Sandusky Boat and Equipment Show in 1940

From April 26 to April 28, 1940 the Sandusky Boat and Equipment Show, sponsored by the Sandusky Sailing Club, was held at the Sandusky Junior High School (later known as Jackson Junior High.)

The Boat and Equipment Show ran from Friday through Sunday. Model sail yacht races were held in the swimming pool, as well as demonstrations of life saving and artificial resuscitation. Movies were shown in Room One.  Meetings of the I.L.Y.A. (Inter-Lake Yachting Association) and I.L.S.C. (possibly the Interlake Sailing Class Association) were held during the weekend. The Boat and Equipment Show had over fifty exhibitors, including the U.S. Coast Guard, Lyman Boat Works, Darst Works, Sandusky Boat Works, Worthy R. Brown, Inc., and several other companies from Sandusky, Toledo, Cleveland and Detroit. Music was provided by the Sandusky High School Orchestra and Mr. Aldrich’s High School Band Quartet known as the “Singing Sailors.”  On Sunday evening at 8 p.m. a Dutch folk dancing group from Holland, Michigan performed in the closing ceremonies. The eight young ladies were led by their instructor Miss Mabel Apel, the daughter of Sandusky City Commissioner George J. Apel. 

An article in the Sandusky Star Journal on April 29, 1940, reported that total attendance for the Sandusky Boat and Equipment Show was 4,000 over the three-day event. Many local businesses advertised in the program for the Boat Show, including Maus Shoes, who sold a shoe called the Yachtshu which claimed to be slip proof on the wet deck of a boat.

As was discussed in a previous blog post, the Junior High School was the location of many community events in Sandusky from the late 1920’s through the  1940’s. This is from a car show at the Junior High from 1936:

A Trade Show in Sandusky, Circa 1951

Several pictures from a Trade Show in Erie County, probably from 1950 or 1951, are on file in the historical collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

Representatives from the Singer Sewing Machine Company demonstrated their sewing machines which sold for as low as $89.50 in the fifties. Singer ads stated that a lifetime of savings could be appreciated if clothing and home furnishings were created by the homemaker instead of purchased. In the early fifties, the Singer Sewing Machine Company was located at 171 East Washington Row, and the company sold sewing machines, vacuum cleaners, and other small home appliances.

Sandusky Lumber & Supply Company, on East Perkins Avenue off of Milan Road, featured a special on Curtis Quality Kitchen Cabinets for $184.00 at the Trade Show.

Hohler Furnace and Sheet Metal Company, at the corner of Decatur and Water Streets, showed a variety of oil and gas heating unites and a gas fired incinerator.

In the display below, Modernfold Doors promised that they could save space and add beauty to the home. An interesting robot model was constructed from Devoe paint cans.

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view these and many more vintage photographs from Sandusky and Erie County.

Sandusky Junior High School Served as a Community Center

The Sandusky City School building located at 318 West Madison Street was dedicated on February 26, 1928 as Sandusky Junior High School. In 1957, after the new high school had been built, it became known as Jackson Junior High School. This school building housed the eighth graders of Sandusky City Schools until 2009. From the late 1920’s through the 1940’s, the auditorium and gymnasium of the Sandusky Junior High served as a community center, hosting banquets, lectures, concerts, and meetings.


During the late 1920’s and early 1930’s an annual Gym Show was presented by Junior High School students.

In May of 1929 the gymnasium exhibition featured marching, callisthenic drills, tumbling, and many other forms of exercise. Students also demonstrated lifesaving skills, dives, and races in the swimming pool of the Junior High.

A Food Show was held on October 29-31, 1935 at Sandusky Junior High, under the auspices of the local Home Service Stores. Area stores and organizations displayed goods and equipment for use in the home kitchen. Tickets were given away free at any Home Service Store, and children were to be accompanied by adults at all times.

Other events held at the Junior High included an Art Show

and a musical revue entitled the “Flying Varieties,” produced by the Special Service Branch of the Air Service Command Headquarters to promote the sale of war bonds in July of 1944.

Today a wide variety of convention centers are found in Sandusky, Cleveland, and Toledo, to host conventions, meetings, and banquets, but in the first half of the twentieth century, Sandusky Junior High School was an ideal spot for such events.