A View of the Foot of Columbus Avenue in 1932

In 1932 the parking area at the foot of Columbus Avenue was paved with bricks. (The Schade-Mylander Plaza is on this location today.) A small portion of the steamer G.A. Boeckling can be seen at the left side of the picture above. The steamer Chippewa is in the center of the picture. A vessel from the Neuman boat lines is docked at the right side of the picture. 

You can see Hansen’s fish market on the far right side of the picture. In 1932 dressed catfish sold for thirty cents; fresh haddock fillets were twenty cents; and halibut sold for a quarter. According to the Sandusky Star Journal of April 7, 1932, Hansen's would deliver any order over fifty cents (equal to about $9.50 today). 

Note the vintage automobiles parked near the dock. If you look very closely, above the Hansen’s fish sign is a small billboard which features a Pontiac automobile, and the slogan “Chief of Values.”  The 1932 Sandusky City Directory listed eighteen automobile dealers. Browsing through the historical city directories, as well as looking through our many vintage photographs, can give one a sense of what life was like for residents of Sandusky and Erie County in years gone by.

Carl C. Jensen, Hansen's Fish Market

Carl C. Jensen and his son, Carl J. Jensen, are pictured above at Hansen’s Fish Market at the foot of Columbus Avenue in Sandusky, Ohio, about 1935.  Carl C. Jensen worked at Hansen’s Fish Market for thirty years. According to an article in the March 8, 1940 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal, Carl estimated that he had cleaned over three million fish between 1930 and 1940.  He cleaned, on the average, a thousand fish each day, which added up to about 450 pounds. Hansen’s Fish Market can be seen on the far right of the picture below. Chris Hansen, also a native of Denmark, was the owner of the fish market for several years.

In a closer view, you can read the name of the market on the outside of the building.

Carl C. Jensen, his wife Margaret, and three young children, cane to America aboard the ship United States, arriving in New York City on October 26, 1926. The Jensens first moved to Missouri, where they lived near relatives; in 1930 the family moved to Sandusky, Ohio. A daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Jensen while they lived in Missouri, and Carl J. Jensen, the youngest child in the family, was born in 1932 in Sandusky, Ohio. Many facts about individuals can be gleaned by doing research at online resources such as Ancestry Library Edition and FamilySearch. The passenger list of the entire Jensen family was listed at the Immigration Records available at Ancestry. At FamilySearch, you can find Carl C. Jensen's World War II registration card, which indicated that he worked at Hansen’s Fish Market.

An article in the June 14, 1948 issue of the Sandusky Register featured an interesting story of the sister and niece of Carl C. Jensen visiting their American relatives in Sandusky, Ohio. If you would like to learn more about the history of your own ancestors, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Even if your family was not from Erie County, Ohio, a wealth of genealogical resources are available both in print and online. There are four computers in the Archives Research Center which are reserved exclusively for genealogical and local history research.