Lake Shore Electric Railway Tracks on Columbus Avenue

These pictures from the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center show work being done on the Lake Shore Electric interurban railway tracks on Columbus Avenue in the 1920s.

Large piles of crushed stone can be seen in the picture below next to the tracks.

Taking a closer look at the images allows us to see what stores were in operation at this time in Sandusky. Area residents were still sending telegrams at the Western Union station in downtown Sandusky.

The J.C. Penney store was relatively new to Sandusky at this time. Matthes Coal had a large advertising sign above the People's Loan and Savings Company at the northwest corner of Columbus Avenue and Market Street. You can see the sign for the State Theater in the first block of Columbus Avenue, towards the waterfront.

The Eugene Close shoe store and Bamberger’s millinery shop, both on the east side of Columbus Avenue, were popular places for local residents to visit in the 1920s.

A large group of people is watching as the crew continues their work on the Lake Shore Electric tracks, near Ritter’s Cigar Store and Holzaepfel Brothers Sporting Goods.

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view these and hundreds of other historic photographs from Sandusky and Erie County.

Installing the Sign for Lasalle's

Pictured above is a scene from 1949, when workers were placing the new sign for the Lasalle’s store in place. A crane was parked on Columbus Avenue, and a worker was high atop the Lasalle’s store, which had not yet opened.

In this closer view, you can see the Byer Brothers store, Caryl Crane, and the J.C. Penney Company, all in business on Sandusky’s Columbus Avenue in 1949.

Further down the block were the Montgomery Ward store and Gray Drugs.

An article in the March 30, 1949 issue of the Sandusky Register Star News stated that construction of the Lasalle’s store was ahead of schedule. The new store opened on October 28, 1949, right before the busy holiday season. Many of our parents and grandparents shopped in this block of Sandusky in the late 1940s.

J.C. Penney Company Opened a Store in Sandusky in 1929

The March 27, 1929 issue of the Sandusky Register featured an article which announced that the J.C. Penney Company was to open a store in Sandusky. Sandusky’s J.C. Penney store was number 1076 in the retail chain. The Sandusky store was located next to Montgomery Ward in the 200 block of Columbus Avenue.

The J.C. Penney Company began in 1902 in a small mining town in Wyoming, "based on the principles of honesty and fair dealing." Mr. Erwin H. Wallace was the first store manager of the Sandusky J.C. Penney store, serving in that position until 1959. The picture above shows both the J.C. Penney and Montgomery Ward stores in downtown Sandusky during the Northwest Territory Celebration in April of 1938.

In 1955 the J.C. Penney store expanded and added an addition to its store, at the site of the former Montgomery Ward store.

The postcard below shows the J.C. Penney Co. store in Sandusky in the 1960s. In the mid 1970s, the J.C. Penney Company moved to the Sandusky Mall.