Philip Buerkle, Mayor and Publisher of the Sandusky Demokrat

Philip Buerkle was born in Bergen County, New Jersey, to Mr. and Mrs. August Buerkle, who were both natives of Germany. When Philip was a young child, he moved with his family from New Jersey to Sandusky, Ohio. He learned the printing trade when in the office of the Sandusky Herald. He worked as a journeyman printer in several different cities throughout the U.S., and returned to Sandusky in 1879. Mr. Buerkle worked at the Sandusky Tribune, the Sandusky Register, and later he became president of the Sandusky Demokrat Publishing Company. In the picture below, he can be seen in the upper window of the Demokrat Publishing building on Water Street.

In 1891, he was elected Mayor of Sandusky, and he was re-elected to that office in 1893. After his service as mayor, in 1897 he formed a partnership with A.C. Lermann in the insurance and real estate business. 

Philip Buerkle died on March 26, 1926, after he suffered a stroke. An obituary which appeared in the March 26, 1926 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal read in part, “For many years Mr. Buerkle was a leading figure among those of German birth and descent in Sandusky, and was prominent in German organizations.” He was survived by his wife, the former Sophia Giedeman, and two daughters, Mrs. W. B. Moon and Mrs. Charles J. Neff, and five grandchildren. The two sons in law of Philip Buerkle were partners in the Neff-Moon Toy Company from 1923 to 1927.

To read more about the business leaders of Sandusky and Erie County, Ohio, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

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.)

Employees of the Sandusky Demokrat

This picture from 1888 shows several employees of the Sandusky Demokrat in Sandusky, Ohio. The  Demokrat was a German language newspaper published for the many local residents who spoke German. The company also offered printing services in either the English or German language. 

From left to right in the picture are: Charles Ruemmele, John Erney, Otto Mielke, Albert Kolb and William F. Senn, who was the editor and publisher of the Demokrat in 1888. Peeking out from an upper story window is Philip Buerkle. The building was located at 742 Water Street in 1888, which was later 216 West Water Street. (This structure no longer stands.) You can see 742 Water Street in a portion of the 1886 Sanborn Map below. It was on the south side of Water, east of Jackson Street.

The Sandusky Demokrat was in business in Sandusky from 1856 to 1919. A front page article in the May 7, 1919 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that the Demokrat had become “a thing of the past.” At the time it ceased operations, it was considered Ohio’s oldest German language newspaper. The newspaper closed for a variety of reasons, many caused by pressures arising from anti-German sentiment that was prevalent throughout the United States due to the war in Europe.

You can read more about German language newspapers in Sandusky in a previous post at Sandusky History.

1895 Plan to Rob Milan Bank was Hatched at Sandusky

On Sunday, February 3, 1895, Louis Stoughton hired a team of horses and a surrey from the Herb & Hocke Livery in Sandusky, Ohio. Charles Hocke did not think it unusual for Mr. Stoughton to make this request, as he was a well known customer.
August Reuter, proprietor of Reuter’s Hotel, had seen Louis Stoughton and four other men at his establishment during the first weekend of February in 1895. Mr. Stoughton and the others had been playing cards and drinking at the barroom. Reuter noticed that the men were seen going in and out of the hotel frequently.
According to the Ohio Democrat, about 4 a.m. on February 4, a terrific explosion was heard at the Lockwood Bank in Milan, Ohio. The safe had been cracked and about $30,000 was taken by five masked men. (Later reports indicated the sum was $18,000.) An alarm was heard all over the village of Milan. L.L. Stoddard, a cashier at the bank, saw five men leave the bank building. He fired several shots at them, but they got away.

On February 5, a telegram from Sandusky stated that two Sandusky residents, Edward (also known as Louis) Stoughton and Sol Hirshberger (sometimes spelled Hershberg) had been arrested. A preliminary hearing was held in Mayor Buerkle’s court room in Sandusky on Thursday, February 7. Attorneys Mills and Starbird represented the two in question. Louis Stoughton and Solly Hershberg maintained their innocence. Charles Cramer said that four suspicious looking individuals were acting nervously at his restaurant on Water Street on Sunday night. After the robbery, Mr. Dougherty, an agent with the Nickel Plate Railroad found three empty canvas money bags. It was assumed that the robbers divided the money before three of the robbers got away. There were twenty witnesses involved in the hearing which was well covered by the Sandusky Register.

Louis Stoughton was found guilty on circumstantial evidence, and was sentenced to the penitentiary for one year. After serving a few months, Stoughton was released on parole. At the time of the 1895 trial, it was determined that Stoughton had secured the rig, and drove the robbers to Milan. Sol Hershberg was held as an accessory to the robbery.

Mayor Philip Buerkle’s court was the scene of the hearing for Louis Stoughton and Sol Hershberg in 1895. On February 16, 1911, a front page article in the Sandusky Register, reported the death of Louis N. Stoughton. He died in a sanitarium at Massillon, Ohio on February 14, 1911, after having been in ill health for some time. While in Sandusky, Stoughton was considered “a very clever and bright man. He was a friend of the fellow who was down and out.” Stoughton often remarked that if he had the money that he had given to friends in Sandusky who “happened to be broke for a day or two,” he could have lived in ease for the rest of his life. The article continued that in Sandusky Stoughton was known as “Kid” Stoughton, the “king of them all.”