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Ottawa County Time Traveler Eastern Ottawa County Past & Present APRIL 2024 |
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by Linda Higgins One of the loveliest historic buildings in Port Clinton, the Island House has had many lives. The first Island House was located at the northeast corner of Madison and 2nd Streets. It was two blocks from Lake Erie, with a view of the islands. The wooden structure was built in 1870 and was a popular gathering place. A Port Clinton band gave concerts in the cupola, which was large enough to hold the band and 20 people. A dance hall graced the second floor. On the first floor a bar and dining room served all the big weddings and receptions. When a major fire destroyed the hotel in December 1882, the loss was attributed to its distance from the lake. In 1886, Ottawa County Sheriff Conrad Gernhard built the present brick Island House, one block from the lake, at the southwest corner of Perry and Madison Streets. To build it, Sheriff Gernhard used $25,000 ($600,000 today) of the funds he was entitled to keep from those he collected in interest and delinquent taxes. The three-story, Italianate-style building had fifty rooms, a lobby, bar, dining room--and one bathroom. Because it was designed as a gentleman's hotel, women traveling with their gentlemen had to stay at a boarding house, but were welcome to dine in the hotel dining room. Although the hotel offered only one communal bathroom, the proximity to the lake, the large saloon and the undeniable elegance and charm continued to make it a popular destination for travelers from all over the country. The Gernhard family kept the property until 1926, when Otto and Mary Stensen received the hotel as a wedding present from her parents. They enlarged the kitchen, and added more bathrooms, guest rooms, and a retail space, making the hotel “one of the best in Ohio.” Famous guests included Presidents Garfield, Hayes, and Taft, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Gene Autry, Ray Milland, Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn Monroe, J. Paul Getty, William Randolph Hearst, Ringling Brothers, Babe Ruth, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford. Many other athletes and sports teams used it, as well as travelers going between Detroit and Cleveland. The Stensens moved from the Island House in 1955, and their niece took over as manager. In 1962, the Paul Clemons family, well-known restaurant owners, purchased the property. After they sold it in 1985, other owners continued to modernize the hotel and restaurant, including James Stouffer, aged 26, and a member of the well-known Stouffer family. After changing the ground floor design and remodeling the rooms, he sold the hotel in 1992 to two accountants, Chuck and Duanne Norman of Toledo. Dave and Pam Waler and Jim Zibert bought it in 1997, making additional improvements as the restaurant became even more popular. After a small fire in 2003, more improvements were made, but the hotel went into bankruptcy. The First National Bank of Bellevue bought the property at a sheriff’s sale in 2006, then sold it to investor Jim MacLaren in 2007. MacLaren Management transitioned the hotel, which originally had 50 rooms but now had 39, to a condominium/hotel. In July of 2008, our Island House was added to the National Register of Historic Places. At this time, rumor has it (!) that a famed Columbus-area chef is opening his remodeled restaurant in the hotel, offering a wide variety of choices, including sushi and samurai nachos! He’s purchased, we hear, most of the condo rooms, and has restored much of the charm that was the Island House for so long. With an excellent restaurant and thoughtfully remodeled condo rooms available, we have high hope for our iconic Island House’s renaissance. Use this link to see or share the article online: Linda |
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by Lorrie Halblaub Johnson’s Island is the only island in Sandusky Bay. Today it is part the Village of Marblehead in Ottawa County, but after Ohio gained statehood, it was part of what was once known as the Firelands. The Firelands were parcels of land in Ohio that were given to Connecticut residents whose homes were burned by the British during the Revolutionary War. One of the first settlers from Connecticut who came to the peninsula was Benajah Wolcott who worked with a party of surveyors in 1806 to plot out the land that would be given to Danbury, Connecticut fire sufferers. Wolcott returned in 1809 to purchase land on the Sandusky Bay side of the peninsula from a Danbury Connecticut lawyer named Epaphras Wadsworth Bull, Esq. (Later historians have misspelled his first name as Epahroditus.) Bull purchased many acres of peninsula land including Johnson’s Island, which was known then as Bull’s Island. Bull was an important man, a member of the Connecticut General Assembly, and an eloquent speaker. He had great ambitions for the island. The Customs agency moved from Danbury to the island and Bull envisioned the island with a small city. Then the War of 1812 intervened. Native Americans on the side of the British attacked and killed some of the early settlers. The Bull and Wolcott families fled to Newburgh in the Cleveland area for safety. The following is a synopsis of their times and trials written by Polly Bull, the widow of Epaphras Bull. Her full account was published in 1859 in the Firelands Pioneer. In the fall of 1811, the Bull Family, father, mother and three small children, along with their colored servant Patience, traveled to Ohio by various means of transportation over land and water. They spent that fall and winter in a log cabin in a settlement of seven families. Fish and game were abundant. The Indians were friendly. But the winter was harsh with the lake frozen. That spring, two unarmed white persons in Sandusky City, were murdered by Indians while they were asleep in their home. The Indians were caught and tried. One was hung, while the second shot himself while in custody. His hands were bound, but he used his toe to fire the gun. Soon after, there was a declaration of war with Great Britain and General Hull surrendered at Detroit. It became apparent that the settlers, including the Bull and Wolcott families, would have to flee for their own safety. Mr. Bull had gone ahead to seek armed protection for the group, while the rest headed east toward the small settlement of Cleveland. The journey was harsh. They travelled by boat to the Huron area. In fear of being caught by Indians, Polly hid her two youngest children, aged 2 and 4, under woolen sheets. Once again on land, it began to rain. The river was so high, they spent nights in the woods. They suffered from heat, insect stings, and fevers. At last, they had just made it to Cleveland when Epaphras Bull died on Oct. 6, 1812. He was just 33 years old. Polly said the whole family and servants were ill for several months in Cleveland. Benajah’s wife Elizabeth also died there. After the war, the Wolcotts returned to the peninsula, but Polly and family went back to Connecticut, never to return to Bull’s Island. You can use this link to read or share this article: Lorrie |
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Monday, May 6, 2024 11 am Marblehead Peninsula Branch Library - A&B 710 West Main Street, Marblehead, OH Join Amanda Manahan, Co-Chair of the Friends and Descendants of Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison, for an illustrated virtual presentation exploring the history of the site through primary records and the archaeological evidence left behind. No registration required. |
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I Fear I Shall Never Leave This Island : LIfe in a Civil War Prison - by David R Bush Bush spent more than two decades leading archaeological investigations at the island prison site. In this book, he pairs the expertise gained there with a deep reading of extant letters between one officer and his wife in Virginia, providing unique insights into the trials and tribulations of captivity as actually experienced by the men imprisoned at Johnson's Island. G&LH 973.771 BUSH 2011 NOTE: IRPL Genealogy & Local History collection will be in storage during current renovations. There is a 2nd copy in nonfiction if you want to check it out. |
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1925 Eclipse  |
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Check out Newspapers.com - Ohio edition when doing genealogy research. You can access this database from the library website - idarupp.org - using the drop down menus for Online Resources, (by subject) Genealogy, then click on Newspapers.com. Below is a screenshot of the opening page. As you can see, there are millions of pages of information from Ohio newspapers from 1793 through 2022. |
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The corner of Lakeview Park on Perry Street that is now a lovely garden was once the site of a swimming pool. At least that's what I have been told. A quick search of newspaper records (from the 1940s) talk about approval for a swimming pool to be built at the park. And later references (from the 1960s) indicate that renovations were needed, and refer to a children's or wading pool. I could not locate any pictures or illustrations of the pool. |
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Lightkeepers, the bronze sculpture by Andy Shaksteder, along the path to the lighthouse. |
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