18th century This area was a center of trading and fortifications since the 18th century: the English, French, and Americans had trading posts and forts built on both the north and south sides of Sandusky Bay.
19th century George Croghan was one of the more prominent men who operated in this area in the 18th century. A
federal fur trade factory was established in 1808 but was lost at the beginning of the
War of 1812. Development by European Americans of the city of Sandusky, starting in 1818, on the southeast shore of Sandusky Bay, followed settlement of the war of 1812. Part of the city quickly enveloped the site of an earlier small village named Portland (established about 1816). Sandusky was incorporated as a city in 1824. Eventually the city of Sandusky encompassed most of the entire township that had been called Portland. Some of the city was built on land formerly occupied by a Native American man named Ogontz, and therefore the city is said to have been built on "Ogontz' place". Sandusky's rise in the 19th century was heavily influenced by its location at the head of Sandusky Bay. This made it a key point both for the movement of goods and for the movement of people. The mild climate caused by its proximity to Lake Erie also caused it to become the center of Ohio's wine industry. The presence of limestone was also important in its development. It was also a key location for ice harvesting in the 19th century. Lumber transport, stone quarrying and, in the early 20th century, manufacturing, have all contributed to the city's economic development. Prior to the
abolition of
slavery in the United States, Sandusky was a stop for refugee slaves on the
Underground Railroad, as some would travel across Lake Erie to reach freedom in Canada. Although Ohio was a free state, they felt at risk from slavecatchers because of bonuses offered under the
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. As depicted in
Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1855), many refugee slaves seeking to get to Canada made their way to Sandusky, where they boarded boats crossing
Lake Erie to the port of
Amherstburg in
Ontario. Sandusky's original plat was designed by surveyor Hector Kilbourne according to a modified
grid plan, known today as the Kilbourne Plat. Kilbourne later became the first Worshipful Master of the first Sandusky Masonic Lodge, known as Science Lodge #50, still in operation on Wayne Street. His design featured a street grid with avenues cutting diagonally to create patterns reminiscent of the symbols of
Freemasonry. On September 17, 1835, Sandusky was the site of groundbreaking for the
Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, which brought change to the town. Industrial areas developed near the railroad and goods were transported through the port. The coal docks located west of downtown still use a portion of the original MR&LE right-of-way. In 1838,
Erie County, Ohio was formed by the state legislature and Sandusky was designated the county seat. This led to the foundation of a court house and Sandusky becoming a regional government center. In 1846 Sandusky had a population of approximately 3,000 people. At that point Sandusky had two railroads and was also a main focus of lake traffic. The town then consisted of many stores, two printing offices, two machine shops, two banks, six churches, one high school, and several iron furnaces. The English author
Charles Dickens visited the city in 1842, and briefly wrote of it in his subsequent travelogue,
American Notes. Said Dickens, who rode the newly constructed MR&LE railroad from
Tiffin: At two o'clock we took the railroad; the travelling-on which was very slow, its construction being indifferent, and the ground wet and marshy; and arrived at Sandusky in time to dine that evening. We put up at a comfortable little hotel on the brink of Lake Erie, lay there that night, and had no choice but to wait there next day, until a steamboat bound for
Buffalo appeared. The town, which was sluggish and uninteresting enough, was something like the back of an English watering-place out of the season. By 1880, Sandusky had risen to a population of 16,000. There were then 20 churches and three newspapers in the community. The city boasted 29 businesses with at least 10 employees. Products being produced included lime, railroad locomotives and cars, carriages, wheels, crayons, chalk, beer, paper, baskets, and tools. By 1886 Sandusky was the center of wood wheel manufacture in the United States. It was also the location of the Ohio State Fish hatchery and the Ohio Soldiers and Sailor's Home.
20th century into a freighter at one of the
Pennsylvania Railroad docks in Sandusky in 1943 The city developed as a center of paper-making. With a mill in the industrial area near the lake, the
Hinde & Dauch Paper Company was the largest employer in the city in the early 1900s. As the 20th century progressed, the economy of Sandusky came to focus mainly on tourism and fishing. Since the late 20th century, Battery Park Marina was developed on the original site of the MR&LE Railroad after restructuring of the industry reduced traffic on the line. The tracks that ran through downtown Sandusky have since been removed. Most of the downtown industrial area is also being redeveloped for other purposes, including mainly
marina dockage. The
National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Sandusky as a
Tree City USA. ==Geography==