N.J. Abele and Charles A. Bogert

From about 1915 through the 1930s, Nicholas J. Abele and Charles A. Bogert shared a building at 205 West Market Street in downtown Sandusky. Nicholas J. Abele was a photographer and photo finisher. Nicholas J. Abele continued in the photography business in Sandusky until 1949.  An advertisement in the July 1, 1916 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal stated that customers would be delighted when Nick Abele was finished with their pictures.

These postcards of Sandusky area basketball teams were created by Nicholas J. Abele during the winter of 1912-1913. The first postcard features the Holzaepfels basketball team.

This postcard shows the basketball team from the Sandusky Business College in 1912-1913.

Although the handwritten note on the postcard reads 1922-23, a closer look at the markings on the basketball reveals that the image is from 1912-13.)

 Charles A. Bogert operated a jewelry store at 205 West Market Street. Later, Mr. Bogert was the proprietor of the Sandusky Recreation Center. He was a nationally known trapshooter. For a time he managed the Camp Perry National Rifle matches during the summer months. Mr. Bogert died in 1945, and Nicholas J. Abele passed away in 1953. Both men were well known and respected in Sandusky’s business circles.

Huron Parks Basketball Team, 1912-1913

While the players in this picture of the Huron Parks basketball team of 1912-1913 have not been identified, we know the last names of the team members from an old newspaper clipping. According to the November 16, 1912 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal, the last names of the players were: Oesterle, Pietschman, Schnell, Hallet, Simon and Kurtz.

Local photographer N.J. Abele created these picture postcards in 1912. On Thanksgiving evening in 1912, the Huron Parks were defeated by the members of the St. John’s Athletic Club basketball team at St. Mary’s Hall.

Edwin B. Gerald, Sign Painter

Edwin B. Gerald was born on September 10, 1882, in Brooklyn, New York. He married Wilma Gossman in Ohio in 1906. In 1910, Edwin Gerald and his wife were residing in Fort Wayne, Indiana. At this time Edwin stated his occupation as being in the advertising business, specifically dealing in electric signs. About 1918, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin B. Gerald moved to Sandusky, where Mr. Gerald worked as a self-employed sign painter.

The business known as Gerald Sign Service advertised that signs painted by Mr. Gerald would prove to be “business builders.” Edwin B. Gerald was the owner of Gerald Sign Service, but often the names Gerald and Abele appeared on his signs. To date, we have not discovered the significance of the name Abele in connection with Gerald Sign Service.

In 1974, George W. Bailey donated several photographs of advertising signs which had been painted by Edwin B. Gerald. Mr. Gerald may be the individual pictured below beside the sign advertising Cedar Point.

Edwin Gerald painted signs which advertised a variety of area businesses in Erie County.

In the photograph below, Mr. Gerald’s ladder and paint cans are visible.

Edwin B. Gerald died in Sandusky in October of 1957. Thanks to the generous donation of photographs of his signs, we can see a “slice of life” of local advertising in our community during the first half of the twentieth century.

Sandusky High School Football, 1912

The Sandusky High School football team about 1912:Pictured are:
Top row: C. E. Fleming, Leonard Osberg, George Singler, Frederick Slackford
Middle: Charles Abele, Frank Field, Howard Earnshaw, Wilbur Schoepfle, Estes Drake, Bob Judson
Front: Bill Busch, Roy Hazen, Wilson Harris, Gene Close, Don Hand, George Giesler, Art Wieland

Charles E. Fleming would go on to teach chemistry at Sandusky High School for thirty four years. Leonard Osberg served three two year terms as the Mayor of Vermilion in the 1940’s. Robert Judson retired as plant manager from the American Crayon Company in 1964, having been with the company for forty seven years. Wilbur Schoepfle was a Navy Ensign during World War One. He majored in mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan. Wilbur moved to California, and lost his life in an automobile accident in Orange County, California in 1941. The football team photograph pictures the young men with all their hopes and dreams ahead of them, years before the two world wars were thought of, and without the responsibilities of a job and family.

Visit the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library to learn more about the history of the people who have made Sandusky and Erie County their home.