Fremont, Ohio Opera House

Fremont Ohio Opera House

Rutherford B. Hayes Library and Museums

 

In 1891 the Fremont Opera House opened to much fanfare.  The structure, located at West State and Arch Streets, replaced many smaller and cruder entertainment venues. Buffalo Bill of Wild West fame and magician Harry Houdini were among the national celebrities to perform at Fremont. 

With the coming of movie theaters, radio, and television, the old Opera House gradually declined. In its final days, it served as an Army Navy store before being razed in 1958 to make room for the Liberty National Bank. This photograph was taken in 1898. 

Elmore Manufacturing Company

 

Introduction

The Elmore Manufacturing Company began manufacturing bicycles   in Elmore, Ohio in  1892. The company relocated to Clyde, Ohio where it operated from 1893 to 1912. Automobile manufacturing began in 1898. The cars featured 2-cycle valveless engines. The Pathfinder won an endurance race from New York to St. Louis, and was exhibited at the World's Fair. Elmores were also used as taxi cabs.   At the height of its operation, the company made nearly 1,200 cars a year. In 1909, the owners sold the company to General Motors, which later moved it to Detroit, and eventually stopped production of the Elmore cars.

Pathfinder, St. Louis Exposition 1904

First Elmore Car  

Elmore Car 1905

                                                   

            Elmore Car 1906

Elmore Taxis

From Bicycles to Automobiles

The founder, Harmon Becker, moved to Elmore, Ohio in 1869 with his wife and four children. He established a sawmill and stave factory on the banks of the Portage River.  Becker and his sons, James and Burton, began manufacturing bicycles in Elmore 1892.

Looking for more spacious quarters to produce the Elmore bicycles, the Beckers in 1893 purchased an empty organ factory in Clyde, Ohio. The Elmore Manufacturing Company was located at 51 Amanda Street in Clyde from 1893 to 1912. From an operation that employed 50 workers and produced 500 bicycles in 1892, the new Clyde plant was able to manufacture 1,500 bicycles in 1898 with 80 employees.

Elmore Manufacturing Company, Clyde, Ohio

Not willing to sell their business to the American Bicycle Company, a trust, the Beckers quit making bicycles in 1897, and began to concentrate their energies on automobiles. The following year the Beckers began the construction of a two-cycle motor, and had a car on the road by early 1900.  By February 1 of that year, the very first Elmore car had been assembled with the  second following three months later. In 1902 the Beckers introduced a horizontal-type motor, changing the design in 1903 to a two-cylinder engine.

As production increased at the Clyde plant, more than 200 workers were employed, producing an average four cars per day.  On October 28, 1908, the Becker brothers incorporated the Elmore Manufacturing Company under the laws of the state of Ohio.  Nearly a year  later, James and Burton Becker, who had earlier bought out their father's interest in the car business, sold the company to General Motors on November 25, 1909 for a reported one million dollars. Burton A, Becker was to continue as the firm's general manager.

From Clyde,  Ohio to Detroit, Michigan

The year following the sale, GM spent $600,000 on an addition to the Elmore plant. At the height of its operation, the Elmore plant had nearly 500 employees who produced 1,100 to 1,200 cars each year.  The sudden resignation of Burton Becker in 1911 prompted General Motors to relocate the Elmore headquarters in Detroit. Later that year General Motors without notice closed the Elmore car works in Clyde, shipping all the factory's machinery to Detroit. The 1912 production was to include the following car line: Torpedo Roadster, Light Torpedo, and a five-passenger touring car.

In 1912 the "Fremont Daily News" reported that the former Elmore plant was to be sold to the Clyde Motor Company.  Although Krebs Commercial Cars and later Clydesdale Trucks  operated out of the old Elmore plant, both were only assembly jobs.  The depression of 1929 ended forever automobile production in Clyde, except for steering wheel parts made by the J.M. Machine Shop. With the dismantling of the Elmore car factory, no further Elmore cars were ever produced.

A version of this post first appeared on the Sandusky-County-Scrapbook that is no longer featured on the Internet.

Ohio's Revolutionary War Soldiers' Gravesites

 In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States of America 250-Ohio, in partnership with the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office, Terracon Consultants, Inc., Daughters of the American Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution, are documenting the grave sites of Revolutionary War veterans buried in Ohio. 

More than 200,000 soldiers served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Lacking funds to pay its veterans, millions of acres in Ohio were set aside for veterans who received bounty land warrants to settle on. It is because of these lands, known as the United States Military Bounty and the Virginia Military Bounty, that as many as 7,000 veterans are buried in over 1,700 Ohio cemeteries. 

In early 2025, a campaign began to record  the gravestones of American Revolutionary War veterans and patriots buried in Ohio. This effort, the first of its kind in the state, calls on Ohioans to participate in field data collection. With more than 7,000 veterans' graves to document, public researchers are asked to help in this great task. 

These organizations believe it is our duty to document the past so that "generations yet unborn may know the sacrifice and achievement of their forbearers". For more information on how you can participate, go to the  Grave Marker & Cemetery Collection portal. Your help is needed in this monumental effort. 

As noted in an earlier post, on May 17th at 1 P.M. Ottawa County Ohio will honor five known Revolutionary War soldiers at the Wolcott Family Cemetery in Danbury Twp.

Fremont Ohio Community Band

Fremont (Ohio) Band 

Rutherford B. Hayes Library and Museums 

This 5 x 7 inch photograph is an image of the Fremont (Ohio) Band organized in 1859 by George Held and  Fred Fabing with twelve members. From left to right are J. Spicher, H. Nelhi, Fred Fabing, F.  Faller, Phil Zimmerman, Godfried Gephard, Adam Hodes (bass drum), and Ed Schertinger (snare drum). 

John C. Smith's Boat House, Sandusky River, Fremont, Ohio

 

This photograph, a part of the Sandusky County (Ohio) Photograph Collection at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums, features a view of John C. Smith's Boat House on the Sandusky River. It is believed to have been taken about 1890. The boat house lay near North Front Street.  Visible is the back of the old Kessler Hotel and the Western and Lake Erie Depot where John Smith had offices on the upper floor. Note the canoes along the bank of the river.

In the upper left hand corner of the photograph is John Pero's coal company. The gas plant existed in the same area in 1887.  By 1904,  Pero's coal company was known as Riverside Coal. The sign on the large building in the center of the photograph reads "Soapine." This appears to have been an advertisement for this well-known cleaning product. 

Booktown, Sandusky County, Ohio

 Lying at the junction of Muskellunge Creek and the Sandusky River, about four miles below Fremont, Ohio in Sandusky Township on State Route 53, is Booktown. It began as a shipping port where lumber and barrel staves were shipped to cities and towns along the Lake Erie shoreline and across Lake Erie to New York ports.  Legend has it that the name derived from the German name Buck (pronounced "Book" in German) who were among the  earliest settlers in the area.  They established a store and a post office.  A thriving sawmill also existed.  Several ships, including the Tindall were built at Booktown. 

As the region's supply  of lumber began to die out, shipping down the Muskellunge to the Sandusky River declined. In 1896, a tornado destroyed property in the area, including the store of Adam Engler.  By the 1930s, Herman Buck, the Englers, and the Logsdon, Huffman, and Fishers were the only remaining families in  the Booktown area.   Businesses consisted of a single garage, a convenience store and gas station owned by Bob and Orlena Fisher. The Disappearance of Booktown, Ohio: An Historical, Personal, and Environmental Perspective by Harold "Corky" Logsdon provides an excellent in-depth study of this once thriving village along the Sandusky River.

“Two Lights for Tomorrow,” America Begins its 250th Anniversary Celebration

 

In 2026 America will celebrate its founding 250 years ago. The initiative that is already sweeping the nation takes place on April 18^th.  “Two Lights for Tomorrow” honors the historic ride of Paul Revere.

On the night of April 18^th, 1775 Paul Revere warned the Sons of Liberty of approaching British troops by hanging lanterns in Boston’s Old North Church. “One if by land, two if by sea!” Revere’s signal marks America’s fight for liberty and independence. “The shot heard round the world” was fired the next day, beginning the American Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord.

Ohio will join other states across the country by displaying two lights in the statehouse at 8 PM on the night of April 18^th. Every household, business, and government office throughout the state is invited to participate. “Two Lights for Tomorrow” honors the spirit of unity, endurance, and the quest for freedom. It is an opportunity to remind ourselves of the sacrifices made by those minutemen for our freedoms that we so often take for granted. 

Some of Ohio’s 88 counties are already launching the celebration of the country’s birth. One of those is Ottawa County. Linda Huber, head of the county’s AM-250 Committee, received a flag from Ohio’s 250 Commission. County commissioners raised the flag at the County/City Government building in Port Clinton on March 6^th. Municipal and county buildings will join residents throughout Ottawa County in displaying two lights on the night of the 18^th.  On the 19^th Ottawa Countians are encouraged to remember Paul Revere’s act of service by undertaking their own volunteer projects. Some are planning cemetery cleanups, food drives, and assistance to the elderly at home and in care facilities.

On May 17^th at 1 PM, the Ottawa County Historical Society will dedicate a Daughters of American Revolution Patriot Marker at the gravesite of the Revolutionary War veteran Benajah Wolcott. The Wolcott Family Cemetery is located at the Keeper’s House in Danbury Twp. Four other Revolutionary War veterans are buried in Ottawa County: Isaac Ambler, buried in Danbury Twp.; John Clemons in Marblehead; and John Green(e) and Israel Harrington in Harris Twp. They will be honored at the event as well.

The bodies of John Greene and his daughter Diana Green(e) Thompson were reinterred in the Harris Elmore Union Cemetery through the efforts of the
DeLery Portage Chapter of the DAR of Ottawa County.  In 1930, the bodies of Green(e) and his daughter were brought from the neglected private cemetery on the Thompson farm located near the juncture of the Portage River and Sugar Creek in Harris Twp.

A version of this article appears online at Lifestyles 2000.