Laura Jones, Sandusky Businesswoman

From 1935 until her retirement in 1970, Mrs. Laura Jones was the owner-operator of a dress shop located at 162 Columbus Avenue in Sandusky, Ohio. Laura Jones was the daughter of Martin and Mary (Pulch) Helget. She married Earl Jones in 1917. After only a few years of marriage, Mr. Jones was killed on February 28, 1923 in an electrical accident while he was at work at a manufacturing facility in Youngstown, Ohio. 

Mrs. Jones started out operating a dress shop at the same location as Emma Hansen’s hat shop in downtown Sandusky. An article which appeared in the August 13, 1935 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that she and Miss Hansen were on a buying trip in Detroit, Michigan. While there, they attended the fall style show at the Hotel Statler. By 1952, Mrs. Jones was the sole proprietor of the Laura Jones Dress Shop.

In the mid-1950s, Laura Jones was a member of the Retail Merchants Association of Sandusky, Ohio. This group was the successor to the merchants’ division of the Sandusky Chamber of Commerce.

In 1962, Mrs. Jones had several items on sale in honor of George Washington’s birthday.

Mrs. Laura Jones retired from her dress shop in 1970. She died in September, 1987 at the age of 92. This hat box from the Laura Jones Dress and Hat Shop is now in the historical collections of the Follett House Museum.