A Look Back at Area Depots

Ernst Niebergall took this picture of the New York Central Depot in Sandusky in 1920. This depot still stands today, where it also serves as home to the Sandusky Transit System. 

From the late 1800s until 1938, a depot for the interurban lines was located at Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home (now the Ohio Veterans Home.)

  

The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railway built a small depot in Bay Bridge, Ohio in the 1870s. A telegraph office was also at this location for many years.

                                      

Greyhound’s bus depot was on Columbus Avenue in 1939, between Joe Weske’s barber shop and Weber’s men’s clothing store. Newspapers were also sold at the bus depot.

To view more vintage pictures of Sandusky and Erie County, visit the website of the Sandusky Library’s Past Perfect Local History Archives.

Weyers Station and Matthias Weyer

The small unincorporated community known as Weyers or Weyers Station was located at the junction of Skadden and Bardshar Roads in Section One of Margaretta Township, Erie County, Ohio. It was named for an early resident of the area, Matthias Weyer. An article found in the historical files of the Sandusky Library Sandusky Research Center states that Matthias Weyer, a native of Germany, settled in Margaretta Township in 1852. His son, also named Matthias Weyer was named Postmaster of Weyers in 1895. By 1902, the Post Office at Weyers closed, and the mail that had been delivered there was sent to Parkertown, where Portland Road crosses the railroad. Below is a page from the U.S. Appointment of U.S. Postmasters, 1832-1971, a database from Ancestry Library Edition.

The old Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, and railroads that superseded it, passed through the community of Weyers, most likely picking up and dropping the U.S. mail as it traveled through. It is said that there was an old quarry south of the railroad crossing, which was used to furnish gravel for the road bed of the first railroad. There was once a grain elevator at Weyers, and a store and lunch counter were in business there for a time. 

Matthias Weyer, the son, died in 1902. His will is on file at Erie Probate Court, as well as at Ancestry Library Edition. Below is a portion of his will.

  

Matthias Weyer, the former Postmaster, was buried in Sandusky’s St. Mary’s Cemetery.  Many of his descendants still reside in Erie County, Ohio today.

Central Avenue was once Miami Avenue

In the 1818 plat map of Sandusky, the street we now call Central Avenue was known as Miami Avenue. By the 1890s, Miami Avenue was renamed Central Avenue. This street runs diagonally from  the west side of Washington Park to Monroe Street, and then at Monroe Street it runs in a north-south direction to north of North Depot Street. For many decades, local residents have found that Central Avenue provides an efficient route to get from downtown Sandusky to key places on Sandusky’s near western side. 

If you take Central Avenue to West Osborne Street, you will soon find yourself at Osborne School.

                   

If you take Central Avenue south to North Depot Street, after you turn right, you will come to Sandusky’s Amtrak Station.

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, there was a fire station located at the northeast corner of Central Avenue and Osborne Street, known as Fire Station Number 4. This fire station was razed about 1930.

Two churches are located on Central Avenue. St. Mary’s Catholic Church was established to meet the needs of Sandusky’s Catholic residents of German heritage. The current parish was built in the 1870s, and is the largest church building in the city of Sandusky.

             

Before moving to its current location at Mills Street, St. Paul Lutheran Church was at the southeast corner of Central Avenue and Tyler Street. A number of other Protestant churches have met at this location in recent years.

       

A previous Sandusky History blog post featured a picture of horse racing on Central Avenue.

Now primarily residential, Central Avenue continues to be a vital thoroughfare for area residents. Visit Sandusky Library to view historical Sandusky city directories to learn more about our community’s past residents, businesses, and cultural institutions. 

Sandusky’s Railroad Depot

Now used by Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, the railroad station at North Depot and Carr Streets in Sandusky, was originally built for the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. The Sandusky Transit System and North Central EMS now have offices at this location as well. A front page article in the December 19, 1892 issue of the Sandusky Register reported on the new passenger depot, which was described as “very elegant.” 

The depot was built by A. Feick and Brother, at a cost of nearly $30,000. Several other local subcontractors were involved in the project. Brohl and Appell were in charge of the plumbing. Copper work was done by J. Mertz and Son. Woodwork and doors were installed by George R. Butler and Company, while the hardware and glass were furnished P.L. VanAlstyne. The only firm connected to the new railroad depot that was not from Sandusky was the architect, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, from Boston, Massachusetts. The station was built from Amherst buff stone, with blue stone trimming. The roof was a Gothic pitch roof. A baggage station was built just to the east of the main railway depot, and was used by the American Railway Express Company for several years in the 1920s.

The original railroad depot had a general waiting room, as well as a separate waiting room for ladies only. Two marble drinking fountains were located near the waiting rooms in the original building.  The article in the Register stated that this new structure was “a credit to the city in point of architecture and improvement.”  The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Depot in Sandusky was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Today it is served by Amtrak’s Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited routes. Below is a post card of the depot after the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad merged with New York Central.

Rail transportation has been vital to Sandusky for many years. Ground was broken for the pioneer Mad River Railroad in Sandusky in 1835.