Sanduskians Visited Isle St. George in 1925

Cleveland photographer Ray Williams took this picture in 1925 at Isle St. George on North Bass Island. Notes on the original item indicate that the group is from Sandusky. The picture was bequeathed to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center from the Alta Dildine estate. None of the individuals in the picture have been identified. The group includes seventeen men, two women, and a child. Seated on the left are older gentlemen, who probably knew all too well the meaning of hard work.

Seated at  the right side of the picture are younger men, full of vim and vigor.

Many vintage automobiles can be seen in the photograph, but it is not known whether the autos belonged to residents of Isle St. George, or if they were ferried over from the mainland. If anyone can identify the people in this picture, please leave a message in the Comments section of this blog post. In the 1920s, the Sandusky Register featured a short column of news from Isle St. George. These columns were usually about visitors to and from the island.

"The Grandest Pic-Nic of the Nineteenth Century"

An announcement for a steamboat excursion to the Lake Erie Islands appeared in the September, 1868 issue of the Teacher of Penmanship. Graduates and current students of the Buckeye and Great Western Business and Telegraph College, the predecessor of the Sandusky Business College, were invited to the event, held on September 9, 1868. Three steamboats were chartered, including the Evening Star, the Eighth Ohio and the General Grant. It was to be a “select intellectual and educational convention.” Guests were asked to bring baskets of food for the excursion. The trip included a “sail upon the Lake, around the vine-clad Islands, Inlets, Bays Peninsulas and Promontories, where the immortal Perry ‘met the enemy and made them ours’ under the auspices of the College at Sandusky.” An article in the September 8, 1868 issue of the Sandusky Register stated that railroads were offering half price fares for attendees of the excursion, and current students of the Buckeye and Great Western Business and Telegraph College were to be issued free tickets. 

The Buckeye and Great Western Business and Telegraph College was established in 1866. At first all students were male, though in later years many female students enrolled.  Some of the courses offered at the College were accounts training, telegraphing, and shorthand.

On the day of the Excursion, everyone who attended found it to be a “pleasant affair” according the Sandusky Register of September 10, 1868. Threatening weather kept hundreds of people at home, who would have gone on the trip had there been fair weather on September 9. 

Below is a picture of three steamboats close to Put in Bay in 1868:

The Evening Star is on the left. The center boat is the Lake Breeze. To the right is the Eighth Ohio.  In the far distance, you can see a portion of Jay Cooke’s home on Gibraltar Island.

Sandusky Day, Sponsored by Retail Merchants in 1935

In June of 1935 members of the Sandusky Merchants’ Association mailed invitations to all residents of Put in Bay, Lakeside, Middle Bass Island, North Bass Island and Kelleys Island asking them to bring their families to downtown Sandusky for “Sandusky Day” on Saturday, June 15.  The Merchants’ Association paid for tickets for the steamer Chippewa. Put in Bay residents left South Bass Island at 7 a.m. and proceeded to the other locations, and arrived in Sandusky at 9 a.m. The Chippewa took the guests home at 9 p.m.

All day long Sandusky merchants offered special sale prices. Raffle coupons were issued to each shopper for every 25 cent purchase. Local residents as well as those visiting from the Lake Erie Islands area participated in Sandusky Day. Prizes were given away at Jackson Junior High School on June 17, and a listing of the prizes won, along with the names of the winners, were reported in the Sandusky Register on June 18, 1935

William Smith, of Putnam Street, won a dressed chicken from the Libhurt Market. Victor McKillips, from Kelleys Island, won a pair of slippers from Nobil’s Shoe Store. Louise Miller, of Columbus Avenue, won a fancy basket of fruit from Riccelli’s produce store.

To read the names of all the prize winners, see the June 18, 1935 issue of the Sandusky Register, now on microfilm. An article in the June 14, 1935 issue of the Sandusky Register stated that it was believed the free excursion provided by Sandusky’s Retail Merchants was “an important factor in the maintenance of the pleasant relations existing between the Islands and Sandusky.”

Summertime in Vacationland

For decades, the pleasant summer weather in the Lake Erie Islands region has provided a terrific spot for local residents and tourists to spend some leisure time. Here are just a few images from the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center that capture some of those moments. Above is a snapshot of swimmers and boaters at Marblehead in 1957. Below is a picture of Ruth Beach, Verna Bornhauser, and Helen Rheinegger, at the Hotel Victory swimming pool in the summer of 1919.

The guests at Cedar Point in 1946 were walking along the Moon Rocket ride, long before Apollo 11 landed on the moon in July of 1969. In the 1940s visitors to the amusement park dressed much less casual than today’s visitors. This attraction was only at Cedar Point for a few seasons.

             

Notes that were attached to the original picture indicate that these people were fishing at the Bay Bridge Beach in June 1923. What a catch!

    

You can see the enthusiasm of the youngsters getting off the train in downtown Sandusky about 1940. Perhaps they were getting ready to board a boat to one of Lake Erie Islands.

     

View many more historical pictures from Sandusky and Erie County at the Sandusky Library Local History Archives online.