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.