Fremont Motorcycle Club

Fremont Motorcycle Club, 1912

 The black and white images on this post are from the U. B. Lust Collection that  is part of the Local History Collection. Lust was a Fremont jeweler, watch and clock maker, marksman, violinist, photographer, and in 1913 the president of the Fremont Motorcycle Club. The location of the Grand View Cottage is not given. 

This photograph was taken in the summer of 1912. The sign reads "Sunday, August 10, Fremont, Ohio, Professional Motor Races. George Stine was promoting motorcycle races at the Sandusky County Fairgrounds. Featured were professionals who club members had seen in Cleveland and Toledo. The event featured six races, ranging in distance from one to twenty-five miles. Races were geared for the professional and the novice. 

George I. Stine's "Motorcycles and Repairing" shop was located in Fremont at 412 South Front Street. The motorcyclist is unidentified. The "Excelsior" Motorcycle Company was established in Chicago, Illinois in 1907. Its motorcycle was the first to be clocked at 100 mph. The Schwinn Bicycle Company purchased the company in 1912.

This  unidentified motorcyclist was probably a member of the club as well. According to one article in the "Fremont News Messenger," the club may have had at one time as many as 55 members. The annual membership fee was one dollar

These two unidentified motorcyclists were also probably members of the club. The club made road trips throughout northwest Ohio and northeast Indiana. At least 18 made a Sunday road trip in 1912 to Sandusky, Milan, Clyde, Bellevue, and Norwalk under the direction of "Road Captain" Ralph Morris. In addition to Morris, members who made the trip were Ray Ochs, Ed. Zillis, E. H. Barringer, Frank House, Charles Truman, Arthur Burkett, Anson Douglas, President U. B. Lust, R. Schultz, Lloyd Beck, Forest Barr, Phil Rothacker, B. Heim, George I. Stine, Sard Hetrick, and ___ Netter.

George I. Stine, 1912

Further information on the Fremont Motorcycle Club is welcome!

Healing Of Our Veterans Through Equine Assisted Services (H.O.O.V.E.S)

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation." – GEORGE WASHINGTON

Ghost Stories with Mike Gilbert on Saturday October 29th in the Hayes Museum Building

Mike Gilbert Presenting at History Roundtable 2016

It's not too late! There is still one session left in the 2016 fall series of History Roundtable with Mike Gilbert! If you love a good ghost story, come join us for an interesting discussion of local ghost lore. We meet in the Hayes Museum building from 10 to 11:30 on Saturday October 29th!

You can preregister by contacting Nan Card 419-332-2081, ext. 239, or ncard@rbhayes.org! The cost is only $5.00. 

We thank Mary B. Wonderly, M.D. for making the 2016 series: History Roundtable with Mike Gilbert possible!

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St. Joseph's Catholic Church - Toussaint, Carroll Twp., Ottawa County, Ohio

After receiving the photograph below, Sandra Zenser researched and wrote the following history of the St. Joseph's Catholic Church - Toussaint in Carroll Twp., Ottawa County, Ohio. We welcome Sandra's guest post.

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church - Toussaint

by Sandra L. Zenser

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The photo shows St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, parishioners, church leaders (believed to be l-r: Father Thomas McCarthy, Bishop Samuel Stritch¹, and Father Albert Fate), with the church parsonage in the background. The celebration is possibly a first communion, ca.1922. The picture was donated to the Carroll Township History Committee by Betty Youster Dubbert, granddaughter of Fred and Akie Swope, and hangs on the wall of the historic 1880 Carroll Township hall/museum. Church records have the Swope family as members in 1860.

The church was located next to the Catholic Burial Ground, now known as St. Joseph’s Cemetery on Duff-Washa Road in Ottawa County, Ohio. Early church records have the Toussaint pastor as Rev. Amadeus Rappe in the year 1841. The Mass would have been celebrated in members' log cabins. Eventually in 1845 a log chapel was built on a half-acre tract at this location. The log chapel served its purpose until 1861 with the erection of this wooden structure. In 1944, the St. Joseph’s Church building was thought to be in danger of collapse and the Bishop felt that the small number of parishioners did not have the resources to build a new church. St. Joseph’s Church was torn down in 1945, one of the oldest parishes in the diocese, the first church in Carroll Township ceased. Catholics living in the Toussaint territory would become part of the Bono parish (Lucas County). 

What remains are the cemetery, privately owned by the Catholic Diocese of Toledo, and the parsonage home (built in 1916 according to diocesan history), a private residence since 1942.

Catholic Church records refer to this parish as Toussaint, French word meaning “All Saints”. However, to the locals it is Frenchtown as it was a French Canadian settlement where early settlers gained their livelihood by hunting, trapping, and fishing. Possibly the reason for the church not referring to this area as Frenchtown is because of  Frenchtown, Michigan and a St. Joseph’s Catholic Church there. The Toussaint River is just south of this property and Toussaint being a French‑Catholic name. So to eliminate confusion in the diocese, it opted to call this parish Toussaint.

 ¹Bishop Samuel Stritch, bishop from 1921 to 1930, later becoming a Cardinal as Cardinal Stritch Catholic High

  School is named after him on east side of Toledo in Oregon.

History of the Lake Shore Electric Railroad - Charles E. Frohman (Part 4 of 5) (Part 5 of 5)

History of the Lake Shore Electric Railroad - Charles E. Frohman (Part 2 of 5) ( Part 3 of 5)

History of the Lake Shore Electric Railroad - Charles E. Frohman (Part 1 of 5)