The Play was Set in Sandusky

While we do not know the names of the cast members or the play, the backdrop for this dramatic production appears to be a scene of Columbus Avenue in downtown Sandusky. The time frame is about 1905-1910.

The postcard below appears very similar to the backdrop from the play. The Stone Block at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Market Street is on the left side of the postcard, and the Kingsbury block can be seen at the south end of Columbus Avenue with the flag on top. Also visible of the play’s backdrop is a portion of the Sloane House hotel, across the street from the Kingsbury block.

Addison Kelley Hamilton, 1889-1892

Addison Kelley Hamilton was the eldest son of Titus and Fredrena Kelley Hamilton, born in 1889. He was the great grandson of Addison Kelley, and a great great grandson of Datus Kelley, one of the namesakes of Kelleys Island. Addison Kelley Hamilton died at age two years and nine months, at the home of his great grandfather, Addison Kelley, on July 27, 1892. His funeral was held at the Kelley residence.

An obituary for the Addison Kelley Hamilton appeared in the July 28, 1892 issue of the Sandusky Register. It read in part: “He was an attractive child, physically strong and intellectually bright and his winsome baby ways were like sunshine in the home. His illness was brief and though surrounded with every comfort and attended by the best medical skill the disease yielded not to either medical science or kindly nursing. The death of the dear boy – but little more than a baby – has cast a dark shadow over the happy home to which his presence brought gladness a few years ago. In the dark hour of their bereavement this stricken household has the deep sympathy of a closely united community.”

Little Addison Kelley Hamilton was buried in the family lot at the Kelleys Island Cemetery. Frank E. Hamilton, another child of Mr. and Mrs. Titus Hamilton, would become a captain of several Great Lakes vessels, and was a well known historian of the Great Lakes and Kelleys Island.

The Eclectic System of Penmanship by L. S. Thompson

Langdon S. Thompson was a teacher of penmanship in the Sandusky schools in 1863. The 1867 Sandusky City Directory lists Mr. Thompson’s residence as 9 Meigs Street. In 1876, L. S. Thompson wrote an elementary course in penmanship, published by Wilson, Hinkle & Company. A series of three books included examples of letters, words, and short sentences, along with blank lines for elementary students to practice their writing skills.

Mr. Thompson felt that whole letters and whole words should be taught to even the youngest of children, instead of the traditional teaching of lines as a first step in the elements of handwriting. In Freddie Bauer’s school book from the West Market Street School, the phrases “Strive to excel” and “Love the good” are meant to be an object lesson as well as to help the student practice his or her penmanship.

Later, L. S. Thompson taught in Indiana and in Jersey City, New Jersey. An article in volume 15 of the journal School Arts, reported that Dr. Langdon S. Thompson had retired after sixty years of continuous service in art education. He had served as a grade school teacher, school principal, supervisor of drawing, college professor, and director of art education. He also had a wide reputation as an author and lecturer, and was active in several professional organizations, including the National Education Association.

The young student Fred Bauer was a lifelong resident of Sandusky. He was an expert in municipal finance, and served as Erie County Auditor from 1916-1918 and 1922-1928.

Sandusky Business College

First known as the Buckeye & Great Western Business College, the school was founded in Sandusky in 1865 by Professor E. A. Hall. By 1867, the name was shortened to Buckeye Business College. The school was located at Union Hall, on the left side of Columbus Avenue, between Water and Market Streets.

In the 1870’s, James D. Parker, grandfather of Drs. Watson and Lester Parker, was the proprietor of the Buckeye Business College. A copy of a 1915 brochure from the Sandusky Business College is in the holdings of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Roy D. Mitchell was the principal and proprietor at this time. of the A brief history of the Sandusky Business College, appears on page five of the brochure. The historical sketch reads in part: “Distinctively a pioneer in commercial education, for half a century the school has served the needs of the business community. Its former students dominate the leading business and financial interests of Sandusky. Hundreds of them are engaged in business pursuits in our sister cities of Ohio.” The Sandusky Business College had a variety of proprietors and locations through the years. The school moved to the Mahala Block in the 1890’s. After the Mahala Block fire of 1909, the school moved to the Feick Building on East Market Street. At that time the Feick Building had only three stories.

The final home of the Sandusky Business College was the former Rush Sloane residence, located at 403 East Adams Street. The school was in operation there from 1923 until 1949, when the school closed due to declining enrollment. William O. Loudenslagel was the last owner of the Sandusky Business College.

The Sandusky Library Archives Research Center is fortunate to have several photographs from the Sandusky Business College, dating from about 1908 through 1928.

Program Announcement: Postcards from the Library's Collections

Join Archives Librarian Ron Davidson in the Library Program Room on Wednesday, July 28, at 6:30 p.m. as he presents a sampling of postcards from the historical collections of the Library’s Archives Research Center. Learn a little about the origins of postcards and how they were used by Sanduskians. You’ll see examples of early color postcards, photo postcards, and some unusual formats. Feel free to share your observations and show samples from your own collection, if you’d like. Registration is requested. To register, call 419-625-3834 and press 0 to speak with a switchboard operator (10-5, Monday-Friday) or press Option 6 to leave a message.

Samuel J. Catherman, Carpenter and Master Mechanic

Samuel J. Catherman was born in Union City, Pennsylvania, on July 29, 1817. He came to Sandusky as a boy, and learned the carpenter trade. He moved back to Pennsylvania for a time, and in 1835 settled permanently in Sandusky, along with his mother, and two siblings. At that time, Catherman found work at the Mad River Railroad’s shops in Sandusky. He helped assemble the locomotive “Sandusky”, under the direction of Thomas Hogg, and he recalls watching it make it first trip from Sandusky to Bellevue.

Eventually Samuel J. Catherman became a master mechanic with the railroad. An article which appeared in the May 20, 1911 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that Catherman was the designer and builder of the first end-door passenger railroad coach with reversible seats.

Before undertaking his own contracting business, Catherman was in a partnership with Laurence Cable. One of their contracts was to build 2,000 reapers known as “The Hero,” which had been invented by a Mr. Henderson. After Laurence Cable and Samuel Catherman undertook a project in which they modernized a portion of Washington Street, the work that they did needed no repairs for nearly forty years.

As a contractor, Samuel J. Catherman built over twenty lime kilns and several residences. After building the cribbing for the Mad River Railroad, in the east and west ends of the Sandusky Bay, Catherman received the contract for the construction of the railroad bridge across Sandusky Bay. He employed 300 men during this project. We read in the History of the Western Reserve, by Harriet Taylor Upton, that the building of the Bay Bridge “gained for him the reputation of performing the fastest work of its kind ever accomplished.” The May 30, 1854 issue of the Sandusky Daily Commercial Register reported that once the railroad bridge was completed across Sandusky Bay, there would be continuous rail service from Sandusky to Chicago, a total of 271 miles. (The railroad bridge across Sandusky Bay was built several years before the Sandusky Bay Bridge, which was designed for automobile traffic, made its debut in 1929.) More details about the history of steam railroads in Erie County are found in an article by Paul F. Laning in the Twin Anniversary Edition of the Sandusky Register and Star News, from November 24, 1947. A bound copy of this special edition newspaper is housed at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

In 1844 Samuel J. Catherman married Clarissa Gregg, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Gregg. They had six children, but only four who survived to adulthood. One of the Catherman children, Georgia Catherman, taught first graders in Sandusky for thirty-five years. Samuel J. Catherman died in Sandusky on May 19, 1911. He is buried at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery next to his wife, who had passed away in 1907.

The Leonard Baumgartel Family in 1900

Leonard and Mary Baumgartel are pictured above with two of their daughters. They lived at 212 Hayes Avenue in Sandusky, Ohio. According to records in the 1900 U.S. Census, accessed via Ancestry Library Edition, Leonard Baumgartel was born in Germany in 1850, and his wife Mary was born in Switzerland in 1854. Mary stated that she was the mother of ten children, but only four were living in 1900. They were: Matilda, age 23; John, age 24; Ida, age 12; and Mary, age 13. Notes with the original photograph indicate that Leonard was a tailor, and he worked for Frank Schnaitter. When you look closely at the clothing that Mary and the children are wearing, there is a lot of detail in the necklines, collars, and sleeves of their garments. We do not know if Leonard sewed these items of clothing, or if Mary or someone else stitched them.

Leonard Baumgartel died at the age of 49, on July 11, 1901. He was buried in the I.O.O.F. lot at Oakland Cemetery. Leonard and Mary’s daughter Matilda married Robert Rheinegger on June 5, 1900 in Erie County, Ohio. Matilda and Robert Rheinegger were the parents of Helen Rheinegger Hansen, who photographed and researched several historic homes in Sandusky. The book At Home in Early Sandusky was published as a result of Helen Hansen’s research.

If you have vintage photographs or documents from families who resided in Sandusky or Erie County, please consider donating them to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, so that future generations may enjoy them, and learn more about their family history.

Daguerreotype of Annette Tilden Mills and Son

Isaac Mills, who was the grandson of co-founder of Sandusky, Isaac L. Mills, married Annette Tilden in 1855. Annette was the daughter of Dr. Daniel Tilden, a pioneer physician in Sandusky. Pictured below is a daguerreotype of Annette Tilden Mills with her youngest son, Alan Phelps Mills.

Isaac and Annette Tilden Mills had four children, all who died young. Daniel Tilden Mills and Isaac Augustus Mills both died in 1859, and were under the age of 3. The two youngest Mills children died of diphtheria within days of each other. Annette Tilden Mills, whom the family called Annie, died at age 6 on October 31, 1869. Alan Phelps Mills died on November 7, 1869 at the age of 9. A tribute to Alan and Annie Mills was featured in the November 9, 1869 issue of the Sandusky Register:

Two very interesting children, son and daughter of Isaac Mills, have died within the past week of diphtheria. The parents, left childless, have the sympathy of the entire community, but of what avail. These “treasures in earthen vessels” have left their clay tenement, and gone to that “brighter world” to draw the long and loved ones upward.

Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Mills and all of their four children are buried at Oakland Cemetery in the Tilden family lot.

Bargain Fair

In 1956 the discount store “Bargain Fair” opened on Sandusky’s West Side, at the site of an old roller rink, built by Emery Ward and operated by Lou DeBenjak and Leo Finkler.


Later known as "Mr. Wiggs," the original Bargain Fair store was located 2609 Venice Road. Harry J. Lorber wrote a feature article about the Mr. Wiggs store on Venice Road in the May 22, 1976 issue of the Sandusky Register. He interviewed Ed Singer, who was the chief executive officer of Mr. Wiggs at that time. Singer said that when Bargain Fair first opened in 1956, there were no homes west of the store, just farms. Except for the Giant Tiger store in Perkins, most of the shopping in Sandusky took place at the Cleveland Road Sandusky Plaza and in downtown Sandusky. There weren’t even dial telephones in Sandusky in 1956. Bargain Fair was athe first store in Sandusky to be open on Sunday. The Ford plant was just in the planning stages in 1956, and one of Sandusky’s biggest employers at that time was Philco, also on the west side of Sandusky.

The Register article told how Dave Wiggins founded the first Bargain Fair in Mentor, Ohio. “In the 1950s, as the nation emerged from a shortage economy of the war and post-war years, a new form of retailing was born. Discounting appealed to the price-consious consumer and offered merchandise at a lower price without frills, services or plush decor…Humble facilities where merchandise could be laid out for self-service at a low price was the prime consideration in this type of operation.” Promotions were popular at Bargain Fair. A “Krazy Daze” sale at the Mentor Bargain Fair attracted 50,000 customers to the store on one day in 1954.

Other discount stores to come to Sandusky before K-Mart and WalMart, were Hill’s and Ontario, both located on Perkins Avenue. Bargain Fair, later known as Mr. Wiggs, was sold to Heck’s Department Store, a division of Tri-State Wholesale from Charleston, West Virginia, in 1981. After Heck’s closed it doors, Pat Catan’s operated at 2609 Venice Road for several years.

Bargain Fair’s Second Birthday advertisement appeared in the October 24, 1958 issue of the Sandusky Register.

Plattdeutsche Verein in Sandusky

Pictured above is a ribbon from the Plattdeutsche Verein of Sandusky (spellings of this organization vary widely.) This organization was a society made up primarily of German born individuals who wanted to preserve the language and culture of the Germans who formerly resided in the low lands of Northern Germany. An article in the August 18, 1890 issue of the New York Times reported that “Jungens Holt Fast” was the slogan of the Plattdeutsche Verein. Translated into English “Jungens Holt Fast” means “Youth Hold Fast.”

On New Year’s Eve in 1921, the Plattdeutsche Verein held a dancing party at Yontz’s Hall (in the Cable Block, on Market and Jackson Streets), which featured the Schoder Trio.

The 1925-1926 Sandusky City Directory has a listing for the Plattdeutscher Unterstetzungs Verein (Low German Mutual Aid Society) which met in Sandusky on the first Monday of each month at Fuchs Hall, located at 702 W. Monroe Street.

Dr. Ernst Von Schulenberg wrote extensively about the lives of Sandusky’s early German residents in his book, Sandusky Einst und Jetzt, which was later translated into English by Dr. Norbert A. and Marion Cleaveland Lange as Sandusky Then and Now. Visit the Sandusky Library to read Sandusky Then and Now, or you can view the original book Sandusky Einst und Jetzt online at Google Books.