OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Early Towns in Erie County-- Pt 1
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Darlene E. Kelley
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374
July 3, 1999
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Historical Collections of Ohio
The Kelley Family Collections
Newspaper article, Plains Dealer
compiled by S.J. Kelley-- 1925
And Then They Went West
by Darlene E. Kelley  1998
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Part 1--

    In 1812, the Hon. Zalmon Wildman, of Danbury Connecticut, having an
undivided interest in section one of Canon Township
(now Richmond) to which had been annexed one thousand seven hundred and
eighty-three acres of land off the east end of the fraction lying
between town six, range twenty-three (Perkins), and Sandusky bay, to
give to that section an equal average value with all other sections of
the "Fire-lands," located his whole interest in the annexed fraction, by
proceedings in partition, amounting to one thousand two hundred and
eighty acres were known as " The City Tract". The War of 1812
intervened.

Portland--

    In 1816, Judge Wildman laid out a small village plat on the south
shore of the bay, at about the center of the tract, and gave it the name
of Portland. He immediately put up a two-story frame building, which was
finished early in 1817. It afterwards was known as " the old white
store." It stood on ground now covered by the east end of "Reber's
block," In the summer of 1817, William B. Smith built the first dwelling
house on the ground, next west of the hotel now known as 
" Scotts American." In the fall of the same year, Cyrus W.Marsh put up a
section of the rear part of what he afterwards named
" The Steam Boat Hotel." It afterrwards received the name of "Porter's
Veranda",
then " Raymond's Hotel", then its present name, "Scott's American." Mr.
Marsh was the first tavern keeper in the place. He came to Sandusky from
Greenfield, Huron county, Ohio, in which he first settled. He came there
from Trumbull County, Ohio.  The first brick was built, also by William
B. Smith, in front of the frame he had before put up.  It still remains.
The first stone dwelling was built by the late Eleutheros Cooke in
1821-2, which is now occupied by Olds & Huntington, as a bookstore, on
lot two, Columbus Ave. this small village was called "Portland," but
was, in fact, the beginning of Sandusky City.  The ground embraced by
the village plat was widely known as " The Ogontz Place," in memory of
an Indian chief of the Ottawa tribe, who had dwelt on the place with his
tribe, more or less, during the latter part of the last and fore part of
the present century.  The southern shore of the bay and peninsula, on
the opposite side, had been occupied at times by several tribes, but
mostly frequented by the Wyandots and Ottawas.
    During the fore part of the eighteenth
century the French traders were with the tribes, but about the middle of
that century, they were suceeded by the English traders. In 1810-12, an
American trader by the name of John Garrison became the trader there.
But none of these traders are entitled to the name of pioneer white
settlers of the place. they were only squatters for trade purposes.
   The late Judge Issac Mills, of New Haven, Conn., setting up a claim
to an interest in the city tract, a compromise followed by which he
acquired an interest of an undivided fourth part.

Sandusky City--

    In 1818, these joint proprietors laid out a much larger plat, and
gave it the name of Sandusky City.  It was bounded: north, by the bay;
east, by Meigs; west, by Shelby; and south, by Monroe streets. To this,
many additions have been made from time to time, designated by as many
fancy names.  The city having broken over all these additions, the
bounds of the city, in 1872, were extended to the original limits of the
fraction, between the north line of Perkins township and Sandusky Bay,
five miles in length and about two miles in width, containing about four
thousand acres. The whole area is generally level and unbroken. The part
covered by the original plat of Sandusky City was mostly 
prairie, with clusters, or small islands, of second growth of timber of
various kinds, but mainly of oak and hickory and hazel bushes. There is
a very gradual ascent from the bay shore to the central park, to an
elevation of thirty or forty feet. Here it is nearly an exact level, but
soon begins a very slight descent to the east and south.  The whole
fraction constituted the township of Portland for many years before it
was all included in the city.  The west part of the fraction was heavily
timbered; the east portion was mostly prairie, with occasional islands
of timber, mostly of small growth.

The Soil--
  
    The soil is of rich black loam. A small part, mostly embraced in the
original city plat, is underlain by limestone, at a depth of from a few
inches to several feet. The stone, at a greater or less depth, is to be
found in all parts of the present-city bounds.  Within the original
plat, and in some parts of the present bounds, are found extensive
quarries of the limestone suitable for building, paving steets and
making lime. Such as unfit for these purposes are used in constructing
docks. The stone is of light grey and blue.  They are found in layers of
an inch to several feet in thickness, increasing in thickness as the
depth increases.  Both stone and lime are exported in great quantities.
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Continued in part 2-- Pioneer Settlers