The Granary Building at 149 East Water Street

Now home to the offices of Dr. James Gallagher and Dr. Susan Gallagher, the building at 149 East Water Street in Sandusky has had a long history as a commercial property. From 1860 to the late 1880s, William Robertson (and later his sons) ran a wholesale grocery store at what was once known as 611 and 613 Water Steet.  While Mr. Robertson was originally from Northumberland, England, his neighbors in 1886 were of German descent. The Active Turners met on the second floor of  Fisher’s Hall to the east of Robertson’s Grocery, and the Turner Hall Hotel was just down the street, as seen in this 1886 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map.

In the early 1890s, George and John Esch ran a store that sold draperies and carpets at 611 and 613 Water Street.  From 1898 to 1908, T.C. Adams, and later his son Robert Adams, sold flour and feed at 611 Water Street. Many  local residents will recall that the Gallagher Brothers ran a granary at this location from about 1911 until 1950. The business operated as an outlet for Gallagher’s Mill in Venice, Ohio. In 1915 the street number was changed to 149 East Water Street.  From the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s the Merrill Mank Plumbing Company was in business here. For a time, Lake Erie Rusco sold storm doors and windows at this location. 

Ellie Damm wrote in her book Treasure by the Bay that the building was built in the High Victorian style. The foundation is stone, and the main portion of the structure is limestone covered with mastic. You can learn more about many of Sandusky’s historic buildings in the Ohio Historic Inventory for Erie County, shelved behind the Reference Services desk in the Lower Level of the Sandusky Library.