Although ravaged by the elements, there is a 'rock' in the downtown park which has an unusual history. On July 4, 1991 – the Erie County Historical Society dedicated one of its earliest plaques to explain this geological wonder. This history is ‘mostly’ taken from Janet Senne’s dedication speech, with a little more added. [...]
OUR APRIL 7, 2019 SPRING TOUR RESERVATIONS ARE NECESSARY IF YOU WANT TO ATTEND On April 7, 2019 we will host a tour of the former E & K (Engels & Krudwig) Winery at 224 E. Market St. After the tour, join us for a social hour at the Bait House. We met at [...]
THE GRAEFE BUILDING This building takes up much of the north side of E. Market St. It was constructed in 1939 after a devastating fire destroyed the original Graefe building. A newspaper article announced plans by Frankel and Sears to occupy the building and noted that plastering was still underway and light fixtures needed [...]
THE WILDMAN & MILLS WAREHOUSE – 223 W. Water St. The building was built in 1835 by Sandusky founders Zalmon Wildman and Isaac Mills for warehouse use. Its front door faces Water St. and its back faces Shoreline Dr. once railroad tracks which ran along the shoreline. THE SANDUSKY ATHLETIC CLUB The Club has a [...]
THE WILKE BUILDING - 129 Columbus Ave. According to an article from the Sandusky Register of January 30, 1986, the Wilke building was originally part of the West House hotel. The article said that retail stores were on the street level, while hotel rooms occupied the upper floors. When the West House was demolished, they saved the [...]
THE LAURENCE BUILDING - 129-139 W. Market St. This building dates back to around 1880. It was restored in 1978. While the building bears its name, not much history is available on this building. The Sandusky Library has an interesting article on Laurence Cable who might have been the owner. Cable owned [...]
PEDDLER'S ALLEY The alley entrance is off Columbus Ave. It is sometimes called Musician's Alley because of the music shops located next to the alley, which also have entrances onto the alley. There is a bit of mystery about Peddler's Alley and we are still working on chasing it down. Here is [...]
THE WALL We are still digging into the history of this unusual place. Here is what we have so far. The west side of the wall itself is unremarkable. There are several bricked-in windows, but since the buildings were close together, there is no reason for windows to be there, unless they looked onto [...]
GRAY DRUG Gray Drug was located on the SW corner and this is the side that faced Columbus St. The longest part of the building ran along Market St. Gray Drug was a drugstore chain in Cleveland Ohio. The chain began in 1912 and grew to 46 stores by 1946 and over 100 by the 1970s. Gray [...]
THE SCHMIDT BUILDING This building was built by Sandusky contractor George W. Doerzbach in the Spring of 1894. It originally was a 100 foot square brick structure. An article in the Sandusky Register of March 30, 1894 reported that the foundations of the building were blasted out of the stone bedrock. That stone was then used [...]