Kelleys Island History Blog

  This is one of the first references to baseball on Kelley’s Island. While organized baseball had been around for several years, 1869 marked the first year that a recognized all-professional baseball team took the field. An Ohio team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was the first team to be openly paid a salary. They closed the 1869 season with a record 65 wins and no losses. This Ohio team fired up the baseball spirit of the islanders. January 1869 - “A few thoughts concerning Base Ball – The great game of American base ball has been having a ‘great run’ throughout the United States, ever since the greater excitement of the late war has terminated, say since or within the last three years. The ‘fever’ has not, until the present winter, reached the Island but it is now here in its most virulent form and the probabilities are that the Doctor will have all she can attend to unless those liable to be taken, exercise a great deal of caution during its prevalence. All the preliminary s...

The Village maintains two parks (the park downtown and the one on Addison Rd..) and several recreation areas. Recently, the Kelleys Island Park Board officially named the Addison Road park the Kelleys Island Community Park. In looking back, this park has been a big part of our community history. This year the KI History Museum has been posting articles from the 1950s, and this one brought up a lot of memories. Several years ago, the Kelleys Island Landowners Assoc. moved its Homecoming event to this park (it used to be downtown). What a great move. There was more space, a pavilion with picnic tables, a water faucet and a big area for tents and games. But, what’s a park without a safe, fun place for children to play? The equipment was old with just a really tall slide and a few swings. The merry-go-round (now called meat grinders) had already been removed. None of the equipment met safety standards. It was time for an upgrade, but it would literally take a village to make it happen....

LOOKING BACK - May 1925 – From the Erie Echo (a small newspaper that was published for all the schools in Erie Co.), the column was called Kelleys Island Ramblings. By Leslie Korenko Kelley’s Island’s Greatest Industry - The Kelley’s Island Lime & Transport Co. is our greatest industry.   At present this company employees 125 men and its average by-weekly pay roll is $7,700 or enough to give every man, woman and child on the Island approximately five dollars a week. Few realize, even including those who live on the Island, the value of this company. It can be seen from the above that almost one-fourth of the families living here are more or less dependent upon this company. The economic effect of one summer’s shut-down could easily be foretold. Yet, notwithstanding the above, the fact remains that it is a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. The present state of depletion can not always continue. At present the surface of the Island is being stripped to a depth of eight or te...

Can you believe that it has already been 11 years since we opened the doors on the new museum? Read all about opening day and the move from the church to the new building as documented in our Fall 2010 newsletter. We bet you’ll recognize many of these names. The new museum and gift shop officially opened on June 26, 2010. Our hours of operation were from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. And we were, once again, able to run by an all-volunteer staff. Volunteers were recruited by Fran Minshall and worked the entire summer. The volunteers included: Pat Seeholzer, Leslie Korenko, Ed Frindt, Charlotte Halliwill, Knut Lahrs, Mary Ann Pileski, Carol Dodson, Shirley Crabill, Elsie Homegardner, Anne Eddowes, Fran Minshall, and Sharon Mclntire; along with substitute Lori Arnold. A huge thank you goes to all of these dedicated volunteers who made it possible for us to be open for the hundreds of interested islanders and island visitors to see our beautiful new museum, while learning about Kel...

Every museum has a ghost story (except maybe us), and every museum has that one item that is a show stopper. Ours is “that creepy doll”. Of course we don’t think the doll is creepy at all. She is quite charming. She was donated by Lydia Bechtel and she is wearing a blue skirt with a white blouse and cloth sweater. She has a lovely pearl necklace and earrings, and has lace-up black and white shoes and socks. In researching her, we discovered an advertisement for a similar doll with this description that closely matches our doll. A doll made by Simon & Halbig, which has a smooth, creamy bisque face with crisp facial modeling. She has four upper teeth, small ears, molded and feathered brows over deeply set, spiral threaded eyes that close for sleep with upper and lower lashes. Her hair is a Mohair wig, which likely had spiral curls at one time. We actually have several lovely old dolls which we are working at bringing back out into the museum. The scariest thing about this doll is how...

Decoration Day was appropriately observed by the people of Kelley’s Island, who at 4 o’clock assembled at Kelley’s Hall, where a very interesting address was delivered by Rev. M. K. Holbrook. During his remarks, he gave a short sketch of the lives of the six soldiers who are buried in the cemetery, three of whom died in the service, one – Mr. Simon Huntington – of wounds. After the address a procession of carriages was formed, which proceeded to the cemetery. The ladies of the Island had brought their choicest flowers, forming beautiful wreaths and bouquets, and the graves of the unforgotten brave were profusely and beautifully decorated. The grave of one soldier is unmarked by any tombstone, and a committee was appointed, consisting of John T. Woodford and Mrs. George C. Huntington to procure funds for the purpose of erecting a suitable monument over his grave. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the funds will soon be forthcoming from the large hearted people of the Island. The cer...

  T HE ISLAND’S OLDEST INHABITANT– JACOB HAYES   George Huntington , in his presentation to the Fire Lands Historical Society   on October 30, 1862, offered this about the man. “Jacob Hay, then as now a bachelor, and one of our oldest residents, was boarding with Mrs. Knowlton at the afore-said boarding house in front of where the Island House   now stands. If, as political economists assert, that man is to be considered a public benefactor who causes two spires of grass to grow where but one grew before, then Mr. Hay is certainly deserving great credit, since he has performed a much greater amount of physical labor than any man now living on the island, almost the whole of which was tended directly or indirectly towards the general improvement. For 15 years his time was devoted almost exclusively to clearing land, building fences, putting up small tenements, &c. and since that date he has been employed in making and repairing agricultural implements, &c., ...

  JAMES ESTES & THE KELLEYS ISLAND SCHOOL   James Estes died in Cleveland in October 1898. His occupation was listed as grape grower and the cause of death was heart disease.   The family monument came from the Hughes Granite works and cost $5,000. It was reported that the monument was an elegant piece of work and it was installed in February 1900. “Mrs. Eva Cameron, trustee, has awarded the contract for the memorial to the Hughes Granite and Marble Co. of Clyde, O. The monument will be one of the finest in northwestern Ohio, of Romanesque design, massive, and with elaborate carvings. Competition for the work was very sharp, some 8 or 10 leading monument firms bidding, among them one from Barre, Vt., but the design submitted by the Hughes Granite and Marble Co. was pronounced the finest of all for the sum stipulated in the will, and the contract was accordingly given that enterprising company.” The Estes Family monument James, son of J & A   ...