A Look at a Classroom at Sandusky Business College in 1908

     

This picture post card of a young woman in a classroom at the Sandusky Business College was created in December of 1908 when the school was in the Mahala Block on Washington Row.  At the front of the classroom was a large calendar from Buerkle and Lermann, a local insurance and real estate company. At the top of the chalkboard is the date December 17, 1908.

Vintage light fixtures -- probably only recently converted from gas jets to electric light -- are suspended from the ceiling, and shorthand characters are visible on the chalkboard. Instead of individual desks, the students in this class sat at sturdy wooden tables and chairs.

While today's students often use computers and tablets, students in 1908 used books, paper and pen as their main educational tools. 

The Sandusky Register of December 17, 1908 featured articles about President-Elect William Howard Taft, who had recently been elected. Employees of the Enterprise Glass Company were negotiating for higher wages. The suffragists were planning a convention to continue their quest to earn the right to vote for American women. Also in the Register was an ad for Hood's Sarsaparilla, which claimed to be helpful for troubles of the blood, liver, stomach and kidneys. Locally, Frank Schnaitter sold suits at his tailor shop for prices ranging from $25 to $50. The Manhattan men's store carried a full line of "union suits." Grocer Herman Bremer gave out Eagle stamps at his grocery store at the corner of Monroe and Clinton Streets with every cash sale. The Donahue Hardware Store on Water Street offered several suggestions for Christmas gifts, including pockets knives for twenty cents, skates for sixty cents, and sleds for fifty cents and up. By viewing this post card, and the local newspaper of the day, we can get a good idea of what was happening in Sandusky on December 17, 1908. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view microfilmed copies of Sandusky newspapers dating back to 1822.

A Postcard Scene of Washington Row in the Late Nineteenth Century

            

In the collection of historical postcards at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center is a postcard which features a view of East and West Washington Row in the late 1800s. In the close up view below, you can see two men looking toward the west down Washington Row from the doorway of Charles J. Krupp’s Funeral business in the Mahala Block:

The Sandusky City Business College, later known as the Sandusky Business College, was in operation in the middle of the Mahala Block.

On the left side of the picture, you can see the Kingsbury Block, at the northeast corner of Washington Row and Columbus Avenue.  At the northwest corner of Washington Row and Columbus Avenue was the Sloane House hotel. In the distance, you can see the former home of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel B.Caldwell, next to the Presbysterian Church, which is hidden by the trees. Horse and buggy was the normal mode of transportation at this time.

On November 18, 1909, a massive fire destroyed the Mahala Block, with losses estimated at approximately $250,000.

Mahala Laundry was in Sandusky for Seventy Five Years

The Mahala Steam Laundry was founded in 1901 by Charles A. Yochem and Lewis Feick. This advertisment from the Sandusky Daily Star of December 7, 1901, suggests that if you took your laundry to be done at the Mahala Laundry, you would have no wash day!

The Mahala Steam Laundry got its name from its location in the Mahala Block on Washington Row between Columbus Avenue  and Wayne Street. The four story building had been constructed for William T. West in 1892, and was given the name of his wife’s middle name.

A massive fire destroyed the Mahala Laundry and several other businesses in 1909. After the fire, the Mahala Laundry relocated to Jackson Street. This advertisement appeared in the 1925 Fram.

It is interesting to note that in 1939, the Mahala Laundry and Beilstein Laundry were both located on the same block of Jackson Street, between the Star Journal newspaper building and the Presbyterian Church, seen below on a Sanborn Map from June of that year.

Both companies would later branch out into dry cleaning. In 1946 Lewis Feick and Alden Feick took over the Mahala Laundry. An article in the February 24, 1961 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that the Mahala Laundry had been purchased by the Peerless Laundry and Dry Cleaning Company of Elyria, Ohio. For seventy-five years, the Mahala Laundry cared for the garments of area residents, and provided jobs for many individuals, many of whom were single females.

Local Heroes: The Carnegie Medal Awarded to Sandusky Residents

Between 1904 and 1969, nine Sandusky area residents were awarded the Carnegie Medal for acts of extraordinary civilian heroism. The medal pictured above was awarded to Earl Thomas, who saved Rolland Smith, age 16, from drowning, after Rolland fell into deep water off the railroad bridge at Mills Creek. Though Thomas was not a good swimmer, he swam over thirty feet to bring Smith to safety, where both men were pulled out of the water by another young man. Though young Smith was unconscious, and Thomas suffered from exposure, both recovered. 

By performing a search for Sandusky, Ohio at the website of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, you can read a brief summary of all the awardees who were from Sandusky. In 1904, William C. Brune saved George P. Pfanner from drowning. Another water rescue took place in 1905 when baker Henry Schiller saved Wendell B. Tussing from drowning while at Lakeside, Ohio. When the Mahala Block burned on November 18, 1909, George B. Knopf made his way to the top of the fourth floor building to rescue Emma Keyes from the fire.

  

On October 29, 1920, Harry May saved Martin Maier from being killed by a train. The locomotive was only two feet from the men when Harry pushed Martin to safety. Hilda Hertlein was only twelve years old when she lifted four year old Viola Poock off the track as a streetcar was approaching. In addition to the Carnegie Medal,  Hilda received $1,600.00, which she used towards her studies at Ohio State University. Henry Sherman Potter, Jr., was also quite young when he earned a Carnegie Medal. Henry was age thirteen, when he saved  ten year old Omar E. Meyer, Jr. from drowning, after Omar fell through the ice while skating on Sandusky Bay. Henry broke through the ice, and finally threw his sweater to Omar to help pull him to safety. An article about the heroic act of Henry Sherman Potter, Jr. appeared in the July, 1929 issue of Boys’ Life magazine. Omar E. Meyer, Jr. eventually became the owner and president of the local company O.E. Meyer & Sons. 

While in Lorain in 1932, William G. Lang saved twenty-two month old Leila Smith from being struck by a streetcar. While at the helm of the streetcar, Lang quickly applied the brakes and drastically reduced the speed, after which he grasped the toddler to safety. During a severe rainstorm on July 5, 1969, Larry E. Smith rescued LoRene Limbard from drowning, after she was trapped in a fruit cellar in her home after a basement wall collapsed. Two men outside the home helped Mrs. Limbard out a small basement window, after Smith helped her find her way to the window. As Larry Smith himself exited through the window, the water had risen to the ceiling light of the basement. Sandusky can be proud of the many heroic actions undertaken by these nine ordinary citizens who helped save others’ lives while risking their own life.

John and Charles J. Krupp

Born in Bavaria, Germany in 1822, John Krupp was in the furniture and undertaking  business in Sandusky from about 1870 until he retired in 1895. Charles J. Krupp, his son, and Henry T. Goebel took over the business after John Krupp retired. Charles J. Krupp received special training in scientific embalming from Professor Auguste Renouard.  The partnership of Krupp and Goebel was dissolved in 1900, with Mr. Goebel continuing in the furniture business, and Mr. Krupp continuing in the undertaking business. By 1901 Charles J. Krupp had relocated the business to the Mahala Block on Washington Row.

An advertisement which apperared in the August 21, 1905 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal stated that Krupp was the “most complete undertaking house in Sandusky.”  Ira Krupp was assisting his father in the business at this time.

By 1911, the Mr. Krupp had moved the business  to the Masonic Temple building, where  Edward Quick was his assistant. Also in 1911, John Krupp passed away. His wife Katherine Simon Krupp had died in 1906.

Charles J. Krupp married Ida Palmerton in 1878. After the death of Oran Follett, Ida’s father purchased the former Follett residence for his daughter and her husband. After Ida Krupp passed away in 1906, Charles J. Krupp married Mary Buyer.   Below is a picture of 404 Wayne Street when Charles and Mary Krupp resided there.

               

On May 14, 1924, Charles J. Krupp died at his home on Wayne Street after he suffered a stroke. Charles J. Krupp had been an undertaker for fifty-four years, and was considered a leader in his profession. He had been the last person to look upon the face of President William McKinley, as Mr. Krupp had been a member of the state licensing board of embalmers at the time of McKinley’s death, and he was the person who closed the casket before it was placed in the tomb. Charles J. Krupp was survived by his widow Mary, his son, daughter, and one sister, Mrs. Paul Miller of Sandusky. Funeral services for Charles J. Krupp were held at both his residence, and at Sts. Peter and Paul’s Church. Burial was at St. Mary’s Cemetery. It was estimated that Charles J. Krupp had buried more than 10,000 during his many years in business in Sandusky. To read more about the Krupp family, see A Standard History of Erie County, by Hewson L. Peeke (Lewis Publishing Co., 1916.)