The Colton House

From the early 1860s until his death in 1898, Harry Colton was the proprietor of the Colton House, a hotel located in Sandusky at the southeast corner of Lawrence and Water Streets. It was situated just across from the docks of the Big Four railway and its predecessors. A portion of the 1886 Sanborn Map shows the location of the business. There was a saloon and billiards hall on the portion of the hotel that faced Water Street, and the hotel’s rooms were located along the side of the hotel which faced Lawrence Street.

The 1870 U.S.Census lists all the residents of the Colton House in Sandusky on July 25, 1870, which included Harry Colton, his wife Susanna, and several children. An article in the July 1, 1905 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported that the Colton House was a leading hotel in Sandusky at one time, due to its proximity to the shipping docks along Sandusky Bay. In its later years, it became known primarily as a boarding house and café. 

Harry Colton died on May 8, 1898. After his death, the Colton House was operated by his wife, and later by his sons. By the early twentieth century, other owners had taken over the business. In 1905 the hotel became known as the Hotel Lawrence. The building was razed in the fall of 1932.

Harry and Susanna Colton and several of the extended Colton family are buried in Block 60 of Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.