Peter P. Ferry, First Collector of Customs in Sandusky

Peter P. Ferry was the first Collector of Customs in the port of Sandusky. Mr. Ferry had been born in Marseilles, France, and he fought under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte during several campaigns. He emigrated to the United States in 1802, where he married Ann Lloyd Jones, a native of England.  Birth dates of Peter Ferry’s children, recorded in History of Monroe County, by Talcott Enoch Wing, indicate that the Ferry family lived in the Sandusky Bay area between 1816 and 1822. Ferry collected customs at both the port of Danbury and the port of Sandusky. Mrs. Malcolm Kelly donated these early documents signed by Mr. Ferry to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. 

On December 1, 1817, Ferry requested the removal of the Schooner Elizabeth to a safe place for the winter months. He stated he would provide refreshments and pay for the labor of those who completed the task.

On July 15, 1820, he requested the attendance of Truman Pettibone at a Court of Enquiry at Sandusky to ascertain the value of the cargo of the Schooner Huron.

In 1822 Ferry and his family moved to Monroe, Michigan, where he was a justice of the peace, a school teacher, and served for several terms as Monroe County Treasurer. While justice of the peace, he often sentenced offenders to be lashed at a public whipping post. His son Elisha P. Ferry moved west, and served as Governor of the state of Washington from 1872 to 1880. Peter P. Ferry died in May, 1845, and he was buried at Woodland Cemetery in Monroe, Michigan.

West Water Street Businesses from Behind in 1926

Sandusky photographer Ernst Niebergall took this picture of the rear side of the buildings along West Water Street between Columbus Avenue and Jackson Street about 1926. Today we know this area as the newly renovated Shoreline Drive. The first building on the eastern part of this block is known as Hubbard’s Block, at what is now 101 West Water Street. The building was originally owned by Sandusky businessman Lester Hubbard, and designed by Sheldon Smith, was built in the Romanesque Revival style of architecture. Hubbard’s Block was home to the Cosmopolitan Art and Literary Association in the 1850s. Moving down the street, next is the Stiles E. Hubbard building at 115 West Water Street, which had as its first tenants a grocery and dry goods store, and Austin Ferry’s hat shop. In 1926 George M. Rinkleff had a hardware store at 121 West Water Street. This advertisement shows us some of the items that were carried by the Rinkleff Hardware store in the 1910s, a few years before Mr. Niebergall took the picture of the block.

Known as the Lawrence Cable building, the structure at 121 West Water Street was built in 1868. Samuel Love had a men’s clothing store at 201 West Water Street in the mid-1920s. Charles R. Carroll ran a transfer business and a second hand store at 211 West Water Street. Many of the vintage trucks parked on the street were probably used to transport goods to local residents by employees of Mr. Carroll’s transfer business.

Chicken dinners were served at a restaurant to the west of Mr. Carroll’s business. At the corner of West Water Street and Jackson Street is the Freeland T. Barney building, which was built about 1870 and renovated in 1892. Most of the buildings that are pictured had businesses on the street level and apartments on the upper floors. You can read more historical details about the commercial property on West Water Street in Ellie Damm’s book, Treasure by the Bay. Pages 53 to 58 are devoted to the architectural background of these historic buildings.

Receipts from the Horse and Buggy Era

Before the automobile age, people as well as goods were often transported by horse drawn vehicles. In 1880, Rush R. Sloane, Mayor of Sandusky, signed a license which granted Jay Bogart permission to run a hack from August 2, 1880 to August 2, 1881. The original document is embossed with the Mayor’s seal. (According to the tenth edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, one definition of a hack is “a horse let out for common hire.”)

Horses often had to have their horse shoes replaced in order to protect their feet. This bill dated 1899, is from Hodgins & Large, Practical Horse Shoers:

You can see the Hodgins and Large Horse Shoers building in the 400 block of Decatur Street in this picture taken in Sandusky about 1900:

                                 

In 1905 Mr. John Feick paid for services from the Charles Sprow livery and feed stable:

Dr. William A. Ferry had an active Veterinary practice in Sandusky for over thirty years, which certainly would have included the treatment of horses.

   

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research to learn more about the historic businesses of Sandusky and Erie County. 

Cedar Point Sign at the Foot of Columbus Avenue

Though we do not have the exact dates it was in use, the iconic Cedar Point sign at the foot of Columbus Avenue could be seen in downtown Sandusky from the 1930s through the 1960s, and possibly longer. (If anyone has the exact dates that this sign was in operation, please leave a message in the comments field.) At night the sign was brightly lit, and the colorful lights reminded you of Cedar Point’s bustling Midway rides. For decades you could ride a ferry from downtown Sandusky to Cedar Point, and the dock was just beyond the Cedar Point sign. For many years the large building at 103-105 W. Shoreline Drive served as the winter offices for the Cedar Point Resort Company. You can read several phrases on the sign in the picture below, taken about 1940 during a Grape Festival celebration.

Advertised were: bathing, hotels, dancing, amusements, and free attractions. In this picture from the 1950s, you can see cars from the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad which was still in operation in downtown Sandusky at the time.

The Cedar Point sign can be seen in this Colortone postcard printed by the Curt Teich Company in Chicago, Illinois. Two large passenger ferries can be seen near the pier.

The G.A. Boeckling

The steamer G.A. Boeckling was built by the Great Lakes Engineering Works in Encorse, Michigan in 1909, named in honor of George A. Boeckling, the president of Cedar Point.

This vessel was designed to carry 2,000 passengers, and cost $120,000 to build. On June 26, 1909, the G.A. Boeckling was christened with a bottle of Hommel’s White Star Champagne. The next day the Boeckling began ferrying passengers from Sandusky to Cedar Point, and continued to do so until the end of the season in 1951. The 155 foot long steamer had a pilot house at each end, which enabled it to travel in both directions without the need to turn around. A crew member is pictured outside the pilot house about 1949.

There were two passenger decks on the G.A. Boeckling.

While onboard the Boeckling, a lovely view of the city of Sandusky was visible as the vessel traveled to Cedar Point across Sandusky Bay.

Because of rising costs for fuel and maintenance, along with changes in laws requiring an increased number of crew members, the Bay Transportation Company decided to retire the G.A. Boeckling. Her last trip to Cedar Point was on Labor Day Weekend of 1951. 

For several years the Boeckling was used as a floating warehouse and machine shop in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. In the early 1980s, a local group was organized in an attempt to restore the steamer. This project ceased when the Boeckling was destroyed by a fire of suspicious origin as she sat in a Toledo shipyard on June 21, 1989. The G.A. Boeckling carried thousands of passengers to Cedar Point for over forty years. Have you ever heard your parents or grandparents mention their travels aboard the Boeckling? 

The Steamer Put-in-Bay

From 1911 to 1949 the steamer Put-in-Bay transported passengers from Detroit to Sandusky, with stops at Put-in-Bay and Cedar Point. The ship was launched at Detroit, Michigan on March 25, 1911. An eight year old youngster named William McFall Heyser broke a bottle of champagne which had been made in Sandusky over the steamer. According to an article in the March 26, 1911 issue of the Sandusky Register, there were thousands of people gathered at the Wyandotte yards of the Detroit Shipbuilding Company for the special occasion. Built by the Detroit Shipbuilding Company, the Put-in-Bay was a part of the Ashley and Dustin steamer line. As she traveled down the Detroit River, the captain greeted area residents with three long and two short whistles. The Put-in-Bay featured four decks, and could hold over three thousand people. Passengers danced in the steamer’s ballroom to the music of orchestra leader George Finzel. In an advertisement from 1918 the round trip fare was seventy cents for week days, and $1.10 for Sunday excursions.

In 1949 the Put-in-Bay was transferred to a route that went from Detroit to Port Huron, and in 1953 she was sold for scrap. To read a history of the passenger boats that operated in the Sandusky area, see the Twin Anniversary Edition of the Sandusky Register-Star-News from November 24, 1947, which covers the history of passenger boats in our area up to that time. Ask at the Reference Services desk if you would like to view this historic edition.

Dr. William A. Ferry, Veterinarian

Dr. William A. Ferry was a veterinarian in Sandusky for thirty five years. Born in Sandusky in 1869, he was the son of pioneer Sandusky merchant Austin Ferry. Dr. Ferry received his veterinary training at the Chicago Veterinary College and the Toronto Veterinary College. In 1915 Dr. Ferry had his veterinary office at 140 Wayne Street in Sandusky. By the 1920’s Dr. Ferry’s home, as well as his veterinary practice, were both in the 400 block of Jackson Street, now a part of the parking lot of the Sandusky Library. 

 For several years, Dr. Ferry worked in conjunction with Dr. H.C. Schoepfle to inspect dairy farms in Erie County to make sure they met proper health and sanitation standards. He inspected the stables, milk houses, and took samples of milk for testing. Dr. Ferry also inspected Sandusky area grocery stores, meat markets, ice cream plants, and soda fountains. He said in an article in the December 4, 1920 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal that health inspections in Sandusky businesses were found to have excellent sanitary standards “in nearly every instance.” After a lengthy illness, Dr. William A. Ferry died on June 3, 1944. His funeral was held at the Charles J. Andres Sons’ Funeral Home at 421 Jackson Street, which was directly across the street from Dr. Ferry’s home. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. C. L. Alspach, and burial was at Oakland Cemetery.