1867 Concert by the Sandusky Mannerchor

On Friday, October 18, 1867, the Sandusky Männerchor gave a vocal and instrumental concert at Norman Hall, on Water Street in downtown Sandusky. Norman Hall was eventually incorporated into property owned by the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company, and today no longer stands.

Many towns in the U.S. had a männerchor in the nineteenth century. It was a male chorus made up primarily of those of German descent. Members could socialize, enjoy music, and preserve elements of the German culture. The group was assisted by J.L. and E. Bonn, Miss B. Silva, and Cornelius Schnaitter. J.L. and E. Bonn had been born in Bavaria, and moved to Sandusky with their family, where they ran a grocery store not far from the Sandusky Library.

Cornelius Schnaitter was also a native of Bavaria. He moved to Sandusky in 1849, and ran a successful tailoring business.

It appears that many local businessmen could work at their jobs in the day, but still enjoy participating in singing societies during their time off at night and on weekends. An article in the October 19, 1873 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that a full house attended the männerchor concert. A song which brought the house down was a comic song called “Frog” in which several men wore costumes of green and ashen hues, and leaped around the stage like frogs. The performers were accompanied by a grand piano, and their numbers were well received by the audience. To read more about the musical societies of Sandusky’s early German-American citizens, see pages 160 to 173 of Sandusky Then and Now.

J.L. Bonn & Son Grocery

J. L. Bonn operated a grocery business during the late 1800’s at the northeast corner of Adams and Decatur Streets. After Mr. Bonn retired, two of his family members continued in the grocery business. The 1910 Sandusky City Directory lists Jacob Bonn operating a grocery store at the original Bonn Grocery location, while J. Bonn had a grocery store at the southwest corner of Hancock and Monroe Streets in Sandusky.

The Bonn family originated in Bavaria. By 1870 the family had emigrated to the United States. The 1870 U.S. Census for Erie County, Ohio, listed the children of J. L and Caroline Bonn as: J.L. Jr., Eugene, Josephine, William, Jacob, and Helen Bonn. All the Bonn children had also been born in Bavaria. J.L. Bonn, Sr., died on April 21, 1899. He was buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Sandusky. Mr. Bonn’s obituary, which appeared in the April 22, 1899 issue of the Sandusky Star, stated that J. L. Bonn had been one of those who “laid the foundations of Sandusky’s success.”

Church music played a key role in the Bonn family. Son J. L. Bonn, Jr., known as Louis, was a professor of music in New York. Jacob Bonn, who died in 1944, was considered an authority on Gregorian chant. Eugene F. Bonn was a composer of liturgical music, and a professor of music at St. Andrew’s and St. Bernard’s seminaries in New York State. Professor Eugene Bonn received the Papal decoration “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” in 1930 in Rochester, New York. Helen Bonn Fox, the daughter of J. L. Bonn, Sr., taught music in Sandusky for 75 years, and she was the mother of the members of the well known local singing group the Fox Sisters.

While there is no longer a grocery store at the corner of Decatur and Adams Streets, in the photo below, an advertisement for Gold Medal Flour is still visible. The ad was painted on the building when Fred Schweinfurth operated a grocery store at the same location as the former Bonn Grocery.