The Ladies Fair Show Comes to Cedar Point in 1951

In conjunction with Erie County’s Fall Festival, two performances of the “Ladies Fair Show” took place at Cedar Point on September 7, 1951. Tom Moore, a radio personality with the Mutual Broadcasting System, was the host of the show. Tickets were sold for $1.00 and $1.50. The “Ladies Fair Show” was a radio program that was broadcast during the morning hours by the Mutual Broadcasting System in the early 1950s. The program featured music, games, and quizzes for the ladies in the audience. When the “Ladies Fair Show” came to Sandusky, two thousand dollars worth of prizes were awarded during the program. The Fall Festival was held in Sandusky, Ohio from September 6 to September 9, 1951. The festival featured a beauty pageant, band concert, square dancing, marksmanship show, and a steer auction.

The Graduating Class of Sandusky High School, 1872

Pictured above are several members of Sandusky High School’s graduating class of 1872. In the front row are: Lula Hayes; Sarah Lawler; Charles McLouth and Antonia Springer. In the middle row are: Hattie Miller; Frank Barker; Emma Hages; Robert Walsh and Eunice Williams. In the back row are: Ella Rayl ; Alex Camp; Emma Alder; Hattie Keech; Henry Moore; Laura Wetherell; Alice Kinney and Ella Kelham. 

By 1876, Ella Kelham was an elementary school teacher for Sandusky City Schools. Frank Barker became the city clerk of Sandusky, and he married Laura Cooke, the niece of Civil War financier Jay Cooke. (Barker Street in Sandusky was named for Frank Barker’s ancestors.) Hattie Keech was the daughter of Sandusky businessman and philanthropist, C.C. Keech. She would go on to marry Edmund H. Zurhorst, who was very active in politics in Sandusky. Alice Kinney was the daughter of newspaper publisher J.C. Kinney, and Alex Camp’s ancestors were instrumental in the founding of the city of Sandusky. These students were all born before the Civil War, and most lived well into the twentieth century.  They saw many changes in technology in their lifetimes. 

To see more historical photographs from Sandusky and Erie County, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, on the lower level of the Sandusky Library.

Civil War Pension Files of Harrison Washington and William H. Johnson, African American Recruits from Sandusky

An article in the June 6, 1863 issue of the Sandusky Register reported on several African American recruits from Sandusky who were traveling by train to Readville, Massachusetts to enlist in the Massachusetts 55^th Infantry. The group included a large majority of the able bodied men of color in the city of Sandusky ranging from 18 to 40 years of age. The Massachusetts 55^th Infantry was a sister regiment to the Massachusetts 54^th, the military unit featured in the film Glory. Fourteen men from Sandusky served in Company I of the 55^th Massachusetts Infantry. They were led by Captain George T. Garrison, the son of well-known abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. A previous blog post about these soldiers included pictures of the tombstones of two Civil War Veterans of the Massachusetts 55^th who were buried in Sandusky at Oakland Cemetery.

In the pension file for Harrison Washington from the National Archives, we learn that he enlisted in the Massachusetts 55^th in June of 1863. At that time, he was 5 feet 6 inches tall and he had been born on May 15, 1833 in Fleming County, Kentucky. Harrison Washington was honorably discharged in Massachusetts in October of 1865. He returned to Ohio for about thirty years, and then moved back to Fleming County, Kentucky.

Another page from Mr. Washington’s pension file provides the name of his wife, Frances Washington, whom Harrison married in 1890, his third wife. One of his previous wives had been the former Cordelia Winfield from Sandusky, Ohio, who died in 1866. The file also includes the names and birth dates of Harrison Washington’s children, who were named Matilda, Charlie, Cordelia, and Mary. In 1898, Harrison Washington was still living in Kentucky.

A note in the pension file of Harrison Washington stated that he was dropped from the pension roll due to his death in September of 1917.

William H. Johnson was another Sandusky resident who served with Co. I of the Massachusetts 55^th Infantry. He enlisted when he was 22 years old, and his occupation was listed as carpenter. He died from wounds he received in battle on July 2, 1864 at James Island, South Carolina. On September 3, 1883, Mrs. William H. Johnson, the former Anna McGuire, applied for a widow’s military pension. She stated that she had married Mr. Johnson on December 25, 1861, in Augusta County, Virginia. A Sandusky attorney, John E. Moore, presented the widow’s claim, though at the time she had moved to Cleveland, Ohio.

A recent article in the Charleston Post and Courier reports on the unveiling of a historic marker at Folly River Park which honors the service of the Massachusetts 55^th Infantry during the Civil War. In the 129^th Ohio General Assembly, the Ohio House of Representatives passed H.R. No. 297, to honor the 511 African American Ohioans who enlisted in the 54th and 55th Regiments of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.

Sandusky Children Gave Gifts to a Local Hospital in 1889

In December of 1889, hundreds of Sandusky schoolchildren brought in donations for the Good Samaritan Hospital, which at that time was located on Van Buren Street.

      

According to the Sandusky Register of December 23, 1889, school children all across Sandusky were asked to contribute gifts to the hospital.

Hundreds of youngsters brought in donations of food for use at the hospital. Ethel Moore brought in two cakes of chocolate. Other gifts included a pound of coffee from Joe Nolan, four pounds of rolled oats from Jessie Hornig, a pound of tapioca from Willie Banks, and a live chicken from Albert Trout. Some students brought in contributions of cash. (You can read the article above in its entirety on microfilm at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.) 

During the holiday season of 1889, the D.C. Powers and Company store promised to carry something to please every member of the family

After having opened in 1886, the Good Samaritan Hospital ran into serious financial problems and closed its doors in 1893. The hospital reopened in 1910, and was rebuilt in 1918. Later a new facility was built, next door to the old one. In 1985 Good Samaritan Hospital and Sandusky Memorial Hospital merged to form Firelands Community Hospital, now known as Firelands Regional Medical Center.

When the VFW Post 2529 was on Water Street

Before the Lowell C. Hein Post 2529, V.F.W.  opened its new home at 604 West Perkins Avenue in 1958, for a time in the 1950s the Post was located at 603 East Water Street, at the northeast corner of Water and Perry Streets. This spot had formerly been occupied by the Sandusky office of the Kelley Island Lime and Transport Company, and in the 1940s by the Billman Boat House. Much later the Surf’s Up Wave Action pool was built at the location; the site is now known as the Sandusky Bay Pavilion. In 1950, Robert Frank photographed  the officers of the V.F.W. for the 1950-1951 term.

An article in the April 7, 1950 issue of the Sandusky Register Star News reported that the new officers for the Lowell C. Hein Post 2529, V.F.W. included: Richard Heinz, Commander; Frank Silvania, Senior Vice Commander; Elroy Wild, Junior Vice Commander; Carroll D. Sartor, Adjutant-Quartermaster; Marvin Evans, Post Advocate; A.A. Moore, Surgeon; Richard Butler, Chaplain; and Alvin Adams, Trustee.

Officers for the Dads of Foreign Service Veterans were: Leo Watters, Sr., President; Alfred Uhl, Senior Vice President; James Shut, Junior Vice President; George Stan Smith, Secretary-Treasurer; Bernard McGory, Chaplain; Wilson McLaughlin, Judge Advocate; and William Wiedeman, Trustee. You can read more about the first fifty years of the Lowell C. Hein Post 2529, V.F.W.  in the September 19, 1982 issue of Sandusky Register. 

Annual Examinations in the Sandusky Public Schools in 1860

Don't put stickers on your historic documents!

On March 14, 1860, at 9 a.m., several students from the First Grammar School of Sandusky City Schools had a program in connection with the students’ Annual Examinations. In 1860 the First Grammar School was located in Sandusky’s Public Square. Mr. John G. Chandler was the principal. Miss Eliza Moore was Mr. Chandler’s assistant and she taught elementary school classes as well. Essays and declamations were presented by students from geography, arithmetic and grammar classes. Musical selections were presented throughout the exercises. At 1:30 in the afternoon another set of students participated in the Order of Exercises for Annual Examinations.

Many of the students who attended the First Grammar School in downtown Sandusky were the children of individuals who played key roles in the city’s history. Ezra Gregg’s father, Philander Gregg, served as Sandusky’s Mayor from 1869 to 1870. Master Ebenezer Lane and Master William Cheesebrough were both the grandsons of Judge Ebenezer Lane. John G. Chandler married Miss Emeline Barber in 1864. By 1870 the Chandlers were living in St. Louis, Missouri, where John G. Chandler was an attorney. Eliza Moore and her sister Sarah Moore were teachers with the Sandusky City Schools for over fifty years. In 1891 Sandusky children collected pennies to help pay for a monument to be erected at Oakland Cemetery in honor of their teachers, the Moore sisters.

Victor J. "Ump" Moore, Erie County Sheriff

Victor J. Moore was born in Sandusky, Ohio on April 20, 1896, to George and Sarah Moore. His nickname was “Ump.” On April 26, 1918, he enlisted in the United States Army. He served with Company A of the 308th Engineers during World War I, and was honorably discharged from military service on January 21, 1919. The biographical sketch in Patty Pascoe’s book Elected to Serve states that Victor J. Moore had been a prominent football player for Sandusky High School, and he also played for the Sandusky Maroons and the Esmond football teams. Victor “Ump” Moore is the third man from the right in the front row of the team picture of the Maroons from 1923.

In his twenties Moore worked as a lifeguard at Cedar Point, at the same time Knute Rockne worked at the amusement park. (It was at the Cedar Point beach that Knute Rockne developed the forward pass.) He served as Erie County Sheriff from 1932 to 1936, and later worked as the purchasing agent for the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, retiring in 1966.

An article by Bob Kinney in the Sandusky Register of February 13, 1970 reported that V.J. Moore was the youngest member of the “Last Man’s Club.” This group was begun by fourteen World War I Veterans in the 1930s. The group met only on Friday the 13th. The first meeting was held in Cua’s restaurant. One of the themes of the club was that the last man remaining was to open a champagne bottle, which had been with the men since the club’s beginning. Mr. Kinney wrote that there was also a “Last Man’s Club” comprised of World War II veterans, and a third club had also started up with another group of fifty veterans. Victor J. Moore died of pancreatic cancer on February 24, 1972. He was survived by his wife Alena, two sons, a daughter, a stepson, a stepdaughter, and several other relatives. Burial was at Oakland Cemetery.

The Sandusky Register article from February 13, 1970 listed these names as the last six surviving members of the original “Last Men’s Club:”

V.J. Moore

Dr. Frank Maher

Marc Freeman

William Ferback

George Eger

Dominic Cua

If our calculations are correct, the last man surviving from this group was William C. Ferback. He died on March 17, 1980 at the age of 91.