Elmer Grahl’s Painting and the Story of Sandusky's Puck

In 2003 longtime Sandusky barber Elmer Grahl painted a picture of the ice cream and sandwich shop operated by the Charles Hoffman family in the 1920s and 1930s. This shop is no longer standing, but it once stood at the southeast corner of Scott and Hancock Streets.

Puck, the figure on top of the stand, was in the front window of Dietz and Mischler’s cigar store on Columbus Avenue until about 1915. After the cigar store closed, this zinc statue landed in John and Henry Weier’s scrap yard, on Hancock Street, between Neil and Scott Streets. Charles Hoffman rescued Puck and placed him on top of the family sandwich shop, just down the street. The tip of Puck’s spear was electrified, and fitted with a light bulb, showing the way to Hoffman’s shop. Hoffman descendants donated Puck to the Follett House Museum in the 1970s.

Below is a photograph of Hoffman’s shop when it was in business in Sandusky. The Hoffman family was well known in Sandusky for its business ventures, including the Hoffman Coal and Milling Company and the Hoffman Manufacturing Company.

Women’s Gym Class in the 1930s

 

In the 1930s, Gladys A. Hoffman taught a Women’s Gym Class at the Sandusky High School gymnasium (now Adams Junior High School.) Sponsored by the Sandusky Business Women’s Club, the classes included instruction in exercises, folk dances, games elementary clogging, apparatus work and rhythm.

Dr. Hess Products were sold by Hoffman Coal

 

Dr. Hess products were claimed to help produce healthy flesh and milk in the animals consuming them, and hens were supposed to be more productive in laying eggs.  In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a local place to purchase Dr. Hess goods was  Daniel Hoffman, Dealer in Coal and Wood. The Hoffman family in Sandusky was in the coal business for over sixty five years, beginning in the late 1880s. The advertisement below was from December 5, 1896. At that time the business was on Scott Street, between Hancock Street and the B & O Railroad crossing. By 1897 the business was known as Daniel Hoffman, Dealer in Flour, Feed and Coal.

Some of the products with the Dr. Hess brand were Poultry Pan-A-Ce-A and Instant Louse Killer. 

In 1911 the name of the business changed again, to Hoffman Coal & Milling Co., Dealers in Flour, Feed, Seeds, Coal, Salt, Etc. At this time Dr. Hess had changed its logo to a colorful illustration with cattle and poultry, as seen at the top of this post.

Hoffman Finger Protector

Around 1910 the Hoffman Manufacturing Company in Sandusky, Ohio sold a product called the Hoffman Finger Protector. In the 1910 Sandusky City Directory, Charles Hoffman was listed as the manager of the company, which was located at the northwest corner of Scott and Hancock Streets. The company made elevating trucks and clothesline reels. The Hoffman Coal and Milling Company was also at that location. A previous blog post discussed the Daniel Hoffman family, and mentions the patent issued to Charles Hoffman for an elevating truck.

Letterhead from the Hoffman Manufacturing Company.

The Hoffman Finger Protector was a thimble-like device that prevented the needle from harming the finger of a person who was doing sewing or embroidery. The price of the Hoffman Finger Protector ranged from five to fifteen cents (about $1.39 to $4 today). Notes on an advertisement indicate that the patent for the Hoffman Finger Protector had been applied for, but there is no evidence that it was ever actually patented.

An article in the May 9, 1917 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported that attorney R.B. Fisher had purchased the patents and equipment from the Hoffman Manufacturing Company, and he was going to continue to make the handy combination elevating trucks. Though we do not have a Hoffman Finger Protector in our collections, you can see the Hoffman Handy Combination Elevating Truck in the Industry Room of the Follett House Museum.

Dr. Lucy Hoffman

Dr. Lucy Hoffman (sometimes spelled Huffman) placed an advertisement in the December 1914 issue of the FRAM, the yearbook of Sandusky High School. Dr. Hoffman was an eye and nerve specialist with her office in the Cooke Building in Sandusky. The FRAM advertisement stated that Dr. Hoffman’s specialties were relieving headaches and straightening crossed eyes. She claimed to use “scientific, accurate methods” in her eye examinations, and her fees were reasonable. In the 1916 advertisement below, Dr. Hoffman says emphatically that drugs and drops should not be used in an eye examination. Her method was a fogging system, which did not call for dilation of the pupils.

 

Dr. Hoffman was only in Sandusky briefly. According to an article in the July 11, 1919 issue of the Sandusky Register, she moved to Jefferson, Ohio during the summer of 1919.

Did you get glasses for Christmas?

Lake Erie Island Pictures by Harley Hoffman

In the “Neighboring Communities” collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center are several photographs taken by Harley Hoffman, a commercial photographer who had a studio in Castalia, Ohio in the 1950s. Above is a picture of ferry boat passengers approaching Middle Bass Island. You can see the Lonz Winery on the shore. 

The picture below was taken at the Put-in-Bay dock. A sun bather can be seen soaking up the sun on the pier.

 

Vintage vehicles are visible along the streets of Kelleys Island in this picture of the business district. Businesses pictured include Matso’s Place and the Island Market.

Mr. Hoffman snapped this picture of someone standing by the sign at Inscription Rock along the lakefront at Kelleys Island.

              

The community oven at Kelleys Island allowed residents to bake bread in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

These men are enjoying an afternoon of fishing at Kelleys Island.

   

Harley W. Hoffman passed away in 1986. His obituary, which appeared in the May 28, 1986 issue of the Sandusky Register, stated that he had been a salesman for the Mr. Wiggs Department Store. In the decade of the 1950s, Mr. Hoffman is credited with dozens of photographs that appeared in the Sandusky Register Star News. Because of Harley Hoffman’s photographs, we have a better understanding of what everyday life was like in a by-gone era.

Fathers from Sandusky

There are thousands of historical photographs in the collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, and of course many of them include men who were fathers. Above is a picture showing Daniel Hoffman, Sr. and five of his sons as they were inducted into the Masonic lodge in 1904. 

Here is a portrait of former Judge Ulysses Thompson Curran. 

Judge Curran was judge of the Probate Division of Erie County Court of Common Pleas from 1899 to 1905, and he had served as superintendent of schools in Sandusky 1872 to 1880. He was the father of well-known artist Charles Courtney Curran.

Below is a picture of George Schade as a young man. Mr. Schade was the father of Julian Schade and Christine Schade Mylander, and the grandfather of George Mylander.

       

He was associated with the coal business in Sandusky, as well as the Schade Theatre, and served as a Sandusky City Commissioner for many years in the 1920s and 1930s.  

Pictured on the 1903 postcard below are Horatio Linn and his young daughter Gertrude.

              

Mr. Linn was an educator in Erie County in the 1890s,  and later he was a newspaper publisher in Cleveland, Tennessee. 

The Rev. George Hewson Peeke was the minister of the Congregational Church in Sandusky in the 1880s. He was the first clergyman in Sandusky to advocate for the prohibition of liquor. He and his wife Margaret were the parents of attorney and author Hewson L. Peeke.

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to learn more about the past residents of Sandusky and Erie County.

Harley Hoffman’s Photographs of Sandusky High School in 1957

Harley Hoffman took this aerial picture of Sandusky High School from an airplane in 1957. Notes with the original picture state that the airplane was going 200 miles an hour at the time the picture was taken. The new Sandusky High School opened at 2130 Hayes Avenue in 1957. Prior to that time, Sandusky High Students attended school at what later became Adams Junior High School.  Large areas of farmland can be seen in this picture. Now the portion of Perkins Avenue opposite Sandusky High School is filled with restaurants and other businesses. The longer building to the east of Sandusky High School was Mark’s Market, later known as Mark’s Pick-n-Pay. The small building opposite the high school was the Stadium Dairy Bar, which was run by John J. Poggiali. 

Harley W. Hoffman had a photography business in nearby Castalia in the 1950s. Mr. Hoffman took several other photographs of Sandusky High School in 1957. A large crowd can be seen gathered in front of the school for the flag raising at the dedication of the new school building.

  

Industrial Arts students had a new large classroom, equipped with tools and workbenches:

Here is a view of the band room in 1957:

A brand new cafeteria awaited the incoming students:

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to see hundreds of historic photographs of  the people and places of our local community. We appreciate the generosity of the many donors who bequeathed  the numerous historic documents, books and photographs now housed in our collection.

Portraits of Katie Rittman

Miss Katie Rittman was born in Sandusky in 1870 to Frank Rittman and Catherine Kuebeler Rittman, who were both natives of Germany. The portrait above was taken at the Bishop & Veitch studio in Sandusky, when Katie was about age 12 or 13. The picture below was taken at the studio of C.A. Cross when Katie was a teenager.

This lovely picture of Katie Rittman as a young woman was taken at the Pascoe studio in Sandusky.

U.S. Census records indicate that Katie lived with her parents in Sandusky 1880 and 1900. On February 4, 1902, Katie Rittman married Charles Hoffman, who was employed at the Hoffman family business, the Hoffman Coal and Milling Company. Charles and Katie were the parents of three daughters and a son.  In 1919 the Charles Hoffman family operated a store at the corner of Scott and Hancock Streets. "Puck," a zinc statue that had once been in the store window of Dietz & Mischler's cigar shop, stood on the roof of the Hoffman business for several years. Puck is now housed at the Follett House Museum. Katie Rittman Hoffman passed away in 1929, and Charles Hoffman died in1933. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman were both buried in Oakland Cemetery.

"Take a New Year’s Smoke"

An advertisement in the December 26, 1898 issue of Sandusky Register suggested that area residents “Take a New Year’s Smoke” and make the resolution to smoke only the Imperial Cigar, sold for ten cents apiece at Dietz & Mischler, at 224 Columbus Avenue. A listing in the 1898 Sandusky City Directory lists the owners of Dietz & Mischler as Jacob Dietz and Daniel Mischler. They were manufacturers of fine cigars, and dealers in tobacco, pipes and smokers’ supplies.

Until about 1915, Puck, a cast zinc statue, stood in the front window of Dietz & Mischler’s store. After Dietz & Mischler closed, Puck landed in John and Henry Weier’s scrap yard on Hancock Street. Eventually Puck was rescued from the scrap yard by Charles Hoffman. Puck was placed atop a stand operated by the Hoffman family for many years at the corner of Scott and Hancock Streets.

Descendants of the Hoffman family donated Puck to the Follett House Museum in 1974. Puck can still be seen in the basement level of the Follett House.

Cigar making was a major business in Sandusky at the turn of the twentieth century. You can read about cigar making in Sandusky in a previous blog post.

Daniel Hoffman and Family Businesses

Beginning as Hoffman Coal and Milling Co., the Hoffman Coal Company served the Sandusky area for sixty-five years. In the 1890 city directory, Daniel Hoffman advertised as a dealer in coal and wood at the corner of Scott and Hancock Streets. Later he also sold feed and grain. Daniel’s sons Charles J. and William H. Hoffman took over the business when Daniel retired. Brothers Fred and Daniel Hoffman, Jr. were also associated with the family coal business through the years. Charles and William Hoffman also owned the Electric Glass Cleaner Company in Sandusky.

Below, we see Daniel Hoffman, Sr. with his five sons, at their Masonic induction ceremony.
Charles J. Hoffman obtained a patent in 1901 for an elevating truck. The Sandusky Evening Star of August 31, 1903 stated that the handy combination truck is said to be a fine device, “combining all the requirements of elevator, store, mill and warehouse trucks.” This truck is featured prominently in an advertisement for his company, in the 1903 publication What (which also features stereotypes of the era).
The patent for this truck can be viewed online at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The Hoffman family was well known in the Sandusky area. Charles J. Hoffman ran an ice cream and sandwich shop on Scott Street in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The figure “Puck” was located at this site. (You can see views of the shop with Puck on the roof, along with images of the Hoffman Coal Company, at a site operated by a private collector here.) Carlyle Hoffman grandson of Daniel Hoffman, Sr, was a lawyer with the Veterans Administration in Cleveland for many years, and granddaughter Dr. Kathryn E. Hoffman was a physician and surgeon in Cleveland.

Visit the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library to learn more about early area residents.