B.P. Sexton Company

Idlewood Rye was just one of the products that was carried by the B.P. Sexton Company in Sandusky, Ohio. The company was incorporated in November of 1898, and was dissolved in 1920. Signers of the Articles of Incorporation were: J.C. Scheufler, C.L. Wagner, C.C. Bittner, Fred Beier, and George W. Zimmerman. The purpose of the company was buying, selling, and dealing in foreign and domestic beers, wines and liquors…and all other kinds of delicacies. The business was at 530 Market Street, near Wayne Street.

The namesake of the company, Burton P. Sexton was born in Catawba Island, Ottawa County, Ohio in 1866, to Mr. and Mrs. Philander Sexton. He married Viola Wolfe in 1890, and they had a son and three daughters. He was a superintendent at the American Crayon Company when his company was founded.

 Another brand the company distributed was Atmore Rye.

An advertisement in the April 10, 1916 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal said about Atmore Rye whiskey, “It is just like anything else – if you use it to excess, it’s harmful – used properly it’s beneficial.” A pint of Atmore Rye whiskey sold for 25 cents at local taverns (equivalent to about $6.37 today).

A third brand from Sexton was Cream of Kentucky whiskey. The slogan was “Next time you take a trip, put a bottle in your grip.”

In February of 1919, President Wilson passed a revenue bill which greatly increased taxes on liquor. At that time, the B.P. Sexton Company decided to halt liquor sales. By January of 1920, Prohibition was enacted in the United States with the passage of the Volstead Act. In 1921, Burton P. Sexton moved his family to England. He passed away in Bedforshire, England on February 15, 1931. His obituary appeared in the Sandusky Star Journal of February 19, 1931.

Printers in Sandusky in 1900

An unidentified print shop, probably early 20th century

 Listed in the 1900-1901 Sandusky City Directory are eight businesses under the heading “Printers, Book and Job.” They are:

Alvord –Peters Company, at the northwest corner of Water Street and Columbus Avenue

C. C. Bittner at 622 Market Street

C.E. Chaney at 513 Market Street

I.F. Mack and Brother at 626 Water Street

Sandusky Printing Company, at 618 Water Street

W. & W.F. Senn at 742 Water Street

Star Publishing Company at 602 Market Street

Several of these print shops published newspaper as their primary business.

A.J. Peters and F.E. Alvord would go on to own and publish the Sandusky-Star Journal, which was a merger of three newspapers: the Sandusky Journal, the Sandusky Local, and the Sandusky Star. When A. J. Peters died in 1929, employees of the Star-Journal served as active pallbearers at his funeral.

In 1900, C. C. Bittner was the publisher and proprietor of the Sandusky Daily and Weekly Journal and Local. C.E. Chaney and the Sandusky Printing Company were primarily job printers. The Sandusky Star was published by the Star Publishing Co. in 1900, whose officers were Charles Bang, President, and E. C. Tierney, Secretary.

I.F. and John T. Mack were the proprietors of the Sandusky Register, but the company also did printing jobs, binding, and sold stationery. I.F. Mack was associated with the Register from 1869 until 1909, when his brother John T. Mack took over as the editor and publisher. 

(In 1972 Charles E. Frohman chronicled I.F. Mack’s years as editor in the book, Sandusky's Editor: Isaac Foster Mack's Blazing Forty Years as Editor of the Sandusky Register.)

Philip Buerkle and William F. Senn published the Sandusky Demokrat, the last German language newspaper in Sandusky.

To read more about newspapers in Sandusky, see the chapter about Erie County Newspapers in Hewson L. Peeke’s book A Standard History of Erie County.  Also available at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center is a bound copy of the Twin Anniversary Celebration edition of the Sandusky Register-Star News, from November 24, 1947, which features an article about the history of newspapers in Sandusky, beginning from David Campbell and the Sandusky Clarion and continuing through 1947. Ask at the Reference Services desk to view this item.

Sandusky Boosters: 100,000 in 1920

In 1912 two men from Cleveland spoke to a group of fourteen Sandusky businessmen. Charles F. Laughlin and Stanley L. McMichael, president and secretary of the Cleveland Real Estate Board, were in Sandusky on the evening of September 19, 1912. They encouraged the local men to consider the possibility of trying to increase the population of Sandusky to 100,000 by the time of the next U.S. Census, in 1920. According to a Sandusky Register article, Mr. Laughlin stated in part, “You people in Sandusky must anticipate the time when you will have 100,000 or 200,000 population. You will not always remain a small town. You are too geographically well located. You have the greatest prospects of any town in the state.”  The speakers felt that by Sandusky men becoming affiliated with the Ohio Association of Real Estate Exchanges that the community could experience significant growth.

The men who committed to starting a new organization to promote growth in Sandusky were:

Philip Buerkle, A. C. Lermann, A. C. Close, C. C. Bittner, T. E. Risk, D. E. Weichel, James Flynn, Jr., C. W. Sadler, H. J. Schiller, Lawrence Frandsen, C. H. Stubig, and J. C. Hauser.

While Sandusky’s population did not achieve the goal of the population reaching 100,000 by 1920, at the celebration of the 100^th Anniversary of the Incorporation of the City of Sandusky, Ohio, held in the August of 1924, a poem entitled “Boost” appeared on the title page of the Official Souvenir Program. (Figures from the U.S. Census indicate that the population of Sandusky in 1920 was 22, 897.)

Sandusky High School Orchestra in 1903

Pictured above is the Sandusky High School orchestra in 1903. The students are seated on the north steps of the old high school, which later became Adams Junior High School.  Another picture of the same group was taken with the musicians standing.

Notes on the back of the picture have identified the students:

Though the notes say that the year was 1904, the pictures were most likely taken in 1903, since the names of several of the members of the orchestra appeared in the 1903 Sandusky High School commencement program. Andrew Prout and Ralph Scherz both went on to become prominent doctors. Two of the students in the 1903 orchestra went into the field of education. Miss Bess Lawrence taught in the Sandusky City Schools for over thirty years, retiring in 1944. Edwin Williams became a professor of languages at the University of Nevada and the University of Redlands in California.

The Dilgart & Bittner Company

Here is an advertisement created by Gerald Abele Signs for the Dilgart & Bittner Company. (Most records list Dilgart as the correct spelling of the first partner’s name, though the sign gives the spelling as Dilgert.) According to A Standard History of Erie County, by Hewson L. Peeke, Dilgart & Bittner was “a business which Sandusky people regard with special pride, and for many years its development and prosperity have reflected upon the thorough commercial enterprise and character of William H. Dilgart, senior proprietor.”

William H. Dilgart came to Sandusky in 1901, and opened a furniture store in the Odd Fellows building. On March 4, 1905 William H. Dilgart and William P. Bittner formed a partnership, and the company was incorporated in 1907. The business, located on East Market Street, was a retail establishment which sold furniture, floor coverings, stoves, and other household items. After a fire in 1906, the store relocated at Wayne and East Market Streets.

After another fire in 1916, the Dilgart & Bittner store moved to East Washington Row.

In the mid 1920’s, the partnership between Mr. Dilgart and Mr. Bittner was dissolved, but William H. Dilgart continued in the furniture business. William P. Bittner went on to become secretary of the Erie County Investment Company.

Kiwanis Christmas Party, 1926

On Tuesday, December 21, 1926, the Sandusky Kiwanis Club hosted a party for forty-five children from the Erie County Children’s Home. The festivities took place at the chapel of the First Presbyterian Church. Each club member was responsible for one of the youngsters’ gifts. J. F. Starkey, dressed as Santa Claus, gave each child a gift of candy, nuts, and oranges. Christmas carols were sung by all. Heenan Elliott entertained the children by doing impersonations. At the end of the luncheon, the children sang a song of thanks to the Kiwanians.

In 1926, Mr. and Mrs. John Ritter were in charge of the Children’s Home. The committee responsible for the Kiwanis Christmas program was made up of: W. P. Bittner, Dr. A. J. Funnell, and Dr. H. L. Brown. Mrs. Clara “Ma” Bock, the club’s caterer (pictured below), was given a pin by the Kiwanis Club members at the Christmas party.
At the time of the Kiwanis Christmas Party, the children whom they hosted resided at the facility pictured below. The Erie County Children’s Home opened at its Sycamore Line location in May, 1901. The home closed in 1960 because of increasing operating expenses to maintain a facility not filled to capacity. The photo below was taken by Robert E. Frank, when the building housed offices for Erie County’s Sanitary Engineering division. The former Children's Home building is now privately owned.