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.

Picture Postcards by Louis Pesha

Louis Pesha was a photographer who was well known for his photographs of the Great Lakes area in the early twentieth century. The Pesha Postcard Company was located in Marine City, Michigan.

Pictured below is a Pesha postcard of Scott Park in downtown Sandusky. Scott Park was the original home of the Boy with the Boot statue, along with two maids of the mist statues.

The Erie County Courthouse can be seen in the postcard below, which features a fountain in Washington Park.

The steamer G.A. Boeckling is just one of the many Great Lakes vessels photographed by Louis Pesha. The G.A. Boeckling was christened on June 12, 1909, and transported guests to Cedar Point until 1951.

Tragically, on October 1, 1912 Mr. Pesha died in an automobile accident as he was traveling to visit his childhood home in Euphemia, Ontario.

Convention of the Funeral Directors’ and Embalmers’ Association at Cedar Point in 1919

Sandusky undertaker Charles J. Krupp, was in charge of local arrangements when the 89^th annual convention of the Funeral Directors’ and Embalmers’ Association of Ohio was held at Cedar Point in 1919. The convention met from June 18 to June 20. About 300 members attended the convention, along with several exhibitors of coffins, funeral cars, burial garments, burial vaults, and other items related to the funeral industry.

In preparation for the convention, a large number of coffins were transported to Cedar Point on board the G.A. Boeckling.

 

Meetings were held in the convention hall at Cedar Point. Rev. C.J. Alspach gave the invocation when the convention opened on Wednesday, June 18.

A reception was held on Wednesday evening in the Exhibit Hall, which allowed attendees to visit with the various manufacturers represented at the convention. Due to the large number of representatives, several exhibits were on display in the former Crystal Rock Castle, which had ceased serving food and beverages due to prohibition laws.

    

On June 19, Clifford G. Askin of Indianapolis gave an address entitled “Methods of the Funeral Director,” during which he encouraged members of the association to use better quality goods and adopt a stricter credit system. An article in the June 18, 1919 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that the convention featured one of the most extensive exhibits ever on display at any convention held at Cedar Point. The coffins, funeral cars, and other products on exhibit were valued at $100,000 (well over a million dollars in today's money).

The Moon Rocket at Cedar Point

Long before NASA was established, and men landed on the moon, people were curious about outer space. To aid this curiosity, in 1946 the Moon Rocket ride opened at Cedar Point. (It only remained for a few seasons; apparently people had learned enough about space travel.) An article in the June 13, 1946 issue of the Sandusky Register Star News reported that other features of the 1946 Cedar Point season included many “big bands” in the Cedar Point Ballroom, a fun house, renovations to the Hotel Breakers lobby and soda grill, and a fresh coat of paint and new lifeboats for the G.A. Boeckling.

To read a more about the history of Cedar Point, see the book Cedar Point: The Queen of American Watering Places, by David W. and Diane DeMali Francis (Amusement Park Books, 1995), available at the Sandusky Library. 

Lucile Dehnel Burch

Lucile Dehnel was born on July 14, 1895, to William Dehnel and Annette Kuebeler Dehnel. William Dehnel was a jeweler in Sandusky, and Annette was the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. August Kuebeler. Mr. Kuebeler was active in the brewery business in Sandusky with his brother Jacob.  In 1900, Lucile was listed in U.S. Census records as residing in the Kuebeler mansion on Tiffin Avenue, with her parents and maternal grandparents.

On June 26, 1909, Lucile was chosen to christen the G.A. Boeckling with a bottle of Hommel Champagne. She is seen below, beside George A. Boeckling, the namesake of the ship.

  

In early September of 1922, Lucile Dehnel married Albert C. Burch. The wedding took place at the Dehnel home on the Cedar Point Chaussee, officiated by Rev. E.G. Mapes of Cleveland. Lucile’s attendants were her close friends, Mrs. C.W. Hord and Mrs. Albert H. Uhl. A lengthy article about the wedding appeared in the society pages of the Sandusky Star Journal of September 2, 1922.

Below is a picture in which Lucile is surrounded by family and friends on her wedding day. Several other pictures from the Dehnel-Burch wedding are housed in the biographical collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

Lucile’s husband, Albert C. Burch, died in 1948. Lucile did not remarry after her husband’s death.  She passed away on June 4, 1979, at the age of 83. She had lived a full life, having helped in the management of the Dehnel Jewelry Store, and she had been an active member of Grace Episcopal Church and several community organizations. 

The G.A. Boeckling

The steamer G.A. Boeckling was built by the Great Lakes Engineering Works in Encorse, Michigan in 1909, named in honor of George A. Boeckling, the president of Cedar Point.

This vessel was designed to carry 2,000 passengers, and cost $120,000 to build. On June 26, 1909, the G.A. Boeckling was christened with a bottle of Hommel’s White Star Champagne. The next day the Boeckling began ferrying passengers from Sandusky to Cedar Point, and continued to do so until the end of the season in 1951. The 155 foot long steamer had a pilot house at each end, which enabled it to travel in both directions without the need to turn around. A crew member is pictured outside the pilot house about 1949.

There were two passenger decks on the G.A. Boeckling.

While onboard the Boeckling, a lovely view of the city of Sandusky was visible as the vessel traveled to Cedar Point across Sandusky Bay.

Because of rising costs for fuel and maintenance, along with changes in laws requiring an increased number of crew members, the Bay Transportation Company decided to retire the G.A. Boeckling. Her last trip to Cedar Point was on Labor Day Weekend of 1951. 

For several years the Boeckling was used as a floating warehouse and machine shop in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. In the early 1980s, a local group was organized in an attempt to restore the steamer. This project ceased when the Boeckling was destroyed by a fire of suspicious origin as she sat in a Toledo shipyard on June 21, 1989. The G.A. Boeckling carried thousands of passengers to Cedar Point for over forty years. Have you ever heard your parents or grandparents mention their travels aboard the Boeckling?