Wilbert W. Henkelman, Community Engineer

According to Who’s Who in Engineering (John W. Leonard Corporation, 1922), Wilbert W. Henkelman was born in Sandusky, Ohio on July 31, 1892 to Henry and Amelia Henkelman. In 1915 he earned a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Ohio State University. During World War I, he served as a Corporal with the 1st Replacement Regiment Engineers. He married Leora Holzaepfel in 1920.

In his long career, Wilbert Henkelman worked as an engineer for several different communities, including Huron, Willard and Vermilion. From 1939 to 1944, he was the District Deputy Director for the State Department of Highways for Huron and Erie Counties, and for a number of years was associated with the Judson Engineering Company.

After the building of the Commercial Banking and Trust Company in Sandusky in the 1920s, Mr. Henkelman obtained a bound booklet containing 39 photographs of the bank under construction. He donated the booklet to the historical collections of the Sandusky Library. Below are two of the photographs of the historic building project.

The first photo was taken June 15, 1923:

The second photograph was taken November 28, 1923:

Because of Mr. Henkelman's foresight, we can view the progress of the building of the Commercial Banking and Trust Company, now home to Vita Sandusky. The interior details of the building including chandeliers, marble floors, and copper sculpted ceiling can still be seen today.

The July 31, 1962 issue of the Sandusky Register reported on a surprise birthday party held for Mr. Henkelman after a Huron Council Meeting.

Wilbert W. Henkelman died on February 12, 1965, following a brief illness. He had been a member of the First Congregational United Church of Christ, Ohio and American Society of Professional Engineers and Surveyors, Perseverance Lodge 329, Erie County Conservation League, and the Huron Chamber of Commerce. He was survived by his wife, two daughters and a son, seven grandchildren, and a sister. His final resting place was Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio.

Historical Items from Sandusky Pharmacies

                       

This cabinet file once used for storing medicine labels is now housed in the attic level of the Follett House Museum. It had been used at the Sloane House Pharmacy, which was on the street level of the Sloane House hotel in Sandusky, beginning about 1890. Several different pharmacists worked in the Sloane House over the years, including H.K. Henkelman, Henkelman & Bechberger; Bechberger & Brown; Bechberger & Kubach, and Kubach and Buderer. Some of remedies on the labels are for Epsom salts, cod liver oil, boric acid and liniment. The label below from a container of pine tar capsules was purchased when Bechberger & Brown were partners in the Sloane House Pharmacy.

This apothecary bottle came from the pharmacy of Charles A. Lehrer, who had his business at the corner of Central Avenue and Decatur Street for several years in the first quarter of the twentieth century. He was the son of former Zion Lutheran Church pastor Rev. J. George Lehrer.

  

    

The compound of licorice powder is from the pharmacy of J.H. Emrich, an early Sandusky pharmacist.

    

This bottle of medicinal oil came from the E. J. Windisch Quality Pharmacy, which was in business in the 800 block of Hayes Avenue from about 1908 to 1925.

  

From 1898 until about 1930 Daniel Schaffer manufactured liniment. Advertisements claimed it to be the “greatest pain killer on earth.”  This advertisement for Schaffer’s Wonderful Liniment appeared in the Sandusky Star Journal on November 17, 1920:

Mihalovitch’s Hungarian Blackberry Juice was manufactured by a liquor dealer in Cincinnati, but was sold locally by nine different pharmacies in Sandusky in 1887. The juice was said to be a remedy for diarrhea, dysentery, cholera morbus (gastroenteritis), and all disorders of the bowels.

"It's Kleenex Time in America" -- Including Sandusky

In 1938 the window of the Bechberger and Kubach drugstore in the Sloane House in downtown Sandusky featured a display entitled “It’s Kleenex Time in America.” The display showed the Seven Dwarfs explaining why they liked Kleenex. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, an animated movie produced by Walt Disney in 1937, was still very popular in the U.S. at that time. In the display Doc said “Don’t  put a cold in your purse – use Kleenex.” Happy was happy about the price of Kleenex, which in 1938 was 13 cents for a package of 200, or 28 cents for a package of 500. Dopey said “I’m dopey because I was the last one to get the Kleenex habit.” The sign by Grumpy read, “Grumpy is so pleased with Kleenex  that he intends to smile soon.”

John H. Bechberger retired in 1945, after sixty years in the pharmacy business. Rol Kubach had joined the business in 1921. Prior to Bechberger & Kubach’s partership, John H. Bechberger had been in business with Henry Henkelman, and later with Nicholas Brown. Below is a picture from 1909 of the pharmacy at the Sloane House when it was operated by Mr. Henkelman & Mr. Bechberger. 

Walther’s Peptonized Port Sold in Sandusky

In August of 1903 the Sandusky Register featured several advertisements for Walther’s Peptonized Port.  

The ad above stated that Peptonized Port was helpful for “people who are nervous, cannot stand noise, start at the least unusual sound” and “get that fly-to-pieces feeling often.” The ad below informed consumers that the remedy was a combination of port wine and pepsin, with no added drugs or chemicals.

The remedy was considered a good tonic for dyspepsia, indigestion, and recommended for nursing mothers, invalids, and older people. Two sizes were sold in 1903, one for fifty cents, and a larger size for one dollar. Two drugstores that sold Walther’s Peptonized Port in Sandusky were Henkelman & Bechberger and L.A. Biehl. Henkelman & Bechberger operated their drugstore on the street level of the Sloane House hotel in downtown Sandusky.

L. A. Biehl’s drugstore was located at the corner of Hancock and East Monroe Streets.