East Side Service Station

From about 1928 to 1931, the East Side Service Station was located at the intersection of Cleveland Road and McKinley Street in Sandusky, Ohio. In 1928 the East Side Service Station used Pennzoil products.

An advertisement which appeared in the November 21, 1928 issue of the Sandusky Register stated that the East Side Service Station offered Sandusky’s first enclosed drain pits. The staff specialized in greasing and crank case draining. High test gasoline was sold at the station.

An advertisement featured in the August 3, 1929 Sandusky Star Journal stated that the East Side Service Station was open all night. The station provided restrooms for travelers, and sold refreshments.

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to learn more about the historic businesses of Sandusky and Erie County.

Aerial View of Cleveland Road from 1955

This aerial image was taken by photographer and pilot Tom Root in October of 1955. Several houses can be seen on Avondale Street, south of Cleveland Road. What is now the Sandusky Inn and Suites at 1530 Cleveland Road was the Siesta Motel in 1955. Right across the street from the Siesta Motel was Foster Chevrolet, Inc. Lake Erie Gifts & Décor is now located at the site of the former Foster Chevrolet location. Awnings can be seen on the front of the Pfefferkorn Awning Co., located at 1610 Cleveland Rd. (Several businesses are located at the site of the former Pfefferkorn Awning Co. today.) To the east of Pfefferkorn Awning was the Hickory Barbecue, at 1616 Cleveland Road, which no longer stands.

Thomas F. Root, a self taught photographer from Plymouth, Ohio, took aerial photographs in northwest Ohio for more than sixty years. After renting a plane for several years, Mr. Root purchased his own plane in 1968. Root would open the window of the airplane, bank the plane, and take the photographs out of the side of the plane. Tom Root retired in 2001, and in 2008, he transferred a portion of his collection to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.