Opera at Cedar Point

An article in the “Twenty Five Years Ago” feature of the Sandusky Star Journal of February 26, 1932 featured an announcement which had appeared in the February 26, 1907 issue of the Star Journal. Bradford Mills, after conferring with G.A. Boeckling, signed a contract to provide eight weeks of comic opera for the 1907 summer season. Mr. Mills was the director of the Toledo Conservatory of Music at that time. On August 16, 1907, the newspaper stated that “The Colonial Opera Company, under the direction of Bradford Mills of the Toledo Conservatory of Music will close a most successful engagement at the Cedar Point Theater.” One of the comic operas performed at Cedar Point in 1907 was Lecocq’s Girofle-Girofla. The opera was about the twin daughters of the governor of a Spanish province who was in financial difficulties. Miss Juanita Rush of Toledo, Ohio portrayed both the daughters. Costumes for the production were supplied by the Toledo Conservatory of Music, and the piano used at Cedar Point was supplied from the Starr Piano Company of Toledo. Opera didn't last very long at Cedar Point, however, because people were more interested in vaudeville at that time.

Plaza Theatre Advertisement from 1929

This advertisement appeared in the February 1, 1929 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal, on the day before the old Sandusky Bay Bridge was dedicated.

The ad pointed out that with the opening of the bridge across Sandusky Bay, Ottawa County residents could now easily travel to the Plaza Theater on Jackson Street in Sandusky, Ohio. The manager of the Plaza was A.C. Himmelein, the nephew of John A. Himmelein, who was also connected with the entertainment industry. Tickets to the Plaza ranged in price from ten cents for children to forty cents for adults on Sunday and holidays. According to the advertisement, Sandusky’s finest “photo-plays” were shown at the Plaza, sometimes even appearing in Sandusky before they were shown in Cleveland or Toledo. The Plaza Theater opened in 1914 as the Ivonhoe, and was located in the 200 block of Jackson Street, next to what is now the Sandusky Register building. The theater was razed in the 1960s. 

Here is a picture of the Plaza Theatre when the Walt Disney movie Snow White played there in the late 1930s:

Exhibition of the Students of the Sandusky City High School in 1846

On Friday evening, February 6, 1846, students of the Sandusky City High School gave an Exhibition. Orations and compositions were presented throughout the evening. Julia Farwell, the daughter of Sandusky’s first Mayor, Moors Farwell, gave a composition entitled “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” An oration on the topic of slavery was presented by Francis E. Parish, the son of well-known Sandusky lawyer and abolitionist, F. D. Parish. Mr. F.D. Parish had been elected as one of the school directors in 1838.

Annette Tilden, seen below with her young son, after she had married Isaac Mills, was the daughter of pioneer physician, Dr. Daniel Tilden. Annette gave a talk on “Humbled Pride.”

Two of the students listed on the last page of the program are of interest. Edmund G. Ross went on to become a U.S. Senator for the state of Kansas. He is known for casting the vote which acquitted Andrew Johnson during his impeachment trial in 1868, and he was one of the subjects of the book Profiles in Courage, the book co-authored by John F. Kennedy and Theodore Sorensen in 1956. During the 1846 Exhibition, Edmund G. Ross gave an oration on capital punishment.  Richard R. Sloane, better known as Rush Sloane, gave his oration on the topic of the nineteenth century. Rush Sloane became a railroad official, Mayor of Sandusky, and was the owner of the Sloane House, a hotel that stood in Sandusky from 1881 until well into the twentieth century

It is interesting to note that the program for the Exhibition was published by D. Campbell and Sons, who also published the local newspaper in Sandusky. To read more about the early history of schools in Sandusky, see “Local School History of the City of Sandusky, from 1838 to 1872 Inclusive,” written by M.F. Cowdery in 1876, and housed in the Schools Collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

Automobile Show at Jackson Junior High School

Sandusky’s 15^th Annual Automobile Show was held at Jackson Junior High School on February 14, 15, and 16 in 1936. (The photo above is undated, but it was from the decade of the 1930s.) Details about the Auto Show in 1936 were featured in the Sandusky Register and Star Journal newspapers, now available on microfilm at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.  Thirty new cars were on display, and there was entertainment and door prizes each night of the show. Admission fee was fifteen cents. 

The new Chrysler automobiles in 1936 had several new features, including more passenger space, stronger body construction, and a new ventilating system.

Some of the models of cars on display from the Ogontz Garage are no longer made today.

Appliances were also on display at the Auto Show.

The Erney Family had two performances during the Auto Show.

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to learn more about the history of Sandusky and Erie County, Ohio.

Judge E.B. Sadler’s Memories in Rhyme

The Honorable Ebenezer Brown Sadler was Erie County Common Pleas Judge from 1845 to 1851, and he also served as Mayor and Postmaster of Sandusky, Ohio during his long years of public service.

In the Sunday February 14, 1885 edition of the Sandusky Register there appeared a poem by Judge Sadler entitled “Memories in Rhyme.”

Judge Sadler married Emily Webb in 1843 in West Bloomfield, New York. Mrs. Emily Webb Sadler died of cholera in 1849, and Judge Sadler never re-married. By reading Judge Sadler’s poem, it is clear that his love for Emily did not wane, though she died after they had been married for only a few years. A transcription of “Memories in Rhyme” reads:

Memories in Rhyme – Judge Sadler

Between Bloomfield and Lima, there flows a small stream.

Along a deep valley, from Lake Honeyeye [sic];

I remember the time when ‘twas like a sweet dream,

In its waters to bathe, when I was a boy.

I remember full well, the Hutchinson mill,

With all its surroundings, its bridge, and its race;

And oft do I wonder, it is standing there still;

Or have other structures been raised in its place.

Then there’s old Jockey Hill I can never forget.

Nor the beautiful maiden I there made my bride:

In my dreams, I oft fancy I see her there still,

Lovingly smiling, sitting close by my side.

She departed long since, through the shadowy vale,

The messenger, Death, having claimed her his own:

She ascended to Heaven, where joys never fail,

And left me to travel life’s journey alone.

The dear friends of my childhood have all passed away,

And left me alone in the twilight of years;

Then why should I linger, wishing longer to stay,

To drag out a life in this valley of tears.

Dear friend, please excuse this sorrowful strain,

So foreign to nature, so gloomy in tone;

But I often indulge in a mournful refrain,

When sitting and musing in my office alone.

I have passed through life’s journey with my share of bliss,

And thankful that I’ve ‘scaped its troubles so well;

Will my life in the next world be pleasant as this,

I ask myself often, but no mortal can tell.

My journey of life will soon come to an end,

Its pleasures and sorrows will soon pass away;

There is much in my life I would gladly commend,

And some to condemn, I am sorry to say.

Our progress through life is midst trouble and care;

And God’s Golden Rule should be well understood.

If the greatest enjoyment in life we would share,

We must strive to do right and seek to be good.

Judge E.B. Sadler passed away on March 25, 1888, just a few years after he penned this rhyme. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery, next to his beloved wife Emily.

Valentine from 1856

This charming Valentine with scalloped edges is dated February 14, 1856. It was donated to the former historical room of the Sandusky Library by George Anderson, and now is in the historical collections of the Follett House Museum. Inside the oval decorated with flowers is this inscription:

A bouquet of flowers

already press'd

Fresh from the bowers
with this single request.

That reading each one

by the language expressed.

The secret you'll have

that lives in my breast. 

The above is original,

Jane, so get your language

of flowers and translate them. 

Secret.

While we do not know who wrote the verse on the Valentine, it was given to a female named Jane. In looking at the 1920 U.S. Census, we see that Jane Coan was residing in the household of her nephew, George F. Anderson. Most likely, George F. Anderson donated the Valentine to the Sandusky Library’s historical room after his Aunt Jane died in 1920. Jane Coan’s great grandmother was Abigail Kelley, who was a part of the Kelley family for whom Kelleys Island is named. 

Heslet’s Academy of Dancing

This advertisement for Heslet’s Dancing Academy appeared in the February, 1902 edition of the Fram. By looking at each illustration more closely, we can read the words that appear in each section of the ad. Professor William Heslet had 500 pupils enrolled in the 1901-1902 course year. Beginner’s classes met on Monday evening at 7:30. Beside the dancers is written: “Have you learned to dance without taking lessons and dance like this?”

A phrase in the next illustration reads, “Or have you learned from an incompetent instructor and dance like this?”

“Or will you be a wallflower” is the phrase in the illustration at the bottom left portion of the advertisement.

The concluding sentence reads, “Or would you dance like this and be a credit to yourself and friend?”

“Professor” William S. Heslet conducted a private dancing academy in Sandusky from about 1898 through 1921.

During the 1898-1899 season, Professor Heslet gave classes on the third floor of the Lea Block on Market and Wayne Streets.

By 1908, he had moved the dancing academy to the Cable Block, at the northeast corner of Market and Jackson Streets. In 1921, Mr. Heslet moved to Detroit, Michigan where he served as the dance manager of the Bob-Lo resort. Hundreds of former Sandusky students were sad to see their dance instructor leave Sandusky.

Basketball Team Pictures from the Sandusky Business College

Sandusky photographer W.A. Bishop took two pictures of the Sandusky Business College basketball of 1913-14. The varsity team is pictured above and the junior varsity is below.

               

Several individuals have been identified in the team picture of the 1920-21 Sandusky Business College basketball team. Seated in the front are: Willard Grathwol, Fred Meinzer and Art Wintersteller. The second individual in the back row is W.O. Loudenslagel, president of the college at that time. Mr. Loudenslagel was once a student at Sandusky Business College, and later became an instructor.  In 1918, he purchased the college, and he served as president until it ceased operations in 1949. Harry Miller is also in the back row, but it is not known which of the other three men he is. 

Below is the 1928 basketball team. Though none of the students have been identified in this picture, President Loudenslagel is the man in the suit and tie at the far left.

        

We have one photo of the women’s basketball team from the 1922-23 season in our collection; none of the women are identified, however.

         

There are several names written on the back of the original photograph of the 1930-31 men’s basketball team of the Sandusky Business College. The team players were: Paul Scheid, Edward Hinde, Duane Rogers, Burrell Braver, Charles Zimmerman, Robert Smith, Abe Grathwol, Ralph Rhodes, James Kelley, Robert Holzmiller, and William Bluhm.  W.O. Loudenslagel is at the far left of the picture.

    

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to learn more about the people and businesses who have made Sandusky and Erie County home.

Masquerade Parties Were Popular in Sandusky

Adolph Lange won a prize of $6.00 for his costume as a Knight of the 16^th century, which he wore to the masquerade ball held by the Social Turners in Sandusky on February 14, 1888. (Six dollars in 1888 was worth about $160 in today's money.) Masquerade balls and parties were held frequently in Sandusky in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, often sponsored by local clubs, but sometimes held by private individuals.  

In February of 1890, the Sandusky Turngemeinde held a masquerade ball at Fisher’s Hall. An advertisement in the Sandusky Register of January 25, 1890, stated that the masquerade “will be a great and glittering success.”

Just in time for the ball, masks were sold at the Bazar, a popular store in the 600 block of Market Street, to help shoppers complete their costume for the masquerade ball.

Several former Sandusky residents are pictured in this masquerade party held in the early twentieth century.

While we do not know the exact date or location of this event, the names of the individuals in attendance were: August Kuebeler, Mrs. Russell Ramsey, Mrs. John Mack, Mrs. R.M. Taylor, Mrs. Clifford King, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Krupp, Clifford King, Mr. and Mrs. Merritt Wilcox, Mr. and Mrs. Phil Beery, Mrs. August Kuebeler, Mr. and Mrs.  Watson Butler, George Beis, Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Brewer, William Kerber, Mrs. Thomas Sloane, Herbert Textor, Fred Harten, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Dunn, Carey Hord, Mrs. Brown, Mr. and Mrs. George Feick, Doris Marquart, Mrs. Percy Staples, Natalie Marquart, Gladys Rife, Mrs. John Britton, and Mary Vietmeier.