The Boalt Family of Sandusky and Norwalk

Pictured above is the former home of John M. Boalt, who was president of the Sandusky Wheel Company in the 1860s. John M. Boalt was the son of Captain John Boalt and Ruth Lockwood Boalt. His first wife was Sarah Follett, daughter of Oran Follett; she died at age 20 in 1844. (He later married Fanny Griswold.)

The Boalt family settled first in Norwalk, but moved to Sandusky around 1823, where Captain Boalt was the proprietor of the Steamboat Hotel. John and Ruth Boalt had a large family. Their daughter Amanda Boalt was the first wife of prominent Sandusky attorney George Reber. Daughter Clara Boalt married Samuel W. Butler, who had a large commission business in the early days of Sandusky. Susan Boalt married Samuel B. Caldwell, an early Mayor of Sandusky. Portraits of both Samuel B. Caldwell and Susan Boalt Caldwell are housed in the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

Another child of Captain John Boalt was Charles L. Boalt, who was a well known attorney in Norwalk, Ohio. He was also associated with the Toledo, Norwalk, and Cleveland Railroad. Charles L. Boalt’s daughter, Fanny, became Mrs. Jay O. Moss. Mrs. Moss was the driving force behind securing funds from Andrew Carnegie for the purpose of building a public library in Sandusky.  

Charles L. Boalt’s son was John Henry Boalt, who was a prominent lawyer in California. There is a Boalt Street in Sandusky as well as in San Francisco.

The Boalt family members were deeply involved in civic and business affairs in both Huron and Erie Counties and beyond. Several books in the Sandusky Library chronicle our area’s rich local history. Among the titles are: The Centennial History of Erie County, by Hewson L. Peeke; History of Erie County, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich; and History of the Firelands, by W. W. Williams.

Recipes Dandy for Cake and Candy

A promotional booklet from the Schade Coal Company was given away to area customers during the holiday season long ago.

Here are some of the recipes included in the booklet:

From about 1904 to 1921, George J. Schade was the manager of the Schade Coal Company, located at 810 West Water Street, across from the Big Four Depot. At the time of his death in 1937 he had served longer on the Sandusky City Commission than any other person. Mr. Schade had been a pharmacist, and owned the former Schade Theater, besides managing the Schade Coal Company for several years. 

Funeral services for George J. Schade were held at his home at 1318 Tiffin Avenue. Mr. Schade was the son in law of pioneer Sandusky brewer Jacob Kuebeler. He was survived by his wife, daughter Christine Schade Mylander,  son Julian Schade, and a grandson George L. Mylander. 

Fuchs Grocery Store and Fuchs Hall

In the 1890 Sandusky City Directory, Charles P. Fuchs was listed as a partner with his mother Mary Fuchs in the grocery business at 781 Fulton Street in Sandusky, now 702 West Monroe Street.  Charles’ father Joseph had previously run a grocery store at the corner of Fulton and Fox Streets. The name Fuchs is translated into Fox in the English language. Helen Hansen and Virginia Steinemann wrote in an article that appeared in the November 7, 1993 issue of the Sandusky Register that Joseph Fuchs/Fox had platted lots on the west side of Fulton Street, south of Monroe Street. That area was known as “Foxtown” and once featured a German beer garden. From about 1906 through the mid-1930s, the upper floor of the Fox Grocery was known as Fuchs Hall, or Fox Hall. 

This hall was a popular meeting place for the German Singing Society and the Low German Mutual Aid Society, as well as for card parties and dancing lessons. In 1916 the First Spiritual Reform Church met weekly at Fuchs Hall. Charles P. Fuchs died in 1934, and in 1935, a fire did considerable damage to Fuchs Hall. You will recognize the location of the Fuchs Grocery and Fuchs Hall at the southwest corner of Fulton and Monroe Streets as the longtime home of Cameo Pizza.

1922 Fram Available at Internet Archive

Recently the Sandusky High School yearbook for 1922, the Fram, was made available at the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of books, movies, and more which are freely available online. In the 1922 Fram, you will find pictures of students, such as these members of the 1922 Sandusky High School senior class.

Here is a picture of the Debating Club from SHS in 1922. One of its members, Andrew Biemiller, went on to serve as a U.S. Representative in Congress.

Many local businesses advertised in the Fram.

Check out the Fram on the Internet Archive. It is accessible at all hours, and is free to view.

The “Elderlies” Column by Karl Kurtz

Karl Kurtz can be seen at the right in the picture above at WLEC Radio. From 1974 to 1979, Mr. Kurtz wrote a column for the Sandusky Register entitled “The Elderlies.”  The articles usually featured photographs, and included topics of interest to senior citizens. Karl interviewed area residents and asked them their memories about businesses, school days, sporting events, and customs from Sandusky in years gone by. Here is a column from 1975 talking about the days when local residents used an ice box instead of a refrigerator.

Copies of “The Elderies” columns have been clipped and were bound into three large notebooks. If you would like to read more of these articles, stop by the Reference Services desk at Sandusky Library. The three bound volumes kept in the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. 

Karl Kurz worked in advertising and radio for many years. He passed away on May 15, 1980. His tombstone at Oakland Cemetery includes the inscription “Oddity Man,” named for his popular WLEC radio program based on unusual facts and stories.

The Wagner Palace, at the Junction of Columbus and Hayes Avenues

The road once known as the Columbus and Sandusky Pike, now Route 4, began at the intersection of Columbus and Hayes Avenues in Sandusky, Ohio.  Michael Wagner built a structure at the junction of these two key streets in Sandusky about 1882. He and his family lived on the upper floor, and at the street level was a saloon known as the Wagner Palace. In the book Treasure by the Bay, Ellie Damm describes the architecture of the building, designed in the Second Empire style, with a front tower and arched windows.  

In 1893, Michael Wagner founded the Wagner Quarries, now a part of Lehigh Hanson. This listing for Michael Wagner from the 1902 Sandusky City Directory indicates both of his business ventures.

The Wagner Palace was considered a fine saloon. This picture shows the interior of the business. Note the large fan, ornate ceiling, and mirrored bar.

   

     

This postcard image, which was published in the Sandusky Register on February 23, 1909, shows the downed wires in front of the saloon after a severe sleet storm hit the city on February 14, 1909.

By 1910, Anthony Uhl and John Oswald were the proprietors of the business. From about 1912 to 1919, Mr. Uhl was the sole proprietor. After Prohibition, Mr. Uhl served soft drinks at the former saloon.  In the late 1930s, Edward Brindley operated a sandwich shop at the site. For several decades, the building was home to a beauty salon, first as the Vogue Beauty Salon from 1941 to 1961.  For many years in the 1960s and 1970s, the Marge Marie Beauty Salon operated here. Since the mid 1990s, an insurance company has been in business at this location. 

Through the years, many different businesses have been in operation at this prime site, including a bookstore, thrift shop, meat market, and an appliance store. The historical Sandusky City Directories provide the exact years of operation for these businesses. As you drive down Columbus Avenue or Hayes Avenue in Sandusky,  take a few moments to look at this historic building. Many of the fine architectural details remain from its early days, especially the designs above the arched windows and the tower on the northern most point of the building.

Sandusky Chapter of the American Red Cross was very Active during the Great War

Prior to the entry of the United States into World War I, and throughout the war years, hundreds of volunteers in Sandusky and Erie County worked tirelessly for the local chapters of the American Red Cross. Here are some of the volunteers of the Sandusky Chapter:

In 1916 a sewing room on the third floor of the Parish House of Grace Episcopal Church was used by local volunteers to sew night shirts for the office of the American Fund for French Wounded. Later work done at this location was for the American Red Cross. During World War I, the Sandusky Chapter of the American Red Cross made 59,043 surgical dressings; 13,775 knitted articles; and over 20,000 other articles. The members participated in five parades and raised money for Red Cross Nurses. Red Cross members participated in collecting items for the Tin and Lead Foil Drive and provided financial support to the emergency hospital for victims of influenza in Erie County. Mrs. Elizabeth D.G. Moss Marsh served as chairman of the surgical dressing committee of the Red Cross during the Great War years.

This 1917 American Red Cross display helped to promote the services of the local chapters of the American Red Cross during the War. It depicts a Red Cross nurse giving medical aid to a wounded soldier.

The participation of members of Sandusky and other Erie County chapters of the American Red Cross have been chronicled in detail in the Honor Roll, Erie County Edition, from pages 179 to 213. Many pictures are included on these pages, as well as the names of key individuals and their length of service with the Red Cross. Inquire at the Reference Services Desk to view this valuable local history resource. Military records of servicemen, including family details and brief service records are provided for hundreds of local men who served their country during World War I. Also included are details about the hundreds of local residents who lent aid to the war effort on the home front.

Jessica Follett Foster

Jessica Follett Foster was born in 1869 in Sandusky, Ohio to Frank E. Foster and his wife, the former Eliza Ward Follett. Jessica’s father and her maternal grandfather, Oran Follett, were the publishers of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. While living in DeKalb, Illinois, Jessica taught at the Northern Illinois State Teachers College for seventeen years. She was a member of the Martha Pitkin Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, tracing her ancestry back to Revolutionary soldier Frederick Follett. Jessica’s lineage is found in volume 35 of the Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Book.

From about 1923 to 1934, Miss Foster resided on Wayne Street in Sandusky, and during that time worked as an agent for the New York Life Insurance Company. This advertisement appeared in the January 19, 1924 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal.

In Sandusky, Jessica was a member of the Art Study Club, pictured below at an event in which all the members dressed in historic costume.

In the Centennial issue of the Sandusky Register, on December 22, 1922, she shared excerpts from her grandfather Oran Follett’s meeting with President Abraham Lincoln in October of 1862 (available on microfilm at the Sandusky Archives Research Center).  

In the 1930s, Jessica Follett Foster moved to Los Angeles. She resided there until her death on April 30, 1960. Miss Foster was buried in the family lot at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery. 

In the collections of the Follett House Museum is a chair which once belonged to her grandparents, Oran and Eliza Follett, and was a favorite of her mother when she was a child.

The Bustling Waterfront in Sandusky in the 1910s

This photograph of a busy day in downtown Sandusky’s waterfront district was taken in the 1910s. The steamer “R.B. Hayes” was docked at the Cedar Point pier, while the “Arrow” was out in Sandusky Bay, most likely heading towards Cedar Point.  A third vessel, the “Ottawa,”  is on the western side of the Cedar Point pier. Several people are located near the train, including some local policemen. In this closer view, you can see a Penny Arcade located near the pier, as vacationers head towards the boarding area. 

On the very right side of the full picture, you can see the steps on the side of the Post, Lewis & Radcliffe building, now 101 East Water Street. In the view below, you can read the words New York Central Lines on the U.S. mail car number 105.

In the close-up view below, the abbreviation CCC & STL appears on the locomotive. The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known as the “BigFour” was an affiliate of the New York Central System for much of the first half of the twentieth century.

The foot of Columbus Avenue in Sandusky has long been the  hub of activity and transportation center, especially during the warm weather months. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. to learn much more about the history of Sandusky and Erie County. 

Interior Views of an Unidentified Sandusky Store

In the Business Collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center are some interior views of an unidentified business, taken in the 1950s or 1960s.  A male employee can be seen on the right side of the picture. He is surrounded by a wide array of merchandise for sale. “Approved Comics” were sold, one of which was Walt Disney’s Uncle Donald and His Nephews Dude Ranch. The store had a display of Sheaffer Scrip ink cartridges, and a wide variety of Dr. Scholl’s foot comfort remedies. Other health and beauty products sold here were Q-tips, hair nets, and “Pic a Puff” tissues. Band-aids had recently introduced their “stars and strips” bandages. Color prints could be developed from Kodacolor film for 25 cents. The picture was likely taken in the Fall, as Halloween masks can be seen next to the display of Ballreich’s chips, and a sign from Esmond’s advertised their “Fall Festival” sale. The store had recently opened a dairy delicatessen department which sold many Esmond Dairy products, including milk which cost 75 cents for two half gallon cartons. Other Esmond products sold at this unidentified store included ice cream, cottage cheese, coffee cream, sour cream and “snak dip.” In the picture below, many more Halloween masks can be seen. Decorative candy boxes line the counter at the bottom of the picture.

Here is a different view of the dairy delicatessen section of the store, which includes a wide range of grocery items in a relatively small space.

Seeing these pictures is like going back in time, when residents could buy their groceries in neighborhood stores. If you think you can identify this business, please leave a message in the Comments field of this post.