The Reminiscences of Herman and Hedwig Zistel

In Archival Box G-14, folder 14 at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center  is a wonderful piece of local history. The complete title reads: The Reminiscences of Herman Zistel: Memories of a German-American family in Nineteenth-Century Sandusky, Ohio to which are appended The Childhood Memories of Hedwig Zistel, edited by David P. Harris (2006, 2009.) The first part includes remembrances of Herman Zistel, who was born to Louis and Anna (Rosenkranz) Zistel in 1867. Herman’s parents were both natives of Germany.  Herman’s reminiscences were put on paper because his daughter, Era Zistel Posselt, wanted to hear memories of the older generations of her family. David P. Harris was a great nephew of Herman Zistel, and he edited the memories from a typewritten transcript of the original family letters. Herman tells about losing his mother at a young age, and having a new stepmother whom the children called “Grandma.” He described living in Sandusky, Ohio in the 1860s and 1870s, close to the waterfront and spending time at his father’s business known as the Atlantic Gardens. Herman survived an attack by the bear that lived in a cage at the Atlantic Gardens.

An interior scene at the Atlantic Pleasure Gardens in the 1870s

When he was old enough, Herman took one of his father’s boats out on Sandusky Bay for fishing parties. Then in the 1880s he left home on the train and headed west where he worked on a cattle ranch. Eventually he moved back to Ohio and married Mary Rodecker. They had two daughters, and resided in Cuyahoga County, where Herman worked in the shoe business. 

In the portion of the notebook which includes memories of Hedwig Zistel are Hedwig’s recollections of life in Sandusky in the 1800s. She recalled that the Great Western Band used to have a concert every Wednesday night at the Atlantic Gardens.

Stereographic Image of Great Western Band circa 1880

Her job was to clean the chimneys. Hedwig, also known as Hettie or Hattie, told about her father inventing a rustic cash register, and an ice elevator. She also recalled her brother Oscar’s inventions, especially the live fish car. Hettie became an apprentice seamstress, after leaving school at a young age. In 1891, she married Charles Schippel. Hettie lived to the age of 91, passing away in January of 1962. This notebook of recollections of Herman and Hedwig Zistel is fascinating to read. It takes one back to a day before television and automobiles, and gives details about what everyday life was like in Sandusky, Ohio from a long gone era.

Louis Zistel, an Early German Immigrant

Louis Zistel was born in Germany in 1830, and came to the Sandusky in 1848 (during the time of revolutionary upheavals in Europe). Because of the cholera epidemic of 1849, he went back to Germany for a time, but returned to Sandusky in the mid 1850s. His first wife was Anna Rosenkranz. The couple’s first two children, Oscar and Louis, were born in Germany. Louis died in infancy. After moving to Ohio, they had several more children: twins Ottomar and Oswald, Wilhelmina, Herman and Hedwig. Mrs. Anna Zistel died in 1877, when several of the children were quite young. On May 12, 1879 Louis married Catherine Peters, whom the Zistel children fondly called “Grandma.”

Several members of the Zistel family are pictured below. The Platt Photograph Company made a stereographic image of the Zistel residence and boatyard.

According to an article in the March 7, 1899 issue of the Sandusky Register, Louis Zistel owned the first steam fishing tug in Sandusky Bay. He was connected with boats and fishing for many years. During the Civil War, he was issued a government contract to transport Confederate prisoners to the Union prison camp at Johnson’s Island. One of his steamers was named the Young Reindeer. In 1870, Zistel ferried Sandusky residents to Cedar Point, where there was a bath house, sand boxes and swings for children, and dancing for adults. The fee for the boat ride was twenty five cents.

Zistel operated the Atlantic Garden,  a boat house saloon, in the 1870s. For a time he also featured a large aquarium at the Atlantic Garden, as well as a bear and other animals.

Louis Zistel died on March 3, 1889, after a long battle with throat cancer. His four sons served as active pallbearers. Funeral services were held at the Zistel residence at 319 Meigs Street, and were largely attended. The Sandusky Register reported, “Old German citizens, whose ranks are being so rapidly depleted, paid their tribute to their deceased friend and fellow citizen.”

In the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center are The Reminiscences of Herman Zistel and The Childhood Memories of Hedwig Zistel, two of the children of Louis Zistel. These reminiscences are a firsthand account of growing up in Sandusky in the nineteenth century. They include stories about the loss of their mother, family pets, childhood pranks, and favorite pastimes of members of a very lively family. Ask at the Reference Desk if you would like to view The Reminiscences of Herman Zistel or The Childhood Memories of Hedwig Zistel.

A View of Meigs Street and the East Waterfront in 1876

In about 1876 photographer A.C. Platt created a series of stereoscopic views of the region, which he called The Isles of Lake Erie. Pictured above is a view on Sandusky which features Meigs Street and the waterfront. Sandusky resident Leroy Hinkey created a key to this image.

Sycamore School can be seen at the top right of the picture. Louis Zistel’s aquarium and boat livery are numbers 2 and 3 in the picture, adjacent to the Atlantic Gardens, also owned by Mr. Zistel. Two ice houses and residences, and several Sandusky businesses can also be seen in the picture. We are fortunate that Leroy Hinkey had the foresight to allow future Sandusky residents to have of a better understanding of life in Sandusky in a time gone by.

No TV, No Internet, No Video Games

Have you ever heard kids (or yourself) wonder what people did before there were movies, television, computers, or even radio? Going to the neighborhood saloon for a beer was one of the more common social activities in the nineteenth century. Here is a view of some men having a drink at an unidentified saloon on Water Street in 1889. It's impossible to guess which saloon this is, because in 1889 there were forty-one saloons -- on Water Street alone!!! That's right -- the neighborhood saloon was in every neighborhood back then. Sometimes there were more than one on a block. (For example, in 1889, Adolph Ernst had a saloon at 202 Tiffin Ave., and George Ferback operated one at 210 Tiffin Ave.) The 1889 Sandusky city directory lists 181 saloons in the city.
The saloon was a place where men met to socialize with their friends and enjoy a beer, and maybe even get something to eat, just like they or their fathers or grandfathers did in the "old country" (most likely Germany). This image probably represents a typical scene in a neighborhood saloon of the era: men who may have just finished work for the day, gathered together to talk about their day and the world they lived in. Note the spittoons and hand towels at intervals along the bar, and the hearty, dark beer that was common then. (None of that wimpy pale beer, like we drink today!)

While most saloons were small neighborhood operations, some were a bit more elaborate. Louis Zistel was proprietor of the Atlantic Garden Saloon (sometimes identified as the Atlantic Pleasure Garden) on Meigs Street (near where the city building is today). You can see a bowling alley in the foreground of this picture of Zistel's saloon.
Zistel also operated a boat yard and (briefly) an aquarium, where visitors could view aquatic life through glass in a tank twelve feet deep and one hundred feet in circumfrence.