Sandusky Taxicab Advertisements in 1919

Arthur L. Pietschman ran the Pietschman Transfer & Taxi Company in Sandusky in 1919. He offered taxi service during the night or day, and also moved baggage, theatrical items and pianos. In 1923 he changed the name of his business to Pietschman’s Yellow Cab. 

The Cadillac Transfer and Taxi Company was operated by Oscar G. Biehl and Harry J. Andres.

The Cadillac Transfer and Taxi Company offered rides day or night, with a “big, roomy limousine or touring car.”  The advertisement below indicates that the Cadillac Taxi provided speed with safety, and the owners suggested customers call for an appointment for the best service.

E.H. Schlessman, best remembered as a commercial photographer in Sandusky for several years, ran the Buick Taxi Company. This advertisement from the December 31, 1919 issue of the Sandusky Register, states that the Buick Taxi Company offered “high class” cars that were clean and equipped with heaters.

Undertakers in Sandusky were also Furniture Dealers

The advertisement above for Chas. J. Andres appeared in the 1900-1901 Sandusky City Directory. Mr. Andres was a furniture dealer as well as a funeral director and embalmer. In the classified business directory of that volume, Krupp and Goebel and Marquart and Myers were also listed as both furniture manufacturers and undertakers. The same skills it took to make fine furniture were also used in the making of wooden coffins. After the death of Charles J. Andres in 1902, for several years, Mrs. Andres and Fred Frey, Sr. were partners in the furniture and undertaking business. These postcards advertised furniture sold by Andres and Frey, about 1912.

An advertisement from the Sandusky Star Journal of October 16, 1918 stated that furniture from Andres & Frey would add “personality and charm to the home,” which brings to mind a fond image of hearth and home. This image is in sharp contrast to the thought of losing a loved one, which necessitates the need for an undertaker.

After the death of their parents, the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Andres continued as the C.J. Andres & Sons Funeral Home until 1971.

The Frey Funeral Home began at 604. W. Washington Street in 1925. When F. Leo Groff joined the firm, the name changed to the Frey-Groff Funeral Home. In 1987, a new building was opened on East Perkins Avenue, and the name was changed to Groff Funeral Home. 

When Sandusky’s Funeral Homes Provided Ambulance Service

Before organized emergency medical services were introduced in the United States, funeral homes often provided emergency ambulance service as well as transportation for sick patients. In the souvenir booklet from Sandusky’s Centennial Celebration in 1924, Charles J. Andres’ Sons funeral directors offered 24-hour sedan ambulance service. In the same publication, the Frey Furniture and Undertaking Co. advertised an auto invalid car “used exclusively for the living.”

In this picture from a 1924 parade, the Andres Funeral Home vehicle had the word ambulance lettered above the white cross on the front of the car.

The billboard in the undated picture  below from rural Erie County  stated that the Frey Funeral Home also offered ambulance service.

Listings in Sandusky City Directories indicate that local funeral homes provided ambulance service from the 1920s through the 1970s. An article in the June 25, 1964 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that during the 1950s and 1960s,  the Andres, Frey, Keller, Quick and Suitor Funeral Homes rotated ambulance service on a monthly basis, so that the calls were distributed fairly. David Suitor stated that he personally delivered five babies while on ambulance calls in Sandusky.