First Day of Issue of Carousel Animals U.S. Postage Stamps

According to the Sandusky Register of October 2, 1988, on October 1, 1988 throngs of people assembled at both the Sandusky U.S. Post Office and Cedar Point to mark the first day issue of four stamps which featured images of carousel animals.

The stamps were designed by Paul Calle. The cover photo of the first day issue memento featured a photograph from The Art of the Carousel by Charlotte Dinger. The carousel animals included a Gustav Dentzel deer, a goat and camel by Charles Looff, and an armored horse carved by Daniel C. Muller, which is still a working carousel animal on Kiddie Kingdom Carousel at Cedar Point. Helen Hansen, who donated this item to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, wrote on the back of the card that it was a warm and sunny day at Cedar Point, with a lovely setting and a good crowd at Cedar Point.

You can read the history of Sandusky’s Merry Go Round Museum at the museum’s website, which states that the idea of the Merry Go Round Museum in Sandusky came about because of the first day issue of the carousel stamps. The museum opened its doors on July 14, 1990.

Sandusky’s Former Post Office

Seen here in the 1930s or 1940s, this building was opened as Sandusky’s Federal Building in March of 1927.  In 1923, Congressman James T. Begg introduced a bill in the U.S. House which requested an increase in the appropriation for the proposed Federal Building at Sandusky, making a total of $215,00 in funds to be used for the project. Congressman Begg pointed out that the current Post Office and Customs House had been built before the Civil War, and was very congested.  Ground was broken for the new Post Office on November 1, 1925.  T.M. Samford was the superintendent of the project, under the leadership of contractor Algernon Blair. M.J. Callan and Sons, of Sandusky, did the excavation work at the building site, beginning November 6, 1925. The building site was located at the intersection of Central Avenue, Jackson Street, and Washington Street. Formerly Bernard Lodick’s carriage shop and Trinity Methodist Church were at this location.

You can see the layout of the Post Office in 1939 in the portion of the Sanborn Map below.

The new Federal Building was built in the Neo-Classical style. It features a very large portico with fluted columns. Besides housing the Post Office in 1927, this building held offices for U.S. Customs, the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Weather Bureau. During war years, the U.S. Armed Forces had recruiting offices here as well. The men in this picture are the first draftees from Erie County in January of 1941, standing on the steps of the Post Office:

           

Of course the former Sandusky Post Office and Federal Building is now home to the Merry-Go-Round Museum. When you walk into the lobby of the Museum, you can still see one of the windows where stamps were sold.