E.H. Schlessman, Commercial Photographer

During the first quarter of the twentieth century, Edward H. Schlessman was a commercial photographer in Sandusky. On his World War I Draft Registration card, Mr. Schlessman stated that he was self-employed as both a photographer and a taxi driver.

Though he made his living by taking pictures, no known picture of him is in the historic photographic collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. 

Mr. Schlessman’s photos and postcards chronicled the everyday life of area residents. Ice workers and friends were captured on Sandusky Bay in this postcard from December, 1909.

     

In 1912  Schlessman took a picture of the Shamrocks, who were the champions of their baseball league that season.

Sandusky newsboys who were promoting the Saturday Evening Post were captured in this 1916 Schlessman postcard, near the stand of Norman Holzaepfel.

A young lady feeding two horses is the subject of this undated photograph.

          

When a tornado struck Sandusky in 1924, Schlessman took a series of photographs that showed how much damage the tornado had caused to the Sandusky area. You can see that many buildings were reduced to rubble.

       

The National Guard can be seen near their supply area in this photo taken on June 28, 1924.

By 1934 Edward H. Schlessman had left Sandusky. A legal notice which appeared in the September 22, 1934 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal stated that his last known address had been in Detroit, Michigan, and his wife, Mrs. Josephine Schlessman, had filed for divorce. Though Edward Schlessman moved away from Sandusky, he left us with a better understanding of local life in our community. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view over one hundred photographs taken by E. H. Schlessman.

Sandusky High School’s Mid-Year Commencement, 1909

Sandusky High School’s second mid-year commencement ceremony was held at Sidley Memorial Hall on February 12, 1909, on the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. The class presented anecdotes of Lincoln. Edna Holzaepfel gave a talk on “The Private Life of Lincoln.” Marjorie Anderson, who later became a college professor, spoke about “Lincoln in Literature.” Mary Daly spoke on “America’s Debt to Lincoln.” Charles Feick’s presentation was on “Other Great Men of 1809.”

Graduates of the February 1909 class were: Marjorie Anderson, Elizabeth E. Butler, Mary R. Daly, J. Charles Feick, Edna A. Holzaepfel, Norman R. Holzaepfel, Leona E. Ohlemacher, Chester S. Schoepfle, and Anna M. Soutar. Among the faculty members were E. L. Moseley and E. B. Ackley, who directed the SHS Orchestra. George C. Dietrich was the principal of Sandusky High School in 1909, and H. B. Williams was the superintendent.

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to see this and several other historical commencement programs, yearbooks, and photographs which cover a span of several decades of students and faculty of Sandusky High School.

Promotion at N. R. Holzaepfel Confectionery

In 1916 Norman R. Holzaepfel operated a confectionery at the corner of Madison Street and Columbus Avenue in Sandusky. His shop sold cigars, candy, newspapers and magazines. The March 23, 1916 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal featured a small ad that stated that every customer who made a purchase on Saturday, March 25, 1916, would be given a free copy of the Saturday Evening Post. Here a group of news carriers hold copies of the magazine in front of the store. In 1919 Norman Holzaepfel ran a newsstand at the West House hotel.

Mr. Norman R. Holzepfel’s obituary, which appeared in the October 20, 1970 issue of the Sandusky Register, indicated that Mr. Holzaepfel had been a concessionaire in the Sandusky area for fifty years.

Edna Holzaepfel Foley, Librarian

Miss Edna Holzaepfel, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick J. Holzaepfel, is pictured in her graduation dress in a photograph taken by W. A. Bishop in February, 1909.

In the summer following her graduation, Edna Holzaepfel became the Assistant Librarian at the Sandusky Library. By 1916, Miss Holzaepfel was the Librarian of the Sandusky Library. An article in the November 7, 1916 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported that after attending an annual library association meeting in Cincinnati, Edna Holzaepfel wanted to engage in an advertising campaign to urge Sanduskians to “appreciate the benefits to be derived by a more extensive and systematic use of the Carnegie library.” In February 1917, Miss Holzaepfel reported record breaking circulation numbers, having loaned out 10,480 books from the library in January. It was the largest circulation number in the history of the Sandusky Library to that time. Attendance records for the library in January 1917 broke records as well.

A Sandusky Register article in September of 1919 stated that Miss Edna Holzaepfel had moved to Buffalo, New York, where she was in charge of the branch libraries of that city’s libraries. By 1943, Edna had become Mrs. Timothy Foley, a veterinarian. Edna Holzaepfel Foley retired after thirty years of library service in Buffalo, New York in 1951. In the 1950’s, Dr. and Mrs. Foley moved to Sandusky, Ohio. Edna Foley was very active in the community. She was a member of the First Congregational United Church of Christ, Senior Women’s Fellowship Club, the Erie County Historical Society, Erie County Republican Women’s Club, and the American Library Association. Mrs. Edna Holzaepfel Foley passed away on April 18, 1969. She is buried in Oakland Cemetery next to her husband Timothy, who had died in 1965.