When There Was an Undertaking Business in the Beecher House

You might recognize the Beecher House as it looks today on Washington Row, surrounded by commercial buildings, next door to the Odd fellows building:

But when it was built around 1848 as the home of Lucas Beecher, that portion of Washington Row was was residential. 

After Mr. Beecher’s death, and the city's business district expanded, other individuals as well as businesses were located in this building. In 1890, W.A. Bishop's photographic studio was in the Beecher House. For a time, Dr. E. Gillard had an office there. In the late 1890s, an undertaking business was located in the house at 725 Washington Row (later the 200 block), also known as “Beecher Place.”

H.J. Breeze and Mr. Hole advertised their “exclusive undertaking and embalming” business in the Postal Guide which was distributed to local residents in Sandusky in the late 1890s. Breeze and Hole also provided free ambulance service to any part of Sandusky, and they could be reached by telephone at any hour of the day or night. An interesting article about H.J. Breeze appeared in newspapers all over the U.S. in 1898. He had a process in which he successfully embalmed pet dogs.

from https://archive.org/stream/Peoplesadvocate1898/Aug%201898#page/n7/mode/2up/search/breeze

It seems that a wealthy lady had two St. Bernard dogs, which she treasured. After the dogs attacked a messenger boy, the police said the dogs had to be put down. Mr. Breeze successfully embalmed the dogs, and after several weeks, they still appeared in good condition. They appeared to be dogs at rest.