G.M. Heck Stoves and Tinware

 From the 1860s through the 1880s, the G.M. Heck Stoves and Tinware business was in operation at 725 Market Street in downtown Sandusky. (Around the middle of the first block of East Market Street today.) In the picture above, you can see that Mr. Heck’s business is next door to Theodore Goessling’s grocery store at 727 Market Street. 

George Michael Heck was born in 1836 in Baden, Germany. He came with his parents, Samuel and Magdalina Heck, and several siblings to the U.S. when he was about ten years old. An article in the June 2, 1898 issue of the Sandusky Register stated that G.M. Heck was “an expert mechanic with a thorough knowledge of the tin and stove trade.” In January of 1868, he married Lena Gilcher, the daughter of Peter Gilcher. On June 1, 1898, Mr. Heck died of influenza, at the age of 62. Members of Sandusky Lodge, No. 669, I.O.O.F. attended the funeral of Mr. Heck. The flag at the Odd Fellows’ Temple was at half-mast in his honor. Funeral services for Mr. Heck were held at his residence, and burial was at Oakland Cemetery.

Early Transportation in Sandusky had Horse Power

In the 1820s  mail was delivered to Sandusky by the mail stage. Passengers, as well as the U.S. mail, were transported from Sandusky to Norwalk, Mansfield, Mount Vernon and on to Columbus and then back again. Of course, since Ohio was known as the Gateway State, many families traveled by horse and covered wagons through Ohio as they made their way to the west. People who traveled to Sandusky could board a steamer to several different port cities along the Great Lakes. 

Pioneer Sandusky residents recognized the importance of railroad transportation, and showed interest in railway lines being developed in Sandusky as early as 1826. Ground was broken for the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad in 1835; it began running from Sandusky to Bellevue in 1838, with trains pulled by the Sandusky Locomotive, the first locomotive with a steam whistle. Rail transportation made it easier for people to travel longer distances, and enabled the shipping of products, which in turn boosted local economies. 

In 1882 the first intra-city transportation route was begun by Charles and William H. Gilcher. It was known as the "herdic lines." Horse drawn passenger vehicles took people along three different local routes. The first route operated from the West House downtown to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway depot on the south side of town. The second route traveled from the West House to Oakland Cemetery. The third route was an east-west route from the city’s waterworks to Tiffin and Mills Streets. The Sandusky Railway was  the first street railway in Sandusky. It was begun in 1883 by L.D. Alcott, and featured fourteen-passenger side-seat cars that were pulled by two-horse teams. The route was double tracked, and went from the West House to the depot on North Depot Street, and back to the West House. You can see several people gathered around Sandusky’s first streetcar in the picture below, taken in 1883 by W.A. Bishop.

    

J.O. Moss purchased the Sandusky Railway in 1885, and organized more lines across the city.  An article in the November 27, 1947 Twin Anniversary Edition of the Sandusky Register Star News,  reported that the first electric streetcar operated in Sandusky in 1889 from Scott Street to the Soldiers’ Home, and linked with a spur track from Hayes Avenue. The Peoples Electric Railway Line was built in 1890, with financial support mainly from Sandusky residents. The charter of the Sandusky, Milan and Huron Electric Railway, later the Sandusky, Milan and Norwalk Electric Railway, was applied for in 1892. The line began operating in May of 1893 and connected with the local Sandusky lines.

Eventually all the local streetcar lines were absorbed by the Lake Shore Electric Railway, which was replaced by bus service in the late 1930s. 

As automobiles became more popular, more area residents began to drive their own vehicles instead of relying on public transportation.

However, public transportation is once again available to Sandusky residents as well as visitors to the area aboard the Sandusky Transit System, which operates three lines in the immediate Sandusky area. Sandusky’s Amtrak station operates out of the depot originally built for the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. Several area boat lines also provide service to Cedar Point and the Lake Erie Islands. You can read more about the history of transportation in Sandusky, Ohio in the book Sandusky’s Yesterdays, by Charles E. Frohman.

William H. Gilcher, Lumber Dealer

William H. Gilcher was born in Sandusky, Ohio on July 2, 1843 to Peter and Christina (Boos) Gilcher. Peter Gilcher was a native of Germany, and came to Sandusky in the 1830s. He started out as a carpenter, and later embarked on a long and prosperous career in the lumber industry.  As a young man, William H. Gilcher went into the lumber business with his father. In 1868, the Gilchers became partners with R.E. Schuck in the lumber business, and the firm was known as Gilcher & Schuck. The office was on Water Street, in the former depot of the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad.   You can see stacks of lumber from the Gilcher & Schuck firm along the waterfront in the picture below.

Hewson Peeke wrote in his book entitled A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio: “For more than half a century the name of William H. Gilcher has been synonymous with the lumber industry around the shores of the Great Lakes.”  Since heavy shipments of lumber came down the lake in boats, he aspired to become involved in the shipping industry, eventually becoming one of the founders of the Gilchrist Transportation Company. Unfortunately, the Gilchrist Transportation Company suffered disaster, and the investors and stockholders all lost a great deal of money. Other business ventures with which William H. Gilcher was connected were the White Line Electric Company, later part of the Lake Shore Electric, Cedar Point., and the Third National Exchange Bank.

Mr. Gilcher married Miss Tinnie Rosenbaum in 1868. After Tinnie’s death in 1890, he married Julietta Stimson of Ashtabula in 1902. On March 9, 1922, William H. Gilcher died after a lengthy illness. His obituary, which appears in the 1922 Obituary Notebook, stated that he had been a “pioneer lumber and business man and one of the best known residents of the city.”  Funeral services for Mr. Gilcher were held at the family residence on Columbus Avenue, and burial was in Oakland Cemetery.