Erney Tire Company

From about 1921 to 1931, the Erney Tire Company sold and serviced tires for automobile owners in the Sandusky area. Norbert G. Erney was the president and general manager.  In the early 1920s, the business was at 163-165 Jackson Street. In 1921, they sold Miller tires, especially for Ford cars. Staff from the company would deliver and install new tires to any automobile within a fifteen mile radius of the store. 

In April of 1927, the company moved to a new building at 919 West Washington Street. A special newspaper supplement devoted to the Erney Tire Company appeared in the April 8, 1927 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal.

Ackley’s Band provided music for the grand opening of “Sandusky’s Finest Automobile Service Station.” Services offered there included tires, road service, vulcanizing, tubes, washing, greasing, gasoline, oils, and brake service. By 1929, the company also sold and serviced radios for automobiles. It was felt that having a radio in one’s automobile helped prevent boredom on a long road trip, and provided a diversion from the roar of the motor and the rumble of the tires.

In 1931 the Erney Tire Company began selling Firestone tires and batteries. By the summer of 1931 a Firestone Service Store took over the business. Below is a portion of the large advertisement from the July 25, 1931 issue of the Sandusky Register.

Mr. Norbert G. Erney went on to work as an accountant at Farrell Cheek for several years, but he was long remembered for his excellent leadership and service at the Erney Tire Company when the automobile era was still in its infancy.

Sandusky Register Employees in the Early Twentieth Century

In the photograph above, members of the Sandusky Register “Chapel” of the Typographical Union fill up two vintage automobiles in downtown Sandusky. The cars appear to be decorated for a parade. (Possibly the Perry's Victory Centennial Parade?) The picture was taken in front of the Pabst Cafe, between 1910 and 1913, which was located at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Water Street, not far from the Sandusky Register building, which was at 626-630 Water Street, on the south side, between Columbus Avenue and Wayne Street. (The street numbers indicate that the picture was taken before the 1915 change in the street numbering system.)  The proprietors of the Pabst Cafe and Grill Room at that time were Moe Frohman and Frank Elzenheimer. Note that the street is paved with bricks. To see this and many other historical photographs of Sandusky and Erie County, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

Automobile Show at Jackson Junior High School

Sandusky’s 15^th Annual Automobile Show was held at Jackson Junior High School on February 14, 15, and 16 in 1936. (The photo above is undated, but it was from the decade of the 1930s.) Details about the Auto Show in 1936 were featured in the Sandusky Register and Star Journal newspapers, now available on microfilm at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.  Thirty new cars were on display, and there was entertainment and door prizes each night of the show. Admission fee was fifteen cents. 

The new Chrysler automobiles in 1936 had several new features, including more passenger space, stronger body construction, and a new ventilating system.

Some of the models of cars on display from the Ogontz Garage are no longer made today.

Appliances were also on display at the Auto Show.

The Erney Family had two performances during the Auto Show.

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to learn more about the history of Sandusky and Erie County, Ohio.

Sandusky Police Department Vehicles from the 1920s and 1930s

Officer Chris Sehlmeyer of the Sandusky Police Department is pictured above at the seat of a new police emergency vehicle. It appears that the car is on an assembly line or testing facility. (We don't know the details.) Note the spare tire, located right on the outside of the car door. 

In 1931, Chris stood in front of another new police vehicle.

   

Christian J. Sehlmeyer held many positions with the Sandusky Police Department, where he worked from the 1920s through 1944. He was a traffic officer, detective, and achieved the rank of Sergeant. He died on May 22, 1971, and he was survived by his wife, three sons, and five grandchildren. Below is a group photograph of members of the Sandusky Police Department in 1937. Sergeant Sehlmeyer is in uniform near the center of the front row.

   

Notes on the original picture identify each person.

To learn more about the past members of the Sandusky Police Department, you can view the historical roster at the city of Sandusky’s website.

216 Erie County Residents Owned Automobiles in 1911

An article which appeared in the May 13, 1911 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal listed the names of the 216 Erie County residents who owned automobiles. The Erie County Clerk’s office kept a listing of the names of the owners of automobiles, the registration number, the owner’s address, and the make of car. In 1911, G.A. Boeckling owned an Oldsmobile. L.J. Parker owned a Buick. Dr. Merz drove an Overland. George Schade owned three vehicles, a Brush, a Speedwell, and a Cadillac. Though we do not know what type of vehicle George J. Bing is driving in the picture below, in 1911 he owned a Zimmerman, and he was an agent for Paterson roadsters and touring cars at his business on Tiffin Avenue.

Elmore automobiles sold for $1750 in 1911. Below is an Elmore from 1912.

   

The Star Garage sold an E-M-F “30” for $1100, at the corner of Market and Decatur Streets. Model T Fords were also sold there.

Many of the types of automobiles sold in Sandusky in 1911 are unknown to us today. The auto industry was then in its infancy, and was changing rapidly. If you would like to read the entire article about Sandusky’s automobile drivers in 1911, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, where several decades of local newspapers are found on microfilm.

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.

Willard A. Bishop, A Popular Sandusky Photographer

Willard A. Bishop was born in Shelby County, Indiana in 1856. In 1880, he moved to Sandusky, Ohio, where he opened a photographic studio. The 1882 Sandusky City Directory listed his studio at the northeast corner of Water Street and Columbus Avenue, with his residence at the West House hotel. By 1884, Mr. Bishop had a partnership with James H. Veitch in a photography studio in Stone’s block, on the corner of Columbus Avenue and Market Street. Besides taking photographs, Bishop and Veitch also created crayon drawings and ink portraits for their customers. Frank S. Barker was a partner with W.A. Bishop in 1886, and by then the studio had moved to 725 Washington Row, which is now in the 200 block of West Washington Row.  By 1888, W.A. Bishop was the sole proprietor of the studio, which can be seen in the picture below, taken in the first decade of the 1900s. Mr. Bishop remained in this location until 1941.

On the back of a cabinet card, Bishop advertised as a “photographic artist,” whose studio was all on the ground floor.

Bishop took pictures of individuals, families, businesses, and local government offices. This 1908 picture shows Sandusky’s downtown after a sleet storm.

Here is a composite picture of the Sandusky High School graduates of 1911:

In 1908 Mr. Bishop gave the history room at the Sandusky Library three frames containing 149 pictures of business and professional men of Sandusky whose portraits he had taken prior to this time. These portraits are now in the collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. 

More than just a photographer, Mr. Bishop was active in many local community activities. In 1903, he was in the cast of “The New Dominion”, a play which was performed at the Nielsen Theater. He can be seen here with fellow cast member Annette Fitch Brewer.

In 1917 Willard A. Bishop was the chairman of the building committee of the Good Samaritan Hospital. He is the second individual on the left in the picture of the ground breaking for the new hospital building on Van Buren Street which was built in 1918-1919.

Late in 1941, Willard A. Bishop’s health began to fail. He passed away on January 31, 1942. A lengthy obituary for Mr. Bishop is found in the 1942 Obituary Notebook at the Sandusky Library. It read in part, “Few men were better known or highly respected in Sandusky than Mr. Bishop…his camera recorded the history of Sandusky in pictures in the thousands of negatives on file in his studio here.”  The article pointed out that Bishop’s pictures told the story of the surrender of the horse to the automobile, and portrayed the transformation of the hoop-circled American girl to the modern athletic person of the 1940s. Funeral services for Willard A. Bishop were held at the Keller Funeral Home, and graveside services at Oakland Cemetery were held under the auspices of Erie Commandery, Knights Templar. Mrs. Bishop, the former Mary Mathews, had predeceased her husband in 1925.

When Sandusky’s Funeral Homes Provided Ambulance Service

Before organized emergency medical services were introduced in the United States, funeral homes often provided emergency ambulance service as well as transportation for sick patients. In the souvenir booklet from Sandusky’s Centennial Celebration in 1924, Charles J. Andres’ Sons funeral directors offered 24-hour sedan ambulance service. In the same publication, the Frey Furniture and Undertaking Co. advertised an auto invalid car “used exclusively for the living.”

In this picture from a 1924 parade, the Andres Funeral Home vehicle had the word ambulance lettered above the white cross on the front of the car.

The billboard in the undated picture  below from rural Erie County  stated that the Frey Funeral Home also offered ambulance service.

Listings in Sandusky City Directories indicate that local funeral homes provided ambulance service from the 1920s through the 1970s. An article in the June 25, 1964 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that during the 1950s and 1960s,  the Andres, Frey, Keller, Quick and Suitor Funeral Homes rotated ambulance service on a monthly basis, so that the calls were distributed fairly. David Suitor stated that he personally delivered five babies while on ambulance calls in Sandusky. 

Pythian Sisters

While we do not have details about the place or people associated with the Pythian Sisters riding in the float in the picture above, it is estimated that the picture was taken between 1910 and 1925. The streets are made of brick, and a horse drawn vehicle can be seen on the left side of the picture. It could have been for a patriotic parade during the First World War. 

The Pythian Sisters are an auxiliary group connected with the fraternal organization known as the Knights of Pythias. The mission of the Pythian Sisters is:

To bring together women of diverse backgrounds and to provide opportunities for them to help themselves and others grow through the principles of Purity, Love, Equality, and Fidelity.

Local Sandusky newspapers, available on microfilm at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, covered the activities of the Pythian Sisters on the Society Page. The ladies had dances and card parties, and raised money for charitable organizations. An article in the November 23, 1922 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that the “Sandusky Pythian Sisters’ degree team is one of the best in the state.” The degree team of the Pythian Sisters participated in ritualistic ceremonies associated with the Pythian Sisters.  In 1923, the Pythian Sisters held a fund raising activity with the proceeds going to the Sophie Huntington Home for Aged Pythian Sisters in Medina, Ohio. On October 27, 1931, the tenth annual convention of District No. 15, Pythian Sisters, was held in Sandusky. Over 300 people attended the convention. During the evening hours, the Sandusky Lodge, Knights of Pythias met with the Pythian Sisters. A play entitled “A Lesson in Friendship” was presented, along with musical selections.


Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to learn more about the past activities of the Club and Organizations of Sandusky and Erie County.

Ice Fishing on Sandusky Bay

An issue of the Ford Times from 1961 stated that Sandusky Bay was considered “Lake Erie’s ice fishing capital.” Here are some historic views of ice fishing on the Bay.

 One of the men in the picture below is drilling a hole in the ice for his fishing spot.

Here is a picture of several men fishing near the docks in 1930.

These folks are ice fishing without the benefit of an ice shanty.

 Several cars can be seen going over an “ice bridge” across Sandusky Bay about 1930.

 While it is often said that “no ice is safe ice,” the Ohio Department of Natural Resources provides tips and safety information for ice fishing in Ohio at their website.

Sandusky Motor Truck

This postcard featured the “Sandusky Motor Truck,” manufactured in Sandusky from about 1910 to 1912. Charles Blatz was a local agent for the Sandusky Auto Parts and Truck Company.  Charles E. Frohman wrote in his book Sandusky's Yesterdays (Ohio Historical Society, 1968) that the Sandusky Auto Parts and Truck Company was incorporated on April 28, 1910, with Daniel E. Storms and J.W. Woods, both of Indiana, as the principal financial backers. The manufacturing facility for the Sandusky Auto Parts and Truck Company was located at 1531 First Street, which was later the site of Barr Rubber Products for many years.

The Sandusky Auto Parts and Truck Company manufactured commercial trucks, motors, axles and transmissions. One of the features of the truck was that it had a removable power unit. A test drive of one thousand miles was successful, and the company showed great promise, but it went into receivership by 1913. The 1912 Sandusky City Directory listed these men as the officers of the Sandusky Auto Parts and Motor Truck Company: A.F. Knotts, President; J.J. Dauch, Vice President; R.D. Mitchell, Secretary; and Daniel E. Storms, Treasurer and General Manager.

George Schade’s Runabout Automobile

George Schade’s Runabout automobile is pictured above, in front of the Kuebeler-Schade home on Tiffin Avenue in the very early 1900s. The Runabout was manufactured by the Sandusky Automobile Company. The Courier was another model made in Sandusky.

A longtime city commissioner in Sandusky, George Schade was one of the first automobile owners in Sandusky. Mr. Schade was the husband of Anna Kuebeler, daughter of  Jacob Kuebeler, a pioneer in the brewing industry.

The Sandusky Automobile Company, founded by James J. Hinde, was only in business for a few years in the first decade of the twentieth century. To read more about the early automobile age in Sandusky, see chapter 18 of the book Sandusky's  Yesterdays, by Charles E. Frohman.

A Closer Look at a Photo of the Feick Building in 1910

Sandusky photographer E.H. Schlessman took this photograph of a portion of the Feick Building in 1910. Though the picture is torn, it is interesting to see a slice of life from an earlier time in our community. From about 1910 to 1915, the Mayer Lebensburger Company, which sold men’s clothing, and the Sandusky Business College both were in operation in the Feick Building on East Market Street. The Mayer Lebensburger store occupied the street level of 154 to 162 East Market Street. The Sandusky Business College held classes on the third floor of the Feick Building, which only had three stories at that time. The automobile in from the Mayer Lebensburger store had a convertible top, and the tail light and headlights were lanterns, possibly fueled with kerosene.

The poster in the store window was advertising an event to take place on Thursday, August 10. The lady pictured below is looking at another poster in the men’s clothing store, where several pairs of trousers are displayed.

On the second floor, we can see a man, presumably working at his desk.

By 1916, the Mayer Lebensburger Company went out of business, and the Sandusky Business College eventually moved to 403 East Adams Street. Of course, the Feick Building later had a total of eight stories, and many other businesses were in operation there. The Citizens Banking Company was in business at the Feick Building for several decades. Because of the generosity of many donors, the Sandusky Library Archives Center has a rich collection of historic photographs, scrapbooks, books, and other primary resources which help us learn about the past residents of Sandusky and Erie County.

Esmond Dairy Baseball Team

The Esmond Dairy baseball team is pictured above on the grounds of the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home. In the 1920s, the Esmond Dairy sponsored baseball, football, and basketball teams. An article in the May 15, 1922 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported that the baseball fields at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home were a big improvement over the baseball field at Huron Park, where they had been playing. While we do not know exactly which players are in this photo, you can read about historical baseball games played in Sandusky on microfilmed copies of the Sandusky Register and the Sandusky Star Journal at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

From about 1919 through the 1970s, Esmond Dairy was located at 1610-1616 Campbell Street in Sandusky.