Benwood Food Products, Processed in Sandusky

Pictured above is a wooden codfish box packed by the Bender-Woodward Company in Sandusky, Ohio. The Benwood brand name was a combination of the company’s officials, M.J. Bender, Jr. and W.W. Woodward. The Benwood brand of food products were produced in the 1920s

One of the partners in the Bender-Woodward Company

From about 1896 to 1902, M.J. Bender, Jr. operated a grocery store at the southwest corner of Hancock and Monroe Streets; by 1908, he had moved his business to the southeast corner of Hancock and Water Streets. Around 1910, Mr. Bender went into business with W. W. Woodward. Bender was the president of the company, and Woodward was the Vice President. (Mr. Woodward had previously been associated with Hoover-Woodward.) The Bender-Woodward store, which operated as a wholesale grocery business, was in business in Sandusky until 1939. Eventually, M.J. Bender Jr.’s son Elliot became associated with the company.

An advertisement in the May 20, 1924 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal promoted the Benwood Brand.

In 1924, Bender-Woodward Co. was just one of several local sponsors of the Garland Cooking School, which met for an entire week at the Dilgart & Bittner Co. on Washington Row.

Historic Views of the Southwest Corner of Monroe and Hancock Streets

    

When M.J. Bender opened a grocery store at the southwest corner of Monroe and Hancock Streets in Sandusky on February 18, 1891, a newspaper ad stated that it was “one of the finest and largest grocery stores in Sandusky.” Bender’s carried a full line of fancy and staple groceries, flour, and feed. The store was located on the site of Ohly’s old stand. By 1908 Mr. Bender moved his store to the corner of Hancock and Water Streets. For a brief time, sometime between 1910 and 1920, Wendt’s grocery was at that location.

   

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Lazarra and Maschari families ran a fruit market on this site. From at least 1940 through 1960, Otto’s Ice Cream was in business at 701 Hancock Street. This advertisement appeared in the Sandusky Register Star News on January 25, 1946.

         

By 1990 a flooring business was in operation at 701 Hancock Street. 

        

Many different businesses have been in operation at this busy Sandusky intersection. Some years, no business was at this location. To learn more about any specific location in Sandusky, visit the Sandusky Library to view historic Sandusky city directories. The street listings are helpful in determining what businesses were at what address at a given time.

Hoover and Woodward, Wholesale Grocers

 In 1880, Frederick E. Hoover and William W. Woodward started a wholesale grocery business on Water Street in Sandusky, Ohio. Frederick Hoover had moved to Sandusky from Sidney, Ohio. He was a Civil War veteran, having served in Company D of the 20^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Manning Force, who was the first commandant of the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in Erie County, Ohio, now the Ohio Veterans Home.

William W. Woodward lived in Dayton, Ohio, before he moved to Sandusky. He too was a Civil War veteran. W.W. Woodward served as an officer in several different units during the war. He was 2^nd Lieutenant in the 1^st Ohio Infantry; Captain in the 44^th Ohio infantry; Captain in the 8^th Ohio Cavalry; and he was a Colonel in the 166^th U.S.C.T.

Mr. Hoover and Mr. Woodward married sisters, both daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Elijah Zinn from Shelby County, Ohio. Mrs. Jennie Zinn Woodward died in the West House in Sandusky, when she was only forty one years old. She left behind two young children. After Frederick Hoover’s death in 1894, his widow Margaret Zinn Hoover assisted W.W. Woodward in the wholesale grocery business. Mr. Woodward married Florence Hadley in 1898.  In 1910, W.W. Woodward went into a partnership with M.J. Bender, with Mr. Bender serving as the president of the company, and Mr. Woodward serving as vice-president. The Bender Woodward wholesale grocery store was much larger than the original building of the Hoover Woodward store.

 W.W. Woodward died on April 5, 1913. He was buried in the family lot at Oakland Cemetery. Mr. Woodward's daughter Cora married another Sandusky businessman, Gustav Jarecki. Frederick E. Hoover, in his estate, left an amount totaling several thousand dollars to the College of Wooster to be used towards a dormitory for women and the education of men.

M.J. Bender, Sandusky Grocer

From about 1896 to 1902, M.J. Bender, Jr. operated a grocery store at the southwest corner of Hancock and Monroe Streets. A large quantity of canned goods can be seen in the windows of the Bender grocery, and signs on the building advertised teas, spices, crockery, tobacco products, and H-O Buckwheat. Around the turn of the twentieth century, the interurban railway traveled down Hancock Street, making shopping easy for area residents.

In 1908, M.J. Bender had moved his business to the southeast corner of Hancock and Water Streets. By 1910, Mr. Bender went into business with W. W. Woodward. M.J. Bender was the president of the company, and W. W. Woodward was the Vice President. (Mr. Woodward had previously been associated with Hoover-Woodward.) The Bender-Woodward store, which operated as a wholesale grocery business, was in operation in Sandusky until 1939.

In the 1920s Benwood brand food products were canned by the Bender Woodward Grocery. In an advertisement in the January 23, 1926 issue of the Sandusky Register, Hunt’s Quality Market carried several varieties of Benwood canned vegetables that had been processed at Bender Woodward. Benwood foods carried by Hunt’s market included canned peas, corn, kidney beans, wax beans, and two different types of canned tomatoes.

Martin J. Bender, Jr. passed away on September 23, 1948. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery. Mr. Bender was survived by his wife Helen, a son, daughter, and three grandchildren. An obituary for Martin J. Bender, Jr. is in the 1948 Obituary Notebook, housed with the genealogical books of the Sandusky Library.

Groceries in Sandusky

Before the advent of supermarkets and megastores, the neighborhood grocery store was the primary source for provisions among city residents. Since, of course, in the nineteenth century there was no refrigeration and no private automobiles, people most likely walked to the local grocery to purchase food for the daily meal. Therefore, there were many grocery stores in the community, scattered throughout the neighborhoods. In the 1855 city directory, for example, there were listings for 26 grocers, serving a population of about 8000 in the city.

The Sandusky Library Archives Research Center has images of some early groceries. Here are a few:
The M.J. Bender Co. grocery store was at the southwest corner of Hancock and Monroe Streets; the image above shows that corner in 1904.

Theodore Goessling briefly operated a grocery at the corner of Market and Hancock Streets, seen here around 1882.

Here is an interior view of the Edward Marquart grocery store, on Scott Street, in 1909. In the picture are Edward and Dora Marquart, with their son Harry.

The Schweinfurth Bros. grocery operated at the corner of Hayes Avenue and West Park Street from about 1898 to 1923. The people in this image are unidentified, but probably are members of the Schweinfurth family.

For more images of grocery stores of Sandusky, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.