USA > Ohio > Erie County > History of Erie County Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 47
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
All necessary facilities are found in the building for handling the immense quantity of wine which this well known firm is called on to furnish the wide market in which their products are sold. The trade extends to all principal cities of the Union-east, west, and south, and to the upper lake cities.
The business was begun in 1872 by John P. Dorn, father of the present proprietor, and conducted very successfully up to the time of his death. In 1886 it came into the hands of the son who is still widening the field of sale, and the source of supply. Mr. Dorn has a vineyard of about one hundred acres near Venice, this county, and in 1887 planted eighty acres of young vines.
-
-
416
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
In addition to the many tons of grapes raised by the proprietor, considera. ble quantities are purchased from year to year of other growers who have limited wine-making facilities, or none at all.
The establishment produces not far from a hundred thousand gallons of wine a year, and a still running in one of the departments of the enterprise turns out from one fifty to two hundred barrels of grape brandy. The firm has a large ice-house in which about six thousand tons are stored annually for use in the business. Mr. Dorn intends increasing his facilities in the near future, and to this end has enlarged his vineyard as before stated. His busi- ness furnishes employment for fifteen men during a greater part of the year, and at times a much larger force is required. The buildings are well located and commodious, with convenient storerooms, and a well furnished and com- fortable office on the ground floor.
E. R. Moos, Hayes avenue, near Tyler street, succeeded in 1876 to the wine business established by his father, A. Moos, in 1868.
The present cellars, etc., were erected in 1882. The building is of lime- stone, is twenty-six by sixty-four feet, and is one and one-half stories in height with a basement.
The average product is thirty thousand gallons per year of red and white dry wines. One man is employed steadily, and a dozen or more are kept at work during the fall. Mr. Moos is his own traveling salesman, and sells his wines mainly from Detroit to New York. Sales have been made as far south as Richmond, Va.
William Altstaetter, whose wine cellars on Lawrence Extension, near Monroe street, produce about 20,000 gallons of wine per year, began the business with his brother at the corner of Market and Decatur streets in 1876, but removed to the present location in 1879, and purchasing his brother's interest has con- ducted the business alone since that time.
All the leading dry native wines are produced at this establishment. The goods are marketed very largely in Ohio, Indiana, and New York, but occa- sional orders are filled in places much more distant. The work is conducted under the personal supervision of the proprietor, who gives most of his time and some physical strength to the work.
M. Hommel commenced the manufacture of champagnes and still wines in 1878 at his present location on Clinton street, near Sandusky street. By close personal attention to business he has been able to increase his trade and facili- ties until he now uses several hundred tons of grapes annually, making some 200,000 bottles of champagne and 100,000 gallons of still wines. His custom- ers are mostly in the Mississippi Valley, but orders are received from San Francisco and New York. His champagnes are all made by the old French method which he learned by practical experience in France. Hommel's Extra Dry and Lac D'Or are the brands most largely manufactured. The work 15
417
THE CITY OF SANDUSKY.
conducted in a building thirty-six by eighty eight feet, five stories in height, the lower part being of stone and the upper three stories of wood. During a portion of the year Mr. Homme! runs a fruit distillery, manufacturing about 2,400 gallons of grape brandy. Besides the main building he uses a storing cellar twenty-four by thirty-six feet, and numerous other auxiliary buildings perform their service in the work. No traveling salesmen are employed, but the proprietor makes a great many business trips during the year.
J. G. Stroebel, on Hayes avenue near Tyler street, has a wine cellar with a capacity of thirty thousand gallons, which was established by himself in 1881. He purchases from forty- five to fifty tons of grapes per year and manufactures about ten thousand gallons of wine. Catawba is the leading white wine and Concord and Ives Seedling the red. The wines are all dry or unsweetened, and are sold mostly throughout southern Ohio.
A. Schmidt, jr., & Co., of Tiffin avenue, makes a speciality of Sherry and Port wines. This company succeeded in 1883 to the property and business of the Sandusky Wine Company, which was one of Sandusky's first organised efforts to produce wine, having commenced operations on Water street in -. The present building, which is 120 by 50 feet, and three stories in height, having ample cellars for the storage of wine, was erected in 1875 by the original company.
This establishment has a capacity of 200,000 gallons a year, and averages 175,000 gallons of sweet wines which are marketed from the Mississippi River to Boston and south as far as New Orleans.
Large quantities of grapes are annually purchased by this firm from the adjacent vineyards between Sandusky and Venice, and from growers on Mar- ble Head Peninsula and Lake Erie Islands. Mr. Smith does most of the solic- iting in person, leaving the direct management of the cellars in charge of the competent superintendent and his other employees.
A Textor, Columbus avenue, adjoining the L. S. & M. S. R. R. makes ten or twelve varieties of dry and sweet wines, which he ships to all parts of the United States, from Kansas eastward. Only a wholesale trade is so- licited.
The building is of limestone, substantially built, and is three stories in height with a length of one hundred, and a width of forty-five feet; it is thoroughly heated with steam, and so arranged that except during the press- ing season nearly all the work can be accomplished by steam power.
The services of ten men are required during the busiest portion of the year. The average is 100,000 gallons of the various sorts of wine. Concord, Cataw- ba, Delaware, Riesling, Norton's V. and Claret comprise the sour wines, and Sweet Catawba, Port, Angelica, Sherry and Ives the sweet. The business was begun in 1883 by Wehrle and Farciot, but about six months later passed into the hands of A. Textor.
418
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
BREWERIES.
A. Ilg & Co's brewery at the foot of Harrison street, was established in 1849 by Winson & Fox, who conducted the business until 1864, when Messrs. Soergel, Dorn and Raible became proprietors carrying the business up to IS7 1. Strobel & Ilg purchased the brewery in that year, and in 1879 the present firm of A. Ilg & Co. became owners of the entire establishment.
The grounds comprise about five acres of land, and the brewery building, a limestone structure two and a half stories high, has a base eighty feet wide by one hundred and sixty long. The ice house is a frame building ninety feet square, and is packed to its fullest capacity every winter.
Thirteen men are steadily employed, and the annual product is about twelve thousand barrels on an average. Agencies are located at Findlay and Elyria. Otto Ilg, son of the proprietor, and lessee of the Sandusky Opera House, keeps the books and supervises the home establishment. Most of the beer is disposed of throughout northern Ohio-none is shipped beyond the. limits of the State. The necessary traveling is done by the proprietors in per- son. The business is having a steady growth.
Frank Stang's brewery was built in 1857 by Dauch & Fischer, and the first named gentleman succeeded to the business a few years later, conducting it until 1864, when Messrs. Bricht, Cable & Alder purchased the property and continued the business until 1867. It then passed into the hands of Fox & Windisch, and Fox alone, who carried it until 1875, when Jno. Bender became proprietor, soon after associating with himself Mr. Stang, who afterwards re- tired from the business.
At the death of Mr. Bender in 1878 the property reverted to Lena Stang. who, in 1880, disposed of it to Frank Stang, the present owner. The brewery about 225 by 250 feet, and three stories high, is located north of Madison and east of King streets. With the large ice houses which hold about 10,000 tons of ice, the building occupies nearly a square, and has an annual output of from fifteen to twenty thousand barrels of beer. From 35,000 to 50,000 bush- els of barley are used annually, and the business furnishes regular work for some eighteen or twenty men, besides a large number needed during the ice packing season. Seven teams are required in delivering the beer.
The trade is mostly with neighboring counties. Shipping depots are lo- cated at Elyria, Crestline, and other towns in this vicinity. Two men are on the road constantly, and the shipping demand is rapidly increasing. Quanti- ties of the beer are sold in the home market, and to the islanders, who in some respects seem to prefer it to their "juice of the vine," which is so easy of ac- cess that it loses its charm in a measure. Emil Pusch has for a number of years conducted the local business and had charge of the books of the establishment.
J. Kuebeler & Co.'s brewery was established in 1867 by the brothers, Jacob
419
THE CITY OF SANDUSKY.
and August Kuebeler, who have remained at the head of the establishment since that date, and from a very modest beginning have brought the business up to its present proportions.
The buildings consist of a limestone structure, one hundred and five feet square and four stories high, with an "L" fifty-four by eighty and a frame addi- tion fifty by one hundred and twenty, the last named containing a modern re- frigerator or ice manufacturing machine, with a capacity of thirty-five tons per day. This machine obviates the necessity for ice, except what is needed for shipping purposes, but the firm still packs abont five thousand tons for the latter purpose and as a reserve in case of accident. From fifty to sixty thou- sand bushels of barley are malted annually, and thirty-five thousand pounds of hops are consumed, the best of which are imported from Germany.
This establishment produces from one to two hundred barrels of beer per day, which is disposed of in the city and at various other points within a radius of sixty miles. Steady employment is given to thirty men and nine teams, and the annual expense account is very great; but a fine balance is secured by annual sales of the product,
Besides the home brewery there are branches at Bellevue, Monroeville, Findlay and Elyria. Within the past two years the brothers have each erected a fine brick residence with modern conveniences. In 1887 the ice machine, mentioned above, was put in at a large expense, and a gas well was drilled on the premises ; but the supply of gas is limited, not being sufficient to light the establishment. The flow of gas is somewhat stronger when the well is pumped dry, but not of enough account to pay for the cost of pumping, which would be considerable, as the well is quite wet.
Streube & Engels, manufacturers of cider and cider vinegar, have one of the most extensive establishments of this kind to be found in Erie county. The building is a frame structure, thirty by eighty feet, two stories high, with a basement, and is thoroughly supplied with vats, grinding machinery and storage casks. Throughout the cider making season some ten or twelve men are employed, but during the remainder of the year only three are required. The mill is located on Columbus avenue, north of the Lake Shore Railroad, and was erected in 1882 by H. C. Struebe, Mr. Engels becoming connected with the business later on. The local apple supply makes no difference in the amount of cider and vinegar produced, as the firm ships in apples from other sections when they are scarce in this vicinity. The annual production of cider averages in the vicinity of fifteen hundred barrels, and about the same amount of vinegar is made. The trade is confined to Ohio, and the firm finds the field ample for their present capacity. Occasionally orders are received from other States, but no special dependence is put on them in making up the year's supply of cider. A powerful engine, in a brick addition, furnishes the necessary power for the establishment.
T
420
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
Bottling Works. Charles Baetz, for over thirty years a resident of San- dusky, and for a long term just closed this year leader of the Great Western Band, has for the past ten years or more carried on the bottling business. He puts up the Pilsener beer, especially prepared from Frank Stang's brewery, and has the sole agency for the beer thus prepared. His establishment is located in the basement of Biemiller's Opera House. The beer, when sub- jected to his process of treatment, will keep for any length of time in almost any temperature, and can be shipped to a great distance. His goods are shipped throughout Ohio and adjoining States, and meet with a very ready sale in all cities.
J. Murschel & Son's bottling works was established in 1882 by the present proprietor at the corner of Hayes avenue and Tyler street. The business is carried on in a frame building thirty-six by forty feet. Belfast ginger ale, pop, birch beer, and carbonated drinks in general are prepared by this firm for shipment to the islands and to surrounding towns on the mainland. Surely, if there is another beverage needed after one has done justice to the many al- ready mentioned as manufactured here, the want is supplied by the above mentioned firm.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
Wood Working Establishments .- R. B. Hubbard & Son.' This planing- mill, run in connection with Tucker & Daniels's lumber mills at Algonac, Mich., was established in 1840 by Hubbard & Co. In 1844 Mr. Hubbard as- sociated with Mr. G. S. Lester and purchased timber lands in Michigan and erected a saw-mill. Watson and Langden Hubbard became interested later on, but in 1874 the planing-mill at the corner of Water and Lawrence streets. which is the object most directly of this sketch, was, with the lumber interests in Sandusky, purchased by the present firm. The building, which is sixty by one hundred feet, two stories high and of stone, is occupied partly by the Woolsey Wheel Company, but belongs to the firm whose name leads this sketch. A powerful engine, made by Barney & Kilby, and a large boiler made by the predecessor of the present Portland Boiler Company, furnish the power for both establishments. R. B. Hubbard & Son plane and match flooring. siding and lumber, and saw posts, etc. Last year's work amounted, in round numbers, to nearly two million feet of planed lumber, of which 750,000 fec: were flooring, 100,000 feet matched siding, and 1,200,000 feet general planed lumber. This business has been in operation for about thirty-five years, and the present building was erected over twenty years ago. The firm does a general retail and wholesale trade over a considerable portion of Ohio, but the bulk of the business is with local builders and those in adjoining counties. . \ large force of men is constantly employed. The business is conducted by the proprietors, with William Marshall as accountant and salesman at the office.
42I ***
THE CITY OF SANDUSKY.
G. W. Iscman; long pine and hardwood lumber and timber ; corner Meigs and Washington streets. Mr. Iscman, the present proprietor of these important mills, succeeded to his father's interests here some years ago, and is carrying it forward very successfully. B. Iscman, the projector of the enter- prise, and father of the present proprietor, commenced the lumbering business at Muskallonge, in 1841, removed to this city shortly after, and established the original Iscman saw-mill on Market street ; but for the sake of procuring better shipping facilities and larger grounds, removed to his present location later on.
The building is of limestone and has an upper story of wood ; the dimen- sions are forty by one hundred feet, without the engine and boiler rooms, which are in a wing erected for them especially. The engine, of eighty horse power, is frequently taxed to its utmost capacity to propel the extensive and powerful machinery used in turning out the very heavy work in long timber. Quite an extensive retail and wholesale trade in hard wood and pine timber and lumber, is carried on by this firm, the annual output being nearly one and a half million feet. Ten men are regularly employed at the mill, and consid- erable work is necessarily furnished choppers and lumbermen at the other end of the line, as it were.
The pine logs are rafted down from the Michigan forests, and at times have been quite an inconvenience to the small sailboats with which Sandusky peo- ple recreate during the summer season. Of course, the writer has no inten- tion of reflecting on the proprietor or others connected with the mills, as they probably do all in their power to accommodate their neighbors.
Jay C. Butler & Co., at the corner of Water and Decatur streets, estab- lished their present firm relations in 1880, at which time they succeeded Jay C. Butler, before whom were Wells & Butler, Upp & Wells, Norcross & Upp, Norcross alone, and Thorp, Norcross & Thorp, who started the business on Water street, near Fulton, in 1855.
The main building is two hundred and sixteen by fifty-two feet, of brick, three stories high with a basement. It is supplied with all modern conven- iences, heated by steam and lighted with gas. The power is furnished by a one hundred and fifty horse power engine, and there is a great variety of improved wood working machines in the various departments of the factory. The prin- cipal products are sash, doors and blinds, but a large trade has been recently built up in telegraph arms and insulator pins, many of the leading construct- ors getting their supplies from this firm. Boxes and fish packages are also made to quite an extent.
The factory grounds are quite extensive, and there are several auxiliary frame buildings. An average force of one hundred and fifty men is employed throughout the year, while the annual product is somewhat above one hundred thousand dollars in value. The principal sales are made in Ohio, to builders,
54
422
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
but large orders are received from all parts of the United States. The busi- ness is increasing steadily, as each year finds a wider area over which the sales extend, and there is no falling off in the territory already covered. They have a private doc !: at which much raw material is received for the factory, and from which a portion of the products are sent abroad.
Woolsey Wheel Company was founded by Pierce, Woolsey & Company in 1855. The firm name afterwards became Hubbard & Woolsey, and in several subsequent changes the name of Woolsey remained prominent in the tran ;- action of the business of the establishment.
In 1877 a stock company was organized with a capital of $45,000. The stock has since been increased to $70,000, and the business enlarged in pro- portion. From one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty men are employed steadily, and their wages aggregate over $60,000 per annum. The manufacture of all styles of wheels is carried on, taking the material in the rough and turning out one hundred and twenty-five sets per day under favor- able conditions and with the maximum force. The machinery is extensive and necessarily quite varied, as the bending of felloes, turning of spokes, bor- ing of square sockets for the tenons, and most other parts of the work, includ- ing the final polishing, are done by machinery. Native hickory, elm and oak are used in the construction of the wheels, which are shipped to all parts of the United States, and bear an excellent reputation in the market.
Lawrence Cable is president of the company, and George A. Cook, treas- urer ; E. McFall is secretary. Superintendent E. Flickenger has direct charge of the business.
Schoepfle and Sloane. This enterprising establishment dates back to Jan- uary, 1860, when it was started with a limited capital by Jacob Schaub, C. F. Schoepfle, Andrew Riesterer and Casper Schneider, under the firm name of Schaub & Company. The firm then manufactured sash, doors and blinds, in a stone building on the dock north of Railroad street, where the Woolworth Handle Factory has since been established in a new building, the old one hav- ing been destroyed by fire.
Mr. Schaub retired from the business in the fall of 1860, and the style be- came Schoepfle & Company, continuing until 1862, when Mr. Schneider sold his interest to Martin Groehr. In 1863 the business was removed to its pres- ent location on Water street, where a large stone building, then owned by Pitt Cooke, was leased, and subsequently purchased by the present proprietors.
Mr. Riesterer, in 1877, sold his interest to Schoepfle & Groehr, who car- ried on the business together until 1883, when F. G. Sloane purchased Mr. Groehr's interest and the present firm relations were established. The build- ing is located at the corner of Water and Fulton streets, and the business has been enlarged to include the manufacture of desks, bar fixings and hard wood trimmings for the inside of houses, such as banisters, wainscoting, etc., which
423
THE CITY OF SANDUSKY.
they have furnished for many principal buildings, both public and private, throughout the State. They are also securing a large trade in telegraph arms which have been used so extensively lately in the United States. Their fac- tory buildings include a three-story and basement stone building, having a width of sixty-two feet on Water street, extending back to Railroad street, and an office and ware-room, frame building, twenty-two by sixty-four feet. The dock is one hundred by five hundred feet, and has an ample depth of water for the boats employed in their trade. The power for the factory is furnished by an eighty horse power engine. Their dry kilns have a capacity of 70,000 feet per week. Fifty-eight hands were employed by this firm dur- ing the past season, and produced a large amount of finished work.
D. J. Brown & Company ; patent sawed elm hoops, and bilge sawed keg staves. This large and important industry was established at Oak Harbor, in 1862, by Otto Schimansky, who removed to the present location, at the foot of Anderson street, in 1865.
The present mill comprises a main building forty by eighty feet, two stories in height, with three additions, thirty by eighty, and a warehouse forty by one hundred and eight feet. There is a one hundred and fifty horse power saw- mill capable of turning out thirty thousand feet of lumber a day.
Messrs. Brown & Schimansky, the present owners, have a capital of $23,- 000 invested, and employ fifty men during three-fourths of the year, which is all the time given to active operations at the establishment, the remainder of the time being given to disposing of the products and renewing stock. Four and a half million hoops, and two million staves are turned out yearly, and sold mostly in the East and South, trade extending quite uniformly over the several States of the union between New York city and New Orleans.
The monthly pay roll of the establishment averages $1,200 while the mill is in active operation, and the annual product is in the neighborhood of $75,- 000. Large quantities of logs are shipped to the mill from Canada, and from the forests of Michigan and elsewhere. The mill is located on the grounds once occupied by the Sandusky Basket Factory, which with an old mill were purchased by the present proprietors in 1865.
The specialties produced by this enterprising firm show quite plainly how important a business may become when followed with zeal and an enterpris- ing spirit. Though the business itself would at first thought seem to be only a part of the barrel making business, it has grown to be an important indus- try, from the fact that great skill and concentration of effort make it possible for the firm to produce this part of cooper's stock cheaper than it could be produced where the barrels are made, while the quality is equally good.
The Sandusky Wheel Company, with buildings and grounds extending from McDonough to Shelby street, fronting on Water street, and reaching southward nearly across the block, employs at present from two hundred to
424
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
two hundred and forty men ; has a capacity of two hundred set of wheels and considerable buggy body and other work daily. The main building is of lime- stone one hundred and twenty by one hundred and ninety feet, three stories in height, with a brick extension in the rear. A one hundred and fifty horse- power engine drives the entire machinery, which is of the latest improved patterns throughout, and capable of doing many things that men only a few years ago believed could only be done by hand.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.