Adam J. Stoll, Inventor

Adam J. Stoll was born in Bucyrus, Ohio in 1844.  He moved to Sandusky in 1868. That same year, he married Sophia Burgdorf, the adopted daughter of Ferdinand Geiersdorf. He was part owner of the Cedar Point resort in its very early years. When Mr. Stoll first moved to Sandusky, he worked in the commercial fishery business with his father in law. Later he partnered with Lewis Adolph in the fish business. For a time he worked independently in the fish business, until he sold the business to Booth Fisheries.  In 1883, Adam J. Stoll was issued Patent Number 285,521 for an apparatus which mixed ice and salt for freezing fish.

The former home of the Adam J. Stoll family, at 531 Wayne Street, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Mrs. Sophia Stoll died in January, 1921. Adam J. Stoll passed away on July 17, 1930. He was survived by two daughters. His funeral services were held at the Stoll residence, and burial was at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery. To read more about Adam J. Stoll and other former residents of Sandusky and Erie County, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.