Sandusky Tool Company

The Sandusky Tool Company, pictured above in the book Sandusky of To-Day, was established in 1869 to succeed Allen, Dorsey and Tenner.  George Barney, Sr. was the company’s first president, and Stephen W. Dorsey was its first superintendent. The company was well known for its fine quality hand tools, including planes, hoes, axes and other small tools. A group picture of the company’s employees was taken about 1870. Note that some of the workers were quite young.

Here is a page from the 1886 Sanborn Map that shows the location of the Sandusky Tool Company on Meigs Street, adjacent to Sandusky Bay:

J.A.Montgomery, who was associated with the Sandusky Tool Company for many years, was considered a mechanical genius. He designed woodworking machinery that was in use at the tool company for as long as it was in existence. The innovation continued after his death in 1899. W.G. Schwer patented this plane the Sandusky Tool Company in 1928.

Mozart Gallup was director, treasurer, and assistant secretary of the Sandusky Tool Company in 1880, and on September 14, 1886, he became the president and general manager. Mr. Gallup held the office of president of the company until his death in 1923.

This picture of the Sandusky Tool Company was most likely taken in the 1920s.

In 1924, the Sandusky Tool Company was hit by a tornado, and within five years, the company closed.

                    

To read more about the of the Sandusky Tool Company see the publication The Sandusky Tool Company Story by Wilbert G. Schwer, housed with the local history and genealogical books in the Reference Services Area of the Sandusky Library. Five images of tools made by the Sandusky Tool Company can be seen online at the Ohio Memory Collection.  To view actual tools made by the Sandusky Tool Company, visit The Follett House Museum, where tools are displayed in a room on the attic level.