When Cable TV Offices were in the Boeckling Building

From the early 1970s until 2000, the historic Boeckling building, at 105 West Shoreline Drive, was the home of cable TV in Sandusky. The business, originally known as North Central TV, Inc., later became Buckeye Cablevision, and now Buckeye Broadband. 

This building was constructed in 1928 to serve as the winter administrative offices of the Cedar Point Resort Company. It became known as the Boeckling Building, named after G.A. Boeckling, then the President and General Manager of the Cedar Point Resort Company. The Boeckling Building has Spanish features, with a red tile roof and arched windows. Aquatic symbols adorn the sides of the building which face east and south.

In recent years, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Office of Coastal Management has had its offices at this location. Future development plans are in the works for this grand building.

105 W. Shoreline Drive in 2015

To learn more about other historic buildings in Sandusky, see Treasure by the Bay: the Historic Architecture of Sandusky, Ohio (Bucknell University Press, 1989) by Ellie Damm.

The Twin Homes of the Kuebeler Brothers

The homes of August and Jacob Kuebeler were pictured in the 1894 publication, Art Work of Huron and Erie Counties. Built in 1885, the residence of August Kuebeler was at 1319 Tiffin Avenue, and is still standing. Jacob Kuebeler had an almost identical home built across the street at 1318 Tiffin Avenue. It no longer stands. Dick’s Carry Out is now at this location.

You can see the location of the Kuebeler brothers’ homes in an early 20th century Sanborn Insurance Map:

The Kuebeler homes are in pink, roughly facing each other

Before 1915, the addresses were 909 and 910 Tiffin Avenue. The former Kuebeler homes were built in the Eastlake architectural style. Each home was three stories high, constructed from brick, with decorative trim around the windows.

The brothers were prominent in the brewing industry in Sandusky, Ohio. The Kuebeler brewery was established in 1867.

The Kuebeler brewing plant was on Tiffin Avenue near Broadway on Sandusky’s west side. (You can see the proximity of the plant to the men's homes in the map above.) It was built in 1893 after the previous plant had been destroyed by fire. In 1896 the Kuebeler and Stang breweries merged. Two years later the Kuebeler-Stang brewery became part of the Cleveland Sandusky Brewing Company. Most of the Sandusky breweries closed during Prohibition, but one of the former Kuebeler-Stang plants manufactured soft drinks into the mid 1930s.

For several years the former home of August Kuebeler housed the Erie County Detention facility. Longtime city commissioner George Mylander was a direct descendant of Jacob Kuebeler.

Sketches in Europe, by George Feick, Jr.

George Feick, Jr. was a member of a long line of architects and builders in his family, spending much of his career in the family firm, the George Feick and Sons Company. According to his obituary in the November 30, 1945 issue of the Sandusky Register Star News, he spent a year in Europe and the Near East studying building designs following his graduation from the Cornell University School of Architecture. A book of his architectural sketches is in the collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. 

Dated in 1906 (when he was about 25 years old), the sketch book features drawings created while he visited Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and several other locations.

To learn more about the Feick family, see Building America: A History of the Family Feick, by Anita Gundlach Feick,  in the Family Histories collection of the Sandusky Library.

Henry C. Millott, Architect

Henry C. Millott was born in Erie County, Ohio in 1878 to Martin and Julia (Tracy) Millott, who were both of Irish descent. Mr. Millott worked as an architect in Sandusky for over fifty years, in partnership with Harold Parker for much of that time. He was the architect for St. Mary’s Catholic School, which was dedicated in 1909.

In 1915 Mr. Millott designed an addition to the Hotel Rieger. He was also the architect for the Sandusky Star-Journal building built between 1920 and 1921 at the southeast corner of Market and Jackson Streets, now home to the Sandusky Register.

Two financial buildings were constructed in Sandusky in 1923. Mr. Millott was the architect of the Third National Exchange Bank on Market Street, which was built in the Neoclassic style.

Both Henry C. Millott and Harold Parker were listed as architects of the Commercial Banking and Trust Company, built at the corner of Columbus Avenue and East Washington Row. Ellie Damm wrote in her book Treasure by the Bay that the Commercial Banking and Trust Company is the only Beaux-Arts style building in the city of Sandusky.

Note the carved cornucopias above the front door of the former Commercial Banking and Trust Company, which is a symbol of abundance.

In 1938, Mr. Millott designed the Erie County Children’s Home, which was a federal Public Works Administration project. The August 10, 1939 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported that Henry Millott had been the “brain child” of renovation of the Erie County Courthouse project which took place in the 1930s.  The courthouse renovation was completed without interrupting the normal activities of the courts.

When Mr. Millott filled out his World War II registration card in 1942, he stated that his employer was the Trojan Powder company, for whom he worked as an architect. In 1946, the Bellevue Housing Company announced that he was the architect for twelve new homes to be constructed for U.S. veterans on lots purchased on Ellis Avenue, Sheffield, Walnut and Kern Streets in that city. 

Henry C. Millott died on June 20, 1957. He was survived by his wife, the former Eleanor Hinde, two daughters, three sons, and several grandchildren. Through his architectural designs, Mr. Millott quite literally left his mark on Sandusky and Erie County.

Views of Sandusky Library Before 1920

The Sandusky Library has offered library services to residents of Sandusky and Erie County since the nineteenth century; after years of temporary library sites, the original library building (pictured above) opened on July 3, 1901. The exterior of the building was constructed from Sandusky blue limestone. The architects were Albert D’Oench and Joseph W. Yost, who designed the library in the Second Romanesque Revival style. The towers on either side of the Adams Street entrance give the Sandusky Library an appearance that is not unlike a castle. In the first quarter of the twentieth century, the eastern portion of the library consisted of a reference room and two reading rooms. The western portion of the library served as Carnegie Hall, where concerts, lectures, and special events were held. Below is a picture of the children’s reading room in 1917. This area is now used as the Baby Garden.

The adult reading room was in the center of the eastern wing of the original Sandusky Library. If you look closely, you can see that a stained glass window served as a skylight at that time. The two doors under the skylight led to the stacks which held thousands of books. The floor was made of thick glass, to allow for light to be let in to the lower level of the library.

The former adult reading room is now a part of the Children’s Services area of the Sandusky Library. The original pillars can still be seen in the library today.

Many other architectural elements of the 1901 library building remain in today’s Sandusky Library, including the lovely wooden doors leading to the Adams Street entrance, and several stained glass windows in the lobby. The art glass, in hues of green and gold, was designed by Jessie May Livermore.

See the website of the Sandusky Library for more information about the history of the library. In 2004, the Sandusky Library celebrated the completion of a large renovation and addition project which incorporated the former Erie County jail with the Sandusky Library, thus uniting two historical buildings in Sandusky into one library which remains a vital part of the community today.

Stone Houses Owned by Eleutheros Cooke

Between 1827 and 1835 several structures in the 400 block of Columbus Avenue were built by Eleutheros Cooke, Sandusky’s first lawyer.  You can see the properties on the 1893 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map.

You can still see the brackets along the top of the home, under which are geometric designs.

On the porch of the home that is now 410 Columbus Avenue, General William Henry Harrison was presented with a flag made by the ladies of Sandusky. That flag is now in the historical collections of the Follett House Museum.

This home is considered to be Sandusky’s oldest standing house, according to the Ohio Historic Places Dictionary. It was built in the Greek Revival style of architecture in 1821. In the 1890s, Dr. C.T. Stroud and his son had their dental offices at this location. An advertisement which appeared in the Sandusky Register Star News of April 4, 1945 indicates that a beauty shop and “normalizing salon” was in business here.

Through the years, several different medical practices were in business at his location. 

Just to the south of 410 Columbus Avenue is a double stone house, built from limestone, now with the address of 412-414 Columbus Avenue. William Robertson purchased this property in 1865 from the Cooke estate. For many years this structure has been used as apartments. There are doors on either side, at the street level and lower level.

The third stone building, now 416 Columbus Avenue, was razed in 1918 to make way for a Bell Telephone Company office building. The United Way now has its offices at this location. 

To learn much more about the many historic homes and businesses in Sandusky, see At Home in Early Sandusky by Helen Hansen, and Treasure by the Bay, by Ellie Damm, both available at the Sandusky Library. 

Samuel Facer, Original Owner of the Building at 279 East Market Street

The building at 279 East Market Street, now home to Mabel and Ethel’s Quilt Shop, was built by Samuel Facer in 1883-1884. Facer had several business ventures in Sandusky, including a blacksmith shop and a hack and omnibus business. After he sold his hack business to the Goosman family, Mr. Facer carried mail for the U.S. Post Office, before the Post Office owned their own vehicles. In the 1880s, he leased the space on the street level of the building at the northwest corner of Market and Hancock Streets for a store, and he and his wife lived upstairs. 

Ellie Damm wrote in her book Treasure by the Bay that the building was built in the Italianate style, with an intricate system of cast iron columns and sandstone beams. On the east side of the building is a cast iron balcony.

Facer’s former store building has been named to the National Register of Historic Places.

A wide variety of businesses and organizations have been in operation at 279 East Market Street through the years, including grocery stores, a bicycle shop, a pool hall, dry cleaners, and an antique store. In the 1980s, Grace Church had their thrift shop at this location, and for a time the Maritime Museum was here. 

In 1892 Samuel Facer worked to protect land along the waterfront, and Facer Park was created.  In 2007 the “Path to Freedom” sculpture was dedicated in Facer Park.

A portrait of Samuel Facer is on display at the Follett House Museum.

Flatiron Building at the Corner of Elm, Hancock and Monroe Streets

Known as a flatiron building, because of its unique shape that is similar to a flat clothes iron, this limestone building was constructed by the Kuebeler and Stang families in 1909. It sits on a triangular lot at the intersection of Elm, Hancock and Monroe Streets. You can see the shape of the lot in an early twentieth century Sanborn Fire Insurance Map.

The side of the building that faces Monroe Street features a rising sun on the pediment of the building.

Decorative stone is found along the top of the side of the building that faces Hancock Street. If you look closely at the second floor windows, you can still see signs from the dance studio which once occupied the top floor.

Commonly known as the Kuebeler Block, this building was built for businesses to occupy the street level, and a social hall on the upper level. Several business on Hancock Street comprised a small business district that served Sandusky’s residents on the near east side. In 1916,  the Spiegel Brothers had a barber shop on the lower level, next to Robert Fingerhut’s merchant tailor shop. The “Social Seven Hall” occupied the upper floor of the Kuebeler block at this time. Gilcher and Wallen once ran a hat shop at this location.

In 1948, Kay Lutes opened a dance studio in the Kuebeler Block’s upper level. In the 1980s and 1990s,  Barb’s Dance was also at this location. In 2016, this property has a consignment shop on the street level.  “If those walls could talk,” they could tell many stories about this historic Sandusky building.

The Lea Block, on Market Street

Located at the southwest corner of Market and Wayne Streets in Sandusky, Ohio, the Lea Block was built in 1895, at what is now 174 to 186 East Market Street.  It was named for its first owner, James D. Lea, a prominent Sandusky business man. The three story brick structure was built in the Second Romanesque Revival style of architecture, and features rounded windows and corbeled brick trim.

There is ornamentation both above and below the fire escape on the side of the building that faces Wayne Street.

The first floor of the Lea Block has been home to number of different businesses through the years. In the early 1900s, the top floor was used as an Armory. Mr. F.X. Rinderle operated his tailoring shop in the ground floor in 1900. (Note: Before the street numbers changed in 1915, the Lea Block was in the 600 block of Market Street.)

From about 1917 to 1919, the Wendt Economy Grocery was in business in the Lea Block.

Wrestling matches were held on the upper level of the building in the early 1920s. In 1928 the Lea Block was purchased by the Knight of Pythias, for use by the lodge for meetings, dances and parties. In 1936 the Knights of Pythias occupied the third floor; the second floor was home to the Oheb Shalom Jewish congregation and the Progressive Spiritual Church; and on the first floor were a music teacher, dental office, insurance agent, and two dress makers. In more recent years, the ground level of the building has been occupied by jewelry and floral shops, a finance company, a novelty business, home decorating store, and even a metaphysical shop. 

Read Ellie Damm’s book, Treasure by the Bay, available at Sandusky Library, to learn more about the historic architecture of Sandusky, Ohio.

Oliver W. Marble, Architect

Oliver W. Marble moved to Sandusky in 1901, after having worked as an architect in Chicago for twenty-two years. In Chicago, his firm, Wilson and Marble, designed the Chinese Village and Theater for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. After arriving in Sandusky, he quickly made a name for himself with many local designs.

Mr. Marble, along with Ed Bertsch, was the architect for the First Congregational Church of Marblehead, Ohio, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places.  After the American Crayon Company plant in Sandusky suffered a massive fire in October of 1901, he was selected to draw up plans for the construction of several new buildings for the company.

Marble also designed and built the White House Hotel at Cedar Point in 1901, pictured in the postcard below.

    

An article in the July 26, 1901 Sandusky Daily Star stated that “the attainments of Mr. Oliver W. Marble, of this city, are of the highest order. Mr. Marble is deservedly popular, not only with property owners, contractors, builders and other directly interested in improvements, but with the business community and general public.” 

Mr. Marble was active in the First Church of Christ Scientist where he was first reader and healer. In the early 1900s, Erie County Prosecutor Roy H. Williams prosecuted him for practicing medicine without a license. Mr. Marble was found guilty of the charge, but the Erie County Common Pleas Court dismissed the verdict. The prosecutor appealed the case to the Ohio Supreme Court, and the Court overruled the trial court and reinstated the guilty verdict.  

Oliver W. Marble died on June 4, 1908. He was survived by his wife and four children.