Wyandotte Point

An article in the October 12, 1919 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that real estate development had begun in an area known as Wyandotte Point, under the impetus of James J. Hinde, manager of the Sandusky Development Company. The area contained 30 acres of land adjacent to West Monroe Street, running from Sandusky Bay to land close to New York Central railroad tracks.  The name Wyandotte Point was a nod to the Native Americans who once lived in this vicinity. The plot was laid out prior to World War I, but government regulations prohibited new construction during the wartime years.

Homes were to be constructed for a cost of between 3000 and 7000 dollars ($47,000-$110,000 in today's dollars), with only single family residences to be built here for fifty years. Mr. Hinde was quoted in the Register article, “The time is right for extensive real estate development here. This is evident owing to the incoming of many manufacturing plants and the need for housing. Employees and officials must have dwellings. Another thing, as I see it, all modern home development must be in the suburbs. The tendency of home seekers is to withdraw from city surroundings into the more open and healthy country.”

The close proximity to Sandusky Bay and Winnebago Park were key factors for prospective buyers of homes in Wyandotte Point. A street car line took residents from Winnebago Park to Sandusky.

Notes on the picture below indicate that J.J. Hinde had these homes built on Gartland Avenue, which was close to the G and C Foundry, and namesake of one of the foundry's owners.

An advertisement in the Sandusky Register of November 26, 1919, told prospective owners of homes in this development that they could double their money in five years.

Winnebago Park is now known as Lions Park. In “The Follett House Scrapbook,” a feature in the August 23, 1987 issue of the Sandusky Register, Helen Hansen and Virginia Steinemann gave a brief history of Winnebago Park and Lions Park. The park was once included in the Wyandotte Point development.

In the 1920s through the 1950s, many family reunions were held at Winnebago Park, later known as Lions Park. The Sprau family gathered at Winnebago Park in 1920.

Sandusky Register, Oct. 12, 1919

Edwin A. Sprau, Baseball Enthusiast

In the 1942 Obituary Notebook in the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library is an obituary for Edwin A. Sprau. Mr. Sprau died on June 19, 1942, following a brief illness. He was only 39 years old.  Prior to his death, he was in business with his brother, Emmett Sprau, at the Sprau Grocery on Camp Street. 

For many years Edwin Sprau was active in baseball circles. He was secretary of the Sandusky Baseball Federation, secretary-treasurer of the Northern Ohio Baseball League, and had also been associated with the Firelands Baseball League, the Junior Leagues of Sandusky, and the Church Indoor League.

Hundreds of officials and baseball players from several area baseball teams paid their respects at a memorial service in the Elks Home on the evening of June 22. Funeral services for Edwin A. Sprau took place on Tuesday, with the Rev. Donald Wonders of Grace Episcopal Church officiating. Burial was in Oakland Cemetery. Edwin A. Sprau was survived by his mother, and brothers Walter and Emmett. Edward C. Sprau, Edwin's father and the founder of the family grocery business, had died in 1939.

Pictured below is the E. C. Sprau grocery store around 1908. Edwin A. and Emmitt Sprau are standing in the doorway with their father and other family members.

Sprau Burial Vault Company

In the fall of 1935, the Sprau Burial Vault Company was founded in Sandusky, at the corner of Camp and West Monroe Streets. Sprau burial vaults were made of reinforced cement, which rested upon a base. When the vault and casket were lowered into the ground, an airtight seal prevented water and dampness from damaging the casket. The Mound Studio took this photograph of a Sprau Burial Vault.

Albert C. Sprau operated the Sprau Burial Vault Company from the fall of 1935 until the Spring of 1937 when his brother Ben Sprau took over the business. After Ben Sprau took over the company, the vaults were handled by area funeral homes instead of being sold directly to the customer. Ben Sprau and several of his employees are pictured below.

By 1939, there was no listing for the company in the Sandusky City Directory. Albert C. Sprau went on to work for the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroads; in the early 1950s, was the bridge tender for the old Bay Bridge. He died on April 11, 1954. Ben Sprau passed away in March of 1962, after having been a marine engineer for over 25 years. Ben Sprau also had worked as an engineer for the City of Sandusky and the Plum Brook Ordnance Works.

Violet Ray Generators Sold in Sandusky

During the first half of the twentieth century, thousands of “Violet Ray Generators” were sold in the United States for home use. Advertisements claimed that the device would cure heart disease, paralysis, writer’s cramp, rheumatism, lumbago, and many other ailments. In theory, electricity was supposed to carry revitalizing power to the cells of the body, to enrich the blood and increase oxygen levels. An early instruction booklet is available online. 

 Below is a portion of an ad for the “Renulife Violet Ray High Frequency Generator” which was sold at the Herb and Myers store in Sandusky in 1921. Customers could visit the store to have a treatment before purchasing the product. 

 In the summer and fall of 1921, Ben Sprau was an agent for “Tucker’s Violet Rays” High Frequency Generator. Potential customers were encouraged to write or call for an expert demonstration. 

 Eventually the Violet Ray generators were banned for making false claims, although you can still locate similar devices on the Internet. Visit the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library to view decades of historical newspapers on microfilm. It is both interesting and entertaining to see the products that were sold locally.

Leisure Moments in Sandusky and Erie County

       

In the collection of historical pictures at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center are several photos of people enjoying their leisure time. Men are pictured above relaxing in a garden in Sandusky in the early twentieth century. While not all the men have been identified, some of the men in the photograph are: Charles Metzger, Harry Green, Christy Koehler, Ossi Baumeister and Gus Schoepfle. 

A freelance photographer took this picture of two unidentified children playing dress up on Reese Street in 1912:

About 1920 the Sprau family gathered at Winnebago Park, now known as Lions Park. You can see Sandusky Bay in the background:

Members of the Sandusky Daily News baseball team posed for a picture at Huron Park in May, 1937:

  

   

These men are fishing at the Rockwell Trout Stream in Castalia in 1940:

  

This candid picture was taken at  the Boy with the Boot fountain in Washington Park on July 28, 1955:

Portraits of Walter and Edwin Sprau

Walter Sprau gave this picture of himself to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward C. Sprau, on Christmas Day in 1915, when he was eleven years old. Walter was very active in Grace Episcopal Church, and he may be wearing a church choir robe in his portrait.  Walter’s brother Edwin gave his parents this picture on Christmas Day in 1916.

 Mr. and Mrs. Edward C. Sprau were the parents of three sons. Walter and Edwin had a younger brother named Emmett. The Sprau family owned and operated a grocery store at the northeast corner of Camp and Jefferson Street from the early 1900s to the 1950s. Edwin and Emmett helped their father in the family business. The E.C. Sprau grocery store is pictured below in 1908, with two of the Sprau boys standing in front of the door of the grocery store.

      

Sadly, Edwin Sprau died at the age of 39 in 1942. He had been very active in baseball circles. He was secretary of the Sandusky Baseball Federation, secretary-treasurer of the Northern Ohio Baseball League, and had also been associated with the Firelands Baseball League, the Junior Leagues of Sandusky, and the Church Indoor League. Walter Sprau died in 1964 at the age of 60. Walter and his brother Emmett were both employed by the Erie Proving Grounds in Ottawa County.  The Sandusky Library Archives Research Center is fortunate to have hundreds of historical pictures of Sandusky families and businesses in its collections. 

When Sandusky Businesses Made Home Deliveries

Before the advent of automobiles and supermarkets, several businesses in Sandusky delivered their products to the homes of area residents. The E.C. Sprau grocery store had a horse and wagon that made deliveries, seen in the picture above, taken about 1908. A young man and child, with a horse and wagon from the Lewis Neill, Jr. Dairy were parked at the rear of St. Mary’s Church in Sandusky in 1910.

               

Employees of several local bakeries made deliveries to both homes and businesses throughout the years. Mrs. C. Frank’s bakery was first located on Tiffin Avenue, and moved to Columbus Avenue near Neil Street by 1902.

               

Below is the wagon fleet of the H and S Modern Bakery on Hancock Street in 1920.

            

Esmond Dairy started making dairy deliveries by horse drawn vehicles, but eventually the company switched to refrigerated trucks. The Esmond Dairy began in 1907, and ceased operations in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

        

In the 1930s and 1940s, both ice and coal were delivered by the City Ice & Fuel Company.

Before there were electric refrigerators, Sandusky residents ordered ice from the ice man. Customers put a card in their window, indicating how many pounds of ice they needed for the ice box. This ice card from the City Ice & Fuel Company, now in the Industry Room at the Follett House Museum, allowed customers to indicate whether they wanted 25, 50, 75, or 100 pounds of ice.

The popularity of online shopping has actually increased home delivery of consumer goods in recent years, but of course, it is a very different method of sales and delivery. Now, you don't see your sales person, and the money you spent leaves your community. Amazon, Ebay, and many other online retail sites display their products on a computer or mobile device, and with a credit card, ordering is quick and easy. 

40th Anniversary Meeting of the International Union of Operating Engineers

On January 15, 1952 local photographer William Mound took this photograph of the members of Local 496 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. Pictured are: (top row, left to right) Joe Geise, William Schemmer, Charles Popke, Sidney White; (bottom row) Frank Converse, Ben Sprau, and Frank Merrick. Ben Sprau was a charter member of the local chapter of the International Union of Operating Engineers, which was begun on January 12, 1912. The group started with only twelve members, and later grew to a membership of almost one hundred. Mr. Sprau worked as a marine engineer for over twenty five years, and later served as an engineer for the city of Sandusky.

Sandusky City Loan Baseball Team, 1941 Tournament Champs

On April 30, 1941, Wallace Deffenbaugh, manager of the City Loan Company in Sandusky, announced that City Loan would sponsor the former Clover Leaf Dairy baseball club of the Northern Ohio League. Edwin Sprau would serve as the business manager of the team. Games were to be played at the baseball diamond at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home. For seventeen years, the baseball team had been sponsored by the Clover Leaf Dairy.

An article in the September 22, 1941 issue of the Sandusky Register Star News reported that the Sandusky City Loan team won the city Class A tournament championship game played on Sunday, September 21, 1941 at Battery Park. City Loan beat the Soldiers’ Home players 8 to 4, and then won the final game against the Farrell-Cheek Foundry Team by a score of 11-5. The final game had to be ended in the seventh inning on account of darkness.

You can read a play by play account of the championship games played at Battery Park on September 21, 1941 in the Sandusky Register Star News of September 22, 1941, available on microfilm at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

Reunions

Reunions, whether informal or carefully planned, allow people to reconnect with family and friends from their past. Families, schools, colleges, military units, clubs and many other organizations hold reunions, some on an annual basis, and others not so frequently. In the first half of the twentieth century Sandusky’s local newspapers featured articles about family reunions, often in the neighborhood columns. Below is a photograph of a gathering of the Sprau family in 1916.

An article appearing in the June 18, 1921 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported on the sixth annual reunion of the Moyer family, held at York Center in Sandusky County. During the business meeting W. H. Moyer was elected president and Elmer Moyer was elected treasurer. The day’s events opened with the hymn “Blest be the tie that binds.” Rye Beach was chosen as the location for the seventh annual Moyer reunion. Cedar Point continues to be a popular site for family reunions, as it has been for several decades.

When the G.A.R. held annual meetings, they were called encampments. War stories and songs were shared at these well attended events. Individual military units held reunions of the surviving members of their group. The 30th Annual Reunion of the 101st Ohio Volunteer Infantry was held in Sandusky on August 27 and 18, 1896.

The August 7, 1912 issue of the Sandusky Register announced that veterans from the 128th Ohio Volunteer Infantry would meet at the West House for their thirty seventh annual reunion. Henry C. Strong was the president of the group of veterans of the 128th Infantry.

Descendants of pioneer preacher Rev. William Gurley were guests of honor at a Methodist centennial celebration held in Milan in April of 1912.

A Centennial Reunion of graduates of Sandusky High School was held in 1955.

Pictured below are Sandusky High School alumni and former faculty at a reunion held at the Rockwell Springs Trout Club in Castalia, 1950.

If you have vintage reunion photographs, consider donating them to the Sandusky Archives Research Center for future generations to enjoy.