George M. Rinkleff

George M. Rinkleff was born in June of 1864 in Sandusky, Ohio to Frank and Caroline (Molter) Rinkleff.  In 1885 he married Louise Taubert. Sadly, Louise Taubert Rinkleff died in 1887, when her daughter was just an infant. The Rinkleff infant had the same name as her mother, Louise Rinkleff. Louise, the daughter, was about three years old in the picture below, taken at the studio of C.W. Platt in Sandusky.

Mr. Rinkleff married Olive Orton in 1895, and they had a son, Roy, in 1899.

George Rinkleff started his hardware business in Sandusky in 1885. The store dealt in wholesale and retail hardware and building supplies, as well as supplies for ships. Besides operating the hardware store, Mr.. Rinkleff also served as president of the Klotz Machine Company and vice president of the Sandusky and Islands Steamboat Company, and was a director of the Third National Exchange Bank. He was the owner and operator of the steamer Chippewa.

Mr. Rinkleff was active in the Masons, the Rotary Club, and the Plum Brook Country Club. On June 9, 1934, George M. Rinkleff died at the age of 69. Funeral services were held at Grace Episcopal Church, and burial was at Oakland Cemetery.

Pictured below is the Rinkleff Hardware Store at 710 Water Street during the winter of 1913.