Woodlawn Golf Course in Sandusky in the 1930s

The Woodlawn Golf Course opened at the corner of Camp Street and Perkins Avenue on May 30, 1931. The clubhouse was built by Miller Brothers, of Venice, Ohio. The firm of Opfer and Faber ran thousands of feet of tile, to provide adequate drainage for the golf course. Green fees were $1.00 for weekdays, and $1.25 on Sundays and holidays. On opening day, there were exhibition matches between Ed Windisch and Mel Carrier, and between Miss Polly Smith and Mrs. Cecil Laird. Pictured above are Mrs. Locke, Harley Hane, and Mel Carrier, the golf pro at Woodlawn. 

Several advertisements and announcements about the opening of the Woodlawn Golf Course appeared in the Sandusky Register of May 30, 1931.

The Manhattan store in Sandusky sold clothes that would make golfers “dress well” for the sport. Holzaepfel’s ran special sales on golf balls and golf clubs. 

In the snapshot below are: Mr. John Rheinegger, owner; Boyd Hamrick; and Chester Bohn, greenskeeper.

This is the Number 4 Fairway:

In the Spring of 1936, Charles Stamm took over the Woodlawn Golf Course as the manager and golf pro. During this economically-troubled era business declined, so that by 1938 and 1939 circuses were held on the grounds of the former golf course. This ad for the Parker and Watts Circus was featured in the Sandusky Star Journal of May 22, 1939.

Eventually, with the help of the Depression-era WPA, a new municipal golf course was created on the west side of Sandusky. An article in the May 20, 1940 issue of the Sandusky Register announced the dedication of the Mills Creek Golf Course. (The name is derived from the Honorable Isaac Mills, one of the founders of Sandusky.)

Historical Items from Sandusky Pharmacies

                       

This cabinet file once used for storing medicine labels is now housed in the attic level of the Follett House Museum. It had been used at the Sloane House Pharmacy, which was on the street level of the Sloane House hotel in Sandusky, beginning about 1890. Several different pharmacists worked in the Sloane House over the years, including H.K. Henkelman, Henkelman & Bechberger; Bechberger & Brown; Bechberger & Kubach, and Kubach and Buderer. Some of remedies on the labels are for Epsom salts, cod liver oil, boric acid and liniment. The label below from a container of pine tar capsules was purchased when Bechberger & Brown were partners in the Sloane House Pharmacy.

This apothecary bottle came from the pharmacy of Charles A. Lehrer, who had his business at the corner of Central Avenue and Decatur Street for several years in the first quarter of the twentieth century. He was the son of former Zion Lutheran Church pastor Rev. J. George Lehrer.

  

    

The compound of licorice powder is from the pharmacy of J.H. Emrich, an early Sandusky pharmacist.

    

This bottle of medicinal oil came from the E. J. Windisch Quality Pharmacy, which was in business in the 800 block of Hayes Avenue from about 1908 to 1925.

  

From 1898 until about 1930 Daniel Schaffer manufactured liniment. Advertisements claimed it to be the “greatest pain killer on earth.”  This advertisement for Schaffer’s Wonderful Liniment appeared in the Sandusky Star Journal on November 17, 1920:

Mihalovitch’s Hungarian Blackberry Juice was manufactured by a liquor dealer in Cincinnati, but was sold locally by nine different pharmacies in Sandusky in 1887. The juice was said to be a remedy for diarrhea, dysentery, cholera morbus (gastroenteritis), and all disorders of the bowels.

Hand Colored Postcards from George F. Windisch and Company

Several hand-colored postcards created by George F. Windisch and Company are housed in the collection of historical photographs at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. The postcard above features a view of the Cedar Point pier at the foot of Columbus Avenue in the first quarter of the twentieth century. George F. Windisch was a lifelong Sandusky resident, born in 1864 to parents of German descent. From 1903 to 1917, he, along with Carl F. Denzer, operated a business in the Stone’s Block on Sandusky’s Columbus Avenue.   The view in the postcard below faces south toward Columbus Avenue.

Many of these postcards are scenes from Cedar Point, the popular resort which still attracts visitors to the Sandusky area every summer and fall.

 

In 1919, George F. Windisch sold his interests in the store to his partner C.F. Denzer, who continued on as the sole proprietor.

After leaving the bookstore and stationery business, Windisch worked for the Herb and Myers department store. Mr. Windisch died in September, 1953 at the age of 89. An obituary appeared in the September 24, 1953 issue of the Sandusky Register Star News.

Sandusky Baking Company

The Sandusky Baking Company was incorporated in 1900, succeeding the former Sandusky Steam Baking Company which began in the 1890s at the southeast corner of Carr and Osborne Streets. The picture above was taken in 1913. Several employees and horse drawn delivery wagons can be seen in front of the bakery.  In 1917 Frank Windisch took over the Sandusky Baking Company, after having been the proprietor of a grocery store.

Soon after Windisch took over the business, he began plans for a new building to be constructed at the site of the old bakery. According to the January 4, 1920 issue of the Sandusky Register, the new building was set to open on January 8. The two story brick building had the most up to date equipment. An electric hoist carried sacks of flour to the storage area on the second floor. Each white tile oven in the bake room could bake over two hundred loaves of bread at one time. The company’s office and store room occupied the front portion of the building. In 1920 the Sandusky Baking Company was one of the largest bakeries between Cleveland and Toledo. Horse drawn delivery wagons were replaced with modern vehicles in the 1920s and 1930s. This delivery truck was built by J.A. Loeffler.

This picture was taken inside the bakery in the early 1920s. Manager Frank Windisch is on the left side of the picture. One of the bakers is Earl Sharp. Salesman Elmer Meyers is also in the picture.

In October of 1930, local Camp Fire Girls sold Sandusky Baking Company’s donuts for twenty five cents a dozen as a fund raising project. The company sponsored an episode of the “Baker’s Broadcast” on WJR Radio, featuring Joe Penner, in February, 1935.  Later that Spring, Apricot Delight pie and Cherry Carnival cake were favorites at the bakery. A product introduced by the Sandusky Baking Company in 1938 was “Sandusky Gold Bread.”  The Sandusky Baking Company closed in January, 1974, after its parent company, the Laub Baking Company of Cleveland decided to close its Sandusky location. The Sandusky Register of February 11, 1974 reported that all the contents of the West Osborne Street location were going to be auctioned off, as well as the East Market Street facility, which stored delivery vehicles.  This link to Google Maps will take you to a current view of the corner of Osborne and Carr Streets, where the Sandusky Baking Company stood for most of the twentieth century. From the Karl A. Hengel Collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, we find a group picture from the Sandusky Baking Company’s family picnic held on August 8, 1909. Karl’s father Joseph Hengel was employed by the bakery at this time.

The C.F. Denzer Company

An article in volume 85 of the American Stationer magazine reported that in 1919 Carl F. Denzer bought out the business of the George F. Windisch & Co. in Sandusky, Ohio. Mr. Denzer had been connected with Mr. Windisch for twenty-three years, and he had been a business partner since 1909. The C.F. Denzer Co. was located at 210-212 Columbus Avenue in the Stone Block. In the picture above, signs in the windows advertised safes, cabinets, filing supplies, and office furniture. Mr. Denzer also sold books, stationery, and sporting goods. Signs in the windows on the uppermost level of the building still featured the name of the previous owner George F. Windisch. A shoe store operated by George Ueberle and H. George Brengartner was just north of the C.F. Denzer Company. Right above the shoe store was the Christian Science Reading Room.

In a special “Ladies Night” sponsored by the Rotary Club in January, 1920, Carl F. Denzer was presented with a big barrel labeled Port Wine. Mr. Denzer pretended to open the wine and share with it with his friends, as the audience sang “How Dry I Am.” Since this event took place during Prohibition, there was most likely not any wine in the barrel.

During the Christmas season of 1921, the C.F. Denzer Co. advertised a wide variety of books, cards, games, and holiday decorations for Sandusky area residents. A title at the top of the list of books was A Web of Thought, by Marjorie Anderson, a native of Sandusky.

In September of 1926, Carl F. Denzer married Miss Corrinne Curtis, the sister of Worth Curtis. On August 23, 1940, members of the Ohio Stationers Club met at the new location of the C.F. Denzer Company on East Market Street. Mr. Denzer had sold the old C.F. Denzer building to the S.S. Kresge Company in March of 1940.

Carl F. Denzer passed away in California at the age of 59 on February 6, 1943. Though he had been in failing health, his death was unexpected. Carl F. Denzer was survived by his widow, two sisters and two brothers. Burial was at Oakland Cemetery.

Here is a postcard with a view of the Stone Block on Columbus Avenue, from the first quarter of the twentieth century: