Laura Jones, Sandusky Businesswoman

From 1935 until her retirement in 1970, Mrs. Laura Jones was the owner-operator of a dress shop located at 162 Columbus Avenue in Sandusky, Ohio. Laura Jones was the daughter of Martin and Mary (Pulch) Helget. She married Earl Jones in 1917. After only a few years of marriage, Mr. Jones was killed on February 28, 1923 in an electrical accident while he was at work at a manufacturing facility in Youngstown, Ohio. 

Mrs. Jones started out operating a dress shop at the same location as Emma Hansen’s hat shop in downtown Sandusky. An article which appeared in the August 13, 1935 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that she and Miss Hansen were on a buying trip in Detroit, Michigan. While there, they attended the fall style show at the Hotel Statler. By 1952, Mrs. Jones was the sole proprietor of the Laura Jones Dress Shop.

In the mid-1950s, Laura Jones was a member of the Retail Merchants Association of Sandusky, Ohio. This group was the successor to the merchants’ division of the Sandusky Chamber of Commerce.

In 1962, Mrs. Jones had several items on sale in honor of George Washington’s birthday.

Mrs. Laura Jones retired from her dress shop in 1970. She died in September, 1987 at the age of 92. This hat box from the Laura Jones Dress and Hat Shop is now in the historical collections of the Follett House Museum.

Interior Views of Groceries in Sandusky

As discussed in a previous blog entry, the neighborhood grocery store was the primary source of  provisions for Sandusky residents in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Below are some interior views of neighborhood grocery stores. 

Adam Helget had a grocery store at 2101 West Monroe Street from about 1915 through 1939. Mr. Helget’s grocery featured baskets of fresh produce and canned goods. Breakfast cereals carried at the Helget grocery included Quaker Corn Puffs and Washington Crisps Corn Flakes. An ice box, which kept perishables fresh, can be seen at the back of the store.

The Schweinfurth Brothers grocery was located at the corner of Hayes and Columbus Avenues for many years. A listing in the 1919-1920 Sandusky City Directory stated that John and Simon Schweinfurth were “dealers in staples and fancy groceries.” (Other members of the Schweinfurth family had grocery stores in other locations.) A wide variety of home and commercially canned goods can be seen on the shelves of the Schweinfurth Brothers store. Nabisco products were stocked on the upper back shelves.

In this interior view of an unknown grocery store, seven flavors of Jello were sold at ten cents per box, and the container which was holding Dernell’s GoldenCrisp Potato Chips stated that they were “always reliable.”

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view vintage photographs from Sandusky and Erie County. Historical Sandusky City Directories provide details about local businesses and residents from 1855 through the present time.