When Picnics Were in the News

 

On Kelleys Island

Picnics in Sandusky and the Lake Erie Islands area were held quite often, by families, church groups, companies, and clubs. The proximity to Lake Erie provided nice lake breezes for the picnic-goers. Local newspapers frequently reported on picnics held in the area. The Sandusky Register of September 8, 1868, announced the “Grandest Pic-Nic of the Nineteenth Century” when students of the Buckeye and Great Western Business College chartered steamers for a picnic at Put in Bay.

In 1911, the Castalia Telephone operators enjoyed a picnic at the Blue Hole, while two other Castalia groups met at Rye Beach with their lunch baskets.

The Sandusky Star Journal of July 30, 1931 reported on a picnic at Bay View Park held for members of the Sandusky Typographical Union, #237, who were employees of the Sandusky Register and the Sandusky Star Journal. A ball game between the two newspapers started off the festivities. Other contests included horseshoe pitching, egg throwing, nail driving, a wheelbarrow race, and a blindfolded fly swatting contest.

In 1942, about 300 members of the Eagles Club and their families had their annual picnic at Lions Park. Some of the events were rolling pin throwing, balloon blowing, and a peanut scramble.

Cedar Point has been a popular picnic destination for large group picnics for over a century.

The Jaycees held a picnic at Cedar Point in August of 1954.

In this picture, it appears as though the employees of the Sandusky Library in the 1920s had an impromptu picnic outside the library building:

If you would like to see if the names of your family members ever appeared in local newspapers, whether for a picnic or other news event, browse through the historical Sandusky newspapers on microfilm at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, or check Newspaper Archive, accessible from home with a Sandusky Library card number.

Lake Erie Island Pictures by Harley Hoffman

In the “Neighboring Communities” collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center are several photographs taken by Harley Hoffman, a commercial photographer who had a studio in Castalia, Ohio in the 1950s. Above is a picture of ferry boat passengers approaching Middle Bass Island. You can see the Lonz Winery on the shore. 

The picture below was taken at the Put-in-Bay dock. A sun bather can be seen soaking up the sun on the pier.

 

Vintage vehicles are visible along the streets of Kelleys Island in this picture of the business district. Businesses pictured include Matso’s Place and the Island Market.

Mr. Hoffman snapped this picture of someone standing by the sign at Inscription Rock along the lakefront at Kelleys Island.

              

The community oven at Kelleys Island allowed residents to bake bread in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

These men are enjoying an afternoon of fishing at Kelleys Island.

   

Harley W. Hoffman passed away in 1986. His obituary, which appeared in the May 28, 1986 issue of the Sandusky Register, stated that he had been a salesman for the Mr. Wiggs Department Store. In the decade of the 1950s, Mr. Hoffman is credited with dozens of photographs that appeared in the Sandusky Register Star News. Because of Harley Hoffman’s photographs, we have a better understanding of what everyday life was like in a by-gone era.

Norman and Abby Hills

Norman Edwin Hills, born January 4, 1868, was the son of William Darwin Hills and his wife, the former Laura Kelley. He was also the grandson of Irad Kelley, one of the co-owners of Kelleys Island. Norman E. Hills was considered an authority on the geology and history of Kelleys Island. In 1925 he authored a book entitled A History of Kelleys Island, Ohio, which was reprinted in 1982 by the Kelleys Island Historical Association. 

This article appeared in the Sandusky Register on January 15, 1933:

Norman E. Hills passed away on December 20, 1944, and he was buried in Willoughby Village Cemetery.  The first wife of Norman E. Hills was Abby Cleaveland McEwen, whom he married about 1895. Below is a picture of Abby McEwen Hills and the first child of Norman and Abby Hills. Baby Helen Hills was age 3 months and 4 days at the time this picture was taken. These pictures are now in the Kurt Boker Collection of  Kelleys Island History, in the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

Visit the Sandusky Library and its Archives Research Center to learn more about the history of Erie County, Ohio.

Hand Tinted Prints by C.W. Platt

Clayton Winfield Platt was the son of prominent Sandusky photographer A.C. Platt. Upon the death of his father in 1883, C.W. Platt took over his photographic gallery at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Water Street. A.C. Platt had a fondness for the natural beauty of the Lake Erie Islands area, according to an article by Merlin D. Wolcott in volume 34 of the Inland Seas. It seems that C.W. Platt also enjoyed capturing scenes of the Lake Erie Islands area.

Several hand tinted matted prints of scenes from the Lake Erie Islands area were donated to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center by Allene Schnaitter, granddaughter of C. W. Platt.

The print below features the shoreline of Kelleys Island.

The steamer Lakeside is seen out on Lake Erie.

The Marblehead Lighthouse is a favorite destination for visitors and local residents.

A news article in the August 18, 1903 issue of the Sandusky Evening Star reported that C.W. Platt had sold his business to his former employee, C.G. Wildenthaler, due to declining health. C. W. Platt passed away in Cleveland, Ohio on January 4, 1914. He was buried in Oberlin, Ohio.

Addison Kelley Hamilton, 1889-1892

Addison Kelley Hamilton was the eldest son of Titus and Fredrena Kelley Hamilton, born in 1889. He was the great grandson of Addison Kelley, and a great great grandson of Datus Kelley, one of the namesakes of Kelleys Island. Addison Kelley Hamilton died at age two years and nine months, at the home of his great grandfather, Addison Kelley, on July 27, 1892. His funeral was held at the Kelley residence.

An obituary for the Addison Kelley Hamilton appeared in the July 28, 1892 issue of the Sandusky Register. It read in part: “He was an attractive child, physically strong and intellectually bright and his winsome baby ways were like sunshine in the home. His illness was brief and though surrounded with every comfort and attended by the best medical skill the disease yielded not to either medical science or kindly nursing. The death of the dear boy – but little more than a baby – has cast a dark shadow over the happy home to which his presence brought gladness a few years ago. In the dark hour of their bereavement this stricken household has the deep sympathy of a closely united community.”

Little Addison Kelley Hamilton was buried in the family lot at the Kelleys Island Cemetery. Frank E. Hamilton, another child of Mr. and Mrs. Titus Hamilton, would become a captain of several Great Lakes vessels, and was a well known historian of the Great Lakes and Kelleys Island.

Kurt Boker and Snakes of the Lake Erie Islands

Among the numerous historical notebooks from the Kurt Boker Collection of the Sandusky Library’s Archives Research Center, is a collection of documents related to Snakes and Snake Stories of Kelleys Island and Surrounding Areas. The articles are from the Firelands Pioneer, Sandusky Register, and several other periodicals. As article from the May 17, 1911 issue of the Sandusky Weekly Register, by E. L. Moseley, urges area residents not to kill the fox snake, which were helpful to farmers by eating rodents.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers the Lake Erie water snake to be a threatened species. The non-venomous eastern fox snake is found in the northern most portion of Ohio, as well as on the Lake Erie islands. According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, rattlesnakes were once prevalent on Rattlesnake Island. The last sighting of the poisonous timber rattlesnake was in 1961. Pictured below is Mr. Boker and a rattlesnake he found on Put in Bay in 1961.

In May of 1961, Mr. Boker was hoping to transport three snakes from Ohio to the Philadelphia Zoological Garden. Roger Conant replied to Kurt Boker, with instructions on how to ship live snakes via train or air, along with instructions for shipping pickled specimens.

Mr. Boker successfully managed to ship three snakes to the Philadelphia Zoo. All were of record size: an eastern garden snake with a length of 48 ¾ inches, an eastern hognose snake which was 45 ¼ inches long, and an eastern fox snake with a total length of 78 1/8 inches. Roger Conant wrote about the three snakes in the December 31, 1965 issue of the Journal of the Ohio Herpetological Society. Mr. Conant felt that the most interesting of the three snakes was the eastern fox snake. He wrote that besides being of great size, it was eyeless, and many of its scales were fused together. During its time at the Philadelphia Zoological Garden, the eastern fox snake ate freshly killed white mice that the zookeepers placed near its head.

Visit the Archives Research Center to view the Kurt Boker Collection which contains a wealth of historical and genealogical information about the families and businesses of Kelleys Island.

Kurt E. Boker, 1920-2006

One of this region's most honorable citizens passed away this week. Kurt Boker, of Kelleys Island, died Monday evening at his home. (An obituary is published in the September 13 issue of the Sandusky Register.)

Born in Germany, Mr. Boker came to the U.S. at the age of four, and lived nearly all his life on Kelleys Island. After service with the U.S. Army in World War II and his graduation from The Ohio State University, Mr. Boker taught at Kelleys Island school for 25 years. He also was a devoted member of his community, serving in several community organizations, and was dedicated to preserving the history of Kelleys Island.

Products of Kurt Boker's lifelong historical research and service, covering a variety of subjects -- including the geology of the island, businesses, churches, family histories, and the Kelleys Island School he served for many years -- are preserved in the Kurt Boker Collection of Kelleys Island History in the Archives Research Center at the Sandusky Library. Copied of these documents are also available for study at the Kelleys Island branch of the library.

We at the library and in the community continue to be grateful for Mr. Boker's service and support.