Place:Sandusky, Erie, Ohio, United States

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Sandusky is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Erie County. It is located in northern Ohio and is situated on the shores of Lake Erie, almost exactly half-way between Toledo to the west and Cleveland to the east.

According to 2010 census, the city had a population of 25,793, and the Sandusky, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area had 77,079 residents.

In 2011, Sandusky was ranked No. 1 by Forbes.com as the "Best Place to Live Cheaply" in the United States. The city has a median family income of $64,000.^[1]

Sandusky is one of Ohio's most popular tourist destinations. The city is home to the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, a world leader in amusement parks and entertainment, as well as its flagship amusement park, Cedar Point. Cedar Point features one of the largest collections of roller coasters in the world. The park also has the largest collection of rides at a single park and many flat rides as well as kiddie areas.

The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Sandusky as a Tree City USA.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

• The City of Sandusky, Ohio, was established in 1818. Part of the city quickly enveloped the site of another prior small village named "Portland" (established about 1816), and eventually the City of Sandusky also encompassed most of the entire township that had also 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 upon "Ogontz' place".

• Prior to the abolition of slavery in the United States, Sandusky was a major stop on the Underground Railroad. As depicted in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, many slaves seeking to reach freedom in Canada made their way to Sandusky, where they boarded boats crossing Lake Erie to the port of Amherstburg in Ontario.

• Downtown Sandusky was designed according to a modified grid plan, known as the Kilbourne Plat after its designer. The original street pattern featured a grid overlaid with streets resembling the symbols of Freemasonry. Hector Kilbourne was a surveyor who laid out this grid in downtown Sandusky. He was the first Worshipful Master of the first Sandusky Masonic Lodge known as Science Lodge #50. It is still in operation on Wayne St.

• Sandusky was the site of groundbreaking for the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad on September 17, 1835. Currently, Battery Park Marina is located on original site of the MR&LE Railroad. The tracks that ran through downtown Sandusky have since been removed. Most of the downtown industrial area is being re-used for other purposes, including mainly marina dockage. The coal docks located west of downtown still use a portion of the original MR&LE lines.

• The city was a center of paper-making. The Hinde & Dauch Paper Company was the largest employer in the city in the early 1900s.

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