A Photo of Family and Friends, and the Birth of Plum Brook Country Club.

In this photographic postcard Elizabeth Marsh and Florence Steinemann are gazing at Edward H. Marsh. Also looking at Mr. Marsh are George C. Steinemann and Lea Marsh. Edward H. Marsh worked with his father in the plaster business. He was a personal friend of William Howard Taft, with whom he attended school. Edward H. Marsh lost his wife Carrie at a young age, and he was left with two very young children to raise.

Lea Marsh was the son of Edward H. Marsh; he married Elizabeth D.G. Moss, the daughter of banker Charles H. Moss. Lea’s good friend was George C. Steinemann, a prominent Sandusky attorney. George was married to Florence Cable, who was the granddaughter of Sandusky businessman Frank Cable.

According to an article in the March 30, 2014 issue of the Sandusky Register, in 1913 Lea Marsh and George C. Steinemann, along with Watson H. Butler, sent out a letter, looking for people to invest in a golf course, to be located on Hayes Avenue and Strub Road, on property owned by August Pfaff. The “Sandusky Golf Club,” sometimes known as the “Auto County Club” was incorporated in 1914. By 1915, land was purchased off Galloway Road, and eventually became the golf course for the Plum Brook Country Club.

By 1930, Lea and Elizabeth Moss had moved to Old Lyme, Connecticut. When George C. Steinemann passed away in 1932, Mr. and Mrs. Lea Marsh traveled back to Ohio for his funeral, where Lea Marsh served as a pallbearer.

West Water Street Businesses from Behind in 1926

Sandusky photographer Ernst Niebergall took this picture of the rear side of the buildings along West Water Street between Columbus Avenue and Jackson Street about 1926. Today we know this area as the newly renovated Shoreline Drive. The first building on the eastern part of this block is known as Hubbard’s Block, at what is now 101 West Water Street. The building was originally owned by Sandusky businessman Lester Hubbard, and designed by Sheldon Smith, was built in the Romanesque Revival style of architecture. Hubbard’s Block was home to the Cosmopolitan Art and Literary Association in the 1850s. Moving down the street, next is the Stiles E. Hubbard building at 115 West Water Street, which had as its first tenants a grocery and dry goods store, and Austin Ferry’s hat shop. In 1926 George M. Rinkleff had a hardware store at 121 West Water Street. This advertisement shows us some of the items that were carried by the Rinkleff Hardware store in the 1910s, a few years before Mr. Niebergall took the picture of the block.

Known as the Lawrence Cable building, the structure at 121 West Water Street was built in 1868. Samuel Love had a men’s clothing store at 201 West Water Street in the mid-1920s. Charles R. Carroll ran a transfer business and a second hand store at 211 West Water Street. Many of the vintage trucks parked on the street were probably used to transport goods to local residents by employees of Mr. Carroll’s transfer business.

Chicken dinners were served at a restaurant to the west of Mr. Carroll’s business. At the corner of West Water Street and Jackson Street is the Freeland T. Barney building, which was built about 1870 and renovated in 1892. Most of the buildings that are pictured had businesses on the street level and apartments on the upper floors. You can read more historical details about the commercial property on West Water Street in Ellie Damm’s book, Treasure by the Bay. Pages 53 to 58 are devoted to the architectural background of these historic buildings.

The Sandusky Automobile Company

In 1902, the Sandusky Automobile Company was incorporated with James J. Hinde as President; Edward J. Cable, Secretary; F.P. Zollinger, Treasurer; and J. S. Bennett, Vice President. The factory was located on the west side of Sandusky, on Camp Street, and  manufactured an automobile called the Sandusky.

The Sandusky Automobile Company re-organized in 1904, and a new line of automobile called the Courier was manufactured. The Brown family is pictured below in a “Courier” automobile in 1904.

Within a year of its reorganization the Sandusky Automobile Company went bankrupt. The building was later used by the Brown Clutch Company for several years.

J. J. Hinde was associated with other successful businesses. He was the senior partner in the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company until 1910.  He is said to have been the man who introduced the tractor to Henry Ford. His obituary in 1931 stated that he was a “farmer, industrialist, and globe trotter.” He was long considered a booster of the Sandusky community.

The Fall 1980 issue of the Northwest Ohio Quarterly, available at the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library, features the Sandusky Automobile Company in its lead article by John L. Butler. The second volume of From the Widow's Walk by Helen Hansen and Virginia Steinemann also contains an article about Sandusky’s early automobiles.

Dedication of Cable Park Historic District

On October 8, 1989, the Erie County Historical Society dedicated a marker in the Cable Park neighborhood of Sandusky to commemorate the historic district on Wayne Street between Scott and Cable Streets, as well as the former Erie County Fairgrounds, at this location between 1865 and 1899. In the picture above, Mayor Mike Kresser is speaking to the group gathered for the marker dedication. Laurence Cable and his sons Frank and Edward planned the residential district.

There were specific guidelines for the homes that were built at Cable Park, listed below in the August 9, 1914 issue of the Sandusky Register.

There were to be only residences, and no commercial properties in Cable Park. The house lines were to be no less than forty feet from Wayne Street. No two-family homes were allowed. The planned residential area was to have a park-like atmosphere, and it was close to public transportation routes.

Cable Park Historic District was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. You can read more about Cable Park in the Sandusky Register of February 24, 1988.

Frank Cable and Family

The Frank Cable family is pictured above in the late 1890s. Frank’s wife was the former Ida Schwind. Their daughters were Clara, Florence and Stella. Frank, along with his father Laurence Cable and his brother Edward, was active in real estate development in Sandusky in the early twentieth century. The Cable family developed Cable Park, a residential neighborhood on Sandusky’s Wayne Street, and they were key donors to the former Providence Hospital. Below we see Frank Cable standing outside the home in which he grew up, at the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Monroe Street.

Frank and Ida’s daughter Clara Cable married Leo Wagner, who operated a florist shop in Sandusky for many years on Columbus Avenue.

Clara Cable Wagner

 Florence Cable married attorney George C. Steinemann.

Florence Cable Steinemann

Youngest daughter Stella went on to marry Dr. M.A. Wagner. After the the doctor's death, Stella wed Roman Burnor, and they made their home in Toledo, Ohio.

Mrs. Ida Schwind Cable died at the young age of 40, in a hospital in San Antonio, Texas following a serious illness. The telegram announcing her death was delivered to the Cable family on the very day that the Providence Hospital dedication took place, in April 1904. The original Providence Hospital had once been the home of C.C. Keech on Hayes Avenue.

  

Frank Laurence Cable died at the Sawyer Sanitarium in Marion, Ohio on December 14, 1913. Sadly, his brother Edward Cable had died just a few weeks earlier. The Cable family left their mark on Sandusky, Ohio. If you would like to learn more about this family and their many contributions to our community, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, where you can view the Cable Family Collection.

Lawrence Cable, Originally Known as Lorenz Kobul

Lawrence Cable, also known as Lorenz Kobul, was born in 1824 in Siegen, Alsace-Lorraine, which was then a part of France, but later was incorporated into the German Empire. Laurence emigrated to the United States in 1843, and he first settled in Indiana, where his brother was living. After attending college classes at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, he moved to Sandusky. 

In the spring of 1848, he married Miss Josephine Zuercher. She died of cholera in 1849, leaving behind a young daughter named Josephine. That year he began working for the Mad River Railroad. For a time in the 1850s he worked with Ben Icsman, to furnish timber for the railroad bridge across Sandusky Bay. He worked in the shoe business from about 1856 to 1867. In 1872, Mr. Cable was named president of the newly formed Third National Bank, and he stayed in this position until his death in 1904. Ernst Von Schulenburg wrote in Sandusky Then and Now, that Cable and the bank’s treasurer, F.P. Zollinger, protected the Third National Bank “with the eyes of an Argus.” In 1904 he purchased the site of the old fairgrounds at the end of Wayne Street with the intent of building an upper middle class neighborhood. After he died, his sons Edward and Frank Cable continued the development of Cable Park, located at 1103-1234 Wayne Street.

Mr. Cable had married Victoria Stoll in 1852, and they had five children. Mrs. Victoria Cable died in 1874. Laurence married for a third time in 1880, to Miss Mena Walter. In 1880 he built a two story home at 910 West Monroe Street, which still stands today. After his death, his wife stayed at this home until she died in 1930.

       

Lawrence Cable was known for his generosity. He, along with two other parishioners, donated three bells to the St. Mary’s Catholic Church, when the current church building was in its early days. In 1902 Mr. Cable donated money to buy the former residence of C.C. Keech on Hayes Avenue for use as a hospital under the direction of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine. This home eventually became Providence Hospital, which later became a part of Firelands Regional Medical Center.

    

Lawrence Cable died on October 16, 1904; he was buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Sandusky. In a long life, beginning in Europe and ending in Sandusky, he became one of the community’s most respected residents. You can read much more about him in the book, History of the Western Reserve.  The Cable Family Collection is housed in the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.  This collection documents some of the business activities of Cable and his sons Edward and Frank in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Wedding Portraits of Leo Wagner and Clara Cable

Leo E. Wagner married Clara Cable in 1910. Their wedding portraits were a gift to the historical collections of the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library from the couples’ son Lawrence. Leo E. Wagner was the son of Michael Wagner, who was born in Germany, and settled in Sandusky in the 1870s. Michael Wagner was the president of Wagner Quarries, which began operating in 1893. Clara Cable was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Cable.

For many years, Leo E. Wagner operated a florist shop at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and East Monroe Streets. This location was later occupied by Russell’s Flowers, and since 2009 is home to Tre Sorelle Cioccolato. By the late 1940s, Mr. and Mrs. Leo Wagner moved to La Jolla, California. Leo E. Wagner passed away on June 21, 1956, and Clara passed away in 1984.

If you have vintage photos of family members or businesses from Sandusky and Erie County, consider donating them to the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library for future generations to enjoy.

New Finding Aids for Old Collections

I know this is coming a little late (the work was finished in August), but I would like to recognize and publicize some new resources produced by our summer intern this year. He created several new finding aids for materials that had been "buried" in the archives, because they had not been fully described as distinct collections. We're hopeful that these new information sources will bring increased attention to some interesting historical items, and provide more information of value to researchers. Although none of these collections is very big, there will certainly be some bits of information useful to genealogists, local historians, and others with an interest in history and culture.

Many of these new finding aids describe collections of papers and artifacts produced and gathered by local families and individuals. The Stubig Family Collection (1852-1926) contains materials relating to the life and times of Christian Stubig, a German immigrant to Sandusky, and his son Carl Stubig, a newspaper reporter and local political figure. Among the items in this collection are letters written in German between family members and Stubig's Weekly, a political newspaper published by Carl Stubig, 1915-1918.

The Wilbor & Wilcox Family Collections (bulk 1848-1873) provide insight into business and personal activities in 19th-century Sandusky. The collection contains records of dry goods business transactions and personal correspondence among family members.

The Cable Family Collection (bulk 1895-1916) offers a description of the business activities of Laurence Cable and his sons Edward and Frank, including legal documents and correspondence, some relating to the Cable Park residential development in Sandusky.

The John F. McCrystal, Sr. Papers (bulk 1893-1925) include approximately 175 items relating to Mr. McCrystal's participation in legal and civic issues, particularly during his time as chairman of Sandusky's Legal Advisory Board in the World War I period.

The Frohman Family Collection (1891-1990) is a small collection of memorabilia relating to the Sandusky family, beginning with brothers David and Henry, who arrived in the 1850s, to Charles Frohman, the businessman and local historian who died in 1976.

The Chapman and Pendleton Family Correspondence consists of 120 letters sent between family members between 1843 and 1870. They offer a rich description of life of that time, including reports of travel and migration, diseases, death and other hardships, as well as other personal matters that help to describe the era.

Also, the library holds several small collections relating to local businesses. Although none of these collections represent the complete records of a company (or even a significant portion), they offer perpectives of various local industries. Included are: the Hinde and Dauch Company Collection (1894-1995), consisting primarily of advertisements and other business ephemera; the American Crayon - Prang Collection (1878-1980), containing advertising, some correspondence, catalogs, and secondary articles relating to the company's activities; and the M. Hommel Winery Collection (bulk 1897-1915), including records of the company relating to competitions at international expositions and fairs, some business records, and advertising materials.

For more information about these collections, or any other collections in the Archives Research Center, please contact the Sandusky Library, via phone (419-625-3834) or email, or come in and visit the library.