Elementary School Photos in Front of the Old High School

Two group pictures, taken by the Pascoe Gallery in the 1880s, are housed in the Schools Collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Students are posed in a group in front of the old Sandusky High School on Adams Street, before it was expanded in 1910. Notes on the photographs indicate that the students in each picture were taught by Miss Horn. Unfortunately, we do not know which Miss Horn was the teacher of these youngsters. There were three different teachers named Miss Horn, who were employed at different times by the Sandusky City School system. In 1886, Augusta and Clara Horn were both listed as teachers in the Sandusky City Directory. The 1908 Sandusky City Directory lists Augusta Horn and Stella Horn as school teachers. In this close up, in the middle of the front row, one young lady has her arm around her classmate.

Many of the students have quite serious facial expressions.

The students in this group picture appear to be from an early elementary grade level.

Miss Augusta Horn was associated with the Sandusky City Schools from 1881 to 1928. She taught at Osborne School, serving as the school’s principal for the last eight years of her lengthy career. After her death the Sandusky Star Journal featured a tribute to her in the November 22, 1938 issue. It read in part:

In giving 47 years to the teaching profession in our city, Miss Horn taught in the day when the teacher molded the life of her pupils and many men prominent in the civic life of our town have repeatedly said that they owe to her unfailing interest in them much of the success they now have achieved. 

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to learn more about the history of Sandusky City Schools, and its many teachers, administrators and students.

Mystery Photo: Patriotic Youngsters in Sandusky

While we do not know the date or exact location of this photograph, notes on the back of the original picture indicate that it was taken by the Pascoe Galleries in Sandusky. Several youngsters are pictured in front of a large flag in front of a stone building, in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Many children are holding flags, suggesting that they may have recently been studying the history of the United States. This item is housed in the James Duff Archival Collection at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

WLEC Radio Began Broadcasting in 1947

Now a part of BAS Broadcasting Ohio, WLEC Radio began broadcasting on December 7, 1947. At that time WLEC was operated by the Lake Erie Broadcasting Company, an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System. The premiere broadcast on WLEC featured a program which commemorated the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

This picture was taken on the first anniversary of WLEC Radio in 1948. From left to right are: Bill Frankel, Al Heiser, John Kohler, Marie Pascoe, Father Hartman, Ed Gangware, Karl Whinnery and Jay Wagner.

 Marie Pascoe is seen on the left side in the picture below. In the 1950s, she narrated radio programs on WLEC Radio using the name Nancy Lake.

Jay Wagner and Dan Appel are on either side of the Landes twins during a WLEC broadcast.

  

 In 1958 WLEC Radio took its mobile studio the dedication of the City Building.

Below is a picture of WLEC Radio staff from the 1970s.

Do you have any special memories of listening to WLEC Radio?

John J. Marquart - An Interview with an Early Sanduskian in 1947

In the Twin Anniversary Edition of the Sandusky Register Star News, dated November 24, 1947, Harry Stack featured highlights of an interview he had conducted with John J. Marquart, who at that time had been a resident of Sandusky for eighty five years. Mr. Marquart is pictured below in a photograph taken at the Pascoe photographic studio. (He is seated at the left, opposite C. J. Pascoe.)

              

John J. Marquart was born in New York City in 1853, and moved to Sandusky in 1862, in the midst of the Civil War. As a youngster, he resided on East Adams Street above the Marquart family grocery store. He helped his father in the grocery store for a time, then around 1890 he became involved in a business which dealt in furniture and undertaking. By 1906, he was a funeral director and embalmer, on the street level of the Odd Fellows Temple on Washington Row, and for a time in partnership with a Mr. Meyers.  In 1925 Mr. Marquart took Lee B. Keller on as a partner, and the business was known as Marquart and Keller. For thirty nine years prior to 1932, Mr. Marquart was in charge of the burials of veterans at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home. You can see a portion of Marquart’s funeral business in the Odd Fellows Temple in the picture below, in the early 1900s.

In his interview with Harry Stack, John J. Marquart recalled the pioneer businesses of Sandusky. He personally knew Jay Cooke, and members of  the Hubbard family. He recalled seeing Confederate officers arriving by train at the Lake Shore and Michigan Railroad office at Warren Street, before being taken to the prison at Johnson’s Island during the Civil War. He remembered when the harbor of Sandusky was filled with full-sail schooners transporting lumber to and from the city. The ice industry was another vital business in Mr. Marquart’s early days in Sandusky.  He recalled when the streets were made of cobble stone, and horse drawn vehicles were used. A quote by Mr. Marquart appeared toward the end of the interview: “I’ve seen many changes and much improvement in the 85 years I’ve lived in Sandusky. It used to be more important than Cleveland, but somehow or other it grew to a certain size and stayed there. Still and all, Sandusky is all right. It’s my home and proud of the fact.”  To read the entire interview, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center where copies of the Twin Anniversary Edition of the Sandusky Register Star News are available in print and on microfilm.

Portraits of Katie Rittman

Miss Katie Rittman was born in Sandusky in 1870 to Frank Rittman and Catherine Kuebeler Rittman, who were both natives of Germany. The portrait above was taken at the Bishop & Veitch studio in Sandusky, when Katie was about age 12 or 13. The picture below was taken at the studio of C.A. Cross when Katie was a teenager.

This lovely picture of Katie Rittman as a young woman was taken at the Pascoe studio in Sandusky.

U.S. Census records indicate that Katie lived with her parents in Sandusky 1880 and 1900. On February 4, 1902, Katie Rittman married Charles Hoffman, who was employed at the Hoffman family business, the Hoffman Coal and Milling Company. Charles and Katie were the parents of three daughters and a son.  In 1919 the Charles Hoffman family operated a store at the corner of Scott and Hancock Streets. "Puck," a zinc statue that had once been in the store window of Dietz & Mischler's cigar shop, stood on the roof of the Hoffman business for several years. Puck is now housed at the Follett House Museum. Katie Rittman Hoffman passed away in 1929, and Charles Hoffman died in1933. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman were both buried in Oakland Cemetery.

The Kingsbury Block

Helen Hansen and Virginia Steinemann wrote in From the Widow's Walk that the Kingsbury Block was built by the heirs of Abel Kingsbury West at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Washington Row about 1894. It was built in the Commercial style of architecture, featuring bay windows. O.S. Alcott's “gents furnishings” was an early business in the Kingsbury Block. In 1923, the southern portion of the building was demolished to make way for the building of the Commercial National Bank. The northern portion of the Kingsbury Block was sold to Tenants Realty, and would later be the location of the S.S. Kresge Co. and the H. & S. Bakery.

The Kingsbury Block was home to dentists, physicians, attorneys, insurance companies, and many other businesses. C. J. Pascoe had a photography studio in the Kingsbury Building for many years.

In 1907, when the Ohio State Medical Association met in Sandusky for their annual meeting, Dr. William Graefe and Dr. H. C. Schoepfle, as well as dentists Dr. William S. Deeley, Dr. D. D. Smith, and Dr. J. K. Douglas all had their offices in the Kingsbury Block.

A photograph of the directory of the Kingsbury Block was taken about 1920.

To read more about the history of the Kingsbury Block in Sandusky, see article 43 in From the Widow's Walk. The Sandusky Library has several years of Sandusky City Directories which also provide valuable information about the former residents and businesses in Sandusky.

Early Photography

In the 21st century, a professional photographer’s studio contains no windows. Light is a carefully manipulated element of each image, altered using a host of modern tools. Before electricity and the electronic flash, a 19th century photographer relied on the power of the sun to light his subject. In Sandusky and across the nation, photographers’ studios were often located on the top floors of buildings, the better to take advantage of natural sunlight. 

This unusual view of C.J. Pascoe’s Sandusky photography studio gives a modern viewer insight on the tricks of the photography trade in the late 1800s. The rooftop skylight is filtered using a gauzy white cloth. Large white boards mounted on movable stands were used to bounce light on the subject. A decorative backdrop is at the rear of the studio. Several different chairs are located around the studio, along with an ornate footstool and a plush rug on the floor. A decorative pedestal is stowed in the left rear corner of the studio. If you look carefully on the left side of the studio, you will see three floor mounted stands. Early film required a long exposure, and these stands helped a subject keep still while holding a pose. You’ll notice that two of the chairs have padded armrests, which also helped the subject remain still during the exposure. On the right side of the studio, there is a large wood burning stove, used in the days before central heating. Near the center of the image is the tool of the trade—the camera. This appears to be a larger format glass plate camera which is mounted on a wooden tripod. Glass plates produced remarkably clear and detailed images.

C.J. Pascoe’s photography studio was located in downtown Sandusky, on Columbus Avenue. Charles James Pascoe was born December 23, 1854 in Ontario, Canada. He married Mary Jane Gilbert in Detroit in 1872. He died May 12, 1933. He worked as a photographer in Fremont, Sandusky, and Toledo.

Here is an interesting example of a portrait subject in the studio. You can see the hand-painted backdrop with a military scene behind this soldier. Photographers often had a variety of backdrops with different scenes to match the mood sought in the photograph. The large tree stump serves not only as a decorative prop, but also as a stabilizing device to to help a person steady himself for long exposures (at least several seconds; sometimes as long as a minute or more). At his feet, you can see a trace of the stand used to attach a stabilizing brace to the back of his head, to help keep his features from blurring in the image.