A Home to Many Businesses on Market Street

From the early 1920s through the mid 1930s, The Erie Auto Supply Co. was located at 208 West Market Street in Sandusky. The company sold wholesale and retail automobile parts, and serviced vehicles in the space behind the store. Hudson, Essex and Jewett were some of the brands carried by Erie Auto Supply.

In 1936, Erie Auto Supply moved to 212 Hancock Street. From 1942 until the mid 1960s, Weber’s Men’s Wear was in business at 208 West Market Street.

Weber’s was one door away from City Hall. Other stores visible on Market Street in this 1950s era picture above were Gray’s Drugstore, Herman’s Jewelry, and Third National Bank.

Through the years, several different businesses operated at 208 West Market Street, including Sears, Spiegel Inc., Sonrise Ceramics, Revelations, and Bloomquist TV.

Today the Crowbar is now in business where Erie Auto Supply Company was once located.

Getting to Know Rev. Edward R. Jewitt

Rev. Edward Rogers Jewitt (sometimes spelled Jewett) was born in Connecticut in 1811. He married Elizabeth Camp in 1834. In 1835 the young couple settled in Elyria, Ohio. By 1840 E.R. Jewitt was admitted to the North Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Rev. Jewitt ministered in the Methodist Episcopal Church for over twenty years. Rev. Jewitt addressed the crowd that gathered on July 4^th in Milan, Ohio for a Celebration and “PicNic.” He was the pastor of the Sandusky Methodist Episcopal Church from 1845 to 1847. In the 1850s, he was the minister of the Bethel Church, which was an outreach of the Methodist Episcopal Church to improve the moral and religious condition of seamen in waters west of New York State.

Rev. Jewitt preached a sermon on July 4, 1852 at Put in Bay, when five companies of the Volunteer Militia of Ohio met at Put in Bay to celebrate Independence Day, as well as to discuss the erection of a monument to commemorate Perry’s victory at the Battle of Lake Erie.

In 1860 and 1861, Rev. Jewitt was the Presiding Elder of the Methodist Episcopal Society of Sandusky. On January 13, 1860, under his leadership, the following anti-slavery resolution was passed at the Quarterly Meeting of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Sandusky:

 According to the obituary of Mrs. Elizabeth Jewitt, in 1863 Rev. Jewitt was injured and had to retire from active ministry. However, Rev. Jewitt remained involved in the community and in Methodist religious circles in Erie County, Ohio.

This advertisement from the Sandusky Register of May 11, 1864, states that Rev. Jewitt had opened a bookstore on Columbus Avenue. He sold Bibles and hymn books, as well as stationery, toys, and writing supplies.

When the Convention of the Erie County Sunday School Union met on May 11, 1872, the president of the organization was absent, so Rev. E.R. Jewitt stepped in to run the convention. Several in attendance felt that there was a significant correlation between children who attended Sunday School and secular school. There was a feeling that learning at Sunday School could reinforce the skills of school children who also attended public school. 

Rev. Jewitt attended the 42^nd Annual Session of the North Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church held in Ashland in September of 1888, and reported on the events which took place.

By 1880, Rev. and Mrs. Jewitt retired to a farm in Margaretta Township. Rev. Jewitt died on August 22, 1892, and he was buried at Oakland Cemetery. Mrs. Jewitt survived until 1904.

This obituary appeared in the Sandusky Register of August 23, 1892:

"Under Construction"

The Sandusky Library Archives Research Center has several photographs of businesses under construction in its collections. The image above shows the Sandusky Masonic Temple under contruction. The view is from the cornerstone-laying ceremony on June 24, 1889.

Below is a picture of St. Mary’s Catholic Church under construction in the 1870s. A worker is visible at the top of the building, while two adults and several young people are seen at the front of the church.

In the 1890s, this house was being built on Columbus Avenue for Sandusky businessman R.M. Wilcox. 

In the picture below, two men appear to be attaching slats to the frame of a Lyman boat at the Lyman Boat Works in 1938.

Helen Hansen took this photograph of the Citizens Banking Company, now Civista Bank, under construction in 1985 at the southwest corner of Water and Wayne Streets in Sandusky.

If you are interested in the historic buildings in Sandusky, Ohio, see Ellie Damm’s book Treasure by the Bay (Bucknell University Press, 1998) at the Sandusky Library. In this book Mrs. Damm points out that many of Sandusky’s early commercial buildings were built from native limestone, demonstrating the thrift and practicality of the early residents of Sandusky.

Zeiher and Millar, Building Contractors

Peter J. Zeiher and Thomas C. Millar formed a partnership in 1914. In the early years, Zeiher & Millar focused on brick and stone work, but as time went by, they broadened their scope and they became general building contractors. Mr. Zeiher and Millar are in the group photo below, taken outside the Erie County Courthouse, when the 11th Annual Conference of the Bricklayers, Masons, Plasterers and Marble Masons met in Sandusky in May of 1916.

Zeiher & Millar are remembered for several important building projects in Sandusky, Ohio and throughout northern Ohio. In 1924, they were the contractors for the new Sandusky Butter and Egg Company, located on West Water Street, where Feddersen’s Bakery later was in business from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s. This advertisement appeared in the Sandusky Star Journal on February 25, 1928, when the new Junior High School was dedicated in Sandusky.

In the fall of 1928, Schine’s State Theater opened, which was yet another building constructed by Zeiher & Millar.

The Star Journal of October 12, 1928 featured an article about the firm:

Zeiher & Millar went out of business in the early 1930s. Peter J. Zeiher continued to work as a masonry contractor, and Thomas C. Millar went to serve as superintendent of maintenance for Sandusky City Schools for over twenty years. Mr. Zeiher passed away in 1964, and Mr. Millar died in 1966. The final resting place of both men is in Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio.

Do You Remember Bazley Meats?

In the picture above, Bazley Meats can be seen in the 200 block of Columbus Avenue during a Grape Festival Parade held in 1940. The Bazley family had a chain of meat markets throughout states in the Midwest for several years.  From 1928 to 1930, Bazley Meats was in Sandusky at 148 Columbus Avenue.  By November of 1930, the business had moved to 216 Columbus Avenue, where later Woolworth’s had a store in the 1950s and 1960s. An advertisement in the Sandusky Star Journal of November 21, 1930, stated that the Bazley Cash Market was modern and sanitary, and pledged to “give you better quality meats at lower prices.”

In today's dollars, pork loin was $2.49/lb and ground beef $1.62

In 1936, an article in the December 23 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal, reported on a pig named Oscar that was given free run of the market for a day. The manager of Bazley’s Meats, Leo Hall, reported that Oscar “would go the way of all porkers” and was soon to be at the table of an employee.

In February, 1949, a newspaper article reported that soon Bazley Meats would be moving to a new location at 182 East Market Street.

By April 26, 1972, Family Meats had taken over the location at 182 E. Market Street, where Bazley Meats had been in operation since 1949.  You can see Bazley Meats at its East Market Street location in the picture below, taken by Helen Hansen in 1963.

Locations of specific businesses and homes in Sandusky throughout several decades can be found in the historical city directories housed in the Reference Services area of the Sandusky Library. Consult the street directory, where addresses can be looked up by house number in an alphabetical listing of streets in Sandusky, Ohio.

George William Doerzbach, General Contractor

G. William Doerzbach is pictured above with a youngster and dog in an undated picture. Mr. Doerzbach was born in Sandusky in 1852 to Christopher and Louisa Doerzbach, both natives of Germany. Hewson Peeke wrote in A Standard History of Erie County (Lewis Publishing, 1916), that “G. William Doerzbach is a man who has largely been the architect of his own fortune.” As a youngster, he worked for the Western Union Telegraph Company. His first trade was cabinet maker, and then he became a carpenter. Eventually he studied in Philadelphia under a leading architect. When he returned to Sandusky, he worked as a general contractor. 

In 1894, G.W. Doerzbach built a bridge crossing Mills Creek. An article in the December 24, 1894 issue of the Sandusky Register reported about the new bridge.

After working independently for several years, he formed a partnership with his brother Fred C. Doerzbach in 1900. Together G.W. Doerzbach and Brother built many important buildings in Sandusky and beyond. The Sandusky Register of December 31, 1922 describes several of their projects:

The Hotel Rieger was built by the Doerzbach brothers in 1911.

Right across the street from Hotel Rieger, G.W. Doerzbach and Brother built the Sandusky Star Journal building (now occupied by the Sandusky Register) from 1920 to 1921:

Now home to Bailey Legal Group, this Market Street building was originally built by the Doerzbachs as Third National Exchange Bank:

Mr. Doerzbach never married. His office and home were located at the corner of Monroe and Camps Streets.

Image courtesy Google Maps

George William Doerzbach died in 1932, and his brother and business partner, Fred C. Doerzbach died in 1934. Both were buried in Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery. Though the Doerzbach brothers have been gone for decades, many buildings in Sandusky still stand as a testament to their excellent workmanship as general contractors.