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Ottawa County Time Traveler Eastern Ottawa County Past & Present April/May 2020 |
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Submitted by Linda Higgins, Friends of the Ida Rupp Public Library One of the many summertime sights (and sounds!) to delight Port Clintonites and our visitors in recent years is that of the Ford Tri-Motor (also known as the “Tin Goose” and, less frequently, the “Flying Washboard”) flying overhead. We’re fortunate to have a working model (this one named “City of Wichita”) of the Tin Goose planes that served this area for many years, from 1946–1985.
Henry Ford bought the Stout Metal Airplane Company in 1925, planning to mass-produce airplanes for the first time. By 1926, the Stout Metal Aircraft Division of Ford Motor produced the Ford Tri-Motor. Its corrugated metal body was powered by three radial engines, enabling it to fly higher and faster than other planes of that era, as well as providing superior reliability and safety. Ford’s flying version of the Model T, it carried fourteen passengers and/or cargo, instead of just mail, in some comfort, with the ultimate goal of providing the masses with access to air travel. Only 199 of these airplanes were mass-produced by the time Ford stopped their production in 1932.
Island Air Service was founded in 1930 by Port Clinton’s Milton “Red” Hersberger to fill the need for air service to and from Lake Erie’s islands. He bought a Waco, borrowed another plane from a friend in Youngstown and began the “shortest airline in the world.” The two daily round trips between the mainland and the islands took all of 45 minutes. He leased the home field from U. S. Gypsum and cleared the land with a grant and Works Progress Administration. Small fields were cleared on the islands.
Hersberger learned that he needed sturdier planes for his purposes: flying people (alive and not), animals, food, and almost anything else that was needed on both the mainland and the island, and found the plane with the best reputation for flying safely, the Ford Tri-Motor. He purchased four and kept them flying until he sold the business, by then called Island Airlines, with the planes. Eventually, the Tri-Motors were no longer used, as more modern planes became more viable transportation.
During their heyday, the Ford Tri-Motor 5-AT-Bs were flown in and by some famous passengers and pilots. In 1929, Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh flew in them (one of these planes was the “City of Wichita,” now flying our local skies) on promotional transcontinental tours. About that same time, Bernt Balchen piloted the first flight to the South Pole with Richard Byrd in the “Floyd Bennett.” President Franklin Roosevelt flew on a Tri-Motor in 1932 working his campaign stops. And in 1936, Neil Armstrong, whose family then lived in Warren, and his father flew on a Tin Goose from Warren Airways, which is now the site of the Apollo 11 first flight lunar module.
The “City of Wichita”/“City of Port Clinton” has made its home at Ottawa County International Airport since 2014, thanks to incredibly hard work by volunteers and members of the Liberty Aviation Museum, the Experimental Aircraft Association, and the Tri-Motor Heritage Foundation, their boards and other interested parties. A second Tin Goose is being totally restored by this same group of remarkable people, all of whom well understand this statement by Jeff Sondles, Operations Director of the Liberty Aviation Museum: “The significance of this aircraft to commercial aviation and airline history is no different than that of the Memphis Belle to B-17s or the Enola Gay to B-29s from WWII.” |
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Submitted by Lorrie Halblaub, Friends of the Marblehead Peninsula Branch Library Benajah Wolcott (1762-1832) came to what is now known as the Marblehead Peninsula from New Haven Connecticut. He served in the Army during the Revolutionary War from age 14-22 under George Washington and “Mad Anthony” Wayne. In 1806 Wolcott came to the peninsula with Almon Ruggles to survey the land in preparation for it to be given to the Connecticut fire sufferers in recompense for losses incurred during the Revolutionary War. Wolcott purchased land in 1809 and built a small log cabin on the Sandusky Bay side of the peninsula. He brought his wife Elizabeth and 3 children, Phoebe, Selima and William. His land already had an orchard, planted by the French, and Wolcott became a farmer and the first land owner on the peninsula. Life was good for a time. Wolcott became friends with Chief Ogontz of the Ottawa tribe, who lived in Ogontz town which is now known as Sandusky. A few other settler families joined the Wolcotts. Their first Christmas dinner party served: swan, duck, chicken, twenty mince pies and vegetables. After dinner, Wolcott played his violin for dancing on the puncheon floor. He was known to be a fine fiddler. Prior to 1812, there were no schools, churches, civil offices or organizations on the peninsula. During the War of 1812, Wolcott and his family fled to Newburgh, near Cleveland to wait out the war. Elizabeth Wolcott died and is buried there. When Wolcott and children returned to the peninsula, expecting to find a burned cabin, he was shocked to see it still standing. It seems that his friend, Chief Ogontz, had put out the word that no one was to touch Wolcott’s cabin while he was away. In 1822, three important things happened to Wolcott: He got married to Rachel Miller, got a job, tending the newly-built lighthouse and had the man who built the lighthouse, William Kelly, build his family a limestone home. So, he became the first light keeper and the built the oldest standing home in Ottawa County. The house, located at 9999 E. Bayshore Road, is restored and available for tours. Benajah and Rachel had a son, Henry, in 1827. For ten years, Wolcott traveled from his home to the lighthouse twice a day, 3 miles round trip. In 1832, Benajah Wolcott and his son William died from cholera after they buried the bodies of cholera victims that had washed up near the lighthouse. He is buried in a small cemetery, north of the house. His wife Rachel tended the light for the next two years, becoming the first female keeper on the Great Lakes. Wolcott’s music was missed at the wedding of his granddaughter, Elizabeth Pettibone to John Reid Kelly in 1835 by a circuit rider minister. John was the son of the builder of the lighthouse and the Wolcott house. |
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Submitted by Robin Burris Cadez Life on the ice is nothing new or unusual for the islands, in fact it has been an intricate part of the islanders’ way of life. However, things can sometimes go wrong very quickly.
On Valentine’s Day 1879, a group of young adults from North Bass and Pelee Island loaded up in two horse drawn sleighs. The weather was in the single digits with a steady North West wind. This group of three ladies and five gentlemen layered up and tucked themselves in with blankets to spend an evening with friends on Middle Bass.
By midnight it was decided the group should head home. Once they hit the ice the leading sleigh driver took a short cut and veered off the marked trail. All of a sudden, their pleasant adventure was shattered as the first sled disappeared through the ice. The second sled had just enough time to steer slightly over before plunging in alongside of the other.
Augusta Fox was in the first sleigh and somehow managed to jump from the sled to the ice. Afterwards she assisted her brother and another gentleman to safety. While the others attempted to save each other, Augusta took off towards the nearest house on Middle Bass to secure help. At this time the other two ladies were struggling terribly in the icy water. The shock of suddenly being tossed into the frigid lake as well as the weight from their heavy coats, thick skirts and layers of petticoats made staying afloat almost impossible.
One of the young men attempted to help Ms. Lidwell. However, the ice he was on was not strong enough to bear the weight of them both and they kept plunging back into the frozen lake. Eventually the two made it safely onto thicker ice. The other girl, Ella Rosella “Rosa” Wires, was having a terrible time keeping her head above water and twice disappeared under. It was clear her strength was quickly fading. The same gentleman who rescued Ms. Lidwell took it upon himself to save Rosa. The only way he could get to her was by jumping upon one of the dead horses floating among the broken ice, and crawling across the animal’s side. He managed to toss Rosa a rope from one of the sleds, she was able to secure it around herself and he pulled her towards him. Unfortunately, he was unable to pull her around a chunk of ice. The rope came loose from her, and she was so frozen she could do almost nothing to help herself. He got onto an ice keg and paddled over towards her. He was able to get the rope around her and pulled her to solid ice. Amazingly they all made it out of the water and with frostbite and chattering teeth the group set off walking back to Middle Bass.
Augusta had made it to the nearest house and told the family there of what happened. The family took great care in tending to their needs, a roaring fire was going in the hearth while dry clothes, thick blankets and warm drinks were passed around. Through the night all they began to thaw out and recover from their terrible ordeal. |
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Ida Rupp Public Library
281 Concord Ave. 310 Madison St. 710 W. Main St. Put-in-Bay, Ohio Port Clinton, Ohio Marblehead, Ohio (419) 285-4004 (419) 732-3212 (419) 798-0477 www.idarupp.org
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