Maus Shoes

After working as a salesman for W.O. Stubig’s shoe store, John N. Maus opened his own business on Market Street in Sandusky. The advertisement above, from the Sandusky Star Journal of July 6, 1916,  stated that the store's temporary quarters were above the Manhattan store. The German surname Maus translates to “mouse” in English, so a mouse was often seen in ads for Maus Shoes. By January, 1917, John Maus moved his shoe store to the upper level of the Schade Theatre building.

In May of 1920, the movie, A Regular Girl was playing at the Schade Theatre on West Market Street in Sandusky.

You can see signs for the Maus shoe store on the second floor of the building. The shoe store was next to the office of Dr. McCormick, the eye doctor.

In this 1935 advertisement, John Maus declared that he sold shoes that fit well, so that ladies could have proper shoes “for cooking and doing housework.”  By this time the theater on West Market had become the Ohio Theatre.

A notice in the November 18, 1968 issue of the Sandusky Register informed customers that Maus Shoes had moved from Market Street to 145 Columbus Avenue. This “back to school” ad appeared in the August 26, 1969 issue of the Register.

After the death of John N. Maus in 1977, his son Glenn Maus took over the business. After over sixty years of doing business in Sandusky, Maus Shoes had a large going out of business sale in May of 1984. Your parents or grandparents probably purchased shoes at this popular local shoe store!

A shoe horn from Maus Shoes is now in the collections of the Follett House Museum.

August 26 is National Dog Day

Captain Payne, dog of Judge Jay Payne

Dogs have been a trusted human companion for centuries, and this fact is certainly reflected in the collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. We have dozens of photographs of dogs with friends and family. Here are a few, in commemoration of National Dog Day.

  We don't know the identity of this woman or her dog, but we can perceive the loyalty between them.

Emma Marie Yeager is with her dog in Huron Township, around 1907.

This good dog is at Green and Pascoe Grocers on Huron Street

A dog and his boys, Errol, Otto, and Elmer Matern.

The Photographer Ernst Niebergall with his dog and cat.

It seems that a photographer liked to include his dog with the baseball teams he photographed. Here are a few examples.

A very good dog!

Bogarts Corners

Pictured above is an undated photograph of a tavern located at Bogarts Corners, probably from the late 1800s or early 1900s.

The United States Geological Survey places Bogart, formerly known as Bogarts Corners, at the intersection of Milan Road and Bogart Road in Perkins Township. Hewson Peeke wrote in A Standard History of Erie County (Lewis Publishing, 1916) that “The hamlet of Bogart is located…at the junction of the roads leading to Sandusky, Huron, Milan, Bloomingville, and Castalia.”

Image courtesy USGS

In the very early years of Perkins Township, several roads crossed Bogart Road, which caused Bogarts Corners to become a center of business. John Beatty, who purchased much of the land in what is now Perkins Township, sold lots to several buyers from Connecticut. He led an oxen train of fifteen families from Glastonbury, Connecticut to Perkins Township in 1815. Mr. Beatty built a stone house near Bogarts Corners, and he ran a tavern and a small store at this location. His home served as a stop on the stagecoach line from Mansfield to Sandusky.

The Beatty house in 1980

John Beatty was the first Postmaster of Perkins Township, and he was known as a friend to fugitive slaves escaping to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Mr. Johnson ran a blacksmith shop, and Rev. William Gurley ran a silversmith business. A cooper shop was operated by Mr. Kellogg, and John Broadhead was a carpenter. Later, James Daniel Parker had a general store at Bogart and served as Postmaster. (The elder James Daniel Parker was the father of Dr. J.D. Parker, and grandfather of Dr. Watson Parker and Dr. Lester Parker.) In 1902, the Post Office was moved to the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home, while many area residents received their mail by rural delivery. The majority of the residents in and around Bogarts Corners were engaged in farming.

On January 26, 1888, the Sandusky Register ran a column featuring Bogart in its neighboring communities page. A writer known as “Plato” wrote this column:

In 1893, Bogart was a stop on the Sandusky, Milan and Norwalk Electric Railway, and later on the Lake Shore Electric Railway.

from Wikipedia

A Methodist Society was organized in Perkins Township, not far from Bogarts Corners, and in the 1800s, circuit riders preached at the church services. Later the Perkins Methodist Church merged with Trinity Methodist Church in Sandusky. 

Former Perkins Township Trustee, Glenn Parker, lived in a home in what was known as Bogarts Corners from the 1940s through the 1960s. Glenn was a descendant of pioneer settlers of Perkins Township.

Now many hotels, restaurants, and other businesses are located near the intersection of Bogart Road and Milan Road. You can read much more about the early years of Bogarts Corners and Perkins Township in chapter 10 of Hewson Peeke’s Standard History of Erie County (Lewis Publishing, 1916).

Mr. and Mrs. James Ellis Marshall

James Ellis Marshall was born in 1808 in Bradford, England. He came to the United States in 1855, having interests in the textile and iron industries in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. In about 1860 he settled in Sandusky, Ohio, where he became one of the incorporators of the Sandusky Tool Company, founded in 1869..

Mr. Marshall and his wife, the former Clara Robinson, were the parents of four children: Joseph Marshall, who moved west; Mary Elizabeth Marshall, the wife of Lewis Moss; Hannah Sophia Marshall, who married Rush Sloane, and sadly died in 1872; and Benjamin Marshall, whose death was believed to have been hastened by his experience in the 1900 flood in Galveston, Texas. Clara Robinson Marshall served on the Board of the Sandusky Library Association from 1870 to 1873.

Clara Robinson Marshall

Known as Deacon Marshall, James E. Marshall was very active in the Congregational Church in Sandusky. The Marshall family lived in this lovely Wayne Street home, built in the 1870s, now on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to the Ohio Historic Places Dictionary (State History Publications, 2008), the Marshall home was the first residence in Sandusky to be connected to the city’s new water and sewer lines. 

James E. Marshall died at the age of 98 on March 20, 1907. He and his wife were both interred at Troy, New York in the family vault at Oakwood Cemetery. Though Mr. and Mrs. Marshall were not born in Sandusky, and were not buried here, they definitely contributed greatly to the community in which they lived for over forty years.

Whiskey Run Sewer

 

Hewson Peeke wrote in A Standard History of Erie County (Lewis Publishing, 1916) that Vincent Kerber finished construction of the Whisky Run sewer in 1875. This sewer line ran along Mills Street from the railroad track to the Sandusky Bay. The walls were fifteen feet high. .  (You can see the approximate location of the Whiskey Run sewer at the rose colored pigmentation along Mills Street on the map above.)

After Sandusky experienced cholera epidemics in 1849, 1852, and 1854, the English physician John Snow discovered in 1854 that the cause of the spread of cholera was due to the contaminated water supply in wells. In 1876, after much debate, Sandusky constructed a large water works plant that began filtering and pumping water to most homes and businesses in the city. 

 

While conducting maintenance on the Whiskey Run sewer in June of 1876, workers Patrick McNamee and John Randolph were seriously injured in an explosion. Patrick McNamee died from his injuries on June 14, 1876. He was buried at St. Joseph’s Cemetery, not far from the site of the dreadful accident.

When there was a leak in the old Whiskey Run sewer, an article by Charlie Lewis in the September 16, 1972 issue of the Sandusky Register gave some historical speculation about the sewer. It is said to have been a hiding place of whiskey runners during Prohibition -- but even if the story is true, it would not explain the name, which had been in use since at least 1862. The location of nearby breweries and wineries, whose waste products emptied into the Whiskey Run sewer, may have been a possible reason for its name, but even that is pure speculation. It is not unusual for the source of a place name to be forgotten.

A monument at the St. Mary’s Cemetery, which honors the memory of the daughters of Vincent Kerber, overlooks Mills Street, under which the Whiskey Run sewer once flowed.

Getting to Know Professor J.D. Luse

Image Credit: FamilySearch.org

Jesse Dial Luse is the younger man at the far right in the picture above. This family photograph shows the nine children of Jesse and Sylphina Luse. Often known by his initials J.D., Jesse D. Luse was born in Cuyahoga County in 1847.

In the very late 1800s and early 1900s, J.D. Luse was the Supervisor of Music for Sandusky Schools. During the homecoming parade for Spanish American War soldiers in 1898, “Professor Luse” arranged for a chorus of one thousand individuals to sing patriotic songs.

J.D. Luse was the author of several music books. One of his series was known as the Wreath Music Course. The books were used widely throughout Ohio and beyond. In the book The Royal Wreath of Song, there were several graded lessons in music for use with students in every grade.

Also in the book were: hymns, glees, part songs, patriotic songs and songs for choruses and duets.

Professor Luse advertised often in educational journals. The advertisement below appeared in volume of the Educator Journal in 1906.

Throughout his career, J.D. Luse taught in many different school districts, including Tiffin, Sandusky, Zanesville and Mentor, Ohio. He was a popular speaker at educational institutes for teachers as well. By 1904, he and his family moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he remained active in music publishing. Professor Luse died there in 1920.

You can view the full text of the 1890 version of The Royal Wreath of Song at the Internet Archive. By paging through this book, you can see some of the songs that your ancestors may have sung in school in years gone by. The Sandusky Library Archives Research Center has two of Professor Luse’s music books in its collection. Today you can find copies of his books at college and theological libraries throughout the United States.

Red Arrow Auctions in Sandusky

In 1930 and 1931, several "Red Arrow Auctions" were held at the Junior High School in Sandusky.

Local businesses gave customers “Red Arrow Money” which could then be redeemed for items at a "Red Arrow Auction." Clarence E. Depew, an advertising man from Springfield, Illinois promoted the Red Arrow Auctions. The auctions took place in the midst of the Great Depression, providing an entertaining diversion for Sandusky area residents. Dozens of Sandusky businesses participated in the program. The Cohn’s store was considered a “Red Arrow Store.”

At the first Red Arrow Auction, held May 28, 1930, Rev. J.A. Griffith won a $25.00 breakfast set, for which he paid $18 of Red Arrow money. O.F. Kopp of Hayes Avenue paid $466 of Red Arrow money for window screens valued at $41.00. Prior to the Red Arrow Auction, entertainment was provided by junior high school students, under the direction of Miss Mary Helen Homegardner and Carl Mackey.

An “Our Gang Comedy” movie was the entertainment at the July, 1930 Red Arrow Auction. In September, 1930, the Auction featured a doll costume contest, with cash prizes given out. Usually the crowds at the auctions numbered from 1800 to 2000.

An article in the May 27, 1931 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that no more Red Arrow Auctions would be taking place, though Red Arrow Money could be redeemed until June 25. The article stated about the most recent auction: “All of the auctions held in the past have attracted good attendance, but the crowd Tuesday night was declared to have been the best ever and there was spirited bidding shown for the many fine articles of merchandise that were offered by local merchants.”

David M. Arndt, Sandusky Businessman, Local Telephone Pioneer

Mr. David M. Arndt was known as one of Sandusky’s foremost citizens. He moved to Sandusky in the 1860s from Seneca County, Ohio. Mr. Arndt worked in several different lines of work in Sandusky, including grain shipping, a dry goods business, and a stave factory. Additionally, he had been superintendent of the Sandusky Water Works. 

According to an article in the April 9, 1921 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal, the first telephones in Sandusky were brought here as a result of D.M. Arndt’s efforts. It turns out that he was personally acquainted with Alexander Graham Bell. The two gentlemen met in New York in 1878, where Arndt saw a demonstration on an early telephone. Soon Mr. Arndt purchased six telephones and brought them to Sandusky. Several other Sandusky residents also wanted a telephone, so wires were strung across trees and housetops. All six phones were on the same line, and every time a call was made, all the individuals on the crude network could hear the conversation. 

On May 18, 1914, David M. Arndt died at the home of his son, the Rev. Charles Henry Arndt, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. An article in the May 27, 1914 issue of the Sandusky Register stated that on his way home from his daughter’s funeral in Chicago in the fall of 1913, Mr. Arndt stopped by Sandusky on his way back to Germantown. While in Sandusky, He visited with Major C.B. Wilcox, Dr. Charles E. Stroud, and John J. Marquart, and made plans with the group for his own funeral arrangements. Two funerals were held for Mr. Arndt, one in Germantown, and one in Sandusky. In Sandusky, Mr. Arndt’s remains lay in state at the Masonic Temple. James A. Ryan delivered the sermon at the Knights Templar services. He was buried in Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery, next to his wife, Anna Arndt, who had predeceased him in 1909.

The Mystery of the Missing Follett House!

For the last couple of months, I have been trying to figure out more information about the parts of the Follett House that are no longer a part of it, or as I have started calling it in my mind, the mystery of the missing Follett House. Unfortunately, neither Sherlock Holmes nor Hercule Poirot will be showing up in Follett’s beautiful double parlor to make a grand explanation of the mystery and more is the pity of it for all of us. With neither of those legendary detectives showing up, I was left to myself to solve this mystery. What is most frustrating about trying to solve this mystery is how little evidence I have to go on! The grand sum of the evidence, which I will happily share with you all in this post, is two Sanborn fire insurance maps, a description of the house the Follett’s granddaughter wrote, and a brief mention of the missing parts in the sale of the property in 1895. 

Let’s first start at the beginning. Construction of the Follett House started in 1834, most likely. Construction on the house finished in 1837. The 1837 date is the one listed in Oran Follett’s obituary when he died in 1894. We do have some great pictures of the front of the Follett house when the Folletts were still living there (the picture above, for example). Unfortunately, we have no good pictures of the parts of the Follett House that no longer exist. This is where the Sanborn maps enter the picture, no pun intended. A quick note about Sanborn maps, yellow means it is a structure made of wood and blue means stone. 

 

 

 

The map above is the 1886 Sanborn map of the Follett House. Though it does not show interior walls, it does have some details of the house. It shows the front steps, the portico at the front of the house, a woodshed, but most importantly it shows us the parts of the Follett House that are no longer there. The three main parts that are missing are a stone building running parallel to Adams Street and was attached to what we now call Mrs. Follett’s parlor, a wooden structure attached to the long part of the building, and some other structure attached to the back of the Folletts’ double parlor. 

 

 

The map above is the 1893 Sanborn map. This would have been made the year before Mr. Follett died and can be considered the final form of the house while the Folletts owned it. Yet oddly, it is missing some details from the last map. There are no stairs or portico in this drawing. The woodshed is also not included in this map, though it may have been torn down, since the Folletts did have a furnace installed at some time.  

The frustrating thing is that these maps just show the basic outlines of the missing parts but do not tell us more than that. For additional details we need to turn to an account by their granddaughter, Alice Eliza Ball. Alice wrote a combined biography of her grandparents plus some other history relating to them. Now, this account was written in 1939, so it was written 45 years after she had last been in that house. Because of this, we may have to take her accounts with a grain of salt. 

Now Alice describes the long room as, “a large dining-room, with a dumb waiter and a tremendous fire-place, afterward boarded over.” The other piece of the house that was located at the back of the double parlor, she describes as, “placed in the "octagon", a small conservatory back of the two great parlors.” Unfortunately, she does not talk about what that long wooden structure attached to the dining room would be. My best guess is it is a porch, since it looked over what would have been the kitchen garden. 

Thanks to Alice we know what the missing parts of the house were used for, but we do not really have a great description of them. We can estimate the size from the scale on the Sanborn maps. The dining room would have been about 43 feet long by about 20 feet wide and the conservatory would have been about 20 feet wide where it was attached to the house, about10 feet wide at the furthest point, and would have been about 10 feet long. 

Let’s take a look to see what information we can get from the December 1895 deed. After Mr. Follett’s death, in 1894, the family sold the house to a real estate broker. The real estate broker then sold what today is left of the Follett House in 1895 to one family and the rest of the property, where the dining room and conservatory were and two houses now sit, to Gustav Jarecki Sr., a local builder. Here is all the deed has to say about the missing parts of the house, “...as a further consideration to tear down the Stone Building on the premises above described and close up any openings that will be made or left in the Three Story Building...by putting in Windows or closing up with Masonry Work.”

 

Homes were built on the land formerly occupied by the Follet House addition

As you can read, this tells us basically nothing! It gives us a rough date as to when they were torn down. It talks about the stone structure that is the dining room but does not describe it at all. The part that says above described is talking about the boundaries of the property, not a description of the stone building. It doesn’t even mention the conservatory or even the porch attached to the dining room! 

What have we learned from all of this? We know that the three missing parts of the Follett House were the dining room, a conservatory, and a porch attached to the dining room (probably). We know about the approximate size of both additions from the Sanborn maps. We know that they were torn down in late 1895 or early 1896. And that is about it. Without exterior or interior pictures, we will not learn much more about those parts. While it is fine that we may never know anything more about those parts that were torn down without new evidence becoming known, it is both frustrating to me as a historian and is a very unsatisfying end to this story. Such is life when researching historical topics, there is not always a satisfying ending like there is in a good detective novel.