that are widely known among teamsters as durable and conveniently light. His goods are sold in all the States and territories, and to some extent in foreign stock raising countries. Mr. Knight's stamp on a whipstock or stirrup is the average cowboy or teamster's guarantee that the stock is superior in quality. He makes a cowboy stirrup, trimmed in sheet brass, that is eminently satisfactory to the hardy sons of the plains.
Mattress Factory. J. Ricker's mattress factory is an establishment of the city that, while it cannot boast as great Sales as some establishments, is still very widely khown, and covers a large section of country with its wholesale trade. Over five thousand mattresses are annually sold by This concern to furniture dealers in the South and West. He was compelled to enlarge his facilities some two or or three years ago to accommodate the increasing and profitable wholesale trade. Mr. Ricker is a practical workman himself and employs a number of men in his work.
Sandusky Basket Factory. This is the only establishment of its kind in the city, and enjoys almost a monopoly of the large fruit basket trade of the surrounding vineyards, and of the peach orchards and vineyards of Marblehead and the islands of Lake Erie. The factory was started in 1883 by C. W. Koegle, C. Doerflinger and Mr. Herder. A year later the last named gentleman retired and was succeeded by John Doerflinger, a brother of C. W. Doerflinger. The firm has remained the same since that time. The business re-
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quires considerable quantities of timber which is purchased from adjoining counties, and from the Dominion of Canada. The factory annually turns out an average of about fifty thousand dozens fruit baskets, and furnishes employment for some thirty-five persons during a portion of the year. The wages paid vary in accordance with the skill and experience of the workmen, from seventy-five cents per day to two dollars.
The buildings are located on the cove east of Meigs street, and are of wood. All the necessary modern appliances for rapid work are to be found in the establishment. The engine is run by C. W. Koegle, one of the owners mentioned above.
MERCANTILE AND OTHER BUSINESS INTERESTS OF SANDUSKY.
It is an undoubted truth that there has not been at any time during the past life and History of Sandusky a supply not fully equal to the demand in the mercantile branch of trade. As the old adage has it, " competition is the life of trade," but that same competition, carried to an extreme, may be equally the death of trade. Mercantile business, like any other, if overdone or over represented, results in stagnation, and stagnation generally results in failure, unless the owner happens to be sufficiently well possessed of This " world's goods " to weather a season of storm ; then those not so fortunately circumstanced must yield to the inevitable.
The reader must not infer from This that the city has been remarkable for its business failures, for such is not the case. Its business houses are as firmly established and as well conditioned as any other city similarly situated ; still, it appears to the careful and disinterested observer that every branch of trade is as well represented, and possibly a little more than that, as the population of the city and surrounding country will warrant. This is, of course, beneficial to the purchaser and consumer, but is not especially profitable to the person whose capital is invested.
The impression seems to have gone abroad through the country generally that during the last few years Ohio has made rapid strides in the direction of prohibition, and it is quite generally believed, in some other States at least, that in the very near future Ohio will be placed on the catalogue of the prohibition States. But whatever may have occurred elsewhere to give rise to This belief, the tidal wave of prohibition has certainly not touched the city of Sandusky, however much such an event might be desirable. We read in every paper of the great reduction in number of saloons in other places. Can it be possible they have removed here from. elsewhere ? While it is by no means the province of This work to criticise or comment upon any existing condition of things, the presence of over two hundred saloons in a city of twenty-three Thousand population is something unusual. But the city authorities seem to be fully competent to regulate the economy of municipal affairs, and it behooves not This work to lament or condemn their action.
434 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
When Sandusky received its first pioneer inhabitants the mercantile business of the place, when established, was held to the vicinity of Water street and Columbus avenue, and it was not until some years later that it extended to Market street and other thoroughfares. The bulk of trade (outside of manufacturing and producing) still holds to the old localities, and may be said now to be confined to the streets named, although, with the gradual increase in population, business enterprises were Started and have been maintained in many sections outside the recognized center.
Having in This chapter devoted considerable space to a mention and description of the manufacturing and producing industries of the city, simple justice demands that there be made some notice of the mercantile interests and of those who are engaged therein ; but it is impossible to devote space to each individual enterprise beyond a mention in the general class to which each respectively belongs. And it is deemed inadvisable for the intention of This chapter to mention the location of each tradesman, but rather, to classify them under a general head, as has elsewhere been done in This work, that the reader may gain something of an idea of the increase in every branch of trade over that done thirty, forty, or fifty years ago in the same territory. And it is especially to be desired that This mention will not be considered as giving This work the appearance or character of a business directory, but that it will be treated as a part of a record of the things that now exist and as they exist.
In 1888 it is found that there are engaged in business pursuits as
Agricultural Implement Dealers.—Arend Bros. (Charles H., August H. and William G.), Jacob Arend, Sanderson & Foster, Rinkleff & Taubert (George M. Rinkleff 'and Lewis J. Taubert), T. B. Taylor & Co. (Thomas B. and Dennis G. Taylor).
Bakers.—Herman F. Cluever, Frank Conrad, Frank Frank, Glahn & Ingwersen, Jacob Kanzler, William Kreutsinger, William Krysinger, John B. Newmeyer, George Prestler & Son, Anthony Schaefer, Andrew Schott.
Booksellers and Stationers.—J. L. Bonn & Son, Joseph Elsner, Julius Eckener, William Hamilton, H. C. Huntington & Co.
Boot and Shoe Dealers.—Conrad Braun, Cable Bros., H. W. Curth, Bernhard Esch, Frederick Federer, John A. Feuerstein, Christian Frey, Geideman & Homegardner, Isaac Grasgreen, Michael Heinzerling, George Held, Paul Herter, Klieger & Parsons, Oswald Link, Joseph Leitzinger, George Mayer, George Oberer, Frank Pietschmann, William M. Rhode, John L. Rieger, Herman Roth, Ambrose Schnell, Theodore Schneider, Carl Schultz, Michael Silbersack, Christian Stubig, A. W. Tamm, Jacob Wiederkehr.
Crockery, China and Glassware.—Geo. Marshall & Co., William Schoenemann.
Cigars and Tobacco.—Jacob H. Bauer, John C. Bickel, Andrew Diehl, Jacob Dietz, E. J. Fay, D. Frohman & Son, David Hart, Andrew Kreirnes, J. F. Les-
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ser, Christian Linker, Joseph Loth, Harry Molyneux, Martin Otner, August Reinheimer, Frank A. Riedy, Henry Ritter, A. E. Ross, Joseph H. Schade, George Stahl, Jacob H. Stein, Charles F. Wetterer.
Clothiers.—J. L. Hudson, Jacob Kronthal, Joseph Kronthal, M. & A. Lebensburger, McFall Bros., Schnaitter & Buderus.
Coal Dealers.—C. E. Black, Browning & Kelham, M. Callan & Son, E. Colley & Son, Frederick Groch, Daniel Hoffman, Johnson, Kunz & Co., Northwestern Coal & Stone Exchange, The Sandusky Coal Company, Daniel Schaffer, William J. Von Seick, Wehrle & Hunt, J. G. Zeigler & Son.
Confectioners,—William A. Anderson, Joseph Bordonaro, Martin Boysen, Peter Ebner, L. Seymour, Harry Hoffman, Samuel Meyers.
Daily Markets.—Fred. Bumgartel, Gottlob Bentel, Mrs. John Biglin, Martin Cecil, Dempsey & Son, William Diebold, William Farrell, Joseph Gundlach, William Haecker, Jacob Hardy, Daniel E. Hartung, John Hecker, Kelly Bros., George Napp, Kuehler Bros., Charles Linder, Jay Littleton, Conrad Margard, Fred Mayer, Martin Murschel, Charles Rittman, William Schneider, W. B. Schneider, Speigel Bros., Joseph A. Stoll, Tritschler & Smith, D. Wolf & Son, Constantine Zipfel.
Druggists.—Arnold & Henkelman, Lewis A. Biehl, James H. Emerich, W. A. Graham, J. C. Hauser, F. R. Lange, Charles A. Lehrer, Melville Bros., J. Pape, G. A. Wildenthaler & Co.
Dry Goods Dealers.—Brand & Fox, J. F. Bredbeck & Co., William Brehm, Carl Ebert, Joseph Eby, John M. Fox, Mrs. Nellie Glover, Mrs. Lottie Grasgreen, N. H. Hammond, Harris & Schumacher, Frank Hess, Adolph Hoffman, August M. Koegele, Powers & Zollinger, L. Schuefler, Stein Bros., Edward Weis, Wm. T. West, E. H. Wilcox, Christ. Wolf, A. Zerbe & Son.
Fancy Goods and Notions.—Louis Cohn, N. H. Hammond, Kugel Bros., Paul Westerhold.
Flour and Feed Stores and Mills.—T. C. Adams, Dwelle & Williams, Kerber & Son, James D. Lea, T. L. McEwen, Anthony Pietschman, F. Pope & Co., Frank Rosino, Fred. W. Thomas.
Fruit Dealers.—Pfranklin & Co., Scheufler & Curth, Falbot & Freeman.
Furniture Dealers.—J. C. Butler & Co., Deek & Andus, J. Krupp & Son, J. B. Mayer, Jacob Murchel, Ruff, Son & Kugler.
Furnishing Goods.—John R. Goosman, J. L. Hudson, George Knopf, Jacob Kronthal, Joseph Kronthal, W. V. Latham & Co., M. & A. Lebensburger, McFall Bros., C. H. Muenscher, Schnaitter & Buderus, Charles F. Stein, Christian Wiedel, Jacob Witzel.
Grain Merchants.—J. A. Closser & Co., John H. Hudson, Frederick W. Thomas.
Grocery and Provision Dealers.—Louis Altstatter, William Barzi Biehl Bros., Philip Bing, J. L. Bonn & Son, H. P. Breining, Herman Bremer, Buyer
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Bros., Claussen Bros., E. N. Curth, Charles Dahnke, John R. Davis, George Dressel, W. Eberle, Daniel Ennis, Adolph Ernst, Mary Feick, George Ferback, Michael Fischer, John W. Flickinger, Mary Fuchs, Mrs. F. J. Cehri, Gfroehr & Arnold, John F. Ging, Erich Hartman, L. E. Hastings, August Heiberger, Anthony Herbert, Mrs. L. Jackson, Frederick Kade, Albert Kerber, Lorenz Kerber, Frederick Knopf, Mrs. P. Kominger, George Lehr & Co., Conrad Leonhiser, Lewis & Dwelle, Mrs. Bridget Lotz, Daniel McCarthy, Michael McKernan, F. W. Marquart, George Marquart, John Myer, Henry Miller, J. Q. Nichols & Co., Adam Oehm, Otto Pape, Henry Pfeil, Ulrich Rau, F. C. Reyberg, Edward F. Rentler, Robertson & Co., John B. Sartor, C. W. Schade, Joseph Schoefler & Son, Philip Schmidt, William Schoenerman, Mrs. John Seibel, Silva & Newbaurer, Mary A. Smith, William R. Smith, Charles Speigel, Paul Sprau, Paul Sweissinger, William R. Talbot, Lewis F. Taubert, Thiene & Son, Mrs. Caroline Walter, J. C. Whetstone & Son, J. Whitworth & Co., Wiehman & Sons, Jacob Weidmer, B. H. Weigel & Son.
Hardware and Cutlery Dealers.—Arend Bros., Jacob Arend, Barney & Co., Sanderson & Foster, Butts & Whitworth, Rinkleff Taubert, Mattern Bros.
Hats and Caps.—John R. Goosman, J. L. Hudson, C. C. Keech, George Knopf, M. & A. Lebensburger, McFall Bros., C. H. Muenscher, Charles P. Stein, Jacob Weitzel.
Lumber Dealers.—E. R. Ayers & Co., Eureka Lumber Company, Gilcher & Schuck, Haws & William, R. B. Hubbard & Son, G. W. Icsman, J. T. Johnson & Co., Lea, Herbert & Co., Schoepfle & Sloane.
Marble Dealers.—J. V. Brost & Son, Alexander Hornig, Ambrose Lieb, Adam Montgomery, Christian Schlenk.
Millinery Goods.—Caroline Cady, Amelia Christie, Mamie L. Clark, Louis Cohn, Rose Conley, Caroline Feidler, Mrs. B. Goodrich, Nora E. Renehan, William Schade, Mrs. H. C. Young.
Musical Instruments.—N. H. Hammond, Albert J. Nusly, Paul Westerhold, Mrs. P. A. Follett, Kirch & Rife, B. S. Barrett, J. R. Jackson.
Saddlers and Harness Dealers.—F. H. Francisco, J. B. Kaeferly, F. R. Lange, Reddle & Weier, Conrad Rhode, C. V. Wagner, Franz Wagner.
Salt Dealers.—E. R. Ayers & Co., C. E. Black, John H. Hudson, J. T. Johnson & Co., Frederick W. Thomas.
Sand Dealers.—John Homegardner, Johnson, Kunz & Co., The Sandusky Paper Company, T. B. Taylor & Co.
Seed Dealers.—John R. Davis, Dwelle & Williams, S. E. Hubbard, Frederick W. Thomas.
Jewelers and Silverware Merchants.—Henry Dehnel, Julius Erckener, N. H. Hammond, Charles Heimburg, George D. Lewin, Lewis M. Lea, C. L. Matthews, Albert J. Nusly, Paul Westerhold.
Stone Dealers and Producers.—Ira T. Davis, John Homegardner, N. W. Coal
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and Stone Exchange, Ohlemacher Lime Company, Michael Callan, Kunz & Johnson, David McGory, O'Donnell Bros., Charles Schoepfle.
Stoves and Tinware.—B. F. Ferris, Groff & Hosfeld, Mattern Bros., J. Mertz & Sons, Rickert Bros., Charles Ross, jr., John Schuefler, Peter Sherer.
Merchant Tailors.—Louis Deitz, Valentine Heim, Moritz G. Hopf, W. V. Latham & Co., Charles Miller, Malachi Nolan, J. P. Pfell, Schnaitter & Buderus, William Seitz, Jacob Smith, Ambrose Volk, Christian Weidel.
Undertakers.—Agsten & Bernard, Deck & Andreas, J. Krupp & Son, Ruff, Son & Kugler.
The above by no means represents the entire mercantile business of Sandusky, as there are many—hundreds—engaged in some branch of trade or production that might, in a measure, be classed as mercantile, while strictly speaking it is not such, and it would be absolutely impossible to make an individual mention of the name of each person engaged in any trade, business occupation or calling; such is not the purpose of This chapter, nor would it be desirable so to do.
But there are other classes of occupations that go to make up the business interests of the city that are not mercantile, but are, nevertheless, worthy of mention in This connection. Of barber shops the city has twenty; saloons, over two hundred ; billiard rooms, fifteen ; boarding-houses, fourteen.
Of surgeon dentists there are the following : Drs. Chandler & Son, A. F. Miller, Clarence D. Peck, C. T. Stroud & Son, Charles Stroud, Edgar T. Waye.
Of insurance agents : J. A. Falk, Harry B. Finch & Co., Theodore Gerald, Rosenbaum & Boslaw, U. T. Curran, Fannie G. Spencer, H. F. Spencer, Wagenet & Davis.
Of photographers : Willard A. Bishop, Charles A. Cross, J. M. Lloyd, C. J. Pascoe, Clayton W. Platt.
Hotels.—From the time that Cyrus W. Marsh remodeled his dwelling and converted it into a " public house," there has been no lack of hotel accommodations in Sandusky. As can be said of every branch of trade can be said of the hotel business, that it has kept even step with the times and the constant growth in population. Of the hotels of Sandusky to-day there are eighteen well located, well appointed and well conducted. They are the Bing House, at No. 735 Market street ; the Colton House, a large stone hotel at the corner of Water and Lawrence streets, Harry Colton, proprietor; the Germania House, at 935 Market street ; the Grosser House, at 303 North Depot street ; Gran's Hotel, corner North Depot and Lawrence streets ; the Hoelzer House, No. 212 Wayne street, George Schaeber proprietor ; Kunzmann's Hotel, Nos. 125-127 Jackson street, August G. Kunzmann, proprietor; the Lake Shore House, No. 317 North Depot street ; the Lake View House, corner of Water and Hancock streets ; the Mansfield House, No. 627 Water street, J. A. Mansfield, proprietor ; the National House, corner of Market and Wayne streets ;
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the New Lake House, at the corner of Water and Wayne streets, on the site of Marsh's Steamboat Hotel, the first in the town, Voltaire Scott proprietor ; the Robert Blum House, 130 Tiffin avenue, Richard Reigger proprietor ; the Sandusky House, 125 Decatur street, Thomas Hess proprietor ; the Schlenk House, 823 Market street, Solomon Schlenk, proprietor ; Sloane House, Washington Row and Columbus avenue, Captain A. W. Powers lessee ; the West House, Columbus avenue and Water street, Colonel E. Geohegan manager, W. T. West & Co. proprietors ; the Wiedeman House, corner of Market and Decatur streets, John M. Wiedeman, proprietor.
Of the hotels above named there are two, at least, worthy of especial notice. The West House was built originally for business purposes, and fitted up for hotel purposes in the year 1858, by W. T. and A. K. West. It is a substantial and fine appearing stone building, five stories in heighth, with a frontage on Columbus avenue of two hundred and sixteen feet, and on Water street of one hundred and thirty-five feet. On the first or ground floor there are commodious offices and rooms for all hotel purposes. The West House has rooms sufficient for two hundred guests, and is a thoroughly first-class hotel in every respect.
The Sloane House was built during the year 1880, by Hon. Rush R. Sloane. The building is of brick, four and five stories high, and has an extensive front on Washington square (200 feet), and a depth of one hundred and fifty feet. This hotel will furnish accommodations for one hundred and fifty person. The present proprietor of the Sloane House is Captain A. W. Powers, a " Yankee" by birth, and a thoroughly competent landlord. His title of "Captain" was justly earned by his service in one of the first regiments that entered the service from Massachusetts.