Dr. Lucy Hoffman

Dr. Lucy Hoffman (sometimes spelled Huffman) placed an advertisement in the December 1914 issue of the FRAM, the yearbook of Sandusky High School. Dr. Hoffman was an eye and nerve specialist with her office in the Cooke Building in Sandusky. The FRAM advertisement stated that Dr. Hoffman’s specialties were relieving headaches and straightening crossed eyes. She claimed to use “scientific, accurate methods” in her eye examinations, and her fees were reasonable. In the 1916 advertisement below, Dr. Hoffman says emphatically that drugs and drops should not be used in an eye examination. Her method was a fogging system, which did not call for dilation of the pupils.

 

Dr. Hoffman was only in Sandusky briefly. According to an article in the July 11, 1919 issue of the Sandusky Register, she moved to Jefferson, Ohio during the summer of 1919.

Did you get glasses for Christmas?

Lewis M. Lea, Jeweler and Optician

Lewis M. Lea was born in Sandusky in 1843 to James D. and Caroline (Mackey) Lea. James D. Lea was successfully engaged in the lumber yard business in Sandusky for many years. When Lewis M. Lea was twenty years of age, he enlisted in Co. B of the 145^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After the end of the Civil War, he began a long career in the jewelry business, working as a jeweler and watchmaker in Sandusky in 1866.  He was first in partnership with other jewelers, including Joseph Bixby, Henry Dehnel, and a Mr. Greenfelder. In the 1888 Sandusky City Directory, Lewis M. Lea was listed as the sole proprietor of a jewelry business at 135 Columbus Avenue. He stayed at this location until 1917, when he moved the jewelry business to the Lea building at the southwest corner of East Market and Wayne Streets. 

Besides selling watches, clocks, jewelry and silverware, Lewis M. Lea was also an optician. An advertisement in the May 1, 1891 issue of the Sandusky Register stated that residents could secure their spectacles from Lea, the “graduate optician.”

An article in the December 9, 1911 issue of the Sandusky Register stated that Lewis M. Lea’s life was “like an open book.”  Mr. Lea was said to have large and well-selected stock, featuring “novelties of every selection” and a complete line of optical goods. 

On August 18, 1918, Lewis M. Lea passed away after an illness of six months. His obituary, found in the 1918 Obituary Notebook, stated that Lewis M. Lea had been one of Sandusky’s best known business men. Funeral services were held at the Masonic Temple. Several Ohio leaders in the Masonic order attended Mr. Lea’s funeral, which was solemn and impressive, according to an article in the August 22, 1918 issue of the Sandusky Register. At the funeral, Grand Commander Barton Smith presented Lewis M. Lea’s 33^rd degree Masonic ring to his son, Jay D. Lea.  Lewis M. Lea was survived by his wife, one son, seven grandchildren, and a sister and brother. A son, Lewis W. Lea, had predeceased him. Lewis M. Lea was buried in the family lot at Oakland Cemetery. At the Follett House Museum you can view eyeglasses and silverware which were purchased from Lewis M. Lea’s jewelry store.

Dr. Owen A. Wagner, Optometrist and Optician

Dr. Owen A. Wagner was an 1896 graduate of Northern Illinois College at Chicago, and he graduated from the Needles Institute of Optometry at Kansas City, Missouri in 1902. After practicing for a time as an optometrist in Chicago, Dr. Wagner came to Sandusky, Ohio in 1918. From 1918 until shortly before his death in 1949, Dr. Wagner had his office and his living quarters both at the same location, 114-116 Columbus Avenue in downtown Sandusky.

The signs along the windows in Dr. Wagner’s office stated that he offered "thorough scientific examinations."

Dr. Wagner passed away at Providence Hospital on May 22, 1949, at the age of 93. His obituary, found in the 1949 Obituary Notebook, stated that he was a familiar Sanduskian for many years, and he had a pet parrot which attracted wide attention. Funeral services for Dr. Owen A. Wagner were held at the Charles J. Andres Funeral Home, with Rev. C. L. Alspach officiating. Burial was at Oakland Cemetery.