Woodlawn Golf Course in Sandusky in the 1930s

The Woodlawn Golf Course opened at the corner of Camp Street and Perkins Avenue on May 30, 1931. The clubhouse was built by Miller Brothers, of Venice, Ohio. The firm of Opfer and Faber ran thousands of feet of tile, to provide adequate drainage for the golf course. Green fees were $1.00 for weekdays, and $1.25 on Sundays and holidays. On opening day, there were exhibition matches between Ed Windisch and Mel Carrier, and between Miss Polly Smith and Mrs. Cecil Laird. Pictured above are Mrs. Locke, Harley Hane, and Mel Carrier, the golf pro at Woodlawn. 

Several advertisements and announcements about the opening of the Woodlawn Golf Course appeared in the Sandusky Register of May 30, 1931.

The Manhattan store in Sandusky sold clothes that would make golfers “dress well” for the sport. Holzaepfel’s ran special sales on golf balls and golf clubs. 

In the snapshot below are: Mr. John Rheinegger, owner; Boyd Hamrick; and Chester Bohn, greenskeeper.

This is the Number 4 Fairway:

In the Spring of 1936, Charles Stamm took over the Woodlawn Golf Course as the manager and golf pro. During this economically-troubled era business declined, so that by 1938 and 1939 circuses were held on the grounds of the former golf course. This ad for the Parker and Watts Circus was featured in the Sandusky Star Journal of May 22, 1939.

Eventually, with the help of the Depression-era WPA, a new municipal golf course was created on the west side of Sandusky. An article in the May 20, 1940 issue of the Sandusky Register announced the dedication of the Mills Creek Golf Course. (The name is derived from the Honorable Isaac Mills, one of the founders of Sandusky.)

The Former Library at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home

                                     

Built shortly after the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home (now the Ohio Veterans Home) opened in 1888, this library building served the Home for many years. Residents of the Home could read books and magazines in the Library. A picture of the Library appeared in the book Art Work of Huron and Erie Counties in the 1890s.

    

A large assembly hall, often called “Library Hall” was on the upper level of the library, which was used for meetings and card parties. The McMeens Post No. 19, Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Civil War Veterans, often held its meetings there.  During World War II, the U.S. Civil Air Patrol held drills in Library Hall. Sometimes church services were held in the building. 

This picture of the Library was taken in 1983.

A series of twenty photographs of the Library at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home is found in the Prints and Photographs Collection of the Library of Congress Online Catalog. These views give a detailed view of each floor of the Library, as well as several exterior views. 

By 1988, this building was no longer used as a Library. It was demolished, along with several other buildings on the grounds of the Ohio Veterans Home, because it would have been too costly to make the improvements that would have been necessary were the buildings to remain in use.  Today a research library is housed in the Military Museum at the Ohio Veterans Home. The library is available for use by Ohio Veterans Home residents as well as the general public.  

Day of Jubilee in Honor of the Fifteenth Amendment

According to the May 25, 1870 issue of the Sandusky Register, a Day of Jubilee was held in honor of the ratification of the fifteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited federal and state governments from denying the right to vote based on that citizen’s “race, color or previous condition of servitude.”

The Great Western Band led a procession to the Erie County Fairgrounds, then located south of Scott Street in the area now known as Cable Park. There were delegations here from several neighboring communities. The first feature of the activities was a glee club of five African American ladies who sang the song “America.” Rev. Thomas Holland Boston (below) offered up a prayer.

Mrs. Handy from Fremont read messages from President U.S. Grant and Secretary of State Hamilton Fish which proclaimed the ratification of the 15^th constitutional amendment. The next speakers were Mr. Moore, and Mr. W. J. Scott, who had been an enslaved individual at one time. Well known attorney F.D. Parish also addressed the group. Mr. Parish had been an active participant of the Underground Railroad of the Firelands.

The final speech at the Jubilee was given by Oran Follett.

In the evening, a ball was held at Fisher’s Hall. Although African Americans did not actually receive full voting equality in some states for several years, in 1870 there was great celebration in honor of the 15^th constitutional amendment.

Our American Cousin Played in Sandusky

On May 19, 1875, the play Our American Cousin was presented at the Sandusky Opera House in Sandusky by the Sandusky Amateur Dramatic Association. Admission to the play was fifty cents, and proceeds were donated to the Young Men’s Christian Association. Of course Our American Cousin is best known as being the play that President and Mrs. Lincoln were watching on the evening of  the President’s assassination at Ford’s Theatre on April 16, 1865. 

In 1875 the building known as the Sandusky Opera House was Norman Hall, on the north side of Water Street between Jackson and Decatur.

The building later known as the Sandusky Opera House, the Biemiller Opera House, was not built until 1877. 

Ulysses T. Curran, superintendent of Sandusky Schools, played the part of Lord Dundreary.

Two of the local play’s performers, Miss Jennie M. West and Mr. C.L. Hubbard, would marry in 1877. 

A brief article which appeared in the May 20, 1875 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that, “The play was received in the best possible manner, and that it deserved such a reception will not be gainsaid by anyone who saw it. The members of the Sandusky Amateur Dramatic Association deserve the highest praise for their faultless interpretation of the many difficult characters in the piece.”

Oscar F. Cook Majestic Stock Company

From about 1905 to 1908, Oscar F. Cook operated a stock (theater) company in Sandusky, Ohio. The May 15, 1905 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported that the Oscar F. Cook Stock Company performed a play entitled The Convict’s Sweetheart, in a large tent at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Monroe Street in Sandusky.  This small advertisement announced a play performed in May of 1905. The four act comedy-drama offered “polite vaudeville” between each act.

In September of 1905, the company appeared at the Cedar Point Theater. During the winter of 1905-1906, the company was to open a winter season in Piqua, Ohio.  By February of 1907, Mr. Cook announced that he had leased Link’s Hall on West Washington Street. He planned to put on stock company performances at that location, to be known as the New Family Theater. 

On January 7, 1928 the Sandusky Star Journal  reported that Mr. Cook and his family had moved to Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where he had been named president of the Colonial Coach Lines, which operated buses in Kingston and Ottawa, Ontario. Oscar F. Cook passed away at his home in Kingston, Ontario on March 28, 1947. His remains were brought back to Sandusky, Ohio for burial in Oakland Cemetery. 

The Pied Piper of Hamelin at Jackson Junior High

On May 14, 1937, Sandusky students performed the opera, “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” at the Jackson Junior High School. Miss Eulalie Shaw, the first director of Sandusky High School’s A Capella Choir, directed the one hundred seventy five students in the production. The lead role was played by Delbert Persons. Joe Freeman portrayed the Mayor, and the little lame boy was played by Dick Burton. Joyce White portrayed the dream lady, who sang of the joys of childhood in the mystic forest. The opera included a large chorus, and several children played the parts of the townspeople of Hamelin, toys, soldiers, dolls, jumping jacks and sprites. The opera was well attended, and the audience gave enthusiastic applause throughout the production. 

An article in the May 15, 1937 issue of the Sandusky Register listed the named of every student who took part in the performance of “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” 

Jackson Junior High School opened in 1928, and served as a community center for dozens of school and civic events from the late 1920s through the 1940s. The school auditorium can be seen in the picture below, when Cryle’s Orchestra performed.

Mothers and Grandmothers

In honor of Mother’s Day, here are some images taken from the historical photograph collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Mrs. Mary F. Eschenberg is holding her baby grandson Robert Merrill in this picture from 1890.

Mrs. Anna Hauser Lange, mother of professor Dr. Norbert A. Lange,  is tidying up the yard around her home in this postcard.

Mrs. Mary Ellen Johnston and her children are pictured below in a picture taken about 1898. Mary Ellen’s daughter, Mary Elizabeth Johnston, became a librarian and bequeathed several thousand dollars to Oberlin College after her death.

Mrs. Helen Wagner Frohman, the mother of local historian and business man Charles E. Frohman, seems to have an expression on her face that shows the wisdom of her years.

Mothers and Babies on National Hospital Day

Seated on the steps of the former Providence Hospital in Sandusky are several babies and young children with their mothers on National Hospital Day on May 12, 1930. Ernst Niebergall was the photographer. Both Good Samaritan and Providence Hospital held on Open House on this date, and offered guided tours of the hospitals to visitors who wished to see the various departments of each facility.

John B. Tichenor, Portrait and Animal Painter

This advertisement appeared in a late nineteenth century Postal Guide, which was distributed to local residents, compliments of the employees of the Sandusky Post Office. Although John B. Tichenor was a native of Sandusky County, Ohio, for a brief time he had an art studio in the Lea Block, on Market Street in Sandusky, around 1895 or 1896.

The hours of the art studio in Room 3 of the “new” Lea Block were 9 a.m. to Noon and 1 to 4 p.m. 

Walter B. Rideout wrote in his book Sherwood Anderson: A Writer in America (University of Wisconsin Press, 2006) that Karl Anderson, the brother of author Sherwood Anderson, received painting lessons from Mr. Tichenor, when they both resided in Clyde, Ohio. In an article in the Sandusky Register of September 11, 1970, staff writer Ron Hall wrote an article about Sherwood Anderson, and other former residents of Clyde, Ohio. Hall interviewed local historian Thaddeus Hurd, who stated that at one time there was a group of artists in the community of Clyde, Ohio, and John B. Tichenor was probably the best-known of all the artists.

Farrell-Cheek Foundry Baseball Teams

This picture of a Farrell-Cheek baseball team is undated, and unfortunately, we do not know the name of any of the men in the photo. An article in the Sandusky Star Journal of July 8, 1916, reported that there was a series of ball games between the African American and white baseball teams, both made up of Farrell-Cheek employees. The games were often played at Huron Park. A star player on Farrell-Cheek's African American team was center fielder John Moses. 

In the 1920s, a team from Farrell-Cheek participated in the Factory Leagues. Below is a listing of the games played, as well as batting averages for the Farrell Cheek team up to June, 1920.

A cartoon of the cover of this Farrell-Cheek newsletter noted that their team won the baseball championships in the Factory League in 1919 and 1920.

In the 1940s, Granville “Red” Haley was the manager of Farrell-Cheek’s African American ball team.  He had previously played on an integrated baseball team in Bismarck, North Dakota, where one of his teammates was Satchel Paige. 

While we do not have detailed records of the local baseball teams in Sandusky, it is clear that the sport was enjoyed by many of the hard working men who put in long hours of work at local factories during their shifts. Many of the factory men could be seen heading to the ball park on their nights off and weekends.

Sandusky City Street Sprinklers

Pictured above is an old water sprinkling apparatus, seen outside of the old Sandusky Water Works before that structure was demolished. Water from the barrel was sprinkled along unpaved streets to help keep the dust down. It appears that a rider could sit on the seat alongside the barrel, and the cart would have been drawn by a horse. The street sprinkling process also kept the city air a little healthier, as it diluted the amount of manure and urine left on the streets from horses used to draw buggies and carriages before automobiles became the more common mode of transportation. 

Gottlieb Epple was one of the men employed as a street sprinkler in Sandusky.

Below is the listing for the Epple and Son business in the 1908 Sandusky City Directory:

An article in the May 1, 1901 issue of the Sandusky Register announced that the beginning of May would also be the beginning of water sprinkling for the season.

Eventually street sprinkling became obsolete as most of the city’s streets became paved.