"This Was My Home"

 

In 1941, Sandusky High School student Eleanor Downing wrote an essay for the Fram entitled “This Was My Home.”

Eleanor wrote that she always loved living in the country, with its blue skies, sunshine, and starry, still nights. She enjoyed the sights and sounds of rural Erie County, Ohio, and war seemed far away from her happy home. In 1941, the United States War Department acquired 9,000 acres of farm land in Perkins Township, to make way for a munitions factory. 150 families had to find homes elsewhere. The Plum Brook Ordnance Works was named for a creek which ran through the land. Later the site was occupied by NASA for nuclear research. The Plum Brook Station is now called the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at the Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility.

By doing a bit of research on Ancestry Library Edition, Rootsweb, and the Ohio Obituary Index, we were able to determine that Eleanor Downing was a descendant of the House family, who were among the early settlers in Perkins Township from Connecticut. The land was a vital resource to those pioneer residents, who had large farms on which they raised crops and livestock. Eleanor wrote a poignant article about how much she appreciated her home in the country, and how soon the things that she had “loved and looked forward to” would become things of the past. Visit the Sandusky Library to view the original article by Eleanor Downing in the April 1941 copy of the Fram.

Eunice Downing’s School Friendship Book

Eunice Downing was the daughter of Roy and Bertha (Haller) Downing. Her father Roy M. Downing was the U.S. Deputy Collector of Customs in Sandusky for 48 years. Eunice kept a friendship book during her high school years. She was a 1929 graduate of Sandusky High School.

The School Friendship Book was designed and illustrated by Clara Powers Wilson and was published by the Reilly & Lee Company of Chicago in 1910. (The 1916 edition of this title sold for $1.00.) The book provided pages for autographs and photographs. 

Juanita Gilbert wrote this verse for Eunice on June 1, 1925:

When your (sic) in love it’s hearts

When your (sic) engaged it’s diamonds

When your (sic) married it’s clubs

And when your (sic) dead it’s spades.

Dorothy Lorcher wrote:

Nothing more

Nothing less

Just a friend

From S.H.S.

A certificate of proficiency from the Remington Typewriter Company appears on page 44.  Eunice could type at a net speed of 29 words per minute for fifteen consecutive minutes. Also included in the friendship book were programs from art shows, concerts, and tally cards from many bridge games. Napkins, decorations, favors, and invitations found in the book have retained their original bright colors. Eunice’s book includes birthday cards, Christmas cards, Valentines, and graduation cards from the late 1920’s.

Newspaper clippings from Sandusky High School sporting events, honor roll announcements, and Sandusky social and church events allow us to learn what was important to Eunice in her teenage years. Eunice was the winner of a limerick contest sponsored by the Sandusky Star Journal, and she kept her letter of congratulations from the Star Journal.

The “Kodak Snap Shots” section of the friendship book features several photographs of Eunice and her family and friends. In the picture below are: Ila Chaffin, Dolores Neir and Eunice Downing.

Below are snapshots from a family trip to Niagara Falls in 1925.

After graduating from Sandusky High, Eunice Downing was a teller at the Western Security Bank. She married Myron G. Kryeski, and they were married for 35 years. Eunice died on May 17, 1987. Eunice and Myron Kryeski donated many items to the historical collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. The Roy Downing Maritime Collection, in memory of Eunice’s father, contains many photographs of Great Lakes ships from 1902 through 1950, the years that Mr. Downing was with the Sandusky Customs Office. By looking through Eunice’s School Friendship Book, one can get a vivid view of the life of a young lady from a former generation in Sandusky. The friendship books of both Eunice and her sister Evelyn Downing can be seen at the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library.

Collectors of Customs in 1903

The role of the Collector of Customs is to collect the duties and fees imposed by law on imported or exported goods. The Customs Office in Sandusky has always been busy, due to Sandusky’s location as a port on the Great Lakes, and its close proximity to Canada.

Pictured above are the Collectors of Customs from Erie and Ottawa Counties in 1903. Edmund H. Zurhorst was the Collector of Customs in Sandusky from 1898 to 1904. Roy M. Downing was a Customs Official for forty eight years. An article in the May 29, 1961 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that in his many years of government service, Roy Downing became acquainted with countless ship captains, mates and other officers who brought Great Lakes passengers and freight ships in to Sandusky. Later when airplanes started flying between Sandusky and Pelee Island and the Canadian mainland, Roy made friends with many of the pilots.

From 1857 until 1927, the Customs Office in Sandusky was located in the Post Office building, at the southwest corner of Columbus Avenue and Market Street