Iron Skillet Made in Sandusky

This iron skillet, now housed at the Follett House Museum, was created at the Co-Operative Foundry in Sandusky, Ohio. The top of the handle of the skillet featured an opening for ease of storage in one’s home kitchen.

          

The Co-Operative Foundry was located at the southwest corner of Water and Shelby Streets in the 1890s and early 1900s. In 1900, the president of the company was John J. Molter, who once served as Sandusky’s Postmaster, and later as its Mayor.

According to the 1900 Sandusky City Directory, the Co-Operative Foundry employed founders and machinists. The company specialized in brass and grey castings, and also did blacksmithing “in all its branches.” The 1893 Sanborn Map shows the exact location of the Co-Operative Foundry:

A brief article in a 1906 issue of the Foundry magazine stated that the Co-Operative Foundry and Machine Company had been taken over by the Sandusky Foundry and Machine Company, later known as Sandusky International, and now the Sandusky International Division of MetalTek International.

Foundries in Sandusky

Now known as Sandusky International, the Sandusky Foundry and Machine Company was founded in 1904 by William Millspaugh. The company has long been recognized as an innovator in the paper making industry. The photograph below features a float from the Sandusky Foundry and Machine Company from around that time.

The Bay View Foundry was in operation from 1904 through the 1920’s. The firm produced brass, bronze, aluminum and iron castings. In 1920, E. Lea Marsh succeeded A. W. Link as the company president. Eventually Mr. Marsh moved back to Connecticut. His son, E. Lea Marsh, Jr. was a legislator in the state of Connecticut, and was the owner of a dairy herd which included Elsie the Borden cow.

The G and C Foundry, which is no longer in operation, manufactured cast and finished products for fluid power. It was incorporated in 1922 by M. F. Gartland and John Carroll. The plant was located on West Monroe Street on Sandusky’s west side. Employees from the pattern department stood outside the G and C Foundry in June of 1918.

The final chapter of Charles E. Frohman’s book A History of Sandusky and Erie County, is devoted to a brief history of manufacturing in Sandusky, Ohio. Visit the Archives Research Center to learn more about manufacturing in Sandusky, both past and present.