D.C. Powers, Pioneer Merchant

Dewitt Clinton Powers was born in 1844 in Jefferson County, New York. After he came to Sandusky in 1865, he began working as a clerk in the dry goods store of Charles E. and George A. Cooke. After working with C.L. Wagner in dry goods, he began a partnership with William Zollinger. The Powers and Zollinger dry goods store was located at 142 Columbus Avenue and 629 Market Street, in the Cooke block of downtown Sandusky.

By 1890, Mr. Powers was in business on his own with D.C. Powers and Company. He continued in this business until his retirement in 1914. Hewson Peeke wrote in his book A Standard History of Erie County (Lewis Publishing Company, 1916), that D.C. Powers and Company “was recognized as a landmark in the shopping industry of Sandusky.” Mr. Powers is the third individual from the left in the picture of the interior of the D.C. Powers and Company store, according to notes on the original photograph.

On April 23, 1919, Dewitt C. Powers died at the age of 75, after suffering a heart attack. His wife, the former Mary Alvord, had died in 1909. Mr. Powers was survived by a son, Royal A. Powers, and a daughter, Mrs. M.J. Bender. Funeral services were held at the Powers residence, with the Rev. R.J. Beard and A.H. O’Brien officiating. Burial was at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.

Sandusky Children Gave Gifts to a Local Hospital in 1889

In December of 1889, hundreds of Sandusky schoolchildren brought in donations for the Good Samaritan Hospital, which at that time was located on Van Buren Street.

      

According to the Sandusky Register of December 23, 1889, school children all across Sandusky were asked to contribute gifts to the hospital.

Hundreds of youngsters brought in donations of food for use at the hospital. Ethel Moore brought in two cakes of chocolate. Other gifts included a pound of coffee from Joe Nolan, four pounds of rolled oats from Jessie Hornig, a pound of tapioca from Willie Banks, and a live chicken from Albert Trout. Some students brought in contributions of cash. (You can read the article above in its entirety on microfilm at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.) 

During the holiday season of 1889, the D.C. Powers and Company store promised to carry something to please every member of the family

After having opened in 1886, the Good Samaritan Hospital ran into serious financial problems and closed its doors in 1893. The hospital reopened in 1910, and was rebuilt in 1918. Later a new facility was built, next door to the old one. In 1985 Good Samaritan Hospital and Sandusky Memorial Hospital merged to form Firelands Community Hospital, now known as Firelands Regional Medical Center.

The Christmas Season in Sandusky, 1891

This was the menu for Christmas time at the West House, a large hotel in Sandusky:

A variety of game and seafood were the main course, along with cold ham, chicken and tongue. Desserts included mince pie, lemon pie, cake, ice cream, and English plum pudding with brandy sauce.

Local companies advertised in the Sandusky Register for several weeks in December of 1891. The Fair, a store managed by M.N. Sisenwain opposite the Sloane House, sold dolls, books, mechanical toys, jewelry, china cups, glassware, pictures, and a wide assortment of gift items of “Christmas delights.” J. Krupp and Son sold books cases, beds, rockers, tapestries and furniture for the home or office. M. & A. Lebensburger, a leading Sandusky clothier, sold several styles of overcoats. The Bazar at 615 and 617 Market Street slashed prices just a few days before Christmas Day.

D.C. Powers ran a lengthy poem advertising the many items for sale at the D.C. Powers dry goods store at 142 Columbus Avenue. The first three stanzas, which appeared in the December 18, 1891 issue of the Sandusky Register, were:

Mother Christmas’ Answer

Santa came to “Mother Christmas”-
“Dear,” said he, “I’m sore perplexed!
Knotted was the kind old forehead,
One might almost think him vexed.
“Where I’m going to get my sleighful
of the rarest, brightest, best,
Prettiest things to please this worldful
Grown so captious, can’t be guessed!

Said his Dame, “I wonder at you!
Must be you’ve forgotten Powers;
I have found there gifts to rapture
These expectant bairns of ours.
For, you know, with all the worldful-
Stockings large, and stockings small,
You must cram form out your sleighful-
Nothing’s left for ours at all!”

“Then the quaint, delightful boxes-
Filled, the yare, with daintiest things-
Charming souvenirs, cards and booklets –
Everything the season brings,
Kerchiefs, hemstitched, plain, embroidered,
Silk and linen, grave and gay-
Finest values for the prices –
In bewildering display!”

The poem concludes with Santa deciding to fill his sleigh with items from D.C. Powers’ stock. This photograph, which shows an interior view of the D.C. Powers store, was taken in the latter part of the 1800s: