Businesses That Helped Build Sandusky

 

In the historical collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center is a pamphlet produced around 1880 to provide information about the leading industries in the region. The item serves as a useful summary of important businesses of the era.

Sandusky was an important transshipment point for the lumber industry of the time, so it is not surprising that the pamphlet begins with lumber. Several major businesses, such as the Sandusky Tool Company, developed in the city to take advantage of this resource.

The next pages (above) highlight some of the businesses created to take advantage of the natural resources available in the area.

Our agricultural resources inspired additional industries, including wineries and breweries.

The last two pages of the pamphlet describe some of the largest companies in the city at the time. Many enterprising business owners and workers took advantage of the region's resources to create wealth in their community.

Edwin A. Sprau, Baseball Enthusiast

In the 1942 Obituary Notebook in the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library is an obituary for Edwin A. Sprau. Mr. Sprau died on June 19, 1942, following a brief illness. He was only 39 years old.  Prior to his death, he was in business with his brother, Emmett Sprau, at the Sprau Grocery on Camp Street. 

For many years Edwin Sprau was active in baseball circles. He was secretary of the Sandusky Baseball Federation, secretary-treasurer of the Northern Ohio Baseball League, and had also been associated with the Firelands Baseball League, the Junior Leagues of Sandusky, and the Church Indoor League.

Hundreds of officials and baseball players from several area baseball teams paid their respects at a memorial service in the Elks Home on the evening of June 22. Funeral services for Edwin A. Sprau took place on Tuesday, with the Rev. Donald Wonders of Grace Episcopal Church officiating. Burial was in Oakland Cemetery. Edwin A. Sprau was survived by his mother, and brothers Walter and Emmett. Edward C. Sprau, Edwin's father and the founder of the family grocery business, had died in 1939.

Pictured below is the E. C. Sprau grocery store around 1908. Edwin A. and Emmitt Sprau are standing in the doorway with their father and other family members.

Sandusky Mourns President Garfield

 

President James A. Garfield died on September 19, 1881, after having been shot on July 2, 1881.  Born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio in 1831, he became president of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College) in 1857, and was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1859.  Garfield served as a general in the Civil War, and after the War he was elected to the United States Congress. In 1880, at the Republican National Convention, James A. Garfield became the “dark horse” candidate for the presidency. He was elected President on November 4, 1880. Author James Baird McClure wrote in his book General Garfield: From the Log Cabin to the White House, that Sandusky Register editor I. F. Mack rode with James Garfield in the train to Cleveland, immediately after Garfield secured his presidential nomination in Chicago in 1880. 

The Sandusky Register carried several feature articles about the funeral of President Garfield from September 20 through September 27, 1881. A detailed list of the groups participating in the funeral procession appeared in the paper, as well as an account of the hymns sung, scriptures read, and government officials in attendance. A delegation from the Sandusky Masons, the Erie Commandery, marched in the procession. A number of tributes to President Garfield also appeared in the Register.

On September 25, 1881, the First Presbyterian Sunday School held a commemorative service for the deceased president.

O. P. Cowdery spoke about Garfield’s boyhood; U.T. Curran’s address was about Garfield, the educator; while W. F. Converse spoke on Garfield as a statesman.

The back of the program from the Presbyterian service featured President Garfield’s favorite hymn, “Ho, Reapers of Life’s Harvest.”

At the dedication of the Garfield Memorial, on May 30, 1890, I.F. Mack commanded a group of Sandusky Civil War Veterans who were at the service in Cleveland. The Great Western Band

from Sandusky sent twenty five musicians to participate in the procession. The full text of the dedication of the Garfield Memorial can be read at Google Books. On July 3, 1948, the Sandusky Register Star News featured a syndicated column entitled “Let’s Explore Ohio: Mother of Presidents.”  The column mentions the home of James A. Garfield and his tomb at Lakeview Cemetery.

 

Jay Bogert, Livery Proprietor

The publication, History of Erie County, Ohio, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich, reported that Jay Bogert was the owner and proprietor of the Sandusky Livery and Sales Stables. Jay Bogert was born in 1842 to David and Minerva Bogert, who settled in Erie County in 1832. Census records from the 1840 and 1850 census list David Bogert as residing in Perkins Township, but by 1860 the Bogert family had moved to Sandusky. The 1886 Sanborn Fire Insurance map below shows the livery stable business at 124 Jackson Street in downtown Sandusky. (Virtually every downtown block had a livery stable at its center during that era.)

In 1893, Jay Bogert was in partnership with a Mr. Hess. As you can see on the map, the Bogert & Hess Livery was close to the West House, as well as the St. Charles Hotel. Visitors to these hotels found it convenient to rent a horse and buggy from the livery nearby.

Pictured below is an advertisement for Jay Bogert’s livery business which appeared in the July 26, 1900 issue of the Sandusky Star. Carriage painting was a specialty of the business.

On April 5, 1916, Mr. Bogart died suddenly after suffering a stroke. He was at his place of business until noon on April 5, but he was sticken later in the afternoon. An obituary which appeared in the Sandusky Register of April 6, 1916 stated that he had been one of Sandusky’s oldest and most respected citizens, engaged in the livery and harness business for most of his life. Mr. Bogert was survived by his wife, a daughter Jessie, and sons David and Charles Bogert. Mr. Bogert was a veteran of the Civil War, serving with Company O of the 123rd Ohio Infantry. Mr. Bogert was buried in the family lot at Oakland Cemetery.

A Love Letter to Dr. Lauderdale

A letter and envelope once intended for Dr. Edward Lauderdale is now in the historical files of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

Here is a transcription of the letter:

Gretna Green

My Dear Sir,

I sigh for thee, I sigh for thee,

And oh you may depend on me –

I’ll weep for thee, I’ll die for thee;

And that will be the end of me.

Long has this tender feeling dissolved my heart. Long have I sighed to call thee mine – can tears avail? Our ingon patch is broad and long – Can sweetness touch thy heart? Our lasses tub is deep and full -Have soft petitions power to move? Come to the mush pot on our stove.

And if with these I now can charm thee,

Come quickly with thy love to arm me –

That I may conquer every foe,

And call thee mine, while winds do blow.

Molly Sweet

Though Dr. Lauderdale never married, it appears that long ago a young lady was quite fond of him. The letter was from someone who called herself Molly Sweet, from Gretna Green. Learning more about Gretna Green and its symbolism, we have to wonder if there was a cryptic message that goes deeper than a simple love letter: the original Gretna Green is a location in Scotland along the border with England, where English couples would go to get secretly married to avoid certain restrictions in England (e.g., age limits, parental consent). "Gretna Green" eventually became adopted as a slang term for any location that allowed marriages for non-residents. Of course, "Molly Sweet" (if that was her real name) could have been writing from Scotland, but is that likely? We actually do not know if the letter was ever delivered, or what Molly's true motives were. 

Dr. Edward Lauderdale was a physician who became noted for caring for Sandusky patients who were stricken with cholera during the epidemic of 1849. Dr. Lauderdale’s office was in the old Post Office. In 1850 Dr. Lauderdale moved to Detroit, Michigan, and served as Detroit’s city physician, Wayne County Coroner, and later as Assistant Surgeon in the 24th Michigan Infantry during the Civil War. Dr. Lauderdale died in Pontiac, Michigan in 1883, and he was buried in the family lot in Temple Hill Cemetery in Livingston County, New York. 

Dr. Lauderdale’s name is included on the historic marker at the Cholera Cemetery which lists the names of the doctors who helped Sandusky residents during the dreaded cholera epidemic of 1849.

A "Found" Piece of Business History

Shortly after the June 23, 1924 tornado in Sandusky, Mary Louise Krupp, wife of Charles J. Krupp, found a small book labeled "Autographs." That same year, she donated it to the historical collections of the Sandusky Library. 

This book, although made for autographs, was used to record the sales of chromolithograph prints. In 1873, Apollos Huntington, father-in-law of Sandusky businessman John McKelvey, was an agent for “Middleton’s Oil Chromos.” Customers who purchased the prints for $7.50 each (about $170 in today's value) also received a frame, with hardware for hanging included. 

Chromolithography was a technique developed by Louis Prang for making colorful prints, with its roots in lithography. Various colors are added in layers, with the end product resulting in a print which was much less expensive product than an original oil painting.

It appears he only sold two selections, “The Mount of Olives” and “Garden of Gethsemane.” Between May and September of 1873, the following individuals purchased one or both of the chromolithographs from Mr. Huntington:

Rev. H. N. Burton, minister of First Congregational Church

Rev. Martin K. Holbrook, minister of the Congregational Church at Kelleys Island

Rev. Ernst Von Schulenburg, minister of Emmanuel Church

I.F. Mack, publisher of the Sandusky Register