Esther Rose Miller, Educator and World Traveler

 Around 1912, Willard A. Bishop took this picture of Robert and Esther Rose Miller, who were the children of former city commissioner Charles  F. Miller and his wife Rose.  Robert C. Miller, about 15 years old in the picture, was an office supply salesman for the Denzer Company in Sandusky in adulthood. Esther R. Miller, about five years old here, became a teacher for Sandusky City Schools. In her later years of teaching,  she taught English and geography at Adams Junior High School. 

Miss Miller traveled extensively. Here is a travel document from Esther Miller’s trip to South America in 1961, retrieved from Ancestry Library Edition.

In 1963 she traveled to Greece and Turkey. In an article in the January 25, 1965 issue of the Sandusky Register, Miss Miller described her recent trip to Scandinavia, France and Germany. In the late 1960s, she traveled to Eastern Europe, Russia and Spain. On several occasions she gave presentations to the Sandusky Travel Club about her travels. After her retirement from Adams Junior High School, Esther Rose Miller worked as an assistant librarian at the Sandusky Library.  

Mr. and Mrs. Louis Duennisch

Louis Duennisch was born in Saxony, Germany on September 4, 1842. In 1857 he and his widowed mother emigrated to the United States, settling in Sandusky, Ohio. For thirty five years, he was employed by the Sandusky Sash, Door & Blind Company, and its successors. Mr. Duennisch was made foreman of the shop when he was only nineteen years old. 

On July 2, 1867, Louis Duennisch took Margaret Newman as his bride; she passed away in 1875. He married Margaret Ebert in 1878, the daughter of Conrad Ebert, a native of Bavaria.. 

Between 1895 and the early 1900s, the couple traveled extensively in the United States and Europe. Descendants of the Duennisch and Ebert families bequeathed a photograph album to the Sandusky Library Research Center, which contains many pictures from their travels.  Below is a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Duennisch in Madeira (part of Portugal, despite the caption).

For many years, Mr. Duennisch served as a trustee of Oakland Cemetery. The front page of the Sandusky Sunday Register of October 10, 1886 featured a story which reported on an electrical device which he had invented. Having heard of cases of “suspended animation,” in which a living person had been buried alive, Louis wanted to provide an escape method for an individual finding oneself in this unfortunate situation.  Insulated rings were to be attached to the body in the coffin, and these were wired to an alarm bell in the bedroom of the cemetery superintendent. At the slightest movement of an individual’s fingers, an alarm would ring loudly in the superintendent’s room. We do not know if this invention was actually implemented by Oakland Cemetery, but on October 10, 1888, it was lauded as “one of the grandest triumphs of electrical science.” 

Louis Duennisch died on October 4, 1918. He was buried in the North Ridge section of Oakland Cemetery.

Cedar Point Grew Along with the Middle Class in America

After the Civil War in the United States, there was a period of rapidly increasing industrialization. As machines replaced hand labor in industry, production increased and work hours for employees were shortened. Railroads helped boost economic development in the U.S. as they transported both raw materials and finished products throughout the country and abroad. Ohio was blessed with early railways, besides having access to Lake Erie for shipment of goods by water. Industrialization helped lead to the development of a rising middle class in the U.S. Individuals in the middle class were not necessarily wealthy, but they were comfortable. Improvements in labor conditions allowed workers to have more leisure time and more disposable income. While the wealthy may have been able to spend a whole summer at the seashore, middle class residents could take their families to a weekend at the lake, or perhaps even a week's vacation once a year. The warm summertime weather and access to water in the Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie Islands region made the area popular to vacationers. Visitors to the Lake Erie Island area enjoyed cool lake breezes, beaches, fishing, boating and camping. Cedar Point began as a popular site for fishermen in the late nineteenth century. As early as 1870 Louis Zistel ferried Sandusky residents to Cedar Point, where there was a bath house, sand boxes and swings for children, and dancing for adults. The fee for the boat ride was twenty five cents.

Louis Zistel, 1830-1889

Cedar Point's first roller coaster, the Switchback Railway, was built in 1892. In the 1890s, more and more people visited Cedar Point. They traveled to the amusement park by steamship, railway and electric railway.

In 1897, The Cedar Point Pleasure Resort Company purchased Cedar Point, with George A. Boeckling serving as General Manager.

George Boeckling, 1862-1931

Under Boeckling's leadership Cedar Point was transformed from a summer picnic and fishing area to a thriving amusement park with wide appeal. Always seeming to anticipate what would appeal to the public, Boeckling offered concerts, movies, and dancing, and encouraged military groups and businessmen to hold their annual conventions at Cedar Point. The Hotel Breakers, which opened to Cedar Point guests in 1905, offered visitors amenities such as brass beds, wicker furniture, and Tiffany stained glass windows in the lobby. Services available included a manicurist, physician, barbers, beautician, stenographer, and tailor.

Throughout the twentieth century more and more rides and attractions were featured at Cedar Point.  You can see the Sea Swing in the background of the picture below taken at the Cedar Point beach about 1930.

Land developers George Roose and Emile Legros purchased Cedar Point in 1956, and aimed to make Cedar Point the "Disneyland of the Midwest." Today, Cedar Point draws millions of visitors each year, and is especially known for its roller coasters. To read a more thorough history of Cedar Point, see the book Cedar Point: The Queen of American Watering Places, by David W. and Diane DeMali Francis (Amusement Park Books, 1995), available at the Sandusky Library. An article by Mr. Francis entitled “Cedar Point and the Characteristics of American Summer Resorts During the Gilded Age,” which appeared in the Hayes Historical Journal, is available online.

The Lake Shore Route Association

Pictured above is a picture the Official Information Car of the Lake Shore Route Association, taken in the 1930s.  The Lake Shore Route Association promoted the Lake Shore Route as the shortest, safest, most scenic automobile route between Buffalo, New York and Chicago, Illinois. The opening of the old Sandusky Bay Bridge on February 2, 1929 allowed automobiles to travel in a direct route from Erie County to Ottawa County across Sandusky Bay. The Sandusky Bay Bridge was a key component of the Lake Shore Route in the 1930s.

 In June of 1933, three members of the Lake Shore Association took an automobile tour along the Lake Shore Route, en route to the World’s Fair in Chicago. Along the way, members distributed maps and brochures promoting the Sandusky Bay Bridge, Cedar Point, Lakeside, and other points of interest in Erie and Ottawa Counties. In 1939 the Lake Shore Route Association compiled a booklet which promoted the Lake Erie area. Highlighted were beaches, Camp Perry, the Blue Hole, Cedar Point, campsites, and areas for fishing and boating.

            

 According to an article which appeared in the January 29, 1931 issue of the Sandusky Register, a very early Lake Shore Route was built in 1808 from Cleveland to Sandusky. Geauga County Commissioners were instrumental in creating the plan for a road to extend from the west bank of the Cuyahoga River to the western most lands of the Firelands. Seven hundred dollars were appropriated for digging and the building of bridges over brooks and creeks. The contractor requested extra funds for the construction of a log bridge to be built over Old Woman’s Creek. By the 1940s, the Lake Erie Islands region was promoted as Vacationland. Today Lake Erie’s Shores and Islands is instrumental in providing information about the many attractions and natural features of Erie and Ottawa Counties.

Georgia Excursion of 1891

On February 26, 1891, about one hundred residents of Sandusky and the surrounding area boarded a special B & O train for a trip to Georgia. The trip was sponsored by the Erie County Board of Agriculture and the Lake Erie Fruit and Wine Growers Association. Most of the men on the trip were farmers and fruit growers, but several Sandusky community leaders went as well, including Judge E. B. King, W. T. West, Judge Merrill, Jacob Kuebeler, U. T. Curran, J. G. Strobel, and Clark Center. The purpose of the trip was to examine southern vineyards, orchards, mills, and factories. The February 27, 1891 Sandusky Daily Register reported that Judge King, Judge Merrill, and City Clerk Miller had hayseed scattered on their hats, and Councilmen Bing and Nielsen carried corn cobs in their pockets. Several containers of “Hommel’s Extra Dry” wine bottles were on the train, reportedly to give the Georgia residents a sampling of Erie’s county’s liquid agricultural products.

John T. Mack was the main organizer of the southern trip. (He did not go on the trip, however.) He coordinated the agenda with W. T. Glessner, a railroad executive from Americus, Georgia. Mr. Glessner, often called Major Glessner, had previously brought a group of farmers and newspaper men from Georgia to visit Northern Ohio’s many fruit farms, vineyards, and wine cellars. While here, the Georgia men visited the Confederate Cemetery at Johnson’s Island. As a result of the trip, it was arranged for slabs of Georgia marble to be placed at the gravesites of the Confederate soldiers interred at Johnson’s Island Cemetery.

During the trip, J.F. Greene and Clark Center wrote articles for the Sandusky Daily Register, reporting of the experiences of the excursionists. Members of the group saw Kentucky bluegrass, southern mountain ranges, and the sites of Civil War battles. They visited cotton mills, and learned how soils and fertilizers differed from those in Ohio. Clark Center reported that Georgia peaches grew in “beautiful perfection.” At Americus, Georgia, all the men received badges that said “Welcome Citizens of Ohio to Americus, Georgia, March 5th, 1891.” The northern visitors were given a reception by the city’s businessmen in Columbus, Georgia.

After leaving Georgia, the Erie and Ottawa County visitors went to Jekyll Island and Cumberland Island. On the trip home, visits were made to Lookout Mountain and the National Cemetery in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The Sandusky Daily Register gave reports on the Southern excursion from March 2 through March 18, 1891. Shortly after his return home, J.F. Greene gave a resume of his trip to the Perkins Methodist Church Ladies Home Group, followed by remarks by George Ransom, C. F. Steen, Charles L. House, and Will C. Dewitt.

Prior to the 1891 Georgia excursion, another group of Sandusky residents visited Georgia. In this undated photograph, W.T. West (number 1), W .V. Latham (number 2), and George Barney (number 3) are pictured in a group photo in Albany, Georgia.