Sandusky Gas and Electric Company

Several employees of the Sandusky Gas and Electric Company are seen in front of the old Power House which was on the west side of Lawrence Street, between Market and Water Streets about 1908. Notes with the original item stated that at that time the company had a “horsepower of one.” The power house can be seen below on the 1886 Sanborn Map. It was then listed as Sandusky Electric Light, Gas, Fuel and Supply Company. The power house was situated to the south of the old Number 2 Fire Station, and across the street from the R.B. Hubbard & Son Lumber Yard.  The building was constructed of stone, as were so many early buildings in Sandusky and Erie County.

The history of the Sandusky Gas and Light Company is interesting. The company changed names often, as technology changed. According to  McKelvey’s  1867 Sandusky City Directory, it began in 1854 as the Sandusky Gas Light Company.

An article in Sandusky of To-Day reported that in 1886 the Sandusky Gas Light Company entered into the electrical field, and had one of the most complete electric stations in the country, with a capacity for 200 arc lights and 1,400 incandescent.   By 1919, the Sandusky Gas and Electric Company eliminated horse-drawn vehicles in all departments, and switched to automobiles. 

In the 1920s, the Sandusky Gas and Light Company was purchased by Ohio Public Service, a processor of Ohio Edison.  The former Sandusky Gas and Light power house in Sandusky no longer stands. This link at Google Maps shows its former location, now a part of Sandusky International Division of MetalTek.

Sandusky Gas and Electric Company Truck

Pictured above is a truck that was used by the Sandusky Gas and Electric Company about 1920. The vehicle was a Clydesdale, made in Clyde, Ohio. Between the years of 1917 and 1938 the Clydesville Motor Truck Company in Clyde, Ohio, built trucks and truck bodies. The Sandusky Gas and Electric Company was acquired by the Ohio Public Service Company in 1924, and taken over by the Ohio Edison Company in 1950. In a want ad that appeared in the March 23, 1920 issue of the Sandusky Register, the construction division of the Sandusky Gas and Electric Company were looking to hire employees at a rate of fifty cents hour. The ad promised steady work to those who applied for the job. To learn more about the Clydesdale Motor Truck Company, see the Ohio Memory Project. A search for the term Clydesdale results in several images of Clydesdale vehicles.