Postcard to Charlie J. Grahl in 1918

This postcard, sent from Venice, Ohio, on May 31, 1918, was sent to a newly enlisted U.S. soldier named Charlie J. Grahl.

The message from Frank read: "Hello Charlie - Received your card today. Glad you got there safe. We are all well here. Anna & Lill went to the circus today. Rummy feels pretty lonesome no one to play pool with him. Best regards from all, Frank." 

Local World War I records show two soldiers named Charles Grahl, both former residents of Venice, Ohio. These service records are included in the database, Ohio Soldiers in World War I, available at Ancestry Library Edition.

Charlie returned to Venice, Ohio after military service, and according to the 1940 U.S. Census, he was a “tipple man” at the cement mill. Undoubtedly, this meant that he was employed at the Medusa Cement Company in Bay Bridge, Ohio, which employed hundreds of Erie County residents from 1893 until it closed in the early 1960s.

Charles J. Grahl died in 1957, and he was buried at the Venice Cemetery. This copy of an application for a headstone, from Ancestry Library Edition, provides us with more details about his life and military service.

Visit the Sandusky Library to access Ancestry Library Edition to learn more about the military ancestors in your own family tree.

Bay Bridge and the Medusa Factory, 1950

A part of the Tom Root collection of aerial photographs, this picture shows a view of the small unincorporated area of northwestern Erie County along the Sandusky Bay known as Bay Bridge. Clearly visible in the photo are the silos from the Medusa Portland Cement Company. From 1892 until 1960, the Medusa Portland Cement Company employed many area residents. The company, originally named the Sandusky Portland Cement Company, was founded by three brothers in 1892, Spencer, Arthur and William Newberry. The men were all sons of well known geologist John Strong Newberry. Marl and clay, key components in the manufacturing in portland cement at that time, were widely available in the marshy land surrounding Bay Bridge.

In its first fifty years, Medusa expanded to eight facilities in five states. Medusa Portland Cement Company was a very profitable company in the  early “baby boom” years following World War II, due an increase in demand for cement for use in the building of homes, businesses, and highways, but by 1960 the Bay Bridge plant of the Medusa Cement Company closed. Eventually Medusa was acquired by Southdown, Inc. While the busy days of the booming cement mill town are now a memory, the small village of Bay Bridge once had its own Post Office and store, to take care of the needs of the many employees who worked at Medusa.