Cartes-de-Visite of Mr. and Mrs. Ulmer

A carte-de-visite labelled only as “Mr. Ulmer” is in the biographical section of historical photographs at the Sandusky Library Archives Center. There is also a portrait of Mrs. Ulmer.

Both of the cartes-de-visite were created at the studio of Sandusky photographer A.C. Platt, who died in Sandusky in 1884.

By looking at the 1880 U.S. Census for Erie County, Ohio, there are two logical choices for helping in the indentification these individuals. In 1880, Albert Ulmer, age 38,  was listed as a dairyman. He resided in Perkins Township with his wife Louise, and their four daughters.  Jacob Ulmer a wagonmaker, age 39, lived in Sandusky, Ohio with his wife Susan, and brother Florian. Albert and Jacob Ulmer both stated that they had been born in Germany. 

Please be sure to label your family photographs so that in the future, your descendants will be able to know who the people are in the family pictures that you may pass on to them. Even though we do not know exactly which Ulmer family is pictured in these cartes-de-visite, it is delightful that we have pictures of German immigrants in our collections. It seems that Mr. Ulmer adapted well to his new home in Erie County, Ohio. Hundreds of early residents of Sandusky and Erie County came from many different parts of the world, helping to create the proverbial “melting pot.”

Businesses on Tiffin Avenue

The 1855 Sandusky City Directory lists several businesses on Tiffin Avenue, including a barber, cooper, blacksmith, and a grocer. David Bruckner and Florian Ulmer had a blacksmith shop on Tiffin Avenue near Monroe Street in the 1880s.

Mrs. Conrad Frank’s bakery was located first at Tiffin Avenue, but later moved to Columbus Avenue.

The Kuebeler brewing plant was built on Tiffin Avenue near Broadway Street in 1893, after the previous brewery was destroyed in a fire. In 1896 the Kuebeler and Stang breweries merged to form the Kuebeler-Stang Brewing Company. Two years later the Kuebeler- Stang Brewery became part of the Cleveland and Sandusky Brewing Company. Most of the breweries in Sandusky closed during Prohibition. One of the Kuebeler-Stang plants survived by making soft drinks, but it too closed in 1935, and all remaining beer production moved to Cleveland.

The Industrial Nut Corporation, which began as the Brightman Nut and Manufacturing Company, has been located on Tiffin Avenue for one hundred years.

George J. Bing built carriages at his garage on Tiffin Avenue in the early twentieth century, before his untimely death in 1914.

Many businesses have come and gone (and many still remain) on Tiffin Avenue, including Kerber’s Marine Grocery, Pietschman’s Shoes, and a variety of restaurants, gas stations, drugstores, and other businesses. A major Erie County employer, Ford Motor Company, now known as Automotive Components Holdings, opened an assembly plant on Tiffin Avenue in 1955. The picture below shows local Ford employees working in the 1960s.