What Products did Barney and Ferris Sell?

F.T. Barney and B.F. Ferris owned the Barney and Ferris hardware store at the northeast corner of Jackson and Water Streets in the 1870s and 1880s. The building still stands in Sandusky today. 

The building the housed the former Barney & Ferris store, circa 2016

All varieties of hardware were sold at Barney and Ferris, including nails, paint, mantels, grates, hearths and glass. You could even purchase agricultural implements there. By 1881 the company branched out into selling sporting goods to hunters and fishermen. Several different kinds of gunpowder were sold by Barney and Ferris, many from the Oriental Powder Company.

An advertisement from1886 referred to Barney and Company as the “Old Pioneer Hardware House.” At that time, Barney’s was an agent for products like the Nickle Barn Door Roller and the Eureka Mower.

After the deaths of F.T. Barney and B.F. Ferris, other individuals operated hardware stores at the same site, including Pierre Van Alstyne and members of the Donahue family.

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to learn more about the former businesses that were a big part of the lives of the early residents of Erie County, Ohio.

The Donahue Building

The building at 126 Columbus Avenue, now home to a resale shop operated by Stein Hospice, began as a bank building. The Moss Brothers Bank, founded by Augustus H. and Horace Moss, was at this location in the early 1850s.

In 1914, C. Faber and Frank Donahue moved their hardware store from Water Street to what is now 126 Columbus Avenue. Ellie Damm wrote in her book Treaure by the Bay (Western Reserve Historical Society, 1989), that the Donahues added the brick façade to the building as well as the stone carved name “Donahue” under the cornice. You can see the original limestone on  the south side of the Donahue building. Interestingly, Ellie Damm, who was well known for her efforts in local preservation, was a descendant of the founders of Donahue Hardware. In 1920, Lew and Ira Wiles purchased this property, and they ran the Dixie Cafeteria here. If you look closely, you can see the sign for the cafeteria in the picture below.

   

Many area residents will recall that the Sherwin-Williams store was in business at 126 Columbus Avenue from 1952 into the 1990s.

Commercial Building at the Northeast Corner of Jackson and West Water Streets

The three story brick building at the northeast corner of Jackson and West Water Streets in downtown Sandusky was built about 1870, and has been a key commercial property in Sandusky for more than a century. For several years, Freeland T. Barney and Benjamin F. Ferris operated a hardware store at this location.

After Mr. Barney died in 1875, his widow, Mary Barney took over the business, with the help of a bookkeeper named Pierre VanAlstyne. Mr. VanAlstyne took over the business after the death of Mrs. Barney in 1881. 

The building underwent a major renovation in 1892, including the addition of a Romanesque Revival facade. Arches adorn the windows of upper levels of the building, and decorative brackets trim the upper most portion of the building.  The hardware store that had started as Barney and Ferris eventually became the Donahue Hardware Store. Below is a picture of the Donahue Hardware Store about 1900. In the early twentieth century, the Donahue Hardware Store occupied 735-737-739 Water Street. 

By 1915, the Donahues had moved the hardware store to Market Street, and Schnaitter and Bechberger Plumbing and Heating took over the location of the former Donahue Hardware, which was now known as 231-233 West Water Street.  Bender & Woodward Wholesale Grocers had temporary quarters at 225-229 West Water Street at that time.  In 1932, the Elks Hall was on the upper floor of 231 West Water Street. Later businesses in the large block from 225-233 West Water Street were Hessler Plumbing and Heating, Trophy Specialists, the Yankee Clipper barber shop, an art gallery and the Sandusky Athletic Club. To learn the exact years and names of businesses at this location in downtown Sandusky, see the historical Sandusky City Directories housed in the lower level of the Sandusky Library. 

The large 20 Mule Team Borax advertisement below was painted on the former Barney & Ferris building at the time of the 1913 Perry Centennial Celebration in Sandusky.

The side of the building which faces to the west is likely where the old Borax ad was painted.

More details about the businesses that have been located on West Water Street are found in an article by Helen Hansen and Virginia Steinemann in the January 19, 1992 issue of the Sandusky Register, now available on microfilm at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

J.F. Donahue and Company Hardware

From about 1900 through 1912, J. Frank Donahue was the president of the J.F. Donahue and Company hardware store, located at 735 and 737 Water Street. In the early 1900s, J.F. Donahue and Company sold Tribune and Pathfinder bicycles, and several varieties of paint.

An advertisement in the June 29, 1911 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal stated that the Donahue Hardware Company had the largest selection of lawn hose in the city of Sandusky. At that time, lawn hose sold for ten cents to eighteen cents per foot.

In 1912, J. Frank Donahue left his leadership role at the Donahue Hardware Company, and became president of the Easiest Way Manufacturing Company. For several years, Frank’s brother, C. Faber Donahue, served as the president of the Donahue Hardware Company. The Easiest Way Manufacturing Company made washing machines. The washing machines were sold at the Donahue Hardware store and other locations locally and throughout the U.S.

In January 1921, the Easiest Way Manufacturing Company moved its operations to the northeast corner of Adams and Harrison Street, at the former site of the Diamond Wine Company.

In the article above, which appeared in the January 8, 1921 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal, it was stated that “efficiency, system and workmanship” were the outstanding features of the Easiest Way Manufacturing Company’s new plant.  On June 30, 1930, J. Frank Donahue died from an accidental drowning. He was survived by his wife, the former Caroline Sadler, and three children. He was buried at Oakland Cemetery.

Schnaitter-Smith Families on Perry Street

A recent donation of materials to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center helps to bring family histories to life. Two houses on Perry Street tell the story of the Schnaitter and Smith families, whose lives played out on their front porches during the early 1900s. Although most of the photographs from the Howard collection were unlabeled, we became history detectives to discover more about the pictured families.

Merchant tailor Frank Schnaitter married Christina. Their five children were Antoinette (Nettie), Frank (1880-1913), Edward (see previousblog entry), Gertrude, and Florence. The children were raised in a beautiful Victorian house at 812 Perry Street.

The Schnaitter home prior to 1920

Bicycles were popular at the turn of the century when Nettie Schnaitter, at around age 20, began spending time with Freeland Smith. She enjoyed riding with Freeland and his sister, Lottie.

Freeland Smith and Nettie Schnaitter. The two boys could be her brothers Edward and Frank. March 28, 1897.

Left to right: An unidentified woman, Lottie, and Nettie pose with their bicycles in front of Nettie’s house. The two boys talking on the porch could be Nettie’s brothers Edward and Frank. March 31, 1897.

Freeland Smith worked as a bookkeeper at Donahue Hardware at 735 Water Street, and he and Nettie Schnaitter were married around 1903. Nettie soon gave birth to Elizabeth “Betty” Smith, James “Bud” Smith, and Frank “Pink” Smith.

------------------------------

In 1910, a house was built at 808 Perry Street, beside Nettie’s childhood home where her parents and siblings were still living. Soon after, Freeland opened Smith Hardware, which he and Adam Smith later managed. The Smiths lived with the Schnaitter family for several years, and Nettie’s daughters, Margaret “Polly” Smith and Patricia Gertrude Smith, were born in 1911 and 1917, respectively.

By 1915, Freeland and Nettie’s family had moved into the house at 808 Perry Street . That same year, the address numbering system changed, so 812 became 810, and 808 became 806 Perry Street.

Nettie’s children spent happy times playing on the front porches of both houses.

Children, likely Elizabeth, James, Frank, and Margaret Smith stand near the Perry Street homes.

Elizabeth and James Smith, Seymore Bloker, Roy Seebeck, and Frank and Margaret Smith pose on the porch of 808 Perry Street.

Margaret Smith plays with a doll and buggy on her front porch of 808 Perry Street. February 15, 1914.

Even though Nettie was about 7 and 19 years older than her younger sisters, they seemed to be close. Many photographs show Nettie’s children spending time with their next-door neighbors, Aunts Gertrude and Florence Schnaitter.

Left to right: Gertrude and Florence Schnaitter stand beside Nettie Smith. Frank and Margaret Smith, holding a doll, stand in front. All are bundled in winter clothes. The photo is probably dated around 1915.

Likely Elizabeth and Margaret Smith standing with their Aunt Gertrude Schnaitter.

Around 1920, the front half of the house at 810 Perry was moved to 5^th Street.

House at 810 Perry Street after the front was moved.

Gertrude married A. R. Warner and moved to Deerfield, IL, while Florence married Claude Miller. Then the elder Frank Schnaitter died in an ice boating accident in 1928. By 1930, Florence and Claude were living alone at the 810 Perry Street house.

In 1939, Freeland was working as the vice president of Smith Hardware. By 1940, Florence and Claude had moved to Cleveland, and Claude’s brother, Edmund Miller, was renting the 810 Perry Street house for his family. The next year, Freeland, Nettie, and their three youngest children, now adults, had moved back into the old Schnaitter home at 810 Perry Street.

Freeland passed away in 1949 and is buried in Oakland Cemetery. Nettie lived in the 810 Perry Street house until her death in 1967.

Elizabeth married Harold Stockdale, and their family settled in Sandusky. She died before her mother, in 1959. James Smith married, settled his family in Sandusky, and worked as chief engineer at Union Chain. He passed away in 1984.

Frank Smith went on to study art. He supervised art instruction in the Sandusky school system and founded the Sandusky Cultural Center. He died in 1999. Margaret Smith worked as a dental hygienist, spent several winters helping Florence and Claude with the charter dishing business, and was active in several local organizations.  Patricia Smith married Dean Howard and settled in Peoria, Illinois. Both Margaret and Patricia passed away in 2009.

Today, both homes on Perry Street are still standing.

The 806 Perry Street house today.

The 810 Perry Street house today.