The Smith and Schnaitter Families Had Fun Along the Shore

In a previous blog post, we learned that Freeland Smith and his wife, the former Nettie Schnaitter, lived on Perry Street in Sandusky, and that they had a large family of five children. In the picture above, taken about 1910, we see Freeland Smith at the left side of the photo. Next to him is his son James. Moving from left to right, we see Betty Smith and an unidentified woman. Seated on the sand in the middle of the picture is young Frank “Pink” Smith, his uncle Frank Schnaitter, Frank’s wife Helen Schnaitter, and his sister Gertrude Schnaitter. 

Though the children in the picture below have not been identified, it is fun to see the styles of clothing that people wore to the beach in the first half of the twentieth century.

Frank “Pink” Smith and his sister Margaret “Polly” Smith are in the water in this summertime picture.

Members of the Smith-Schnaitter families are enjoying the lovely weather in this picture as well. Most likely the three children are James, Frank “Pink” and Betty Smith, children of Freeland and Nettie Smith.

You can see the skyline of Sandusky in the distance, as a few members of the extended family fishes from the rocks along Sandusky Bay.

We can only imagine that the photographer who took this picture was hoping that the youngsters did not take a tumble into the water, as they gaze at the waves along the shoreline.

We are grateful to the descendants of Mr. and Mrs. Freeland Smith for their generous donation of Smith-Schnaitter family photographs. Because we have these items, we can have a glimpse of what summertime along the shores Lake Erie was like in the early 1900s

"Bathing Beauties" in Sandusky

In the 1940s Vera Jean Curtis, Elizabeth Hitchcock, Grace Pietschman, and Mary Brohl posed on the S. S. Goodtime, bound for Cedar Point.

Beryl Starr, a young man, and the pilot pose on a "flying boat" airplane in Sandusky Bay in the 1920s.

Cedar Point’s sandy beach has been attracting swimmers for more than a century.

Pictures of the Cedar Point Beach by Henry Suehrstedt

Several pictures taken at the Cedar Point Beach were donated to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center by Henry Suehrstedt.  They were most likely taken in the 1950s.  

A covered shelter provides some shade to beach goers in this view of the beach.

   

It appears that some visitors to Cedar Point preferred to sit and watch others enjoying the cool waters of Lake Erie.

            

According to Mr. Suehrstedt’s obituary in the January 31, 1985 issue of the Sandusky Register, he was employed as an engineer for the Plum Brook Ordnance Works, and served as a building inspector for the City of Sandusky. Later he worked as an engineer at Cedar Point, and was responsible for designing several buildings at the amusement park, including the train station for the Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad.