World War II created high demand for new manufacturing industries, as well as expansion of established industries. Safer industries were located in and around cities and the more dangerous, such as ordnance manufacturing and testing, were located in areas like Port Clinton, considered rural.   By October 1940, Erie Ordnance Depot was reported to be expanding to include more military members and civilians. Anti-aircraft guns and new types of anti-aircraft shells were to be shi

In this series we are taking an historical look at an area that covers approximately a mile of Main Street in downtown Marblehead. Heading east from the Village limits, we will discover the facts and the stories of how Marblehead became what it is today. In our last article we left off near the public parking lot on Main Street in front of the old hospital building. Walking east, the next area you come to is all about the quarry. On the north side of the road is the entrance

To say that Verdi von Thron left her mark on Port Clinton’s history would be a bit of an understatement: She was a dynamo! Agnes Verdi Cangney was born on Catawba Island on March 5, 1899, to J.P. and Rachel Cangney. She graduated in 1917 from the Oak Harbor Normal School, where her family believes she met her future husband. Verdi and Leonard Carl von Thron married on June 18, 1923, at Immaculate Conception in Port Clinton.   They and their children, Joseph and Judy, first li

In this series we are taking an historical look at an area that covers approximately a mile of Main Street in downtown Marblehead. Heading east from the Village limits, we will discover the facts and the stories of how Marblehead became what it is today.  [This is the 11 th  article.] Heading east on Main Street from the corner of Main and Frances Street, the first building is a private home. The next area on Main Street is a public parking lot. Note there is a small unpaved

Until the late 17 th  century, records show no vessels other than birch canoes were used to cross Lake Erie. These must have been incredibly dangerous trips for those Native Americans and French traders, but danger was a way of life for everyone of that time.   When migration began in earnest here, the French explorer, Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, ordered the first vessel built to make journeys with cargo to trade and sell, as well as for passengers traveling for

In this series we are taking an historical look at an area that covers approximately a mile of Main Street in downtown Marblehead. Heading east from the Village limits, we will discover the facts and the stories of how Marblehead became what it is today.   The next block of Main Street Marblehead goes from James Street to Frances Street and is home to three businesses and our local library. This land used to house Greisser’s Coal and Fuel Oil Company.  It was also one of the

The first Roman Catholic Mass in the area was served in the late 17 th century on Middle Bass Island for the Huron Indians, the region’s first known Catholics. They lived around Lake Erie and its islands, having been converted to Catholicism by Jesuit missionaries from Detroit and Canada.   Mass was offered again in 1749 to the Hurons at their settlement near Sandusky Bay. The Indian missions were abandoned when the Jesuits moved on. The French-Canadian missionaries, however

In this series we are taking an historical look at an area that covers approximately a mile of Main Street in downtown Marblehead. Heading east from the Village limits, we will discover the facts and the stories of how Marblehead became what it is today. [This is the 9 th  article in the series.]   The next building at 806 West Main Street, east of Madam Rosie’s Boutique and Gallery, has had many uses.  It was once Brown’s Department Store, Bob Anderson’s electric shop, the h

When the Ottawa County Museum opened its doors in 1932, Laura May Hesselbart greeted the public as its curator. The Port Clinton native was born to Herman and Mary Hollinshead Hesselbart on May 20, 1876. She graduated from Port Clinton High School in 1896, then studied music at Oberlin Conservatory. She taught piano for 20 years, was a member of Trinity Methodist Church, and became a charter member of Fortnightly Club in 1901. She was the first honorary member of the Port Cli

In this series we are taking an historical look at an area that covers approximately a mile of Main Street in downtown Marblehead. Heading east from the Village limits, we will discover the facts and the stories of how Marblehead became what it is today. [This is the 8 th  article in the series.]   10. East of Jamestown Tavern’s parking lot is 818 West Main Street, a yellow house and the beginning of the St. Marie buildings.  That house was the site of the home of Louis St. M