Sandusky High School’s Graduating Class of 1914

Pictured above is a composite picture of the 1914 graduates of Sandusky High School, created by Sandusky photographer W.A. Bishop. Most of the female members of the graduating class wore their hair swept back away from their face, and several girls wore a middy blouse, which was a popular style at that time.  

In his senior year, Lloyd Weninger wrote both the words and music to the Sandusky High School Victory Song. He went on to become a professor of Dramatic Arts at Carnegie Tech for thirty-one years, retiring in 1961.

  The principal of Sandusky High School in 1914 was R.E. Offenhauer. In 1937, Roy E. Offenhauer became the second president of Bowling Green State University. 

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view more historical pictures from Sandusky and Erie County.

1898 Sandusky High School Graduates

Pictured above are all the female graduates from the Sandusky High School class of 1898, except Winifred Chapman, who was not present when the photograph was taken. Most likely the male graduates’ picture was taken as well, but to date we only have a picture of the women. Below is a photograph of several faculty members from the academic year 1897-1898. The only teacher that has positively been identified is E.L. Moseley, who is the man in the center. (His name was listed incorrectly in the program as E.J. Moseley.)

The commencement program provides a list of all the graduates and faculty members.

An article which appeared on the front page of the June 24, 1898 issue of the Sandusky Register covered the commencement exercises in detail. It read in part:

Amidst the glow and shimmer of electric lights that made the wide stage of the Nielsen Opera House a most beautiful picture, twenty-nine young men and women, of the very flower of Sandusky youth, sat last night in full view of an audience that filled the entire lower floor of the theater and were scattered throughout the balcony, who for personal interest or city pride regarded them with the liveliest interest. They sang together with rare sweetness. Twelve of their number presented essays and orations sparkling with bright, keen thought, and at the close of the evening exercise the class of ‘98 of the Sandusky High School was graduated and the commencement has passed into history of the city schools.

Edward Altstaetter gave an oration entitled “The Sun of Spain is Setting,” which referred to the conflict between Spain and the U.S. that was ongoing in 1898.  The commencement program gave a list of all the student presentations that were given during the ceremony.

Visit the Sandusky Library to see historic graduation programs, yearbooks from several area schools, and to learn more about the rich history of Sandusky and Erie County. 

Photograph Album of Sandusky High School Graduates, Class of 1902

In 1902, C. W. Platt had a photographic studio at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Water Street in downtown Sandusky, which had been started by his father, A.C. Platt. C. W. Platt’s daughter Winifed H. Platt and her future husband Edward C. Schnaitter were both graduates of Sandusky High’s Class of 1902.

Miriam and Oliver Rinderle donated a photo album to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center which features individual portraits of each of the graduating seniors from the Sandusky High School class of 1902.

Unfortunately only four of the students’ pictures were identified in the album.  They are:

W. Leroy Slate

Alice Judson

Norma Zistel

and Frank Prout, who would later become Superintendent of Sandusky City Schools, from 1921 to 1939, and would serve as President of Bowling Green State University from 1939 to 1951.

Two African American young women graduated from Sandusky High School in 1902: Emeline Gilkeson and Iona Scott.

Other noteworthy students from Sandusky High’s class of 1902 were Dr. Walter Rieger, a physician who resided in Cleveland, and Mary Klingbiel, who became a nun and observed fifty years as a parochial educator in northern Ohio schools in 1957. After entering the Notre Dame order, Mary was known as Sister Mary Josephine. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view these and other vintage photographs of residents of Sandusky and Erie County, Ohio.