Wilhelm: Sandusky County has rich history
There should be no doubt among area residents about the historic significance of this area.
“The Story of the Maumee Valley Toledo and Sandusky Region,” a multi-volume publication by Charles Sumner Van Tassel is packed full of proof.
In its Sandusky County chapter, it points out “The territory included in present Sandusky County is one of the richest historical sections in the early Northwest. Important events which took place here are set forth all through the preceding pages of this story.”
In the Ottawa County chapter, the publication says: “The Ottawa County section of Ohio … has been the stage of action for many of the most notable and dramatic historical events of the Northwest Territory. No locality can claim greater distinction in the activities leading up to the formative period of the national government and through the constructive years and final peace and independence.”
Fort Sanduski the first fort built by white men in Ohio
From the very earliest. The publication refers to Fort Sanduski on the shores of what is now Sandusky Bay as the first fort built by white men in Ohio.
Actually, what became a fort was apparently a structure built by British traders in 1745.The rest of its history is not completely clear.
The structure was apparently destroyed by Indians and the old Fort Sanduski monument says it was rebuilt by the British in 1750 and then “usurped by the French in 1751.”
The Hayes Center Historic Journal “Searching for the Forts and Indian Villages of Sandusky Bay” by Charles E. Frohman, says that what is often called “French Fort Sandusky” located on the north shore of Sandusky Bay “approximately at the south end of the present Fulton Street” was built by the French who abandoned it in 1752 or 1753.
At any rate, it apparently was restored by the British again in 1761 before being destroyed by Native Americans again in 1763.
Frohman’s journal explains in some detail the difficulties involved in being certain about the exact location of forts in the area. Inexact maps of the times and changes in the shorelines make pinning down the location difficult.
At any rate, the fort and its area were linked to major movements by the French, British and Americans for the next half century or more.
The early days were rugged ones
Van Tassel painted this picture of life in the rugged early days: “These early easterners of the Peninsula, in this period before the War of 1812, had no township organizations, no civil officers, no schools, no churches. They had no mills and their nearest market was Frenchtown. (Monroe, Mich.) Bread made of grated corn, game and fish, were their main diet. Deer, wild turkey, ducks and geese in season, and smaller game were abundant.”
Scott Stahl shares these thoughts about Ottawa County: “(T)here were in the early days wide stretches of marshland, back of which the land was heavily wooded. The marshes and the woods were the home of vast number of furbearing animals, and along the edge of the marshes there settled in early times many persons of French Canadian descent. There early settlers found a livelihood, in part, in hunting and trapping these fur-bearing animals, and their descendants aided in clearing up the territory.”
Roy Wilhelm started a 40-year career at The News-Messenger in 1965 as a reporter. Now retired, he writes a column for both The News-Messenger and News Herald.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Wilhelm: First fort built along Sandusky Bay
