Home Economics Classes at the Follett House

Several pictures taken at the Follett House when Sandusky High School held Home Economics classes there are now in the historical photograph collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.  Home Economics classes were held at the Follett House from the late 1930s through the mid 1950s. Courses included sewing, cooking, child care, and general household management.

 An article in the Sandusky Star Journal of February 20, 1941 stated that the students would be learning how to do laundry, house cleaning, and serve meals in an environment that closely resembled an actual home setting. This was easy to achieve at the Follett House, since it had actually been a family home for many years.

Besides learning during classroom time, the students also participated in fun activities like style shows, teas, and taffy pulls. During World War II, a class was held for male students. The Sandusky Register Star News of  December 4, 1942 reported that the young men would report to the basement of the Follett House, where they were instructed in how to launder the towels, napkins and tablecloths that were used in the Home Economics cooking classes. This class was intended to help the young men help at home with their own family’s chores, since so many mothers of school aged students had gone to work in defense plants. Another wartime activity of the Home Economics students was the sewing of clothing for the Red Cross. Each garment that was to be sent overseas had a tag that read “American Junior Red Cross Erie County.”

Did you have family who attended classes at the Follett House?

Sandusky High Schools Girls Basketball Team of 1922

These young ladies were on the Sandusky High School girls basketball team during the academic year 1921-1922. In the back are: Hyacinth Brownworth, Ruth Thom, and Coach, Mrs. Carl Mackey. In the front are; Elsie Hofer, Betty Grulich, Ruth Laux, Vesta Dwelle, and Alyne Wiedenhaefer. All the members of the team earned a letter at an assembly held at Sandusky High School in March of 1922.

Hyacinth Brownworth, later Mrs. John Rheinegger, served as the Clerk of the Board of
Education of the Sandusky City Schools for several years. In 1957 Hyacinth Rheinegger was honored at a dinner party for “the meticulous and efficient way” she ran her office. Several school officials, past and present, attended the dinner at the Rockwell Springs Trout Club in her honor.

 

When Home Economics Classes Were Held at the Follett House

From the 1940s through the mid-1950s, Sandusky High School Home Economics classes were held at the Follett House. Janet Judson wrote this introduction to the April, 1939 issue of the Fram:

“For Gracious Living”

In illustrations and in text The Fram wishes to call attention with this number to another milestone in the history of our school. As keeper of the archives we are glad to present herewith a brief history of the Follett House. The purchase of this house by the Sandusky Board of Education may be regarded as the crowning achievement of Mr. F. J. Prout, as Superintendent of our public schools, before leaving us to assume his duties as President of Bowling Green University. The Follett House will offer the opportunity to all of us for practical experience in homemaking and broader social contacts. With our academic and industrial studies we shall now have a well rounded preparation for this important matter of living. We are very happy that this hospitable home has once again become a center of fellowship and gracious living.

The April, 1939 Fram featured an article entitled “The Throng in the House,” by Lois Zank and Florence Thayer. The students reported in their article that the Follett House had been purchased by the Sandusky Board of Education on March 1, 1939. While the most recent residents of the home had been members of the Krupp family, the builder of the house was Oran Follett.

The home was constructed of stone in the 1830s. The authors of the article which appeared in the Fram stated that the Follett House had “an air of mysterious interest” with its ivied walls, high steps, and deep-set windows. Mr. Follett’s library once had books that lined the walls all the way to the ceiling. Mrs. Follett was known as “the original hostess.” It seemed most appropriate that the home again will be used as a social center for the Home Economics students.  Today the Follett House is a museum that is open to the public from April through December. Admission is free, and visitors are invited to tour the home which features hundreds of historical artifacts from Sandusky and Erie County. 

Visit the Sandusky Library Research Center to view the April, 1939 issue of the Fram, to read this article in its entirety. Pictured below are students of Home Economics sitting around a fireplace at the Follett House.

               

Broom Brigade

Here is a group of young ladies (names and location unknown) who participated in a drill team known as the “Broom Brigade” in the 1880s. Mark Twain wrote in his book Life on the Mississippi of a "new institution" in the west and the south: young ladies who dressed in uniforms, and went through infantry drills. Instead of a musket, they carried a broom. Joseph H. Barnett wrote a book entitled Broom Brigade Tactics, in which he gave instructions for broom drills that were suitable for “exhibitions, roller rinks, and social and church entertainments.” An early advertisement for Mr. Barnett’s book about broom drills appeared in the Scrap Book Recitation Series, a publication edited by H.M. Soper in 1879.