Prominent Sanduskians

The image below is of a group of prominent Sandusky men, taken sometime between 1910 and 1920. The picture was anonymously mailed to the Sandusky Register and then was forwarded to Wilbert Ohlemacher, who wrote The Elderlies column for the Register for several years.

Back row: Fred Emmons, Mr. H. Squire, C. Webb Sadler, Dr. J.T. Haynes, F. P. Zollinger, Dr. J.F. Douglas, Mr. Feick, William Seitz, Dr. C. B. Bliss, Sidney Frohman, unknown, and Mr. Bruce

Front row: Mr. Feick, C.B. Lockwood, William Sumser, Lawrence Morton, T. T. Morton

 

Fred Emmons was the secretary and assistant treasurer of the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company; Mr. H. Squire owned Squire Electric Company; C. Webb Sadler was the father of city manager Webb Sadler; Dr. J. T. Haynes was the physician at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home; F. P. Zollinger was the president of the Third National Bank; Dr. J.F. Douglas had a dental office on Columbus Avenue for many years; Mr. Feick was a local builder; William Seitz was a merchant tailor, Dr. C.B. Bliss was an ophthalmologist; and Sidney Frohman was the president and general manger of the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company. In the front row was another member of the Feick family of builders. C. B. Lockwood and William Sumser were associated with the Standard Box Company; Lawrence Morton was the sales manager of the Threading Machine Company; and T. T. Morgan was the treasurer and general manager of the Brown Clutch Company.

We do not know the occasion for this gathering, but you can read Mr. Ohlemacher’s newspaper article about this picture in the March 27, 1983 issue of the Sandusky Register, available on microfilm at the Sandusky Archives Research Center, or online via the Sandusky Library's website.

Schwehr Box Company

Established in 1878, this cigar box manufacturing company was first operated by the Fox Brothers. In 1884, Albert Schwehr became a partner in the Fox & Schwehr Box Company at the northeast corner of Water and McDonough Streets. By 1886, Albert Schwehr was the sole proprietor of the Schwehr Box Company, by then at the southeast corner of Water and McDonough Streets. That same year, the Eureka Lumber Company was in business at the northeast corner. Both the Schwehr Box Company and the Eureka Lumber Company were manufacturers of cigar boxes.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries cigar making in Sandusky was a major industry. Locally produced cigar boxes were made of cedar, held together with nails. Karl Kurtz wrote in the Sandusky Register of January 14, 1978 that in the early years, the Schwehr Box Company made 350,000 cigar boxes and 5000 fish boxes a year. The factory employed about 25 people, and had a printing press to make their own labels for the boxes. By 1900, C. B. Lockwood was the proprietor of the business. In the 1912 Sandusky city directory, the company’s name had been changed to the Standard Box Company, and around 1920, William Sumser became the proprietor. In 1930, the Standard Box and Screen Company was manufacturing window and door screens as well as cigar boxes. An advertisement in the May 17, 1941 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal recommended the bronze screens made at the Standard Box Company for their endurance.

From 1946 to 1952, the Weske Cutlery Company, which primarily made fixed blades, was in business at the site of the former Standard Box and Screen Company. You can see the layout of the Weske Cutlery Company on the Sanborn Fire Insurance map, below.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Bob’s Furniture had a warehouse at 932 West Water Street, where the box factory once stood. Now, the southeast corner of Water and McDonough Streets is an empty lot, but that location was once an important spot for local businesses.