NOW WE EXPLORE WATER STREET, STARTING AT COLUMBUS AVE.
LOOK LEFT (WEST) ON W. WATER STREET. This is West Water Street today.
BIEMILLER OPERA HOUSE – Right on the SW corner of W. Water St. and Jackson St. is the building which would in time become known as the Sandusky Theatre. It was built in 1877 by Andrew Biemiller and was first known as the Biemiller Opera House. READ MORE
From here we look at the buildings on the North side of the street…..
FREELAND T. BARNEY BUILDING – 225-231 W. Water St. – In 1835 Zalmon Wildman and Isaac Mills, founders of Sandusky, built three brick stores each three stories high on Water Lots 68, 69, and 70. READ MORE
WILDMAN & MILLS WAREHOUSE – 223 Water St – This is one of the oldest buildings in downtown Sandusky, built as a warehouse for the Wildman and Mills holdings. It is now a boutique hotel. READ MORE
WILDMAN MILLS BUILDING – 205-223 W. Water St. – Wildman and Mills constructed the building at 223 W. Water St. in 1835, and sold it to John Sloan in 1845. READ MORE
CASSIDY-W. BUILDING – 201 W. Water St. – The Cassidy-W. Building at 201 W. Water St. was an early grocery store built in 1867 by Robert Cassidy. READ MORE
LAWRENCE CABLE BUILDING – 121 W. Water St. – Built in 1868, originally housed Lawrence Cable’s shoe store in one half of the building while the other half was occupied by a succession of grocery, hardware and other businesses over the years. READ MORE
STILES E. HUBBARD BUILDING – 115 W. Water St.
The Stiles E. Hubbard Building (right), which was built in 1856, complements the adjoining building built by Stiles Hubbard’s brother, Lester, in 1855. READ MORE
HUBBARD’S BLOCK – 109–101 W. Water St.
The neighboring Hubbard’s Block (2nd building from the right) was designed by the well-known architect, Sheldon Smith, whose Commercial College and School of Design occupied the third floor. READ MORE
NOW LOOK EAST ON WATER STREET….
PHOENIX BUILDING (EUTERPEAN HALL) – 109–119 E. Water St.
Built in 1849 by W. H. Caswell, the Phoenix building was so named because it “rose from the ashes” of an earlier building that had burned. READ MORE
BIEMILLER BUILDING – 121–125 E. Water St.
Andrew Biemiller built the Italianate style structure in 1866 to accommodate the German Turnverein Association, a German organization that promoted gymnastics and athletics, as well as the study of the German language. READ MORE
WEEDEN-REBER BUILDING – 127–131 E. Water St.
This building was built around 1853 by John Weeden. READ MORE
REBER BLOCK – 133 – 143 E. Water St.
From 1817 until 1852 the first wood frame building in Sandusky sat on this site. READ MORE
WILLIAM ROBERTSON WHOLESALE GROCERY – THE GRANERY– 149 E. Water St.
William Robertson was an immigrant from England who had been in the grocery business in his native land. This building was once housed a granery – thus its name. READ MORE
FISHER’S HALL – 163 – 165 E. Water St.
Fisher’s Hall is the second large limestone building to occupy the NW. corner of E. Water St. and Wayne St. READ MORE
THE STEAMBOAT HOTEL, COLT’S EXCHANGE HOTEL, SCOTT’S & CIVISTA BANK
The Civista Bank parking lot at the Southeast corner of East Water Street and Wayne Street was the location of Colt’s Exchange Hotel where Charles Dickens stayed when he visited Sandusky in 1842. Later it was Colt’s Exchange Hotel and later, Scott’s. READ MORE
ON THE NORTH SIDE OF E. WATER ST….
POST, LEWIS AND RADCLIFFE BUILDING – NE corner E. Water St. and Columbus Ave.
Halsey C. Post, Lucius W. Lewis and James B. Radcliffe purchased the corner lot on Columbus Ave. and E. Water St. in 1866 and built a three story Romanesque style building of limestone with a brick façade to house their grocery and ship chandlery. READ MORE
You might not have noticed but the North side of Water Street is a very narrow block. Just one building deep. The front doors face Water Street while the back of the buildings face what is now Shoreline Drive. Shoreline Drive was once the railroad bed for the train tracks. You can see how close they were to the buildings in this drawing. If you have time, take a stroll to the east on Shoreline Drive before turning back to explore the Jackson Street Pier area.
WAYNE ST. LOOKING SOUTH FROM FISHER’S HALL – 100 E. Water St. – This was Sandusky’s waterfront.
Today when you look south from Fisher’s Hall at the NW corner of E. Water and Wayne Sts. you would be hard pressed to imagine that you were facing Sandusky’s most historic plot of land. The only building labeled is the large 3-story building – The St. Lawrence Hotel. You can also see the railroad tracks as well as the boat docks. READ MORE
Also notice that just a block or two away from the waterfront – there are blocks of houses. The churches, which all seem to be downtown, would have been built to serve the surrounding residential areas.
Take a close look at some of these back walls on Shoreline Drive for a different perspective.
EAST SHORELINE DRIVE….
Remnants of that past can still be seen in the odd doorways on the upper floors and the wide entrances in the sub levels. These would have made receiving and shipping cargo very convenient.
See the empty space to the left of the picture (above)? (Below) is the building that was once there. You can see why it was torn down. The windows, walls and stonework were all sagging.
All the stonework would have been hand chiseled. The stone? Quarried by hand.
The buildings were often ‘married” together resulting in a shared wall between the two buildings.
Now look at the rear walls on WEST SHORELINE DRIVE…..
More shared walls and mysterious doors. You can easily see the different styles and craftsmanship around the windows from building to building.
It is easy to see the old loading docks and doors.