Peninsular Farms, Fremont, Ohio

Peninsular Farms Riverview

Courtesy of Rutherford B Hayes Library and Museums

 Located one mile north of Fremont, Ohio, in Sandusky Township, Peninsular Farms was established as a consolidation of several smaller farms purchased by John J. Mooney in the late 1920s. Comprising nearly 500 acres, the quiet expanse of meadows, fields, and woodlands rolls gently for nearly three miles along the scenic Sandusky River. The river's arc around three sides of the property prompted the name Peninsular Farms. Mooney bred and raised champion Standardbred horses on the estate for the harness racing circuit. More than 150 trotters and pacers grazed in the farm's paddocks.

Entirely enclosed by chain-link fence, Peninsular Farms was managed for many years by Gilbert Buehler. Buehler raised cattle, hogs, chickens, ducks, and more than 300 acres of soybeans, corn, wheat, alfalfa, and barley. Mooney renovated one of the farmhouses on the property, creating a spacious, ten-room residence. Built before 1900, the farmhouse, located near the Sandusky River, became a summer retreat for Mooney, his wife, and son John Jr. The family divided its time between Detroit and Fremont.

In 1950, following his father's death, John J. Mooney, Jr. inherited Peninsular Farms. An attorney and retired industrial relations manager, the younger Mooney spent little time at the estate. Mooney resisted offers to develop the land, hoping that it could become a park. In 1979, Mooney sold Peninsular Farms to Don Miller, a Sandusky County contractor. In an effort to control its future use, Miller, a wildlife lover, designated 474 acres as a conservation easement through the Black Swamp Conservancy. The conservation easement established by Miller in 2000 includes woodlands, wetlands, and floodplains as well as cultivated bottomland, creating a diverse wildlife habitat.

Whittaker Reserve
The historically significant Peninsular Farms is the largest remaining acreage of what was once the 1,280-acre tract known as the Whittaker Reserve. Captured as a boy by Wyandot warriors, James Whittaker was brought to the area around 1780. Whittaker adapted to life among the Wyandots. He later married Elizabeth Fulks. Like Whittaker, Fulks was also a captive of the Wyandots. The Whittakers established several trading posts and raised eight children on land given them by their captors. The United States government officially deeded the property to Elizabeth Whittaker following her husband's death. During the 1870s, a large portion of the tract was divided into smaller farms

Ohio Nature Journal - January - April 1994

Guest Post by Barbara Paff 

Some thirty years ago, Barbara Paff began keeping a nature journal, detailing the pleasures of rural living in Rice Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. During those years, Barb was a librarian at the Hayes Presidential Library/Archive, while her husband, the Rev. Richard Moe, was pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, then located at 3077 County Road 170 in Rice Township. They lived in the parsonage on the south side of the church. In 2004 they moved to Barb’s home town of East Lansing, Michigan, where she continues to enjoy gardening, albeit in a much smaller urban space…but still with plenty of wildlife.

An enthusiastic observer of nature, Ohio's changing seasons, and the wildlife around her, Barb has graced us again with some of her insightful journal entries recorded during her time in Ohio, describing quotidian events, plants and creatures that interested and delighted her.  Once again, they are accompanied by some splendid photographs -  plus, feathered friends courtesy of  that wonderful research site allaboutbirds.org  Enjoy!

Jan 1, 1994 - Ah, yes, Black Swamp winter…grey, dismal, damp…it snowed, sleeted, and rained today.  Saw hundreds of geese, and heard even more.  When I woke up, the sun was not quite up…lovely red cloud, pink glow, clear sky above…but by the time it rose, massive clouds submerged it for the rest of the day! 

Rice Twp. Sandusky County, 1994

                                                       

Jan 5 - Cold and SUNNY today, first time in a week of otherwise leaden skies.  More snow yesterday, with a heavy snowstorm predicted for tonight and tomorrow.   Still seeing lots of geese, and still have cardinals at the feeder, but haven’t seen woodpeckers since 12/25.  Should hang a suet feeder.  (Add that to my list of shoulds!)

Jan 6 - Gorgeous snowfall today and tonight, with almost no wind, so it settles on all the branches and makes a magical fairyland.  This is the kind of night when Mom would have said “Let’s go for a walk!”  Funny how I remember this kind of snow from childhood…it is memorable.  I miss the quietness (it was before snowmobiles, and without plows).

Jan 10 - COLD these past days, zero and below at night.  Quite a bit of snow, real winter.  Last night was lovely:  some ground fog…you could see it billowing in the lights…clear cold sky above it, with millions of stars, so clear that the star colors were obvious…orange Aldebaran (I just found it for the first time), others blue or white.  Heavy crystals formed on the trees and everything else.  This morning at sunrise everything sparkled.  The sky was pink, and even the air glittered pink with frost crystals.  Tonight it is above 20 degrees, cold wet wind, and snowing vigorously.  I’m tired of having to wear multiple layers to keep warm, but still really enjoying the snow, especially when it’s so beautiful.  I’ve not even minded driving in it.

Jan 12 - Forgot to mention a couple of weeks ago that the “toilet ants” were back, tunneling under the floor and coming up to build anthills at the base of our toilet.  They disappeared when the weather turned bitter cold, but I expect them back in a warm spell.  Today and yesterday 30’s, gloomy, damp.  Last night heavy fog.

Jan 13 - Another cold gray day…snowing tonight, supposed to be super-cold tomorrow.

Jan 16 - Third day of bitter cold, minus 15 the last two nights.  Snowing.  Pretty, but I’m too tired to go out and enjoy it!   Didn’t I just say last week that I prefer cold and sunny to warmer with gray skies?

Jan 17 - More snow and subzero.  I filled the snowblower and was just about to start it when Keith pulled in with the tractor snowblower.  It takes him all of five minutes to clear our driveway and the church’s parking lot.  Perfect timing!  The tractor really moves the snow, especially when it’s light like this.  You don’t want to be close by or downwind, because it’s instant whiteout!

Jan 18 - At 10 pm it’s already 23 below, and probably still dropping.  Windchill must be about 70 below.  Even walking to the mailbox needs a face mask.  I scattered 2 big cans of birdseed this morning, but they didn’t eat it all…I suppose they can’t stay exposed to the wind long enough to eat.  Or maybe a lot of them didn’t make it through last night…and what about tonight?  This weather will surely thin the wildlife population.  I’ve not seen weather like this since the first year we lived here [1983-84], and even then, it lasted only a couple of days.  To us it didn’t seem too bad, because we had just come from Iowa.  This is life-threatening stuff.

Jan 19 - Minus 26 this morning, 16 in the garage.  Birds looked rumpled and slow, poor things.  At least some of them came to the feeders today, but the tube feeder is still full, so the cold and wind must prevent them from using it.  Maybe they can’t hang on to the perches.  Gabe’s paws get packed with ice…it must be really painful, because it stops him cold (so to speak) and he just lies down in the snow.  Haven’t seen bunnies raiding the birdseed this last two evenings, either.  I hope they can find cover.  I have seen them with their ears frozen off, just little stumps left.  I really don’t know where the birds go…don’t see how they can survive roosted as usual in the pine trees.  Stars were spectacular last night…

Jan 25 - Blizzard tonight…tiny, biting little pellets, almost like sleet.  Lots of drifting.  Supposed to get real cold again, windchill already bad.  Worried about ice on lines and power going out…

Jan 26 - Bitter windchill again, freezing rain predicted, so it will have to warm up for that…better we should have cold and snow.  And maybe we will…it snowed all day today.

Jan 27 - 40 degrees today, rain…no freezing rain here.  Glad I didn’t bother shoveling the big drift by the back door…it’ll soon be gone unless it turns  cold again.  And perhaps it will.

NO SIR…they don’t make winters like they used to.  NOT !!!!

Jan 29 - A branch broke off the violas in the big pot outside the back door…those plants are still green, and with two mostly-intact blooms on that branch, after minus-26 temperatures!  

Gabe got  very interested in one of the frozen “drifts” still remaining after 2 days of rain.  He began to dig, and a little vole ran out, none too fast.  I distracted Gabe and he missed seeing it.  Later he found a woodchuck huddling in a corner on the front of the church.  It didn’t try to run, just hunkered down and looked cold and miserable.  I think it may have been flooded out of its burrow, poor thing…the creek is overflowing way up into the fields.  This guy should be hibernating.   Don’t know whether it can survive like this.  Besides, it'll be discovered tomorrow when people come to church, and someone will surely shoot it.  Maybe better tonight (out of its misery), but I can’t do it.

Snowed all morning…not much of it stuck, but at least it dusted over the brown and gray crud, and was lovely while it was falling.

Feb 6 - Almost 40 today, stiff wind, but it didn’t feel terribly cold.  The finches were just a-chattering away as if spring had arrived.  No cardinals, sunflower seed hadn’t been touched.  Saw a heron flying.

Feb 7 - COLD again, 15 with NE wind, freezing rain predicted.  Another woodpecker near the feeders, a downy.  I’m sure the other one was a redbellied…never saw its belly, but the red pattern on its head matched the photo in the book.  I made a little “suet cake” of seeds in peanut, oleo, and lamb grease…hung in a net bag inside a plastic berry box.  Smeared a little on the tree bark…probably will attract raccoons, though!  Winter blahs have got me…  Feel so beleaguered and depressed.  Claustrophobic, almost.

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Feb 9 - This winter is beginning to feel like an endurance contest.  At least the days are longer, if not warmer, and we got sleet yesterday instead of freezing rain.  Lovely light snowfall tonight…if it were Christmas Eve, we’d love it!  But we’re sick of worrying, shoveling, and being old!   The redbellied woodpecker was back again…haven’t seen anyone touch the suet cake yet, though.  Cardinals, finally…2 males and 4 females at the feeder.  Wonder where they live?

Feb 12 - The downy woodpecker has been hanging on the bottom of the suet-seed cake, and the starlings eat off the top, though not at the same time!  When I went out yesterday to bring more seed, there were mourning doves lined up on the ridge of the house roof…a kestrel was swooping about, chattering and bitching (like a blue jay!) but the doves seemed not to care.

Freezing rain tonight…there was some sun during the day, though.

Downy Woodpecker

Feb 14 - Yesterday, outdoors at 7 AM, I heard a familiar yet strange-sounding bird call…after a few seconds I realized it was a robin, complaining…probably about the 15-degree cold and the glaze of ice on everything!  Later on, I saw a horned lark at the feeder, first one I’ve seen there this year.  I think I’ve seen some in the fields, but not sure.  Might have been seeing killdeer (do they winter over?)

Horned Lark

Feb 16 - Sunny and 35 seems almost spring.  Snow melting, muddy, gritty, salty, icing over again at night.  But the sun is wonderful.

Kestrel

Feb 19 - Almost 60 degrees today…dried towels on the clothesline…most of the ice is gone.  Starflower leaves are peeking out.  Should be seeing redwings pretty soon.  Found mouse parts on the bedroom floor today…when did THAT happen?  I do faintly recall Twerp bounding off the bed early this morning…that’s probably when she nailed it.  Ah yes, country life!  Christmas cactus is still blooming, but nearly finished.

Christmas Cactus

Feb 22 - Have seen several flocks of geese, but not the more unusual birds that were at the feeder earlier…though with the cold, wind, snow, and sleet we’re supposed to get tonight, they may come back!

Mar 3 - Still cold this past week, but some brilliant sunny days, and snow…    Today there were hundreds of geese around…the redwings are back and we have a sudden influx of grackles and starlings.  I see that more trees have been cut along the creek NE of us…that may be why we’ve had the woodpeckers and so many cardinals…their homes are gone.  It does grieve me that most people seem to know and care so little about the creatures with whom we share the earth.

Canadian Goose

Mar 13 - Four days’ vacation in Arizona, visiting Rich’s parents…missed 5” of snow here.  Home two days ago, heard and saw a meadowlark in the yard…spring’s coming!  Quite a few robins.  Delphinium nubbins up.

New birds in Ariz….Gambel’s quail, boat-tailed grackles, cactus wrens, and a hummingbird I can’t find in the bird book.  It was so nice to just sit in the sun with a cup of coffee, listening to the birds, and have nothing else to do!

Mar 14 - Still winter:  juncos at the feeder, and cold, damp wind.  But grape hyacinths are up, and daffodil leaves are 6” tall…cowbirds are here…

Dark-eyed Junco

Mar 16 - Have heard song sparrows the past few days.  It’s 20 degrees with bitter north wind tonight, but there are buds on the daffodils…

  

Grape Hyacinth

Mar 22 - The “Age of Rubens” exhibit at Toledo Art Museum was a real lift…I would never have guessed how powerful those paintings are when seen “live”...and 400 years old, at that!

Sunday was warm enough (50) to be outside and cripple up my shoulders with yard work…but I can’t stay indoors and I don’t seem to be able to ignore the cleanup waiting to be done (although I can certainly ignore a LOT of it!)

Today it was 60 and beautiful…I pulled half the straw off the strawberries and enough off the roses to uncover the daffodils planted in front of them.  Wish I didn’t have to spend tomorrow at work!

Daffodils

Mar 23 - The first truly warm and gorgeous day…glorious 70’s and sunlight.

Mar 26 - After 2 warm days, 2 cold ones again, but delphinium shoots are up.  Somebody’s eating tulip leaves…  More neighbors are taking down trees…

Delphinium

Mar 28 -  Put up the wren and bluebird houses yesterday.  Hope it’s early enough!

Mar 31 - Spring is happening…still cool, though.  Plants from Gurney’s came yesterday, too early to plant.  If it doesn’t rain too much on Saturday maybe I can get them at least into pots, until I can figure out where I want them, and dig holes for them.

Apr 7 - Snow on Easter (April 3) and again yesterday, about 5.”  Really cold and icy this morning, but sunlight melted things quite a bit.  I didn’t realize it was in the teens till I tried to open the back door and the frozen snow on it cracked like ice.  Yesterday was warmer…roads slushy and covered with robins hunting for worms.  Gulls too, but dozens and dozens of robins.  I’d put Gurney’s dormant plants in pots, not thinking it would get so cold…hope they live (well, they’re South Dakotans, should be tough!)

Apr 9 - The sun is so high now, it looked stunning on the snow Thursday after our 5” blizzard, and pretty much melted it that day and the next.  When it disappeared, the grass seemed quite suddenly green again.  Not quite LUSH, but certainly healthy!

Apr 11 - Started some seeds in little pots: stock, sweet peas, morning glories.  Want to start tomatoes, too, but need more pots.

Feeding Jim’s cat while he’s in Minnesota…she’s pretty pregnant and very friendly…she’s roosting up in the loft.

Cold wet wind all day, heavy rain predicted for tonight.  Snow?  Decided not to empty gas out of the snowblower yet!

Yesterday we saw a kestrel land in the big sycamore…it blew all the starlings away!  (How can we bribe it to stay?)  Gabe found fur and a rabbit leg behind the church…coyote? hawk? Owl?  Blue scilla blooming…if I don’t check the flowerbeds every day, I’ll miss something!  All of the peony roots planted last fall are alive, with tiny red leaf-buds showing.  Two of the remaining Simplicity roses kicked the bucket, broken off below ground…rotted or eaten, I suppose.  Can’t tell whether the other two are alive.

Scilla

Apr 12 - Lots of rain…finally remembered at 5 PM to set the rain gauge out!  Cleared off then, warm and sunny, beautiful new moon and adjacent star/planet tonight.  Saw a toad, can hear frogs singing tonight…beautiful sunset clouds and Black Swamp haze.

Apr 14 - New moon was so lovely last night, with the whole circle faintly visible by earthshine.  Creek level receding.

Apr 15 - Storms threatening, but so far all we’ve had are high winds and thunder, and 70 degrees.  Scilla in Jim’s pasture are beautiful.

Apr 18 - Went to Crane Creek…bursting with life: lots of geese, coots, tree swallows, ducks, herons, egrets, redwings, robins…and leaves budding everywhere.  It was cool, and the lake was calm…far out in the haze was a broad pinkish band…then it lit up at one end, and we watched the light travel slowly across to the opposite end as the sun found a hole in the clouds.  Sky, water, light…always affecting and beautiful.  We also watched a muskrat chasing a goose in the marsh.  Evidently the goose was too close to something the muskrat considered its own!  I think every OTHER goose in the park was honking and squabbling, but this one was gliding peacefully among the lilypads until the muskrat started swimming around it and at it, and finally drove it away.  It is so peaceful sitting out in the middle of the marsh.  For the first 10-15 minutes I look everywhere, trying to see as much as I can…then I find myself just listening.  That’s the more peaceful pleasure.

I just re-read entries from last April.  By that calendar, lunaria should bloom before May.  They don’t look big enough yet, but might surprise us!  Christmas cactus is still blooming, and has unopened buds.

Christmas Cactus

Apr 23 - At least one meadowlark around, with piercing sweet song.  Saw a flicker in the yard yesterday.  Today discovered the robins are nesting again in the New Dawn climbing rose on the east side of the house.  Lovely sunny day, but windy, drying the soil for planting.  Tulips had green buds yesterday, which today are red and opening.  Found one dogtooth violet.

Meadowlark

Apr 27 - Still hearing meadowlark(s).  Lilac buds opening.  I think the beebalm is coming up…don’t know what it is, if not that.  Three 85-degree days really shot us into summer.  Cool tonight, though, with NW wind bearing eau de hog manure.

Apr 28 - Winter again!  Windy, rain all day, 38 degrees tonight.  Bunny under bird feeder for a long time, eating seed.  Dad says they like millet, but they don’t have “grinding” teeth to chew it.  You’d think there would be plenty of greens available to them now.  Lunaria short, but beginning to bloom on schedule.

Lunaria

Old First Presbyterian Church, Fremont, Ohio

The Presbyterian Church of Fremont, Ohio was founded in 1833 by twenty-two  residents, of which all but two had been  members of churches elsewhere.  

According to Homer Everett's History of  Sandusky County, they originally gathered in a log schoolhouse and then met regularly in the Lower Sandusky (Fremont, Ohio) courthouse. Prayer meetings were held at the minister's home on Justice Street.

Old Presbyterian Church

Fremont, Ohio

Courtesy of  Rutherford B, Hayes Presidential Library and Museums

Members met in various locations until they decided to build a church.  The trustees purchased a lot on the northwest corner of Main (now Park Avenue) and Garrison.  A building committee was appointed in 1844 and the above structure was dedicated January 10, 1847. Built of brick in the classical style, the church measured 45 by 60 feet and featured a bell tower. In 1852, the congregation added a lecture room at the rear of the church. 

In 1869, the Presbyterians subscribed $25,000 for a new building to be constructed on the same location.  During its construction, members met at what was then known as Birchard Hall. On the 28th  of April, 1870, the new church was dedicated. The total cost, which was completely paid for at its dedication, was $40,000

Some records can be found at the Rutherford Hayes Library and Museums.  A photocopy of the church's records from 1833 to 1885 appears in the Reading Room of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library under the title Records of the Presbyterian Church in Lower Sandusky, Volume I, 1833 - 1885.  The volume includes an index of names of members whose baptisms, dismissals, transfers, and deaths appear in the records. The index has been entered in a genealogy database in the library and also appears online (rbhayes.org/index). The bulk of the church's records are available in  the  Hayes Presidential Local History Manuscripts Collection.

Panoramic View of Johnson's Island and Sandusky

 

Panoramic View of Johnson's Island and Sandusky, Ohio, 1864,  by Philip Nunan

The following information appears on the website of the Friends and
Descendants of Johnson's Island. Additional information, including  the names of those buried at the Johnson's Island Cemetery, appears in other Ohio's Yesterdays posts. The island lies approximately three miles from Sandusky, Ohio

From April of 1862 until September of 1865, more than 10,000 Confederates passed through Johnson’s Island Civil War Military Prison leaving behind an extensive historical and archaeological record. Many of these officers recorded in journals or diaries the day to day happenings, emotions, and conditions they were enduring. They also spent many hours writing letters, collecting autographs from prisoners, and sketching maps. These documents give vast insight into what prison life was like, as well as the personal conflicts and hardships encountered among families and friends during the Civil War.

The 16.5 acre Johnson’s Island Prison Compound contained 13 Blocks (12 as prisoner housing units and one as a hospital), latrines, sutler’s stand, 3 wells, pest house, 2 large mess halls (added in August, 1864) and more. The Blocks were two stories high and approximately 130 by 24 feet. There were more than 40 buildings outside the stockade (barns, stables, a lime kiln, forts, barracks for officers, a powder magazine, etc.) used by the 128th Ohio Volunteer Infantry to guard the prison. The two major fortifications (Forts Johnson and Hill) protecting Johnson's Island were constructed over the 1864/65 winter, and were operational by March of 1865. 

The Hoffman Battalion with other companies that formed the 128th Ohio Volunteer Infantry became the official guards of the prison under the charge of William S. Pierson, former mayor of Sandusky. Because of his cruelty to prisoners and his inability to handle problems and keep the prison in good order, he was replaced. On January 18, 1864 Brigadier General Harry D. Terry replaced Pierson.  A few months later, on May 9, 1864, Colonel Charles W. Hill took command at Johnson's Island, remaining as such until the end of the war.

Ohio Andersonville Monument

 

Ohio Andersonville Monument

Courtesy of National Park Service

The Ohio Andersonville Monument Commission was authorized by House Bill No. 586 on April 16, 1900, to erect a monument to the memory of Ohio  soldiers who died in Camp Sumpter, the Confederate military prison also known as Andersonville. With an appropriation of $5,000, the Commission selected the design offered by the Hughes Granite and Marble Company of Clyde, Ohio. The finished monument was unveiled December 18, 1901. The monument is the tallest on the site.  It is located on the prison grounds, on the north slope near the west side of the prison. The location is very close to the prison's original north wall before it was moved further north to provide 10 more acres of space. The four sides of the base bear the following images and inscriptions:

South: United States Coat of Arms
North: Ohio Coat of Arms
West: To her 1055 soldiers who died here in Camp Sumpter from March 1864 to April 1865 this monument is dedicated.
East: Death before Dishonor

President William McKinley Monument at Antietam

 

McKinley Monument at Antietam                            Courtesy of National Park Service

William McKinley Ohio, who later became the 25th President of the U.S., has a monument honoring his courage at the battle of Antietam. Hughes Granite and Marble Company of Clyde, Ohio produced the monument. The monument is located just south of the Burnside Bridge. It was dedicated October 13, 1903.

The inscription on the monument reads:

WILLIAM McKINLEY
January 29, 1843 - September 14, 1901
Fourteen Years Member of Congress
Twice Governor of Ohio 1892-3 and 1894-5
Twice President of United States
1897 - 1900 - 1901

Sergeant McKinley Co. E. 23rd Ohio Vol. Infantry, while in charge of the Commissary Department, on the afternoon of the day of the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, personally and without orders served "hot coffee" and "warm food" to every man in the Regiment, on this spot and in doing so had to pass under fire.

The Battle of Antietam took place in Maryland on September 17, 1862. It was Civil War Confederate General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North. It was the bloodiest single day battle in American history. The battle claimed 23,000 casualties, nine times greater than the number of American casualties on D-Day during World War II. Despite the battle's shocking carnage, Antietam provided President Abraham Lincoln with the victory he needed to announce the abolishment of slavery in the South.

President Rutherford B. Hayes of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry who became the 19th President of the U.S. recollected the incident in these words, in an 1891 speech introducing McKinley:

That battle began at daylight. Before daylight men were in the ranks and preparing for it. Without breakfast, without coffee, they went into the fight, and it continued until after the sun had set. Early in the afternoon, naturally enough, with the exertion required of the men, they were famished and thirsty, and to some extent broken in spirit. The commissary department of that brigade was under Sergeant McKinley’s administration and personal supervision. From his hands every man in the regiment was served with hot coffee and warm meats.

General J.L. Botsford described it in his battle report:

It was nearly dark when we heard tremendous cheering from the left of our regiment. As we had been having heavy fighting right up to this time, our division commander, General Scammon, sent me to find out the cause, which I very soon found to be cheers for McKinley and his hot coffee. You can readily imagine the rousing welcome he received from both officers and men. When you consider the fact of his leaving his post of security, driving right into the middle of a bloody battle with a team of mules, it needs no words of mine to show the character and determination of McKinley, a boy at this time about twenty years of age. McKinley loaded up two wagons with supplies, but the mules of one wagon were disabled. He was ordered back time and again, but he pushed right on.

[Quoted in The Life of William McKinley: Soldier, Lawyer, Statesman, by Robert P. Porter. Cleveland, 1896]

McKinley was promoted to second lieutenant for his conduct.

Recollections of 1883 Flood at Fremont, Ohio

 

1883 Flood  Recollection

Lucy Elliot Keeler, a resident of Fremont, wrote about the 1883 flood:

"Before dawn on the Sunday morning of February 4, 1883, the Fremont fire bell aroused the citizens who found hundreds of their dwellings surrounded or already inundated by water. Heavy rains of two days, falling upon a frozen ground, with ice gorges formed below town, had caused a sudden rise of water in the river four or five feet above any previous high water mark. The water flowed through Front street, the principal business street of the city, with a mighty current which no boats could stem. The whole third ward between the river banks and the foot of the hills was several feet under water; huge ice blocks floated in, packed and froze solid. Two thousand persons were driven from their homes. There were many narrow escapes and several deaths from drowning and exposure. Several bridges along the river were carried away, and that of the L. S. & M. S. Railway collapsed under a freight train, thirty-seven cars being precipitated into the river. The damage to property in Fremont alone amounted to about $100,000. Loss in the upper towns of Tiffin, Bucyrus and Upper Sandusky was also large."

Excerpted from: Keeler, Lucy. "The Sandusky River: Its Geography, History, and Tradition." Columbus, Ohio, 1904.

                                       

Fremont, Ohio

 Rutherford B. Hayes Library and Museums

                   Excerpts from the Diary of Rutherford B. Hayes

February 4 -- The last two days will be long remembered. Yesterday for the destruction of trees, today for the greatest flood ever known at Fremont. The rain Saturday morning began to freeze as it fell.  The telegraph wires became so heavy with ice that the poles were broken or pulled over, and the whole telephone and telegraph system of this neighborhood broke down.  The small twigs were covered with ice until they were an inch in diameter.  All the weak-limbed trees suffered greatly. For two or three hours the crash of falling limbs was almost constant.  Even a small limb falling with its ice and the ice on other limbs which it broke would make a roaring noise. Lucy and the family watched the scene with the greatest interest. Many favorite trees were badly marred.  Old trees of all sorts lost large limbs.  Soft maples, cottonwood, and elms suffered particularly. Young white oaks and evergreens stood up best. The losses that grieved us most are the injury to the large elm northeast of the house; one half of the tall sassafras; the young hickory in the orchard; the damage to three of the large old oaks, [and] to the four street elms. 

Sunday was  given up to the flood and the rescue and relief of the sufferers.  No such flood was ever seen here before.  The water filled the valley from bluff to bluff. It ran two to four feet the whole length of Water Street, and drove from homes  perhaps one to three hundred families.  Men with skiffs were at work all day, rescuing people.  One woman was drowned--others perhaps.  The water reached on the pike (State Street) to the west of Arch Street, on Croghan Street south side to the--. On Birchard Avenue it ran in rear of the Ball House and within two inches of the lower side of the water table of the building. The anecdotes of escapes, losses, and experiences are without number and often very interesting,

Note: The following day Hayes asked for voluntary contributions since it was decided the need was immediate and asking the state legislature for funds would take too long. Hayes organized a committee of five men who would take charge of  finance, supplies, and distribution. Hayes contributed $100 of the $1000 raised.