1938 Fruit Festival in Ottawa County

In August of 1938, the second annual Fruit Festival was held to showcase the fruit crop of Ottawa County. Many of the festivities took place at Gem Beach, but the Fruit Festival parade was in downtown Port Clinton. Oak Harbor student Dorothy Rice was selected queen of the Fruit Festival. She can be seen with her court in the picture below.

A patriotic float featured a large star with the words “God Bless America.”

A crowd gathered around the Island House in downtown Port Clinton to view the parade.

The Island and Gypsum Fruit Company’s motto was “Always tops with the pick of the crops.”

An advertisement for the Fruit Festival appeared in the August 20, 1938 issue of the Sandusky Register.

Dan Rice's Circus in Sandusky

The Sandusky Register of August 17, 1872 reported that while the afternoon crowd was not very large for Dan Rice’s Circus, every seat was filled at the evening performance. One of the favorite parts of the circus was when Frank Gardner did a double somersault over ten horses. Dan Rice kept the audience entertained with his “lively witticisms.” A blind horse named Excelsior, Jr. was also very much admired by the audience. Prof. Menter’s band was “the best we have seen in connection with any circus.” 

Dan Rice had a long and interesting career in traveling entertainment. After he died on February 22, 1900, a lengthy article about him appeared in the February 27, 1900 issue of the Sandusky Star. The article reported that he had been a frequent visitor to Sandusky, Ohio. Born Daniel McLaren in New York City in 1823, his father nicknamed him “Dan Rice” after a well-known Irish clown. The new Dan Rice made his own way in the world as a young man. After working for a time in Pittsburgh as a stable boy and a hack driver, he began traveling around the Midwest with his trained pig. In 1845 he began performing with the Seth B. Howes Circus. Eventually he became known as the “Shakespearean Clown,” as he performed dramatic readings while with the circus. It is said that Dan Rice was the first person to train and perform with a trained rhinoceros. After traveling with several entertainment shows and circuses, he created his own traveling show. Though he achieved great prominence, he earned and lost three fortunes during his long career, and he died a poor man. A blog post from the New York Times stated that some believe Dan Rice was the model for “Uncle Sam.” To read more about Dan Rice, borrow the book Dan Rice:The Most Famous Man You’ve Never Heard Of, by David Carlyon available through the ClevNet system

Adam J. Rice, Early Sandusky Mail Carrier

Adam J. Rice was born in 1856 in Sandusky, Ohio, to Mr. and Mrs. Peter Rice. On December 1, 1882, Adam Rice was appointed as one of the earliest mail carriers in Sandusky.  During his almost thirty year career with the postal service, Mr. Rice served under seven different postmasters, retiring in October 1915. On his last day of work, Mr. Rice was called to the Post Office Annex where he was presented with a mahogany chair upholstered in leather. The chair was a gift from the Postmaster Charles Schippel, along with the mail carriers and postal clerks from Sandusky’s Post Office, which was then still in downtown Sandusky at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Market Street.

In an article which appeared in the January 24, 1923 issue of the Sandusky Register, Adam Rice told of a time when a change of party in the Presidency sometimes meant that employees at the Post Office could lose their job, due to the spoils system. He said after the United States Civil Service was established, postal workers could only lose their job if there were a valid reason.

An obituary for Adam J. Rice is found on page 223 of the 1946 Obituary Notebook at the Sandusky Library. Mr. Rice  died on November 21, 1946. He was survived by his sister,Mrs. August Weier, a nephew, J.Leroy Weier, and a niece, Mrs. Fred Bloker. Funeral services were held at the Charles J. Andres Sons’ Funeral Home, and burial was at Sandusky Library. 

Sandusky Men in Libby Prison During the Civil War

This print of Libby Prison, as it appeared on August 23, 1863, was donated to the Sandusky Library by Mrs. I.F. Mack. Sandusky’s well known newspaper editor, Isaac F. Mack, was imprisoned in Libby Prison and two other Southern prison camps during the Civil War. Fortunately he survived the war and had a very successful newspaper career with the Sandusky Register. 

Many other area men spent time at Libby Prison, including Fred Frey, Jr., Delos Ransom, Foster Neill, Frank Colver, William B. Rice, Wilbur F. Cowles, and John M. Butler, the son in law of Jay Cooke. In December of 1863, the Ladies Aid Society from Sandusky sent packages of food which were distributed to local men who were imprisoned at the prison in Richmond, Virginia. Captains C.H. Riggs and O.H. Rosenbaum, with the 123^rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, sent a letter of thanks to the Ladies Aid Society, to the attention of Mrs. T.D. West, the Society’s secretary-treasurer. The men were thrilled to have such a package from their hometown in the midst of a dismal prison setting.  The letter appeared in the January 30, 1864 issue of the Sandusky Register, and read in part:

“To the ladies, first, (God bless them) we tender our most grateful thanks; secondly, to all others who in any way contributed thereto. Such form the bright spots in our life in Libby. Though irksome our stay in prison, we are of good cheer. Having been blessed with good health, we have no fault to find; full of confidence in the integrity of our Government, well assured that our interest are not forgotten there, and that, as soon as an exchange can be effected compatible with best interest of all, we will be released, we cheerfully submit. In conclusion, allow us to again thank the ladies and them our best wishes for their perfect success in the human work in which they are engaged, alleviating the sufferings of the sick, the sorrowful, &c. Colonel Wilson wishes to be especially remembered, and, with the other members of “Mess 32” will ever cherish in his heart of hearts the memory of the Ladies of Sandusky.”

To learn more about area men who served during the Civil War, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Many sources, both online and in print, can aid in searching for information about Civil War soldiers.

Sandusky Post Office

From 1857 until 1927, the Sandusky Post Office was at the southwest corner of Columbus Avenue and West Market Street. An annex building was just west of the Post Office on Market Street. Here are some of the earliest mail carriers in Sandusky, from about 1896:

Front row: Mose Doyle and John Gilbert. Middle row: James McCann, Adam Rice, Gust Heiberger. Back row: Henry Schimminger, John Schaub, Charles Schoepfle, and William Twigs.

Former Librarian Miss Mary McCann donated this picture of mailmen posed inside the Post Office Annex building in about 1912.

The men in the photo are: Harry Schimminger, Jim McCann, Tim Ryan, John Schaub, Harry Gosser, Charles Schippel, Charles Schoepfle, Ed Ernst, Dan Schwab, Roman Ott, Jimmy Davis, Bill Twiggs, and Louis Holzhauer.

A new Post Office opened at the intersection of Jackson Street, West Washington Street, and Central Avenue in 1927. This facility was in operation until 1987, when a new Post Office building opened on Caldwell Street. The Merry Go Round Museum is now located at the site of the former Post Office.

You can read more about postal service in Sandusky in Article 68 of From the Widow's Walk, by Helen Hansen and Virginia Steinemann.

Erie County Infirmary

 

The historic limestone Erie County building at 2900 South Columbus Avenue served as the Erie County Infirmary from 1886 until 1976, when the residents were transferred to the Erie County Care Facility at 3916 East Perkins Avenue in Huron Township. A history of the Erie County Care Facility and its predecessors is found on the Erie County web site.  The Infirmary housed individuals who were poor, unfortunate, disabled, or who were unable to care for themselves. Sixty acres of land were farmed on the Infirmary grounds. Residents capable of farming the land pursued this occupation as they were able. A hospital was located on the grounds to care for the sick. Over a seven year span, Katharyn Huss Wunderley produced a book which compiles information about residents who died at the Infirmary. She included obituary citations, references to local newspaper articles, and often indicated how long the person had made their home at the Infirmary. The book, entitled Erie County Ohio Infirmary, provides history of the facility, regulations from 1856, and a listing of the directors and superintendents.

The April 17, 1896 issue of the Sandusky Register ran a story about Jean Lafitte Johnson, who was buried at the Infirmary Cemetery, located just north of the Jewish Cemetery, on Columbus Avenue. Jean Johnson was said to have been the adopted son of Dan Rice, who had a traveling show. The “Great Quadruple Exhibition” featured circus acts and trained animals. Jean Johnson was a bareback horse rider who performed “unequaled feats of horsemanship.” Jean Johnson died July 12, 1895. A Mr. J. Killer died at the 1910, and was buried in the Infirmary Cemetery. He was afflicted with tuberculosis, and thought that if he lived in his covered wagon out in the open air, he would recover. He did not recover, and died in the wagon near Castalia. Robert W. Tavener (sometimes spelled Tavenor), known as the “Prince of Story Tellers,” became a resident of the Erie County Infirmary in 1918. He had been a colorful figure in Sandusky for many years. From 1900 – 1902, he operated a large bath parlor at the corner of Washington and Warren Streets. Mr. Tavener’s obituary in the February 21, 1919 Sandusky Register states that R. W. Tavener was a “globe trotter, medicine man, bath house proprietor, and finally porter in downtown cafes…” 

Read Mrs. Wunderley’s book, Erie County Ohio Infirmary, to learn more about the lives and deaths of many of the facility’s residents.