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Images of America: Ohio
Port Clinton, the Peninsula and the Bass Islands
Nestled between Toledo and Cleveland near the Sandusky Bay is a quiet lake region, a haven for vacationers and permanent residents alike. Claiming 107 miles of Lake Erie's coastline, Eastern Ottawa County, Ohio, is home to several coastal communities, including the small city of Port Clinton, the placid land masses of the Bass Islands, and the Marblehead Peninsula, home to a popular lighthouse. The author's window into this area, however, never overlooks the labor required to create and sustain its resort attractions. We meet the train conductors, teachers, mail carriers, ice harvesters, and community leaders who helped put Ottawa County on the map. We are offered many glimpses of boats on local waterways, some delivering fish, others ferrying passengers to the island, and still others in advance of their service during war time. And we are delivered a rare view of the many buildings that sadly failed to survive the area's catastrophic fires. This book is a living testimony to the rich and varied history of Ohio's Lake Erie communities. Resort oasis to some, manufacturing center to others, Ottawa County's texture and detail are brought vividly to life in this absorbing Images of America volume.
- GenresNonfiction
128 pages, Paperback
First published February 16, 2000
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May 27, 2019
This Images of America book is dedicated to the Lake Erie communities of Ottawa County, Ohio, an area located 75 miles west of Cleveland and 50 miles east of Toledo. The book is specifically dedicated to Port Clinton, Carroll, Catawba Island, Lakeside, Danbury, Erie, Portage, and Put-in-Bay in an area covering about 107 miles of Lake Erie coastline. The introduction also notes that the time period covered is roughly 1880-1980 (though here and there are notes from the 1990s). The introduction , barely two pages, gives a brief introduction to the area (first permanent white settlement was only six years after Ohio became a state in 1803, limestone and gypsum are long-standing industries in the area, that Port Clinton was originally platted as a community in 1828, all in part of a proposed but never built canal from the mouth of the Portage River on Lake Erie to the Ohio River at Cincinnati, the first permanent white settlers did not arrive in the Bass Islands till 1843, the Bass Islands early on produced wine but became better known for tourism, especially in relation to the Battle of Lake Erie and Perry’s Victory and International Peace Monument, that Johnson’s Island in Sandusky Bay was once a prison for captured Confederate soldiers, Lakeside was founded by Methodists in 1873 as a Christian family resort, and that Camp Perry, created on land west of Port Clinton in 1906, was use by the Ohio National Guard, Ohio Highway Patrol, and held captured Italian and German soldiers during World War II).
Chapter one is on Port Clinton. Unlike previous Images of America books that I read, as far as I can remember, there is no opening paragraphs of introductory text but rather the author decided to launch straight into the photographs and their captions, a pattern that continues throughout the book. Of note, several photos show peach wagons, one photo noting that it is ahead of a peach auction (I had no idea peaches were grown that far north), there is a photo of the new Portage River Bridge (opened to traffic in 1933), notable in that it was a called a “double bascule” bridge (the author’s quotation marks, not mine) as both sides of the bridge were built to able to be raised to allow boats to pass, and as one photo shows, every few years some Port Clinton streets flood thanks to heavy rain combined with a strong northeaster that blows some of Lake Erie into town. Fishing, marina, and boat photos dominate the chapter.
Chapter two is on Camp Perry. A really short chapter, the most notable things to me were noting that early years of Camp Perry had everyone in tents, including civilians, with men going to the National Rifle and Pistol Matches staying in tents in one area and their wives in another area, the “squaw camp” (wow) and that Camp Perry was designated in 1941 a U.S. Army Induction Center and had twenty-two barracks so that it could process 1,000 draftees every three days.
Chapter three is on Catawba Island, the caption of the first photo noting it was known for its orchards and vineyards for many decades, though as a later photo notes by the mid-twentieth century, “housing subdivisions and mobile home parks had resulted in a decline in acreage devoted to orchards, vineyards, and other agriculture.” Another fairly short chapter, there are photos of ferries, beach-going vacationers, and relating to the peach crops.
Chapter four is on East Harbor. Gems include noting that “before outboard, motors, [people] thought nothing of rowing four or five miles to a destination” (such as to Sandy Beach, a summer resort) and a photo of cars and people on ice for ice fishing in a photo dated from February of 1917.
Chapter five is on Marblehead Peninsula, featuring nice photos of the Marblehead Lighthouse, a life saving station (in a photo from 1876), several photos relating to the quarries of Kelly Island Lime and Transport Company (KILT), a circa 1940 aerial view of the Village of Marblehead (of note is a note that says the “row of houses that parallels the loading apparatus was known as millionaires’ row because the quarry company provided them the luxuries of water and steam heat”), and a photo of Ruth E. Fiscus in 1941, as she “examines a field of Lakeside daisies (hymeoxys herbacea),” who worked to preserve this rare plant, her and another woman’s (Colleen “Casey” Taylor) rewarded by a nature preserve established in 1997. Also interesting is a photo of a 1946 marching band from Lakeside High School, the caption noting that “until the changes precipitated by World War II, communities often found it inappropriate for young women to march and wear slacks in a band” though in the photo there are marching, slack-wearing women.
Chapter six is on Johnson’s Island. There are a number of photos dedicated to the prison for Confederate soldiers.
Chapter seven is on Lakeside, featuring several photos relating to Hotel Lakeside, the original section first built in 1875 and the oldest hotel in continuous operation in Ottawa County, “and probably the oldest on Lake Erie.” Also featured was a late 19th century pre-automobile photo showing how tree stumps were still left on the narrow streets, photos of ice blocks loaded for transport c. 1890 (harvested from Lake Erie), a reunion photo of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment (organized by former President Rutherford By. Hayes, the caption nothing there “is speculation that Hayes held reunions at Lakeside because the ban on liquor kept the men from becoming rowdy”), a photo of children in a mock wedding in 1948, something someone needs to explain to me the purpose of one day.
Chapter eight is on the Bass Islands, with photos of early moments to Battle of Lake Erie (including a bronze victory monument that was on the grounds of the Hotel Victory, which after a fire destroyed the hotel in 1919 was “donated to a scrap drive during World War II”), a photo of the yacht _Thelma_ (on July 18, 1907 the very first ship-to-shore radio transmission in the world was made to Fox’s Dock), photos of and relating to Daussa Cave (once opened to the public, closed in 1953 due to falling rocks), the “castle-like” Lonz family winery (built atop the old Wehrle wine cellars), and photos of the Ohio State University facilities on Gibraltar Island.
Chapter nine is on transportation. Featured photos include a crashed Ford Tri-Motor, part of Island Airlines (originally Erie Isle Airways), that crashed in August of 1972 (didn’t know that plane was in use that late commercially), the _Lakeside_ underway (the caption noting she was one of the first lake boats to have electric lights and was in 1917 sold to France and “cut down as a tug”), the _Chippewa_ (which was a passenger transport steamer ship but was once the U.S. Revenue Cutter _Fessenden_), an illustration of _Put-in_Bay_ (which had a capacity of 3,500 passengers and boasted a 200 foot long dance floor), trains of the Lakeside and Marblehead Railroad (it ran 6.88 miles from Danbury to Marblehead to haul limestone from the quarry though until 1930 also carried passengers, especially on McKeen car Number 5, painted red, gasoline-powered, and called the “Red Devil”), the electric trolley that used to cover the mile and a half from the steamboat landing to Hotel Victory in Put-in-Bay (ceasing operation soon after the hotel fire), several photos of interurbans (including one on a trestle over railroad tracks), and a photo of a push propellered boat on runners to cross the ice in the 1920s, owned by a private contractor and used to deliver mail to the islands.
Chapter one is on Port Clinton. Unlike previous Images of America books that I read, as far as I can remember, there is no opening paragraphs of introductory text but rather the author decided to launch straight into the photographs and their captions, a pattern that continues throughout the book. Of note, several photos show peach wagons, one photo noting that it is ahead of a peach auction (I had no idea peaches were grown that far north), there is a photo of the new Portage River Bridge (opened to traffic in 1933), notable in that it was a called a “double bascule” bridge (the author’s quotation marks, not mine) as both sides of the bridge were built to able to be raised to allow boats to pass, and as one photo shows, every few years some Port Clinton streets flood thanks to heavy rain combined with a strong northeaster that blows some of Lake Erie into town. Fishing, marina, and boat photos dominate the chapter.
Chapter two is on Camp Perry. A really short chapter, the most notable things to me were noting that early years of Camp Perry had everyone in tents, including civilians, with men going to the National Rifle and Pistol Matches staying in tents in one area and their wives in another area, the “squaw camp” (wow) and that Camp Perry was designated in 1941 a U.S. Army Induction Center and had twenty-two barracks so that it could process 1,000 draftees every three days.
Chapter three is on Catawba Island, the caption of the first photo noting it was known for its orchards and vineyards for many decades, though as a later photo notes by the mid-twentieth century, “housing subdivisions and mobile home parks had resulted in a decline in acreage devoted to orchards, vineyards, and other agriculture.” Another fairly short chapter, there are photos of ferries, beach-going vacationers, and relating to the peach crops.
Chapter four is on East Harbor. Gems include noting that “before outboard, motors, [people] thought nothing of rowing four or five miles to a destination” (such as to Sandy Beach, a summer resort) and a photo of cars and people on ice for ice fishing in a photo dated from February of 1917.
Chapter five is on Marblehead Peninsula, featuring nice photos of the Marblehead Lighthouse, a life saving station (in a photo from 1876), several photos relating to the quarries of Kelly Island Lime and Transport Company (KILT), a circa 1940 aerial view of the Village of Marblehead (of note is a note that says the “row of houses that parallels the loading apparatus was known as millionaires’ row because the quarry company provided them the luxuries of water and steam heat”), and a photo of Ruth E. Fiscus in 1941, as she “examines a field of Lakeside daisies (hymeoxys herbacea),” who worked to preserve this rare plant, her and another woman’s (Colleen “Casey” Taylor) rewarded by a nature preserve established in 1997. Also interesting is a photo of a 1946 marching band from Lakeside High School, the caption noting that “until the changes precipitated by World War II, communities often found it inappropriate for young women to march and wear slacks in a band” though in the photo there are marching, slack-wearing women.
Chapter six is on Johnson’s Island. There are a number of photos dedicated to the prison for Confederate soldiers.
Chapter seven is on Lakeside, featuring several photos relating to Hotel Lakeside, the original section first built in 1875 and the oldest hotel in continuous operation in Ottawa County, “and probably the oldest on Lake Erie.” Also featured was a late 19th century pre-automobile photo showing how tree stumps were still left on the narrow streets, photos of ice blocks loaded for transport c. 1890 (harvested from Lake Erie), a reunion photo of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment (organized by former President Rutherford By. Hayes, the caption nothing there “is speculation that Hayes held reunions at Lakeside because the ban on liquor kept the men from becoming rowdy”), a photo of children in a mock wedding in 1948, something someone needs to explain to me the purpose of one day.
Chapter eight is on the Bass Islands, with photos of early moments to Battle of Lake Erie (including a bronze victory monument that was on the grounds of the Hotel Victory, which after a fire destroyed the hotel in 1919 was “donated to a scrap drive during World War II”), a photo of the yacht _Thelma_ (on July 18, 1907 the very first ship-to-shore radio transmission in the world was made to Fox’s Dock), photos of and relating to Daussa Cave (once opened to the public, closed in 1953 due to falling rocks), the “castle-like” Lonz family winery (built atop the old Wehrle wine cellars), and photos of the Ohio State University facilities on Gibraltar Island.
Chapter nine is on transportation. Featured photos include a crashed Ford Tri-Motor, part of Island Airlines (originally Erie Isle Airways), that crashed in August of 1972 (didn’t know that plane was in use that late commercially), the _Lakeside_ underway (the caption noting she was one of the first lake boats to have electric lights and was in 1917 sold to France and “cut down as a tug”), the _Chippewa_ (which was a passenger transport steamer ship but was once the U.S. Revenue Cutter _Fessenden_), an illustration of _Put-in_Bay_ (which had a capacity of 3,500 passengers and boasted a 200 foot long dance floor), trains of the Lakeside and Marblehead Railroad (it ran 6.88 miles from Danbury to Marblehead to haul limestone from the quarry though until 1930 also carried passengers, especially on McKeen car Number 5, painted red, gasoline-powered, and called the “Red Devil”), the electric trolley that used to cover the mile and a half from the steamboat landing to Hotel Victory in Put-in-Bay (ceasing operation soon after the hotel fire), several photos of interurbans (including one on a trestle over railroad tracks), and a photo of a push propellered boat on runners to cross the ice in the 1920s, owned by a private contractor and used to deliver mail to the islands.
June 3, 2023
While this is a very interesting pictorial history of the area, unfortunately it did not cover the topic I am most interested in — the German immigrants who settled in the Port Clinton area.
September 14, 2012
love old postcards!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews