When the Auditor’s Office Issued Bicycle Licenses

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, bicycle licenses were issued in Ohio, to provide funds for the construction and repair of bicycle paths. This blank bicycle license was issued by the Erie County Auditor’s Office for the fee of one dollar (about $30 in today's money). In the late nineteenth century, bicycles became popular for both transportation and recreational purposes. 

Below is a picture of a young man named Lloyd Gaa, standing with a penny-farthing bicycle at the Lloyd Studio in Sandusky in 1882.

We are unsure if the bicycle in front of the Beilstein Laundry belonged to an employee or a customer.

These young men are getting ready for a local bicycle race in 1919:

         

Here is a copy of the Bicycle Laws that were passed by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio on April 21, 1898:

And if you want to know about today's bicycling rules, follow the link for a column from the Ohio Bar Association that discusses current guidelines about the Law of Riding a Bicycle in Ohio.

Dr. F.R. Lange and Family

Dr. F. R. Lange is pictured above with his four children and his granddaughter Cora. The four Lange children, from left to right are Emily Lange (later Mrs. William Emrich), Adolph Philip Lange, Francisco Robert Lange, and Mrs. Jacob Greefelder, whose maiden name was Henrietta Lange. The little girl in the picture is Henrietta’s daughter Cora. In the book Sandusky Then and Now, we read that Dr. F. R. Lange was born in 1819 in Göttingen, Germany where he was a distinguished oculist. He came to Sandusky in 1848, and married Emilie Gaa in 1852. Records at Oakland Cemetery indicate that Emilie Gaa Lange drowned in October of 1861, when her children ranged in age from 3 to 8. While in Sandusky, Dr. Lange operated a pharmacy on Jackson Street for many years, until his death in 1891.

Adolph Philip Lange and his brother F.R. Lange owned a harness shop in Sandusky from the late 1870’s until the mid 1920’s. Henrietta Lange Greenfelder was one of the co-founders of the United Ladies Sewing Circle, which was a charitable organization made up primarily of women of German descent

Henrietta and Jacob Greenfelder moved to Cincinnati in 1897. Emily Lange Emrich died in September of 1933, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. William Senior, in South Euclid, Ohio. Emily was preceded in death by her parents and all of her siblings.

Dr. F. R. Lange’s grandson was Dr. Norbert A. Lange., who was a chemistry professor who is known for writing the classic text Handbook of Chemistry. In 1959 Dr. Norbert A. Lange and his wife, Marion Cleaveland Lange translated Dr. Von Schulenburg’s book Sandusky Einst und Jetzt into English as Sandusky Then and Now.