A View of the Foot of Columbus Avenue in 1932

In 1932 the parking area at the foot of Columbus Avenue was paved with bricks. (The Schade-Mylander Plaza is on this location today.) A small portion of the steamer G.A. Boeckling can be seen at the left side of the picture above. The steamer Chippewa is in the center of the picture. A vessel from the Neuman boat lines is docked at the right side of the picture. 

You can see Hansen’s fish market on the far right side of the picture. In 1932 dressed catfish sold for thirty cents; fresh haddock fillets were twenty cents; and halibut sold for a quarter. According to the Sandusky Star Journal of April 7, 1932, Hansen's would deliver any order over fifty cents (equal to about $9.50 today). 

Note the vintage automobiles parked near the dock. If you look very closely, above the Hansen’s fish sign is a small billboard which features a Pontiac automobile, and the slogan “Chief of Values.”  The 1932 Sandusky City Directory listed eighteen automobile dealers. Browsing through the historical city directories, as well as looking through our many vintage photographs, can give one a sense of what life was like for residents of Sandusky and Erie County in years gone by.

George M. Rinkleff

George M. Rinkleff was born in June of 1864 in Sandusky, Ohio to Frank and Caroline (Molter) Rinkleff.  In 1885 he married Louise Taubert. Sadly, Louise Taubert Rinkleff died in 1887, when her daughter was just an infant. The Rinkleff infant had the same name as her mother, Louise Rinkleff. Louise, the daughter, was about three years old in the picture below, taken at the studio of C.W. Platt in Sandusky.

Mr. Rinkleff married Olive Orton in 1895, and they had a son, Roy, in 1899.

George Rinkleff started his hardware business in Sandusky in 1885. The store dealt in wholesale and retail hardware and building supplies, as well as supplies for ships. Besides operating the hardware store, Mr.. Rinkleff also served as president of the Klotz Machine Company and vice president of the Sandusky and Islands Steamboat Company, and was a director of the Third National Exchange Bank. He was the owner and operator of the steamer Chippewa.

Mr. Rinkleff was active in the Masons, the Rotary Club, and the Plum Brook Country Club. On June 9, 1934, George M. Rinkleff died at the age of 69. Funeral services were held at Grace Episcopal Church, and burial was at Oakland Cemetery.

Pictured below is the Rinkleff Hardware Store at 710 Water Street during the winter of 1913.

Sandusky Day, Sponsored by Retail Merchants in 1935

In June of 1935 members of the Sandusky Merchants’ Association mailed invitations to all residents of Put in Bay, Lakeside, Middle Bass Island, North Bass Island and Kelleys Island asking them to bring their families to downtown Sandusky for “Sandusky Day” on Saturday, June 15.  The Merchants’ Association paid for tickets for the steamer Chippewa. Put in Bay residents left South Bass Island at 7 a.m. and proceeded to the other locations, and arrived in Sandusky at 9 a.m. The Chippewa took the guests home at 9 p.m.

All day long Sandusky merchants offered special sale prices. Raffle coupons were issued to each shopper for every 25 cent purchase. Local residents as well as those visiting from the Lake Erie Islands area participated in Sandusky Day. Prizes were given away at Jackson Junior High School on June 17, and a listing of the prizes won, along with the names of the winners, were reported in the Sandusky Register on June 18, 1935

William Smith, of Putnam Street, won a dressed chicken from the Libhurt Market. Victor McKillips, from Kelleys Island, won a pair of slippers from Nobil’s Shoe Store. Louise Miller, of Columbus Avenue, won a fancy basket of fruit from Riccelli’s produce store.

To read the names of all the prize winners, see the June 18, 1935 issue of the Sandusky Register, now on microfilm. An article in the June 14, 1935 issue of the Sandusky Register stated that it was believed the free excursion provided by Sandusky’s Retail Merchants was “an important factor in the maintenance of the pleasant relations existing between the Islands and Sandusky.”

The Steamer Chippewa

The steamer Chippewa served as a passenger boat in the Lake Erie islands region from 1922 to 1938, for the Sandusky and Islands Steamboat Company. From 1884 to 1909, the vessel was named the William P. Fessenden, and served as a revenue cutter for the United States Treasury Department. 

During the 1924 tornado the Chippewa stayed afloat, but the Columbus sank into the waters of Sandusky Bay.

     

In an advertisement which appeared in the August 7, 1923 issue of the Sandusky Register, passengers aboard the Chippewa were treated to music by an orchestra on their return trip from Put in Bay.

Pictured below are passengers disembarking from the Chippewa in the 1930s.

  

The Chippewa offered “twilight rides” for those attending the state convention of the American Legion, held in Sandusky in August, 1934. In 1939 it was sold to the Peerless Cement Company, for use as a barge, and in 1943 it was scrapped in Hamilton, Ontario. 

Here is a postcard featuring the Chippewa from its days as a passenger boat in Lake Erie on the Sandusky, Put in Bay, Lakeside route: