Vincent Valve Company

In the early 1900s, the Vincent Valve Company was located at the corner of Arthur and Wayne Streets in Sandusky, Ohio. Officers listed in the 1902 Sandusky City Directory included:  J.G. Schurz, President; William F. Ohlemacher, Vice President; C.H. Myers, Treasurer; and E.C. Bacon, Secretary and Manager. The company manufactured Vincent Gate Valves, Big Four Globe Valves, and other equipment used in water works facilities.

In an early issue of the journal Modern Machinery, it was stated that the Vincent Valve Company employed standard measurements, the finest of machine tools, and the services of skilled workmen. The article continued, “All this has been developed by the absolute necessities and requirements of modern engineering.” The Vincent Valve Company ran a want ad in the January 2, 1901 issue of the Detroit News, advertising jobs at once for pattern makers and mold makers. An article in the Sandusky Daily Star of October 26, 1901 reported that the Vincent Valve Company had been awarded a medal at the Pan American Exposition.

By June of 1903, the National Valve Company took over the business. 

Several other businesses were later located at the former Vincent Valve Company site, including Roberts Motors, the Modern Pattern Company, Johnston Marine Engine Works, and Roberts Construction. Below is a portion of the Sanborn Map which shows the layout of the Modern Pattern Company in the 1950s and 1960s.

Today Arthur Street Storage is located at this site.

Sandusky High School’s Mid-Year Commencement, 1909

Sandusky High School’s second mid-year commencement ceremony was held at Sidley Memorial Hall on February 12, 1909, on the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. The class presented anecdotes of Lincoln. Edna Holzaepfel gave a talk on “The Private Life of Lincoln.” Marjorie Anderson, who later became a college professor, spoke about “Lincoln in Literature.” Mary Daly spoke on “America’s Debt to Lincoln.” Charles Feick’s presentation was on “Other Great Men of 1809.”

Graduates of the February 1909 class were: Marjorie Anderson, Elizabeth E. Butler, Mary R. Daly, J. Charles Feick, Edna A. Holzaepfel, Norman R. Holzaepfel, Leona E. Ohlemacher, Chester S. Schoepfle, and Anna M. Soutar. Among the faculty members were E. L. Moseley and E. B. Ackley, who directed the SHS Orchestra. George C. Dietrich was the principal of Sandusky High School in 1909, and H. B. Williams was the superintendent.

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to see this and several other historical commencement programs, yearbooks, and photographs which cover a span of several decades of students and faculty of Sandusky High School.