Officers Row at the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home

Several houses on Dewitt Avenue in Sandusky were built as homes for officers of the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, now known as the Ohio Veterans Home. The picture above was taken about 1910. The postcard below is dated 1920.

In the 1910 United States Census, three of the residents of Officers’ Row are enumerated at the top of the survey page:

William Burnett is listed with his wife Mary. William was the Commandant of the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in 1910. He served with Company A, Fourth Battalion, Ohio Independent Cavalry during the Civil War, and once was the Mayor of Springfield, Ohio.

Nathan Holloway was the Quartermaster of the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailor’s Home. He continued to live in Sandusky, Ohio after retirement, and died in 1928 at the age of 91.

Jonathan D. Wheeler achieved the rank of Captain in the Civil War. He was the Adjutant at the home in 1910. A mention of Mrs. Emma L. White visiting Captain J.D. Wheeler and his wife at their “cozy home” in Officers’ Row appeared in the Sandusky Register on July 12, 1907.

The homes built for Officers’ Row are now privately owned. To read more about the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, see several posts at the Sandusky History website.

Samuel C. Wheeler, Sandusky Attorney

 

When Samuel C. Wheeler died at age 79 on February 21, 1908, he was the oldest member of the Erie County Bar Association. For many years, he practiced law in the Cooke Block in downtown Sandusky.

Before the Civil War, Mr. Wheeler was a member of Bay City Guards, a local militia company. During the Civil War, he enlisted in Company E of the 7^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and he rose to the rank of Sergeant. 

On the occasion of Mr. Wheeler’s seventy-seventh birthday, several of his friends had a celebration. Cyrus B. Winters gave a speech, and a special poster was presented to him. On a large piece of cardboard was a picture of Samuel C. Wheeler and on each side of the poster was a numeral seven, made from the tags of Battle Ax plug tobacco.  

Mr. Wheeler suffered an injury when he fell on the icy sidewalk as he left his office two months prior to his death, and his health failed after the accident. Funeral services were held at his home on Madison Street in Sandusky, under the auspices of Science Lodge, No. 50, F. & A.M. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery. In an obituary which appeared in the February 22, 1908 issue of the Sandusky Register, it was reported that no man “was better known throughout the city and county than he was.”

Plaque Honoring Sandusky’s Pioneers

 You might have driven past this monument many times and not noticed it, but it deserves recognition. It is a tribute to the founders of Sandusky.

On June 25, 1937 members of the Martha Pitkin Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution unveiled a plaque honoring several of Sandusky’s pioneer citizens at the triangular park located between Huron Avenue, Wayne, and East Adams Streets. The bronze plaque, created by A. J. Balconi, was placed on a three ton boulder at the park.

Names on the top portion of the plaque include the founders of Sandusky:  Zalmon Wildman, Isaac Mills, and George Hoadley. On the bottom portion are the names of the nine men who directed the incorporation of Sandusky as a city in 1824. They were: Dr. George Anderson, Aaron C. Corbet, Cyrus W. Marsh, Alexander Clemons, Eleutheros Cooke, John Wheeler, William Townsend, William Kelly, and Moors Farwell, who served as Sandusky’s first mayor. Several of these men were Masons; an article in a 1937 issue of the Sandusky Masonic Bulletin recognized them and the construction and dedication of the monument

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to learn more about the pioneer residents of Sandusky, Ohio. And be sure to stop and visit the monument in the park sometime.