ON THE TOWN

New museum dedicated to Catawba Island history

8/5/2018

A crowd begins to assemble for the ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony for the Catawba Museum at Union Chapel.

A SIGHT well worth seeing is the Catawba Island Historical Society Museum at Union Chapel on East Porter Street. The museum opened June 16 and welcomes visitors en route to the area islands.

The chapel, a former non-denominational church established in 1888, was an idle Catawba Island Township building since the early 1980s, but it has been renovated and leased to the Catawba Island Historical Society as a museum to preserve, protect, and share the area’s heritage. It all started in a log house behind the Ottawa City General Store and Museum at NW Catawba Road and East Porter Street when local historian Don Rhodes, owner, was permanently closing and sought help relocating the historical treasures he had collected and displayed for decades. He, with friends, started the Catawba Island Historical Society, a nonprofit corporation headed by its president, Craig Koerpel.

Exhibits are both static and changing themes, including artifacts, photos, books, and documents. The museum’s first exhibit, A Cool Way to Spend a Hot Day, is dedicated to the ice harvesting industry on the Lake Erie shoreline and along Sandusky Bay at the turn of the 19th century, when there were no electric refrigerators so ice was cut from the lake to help keep food fresh.

Cutting, storing, and delivering ice provided winter employment for agricultural workers when the summer ended. “Serving an ice cold beverage 150 years ago were remarkable tributes to ingenuity and hard work,” said Connie Batterton, museum curator. Catawba Island had two commercial ice houses: one near the site of the present Miller’s Ferry Dock and another where the Catawba Island Club is now located. In addition, the fish companies each had their own ice refrigeration facilities, while some local families shared smaller ones.

Privy to a sneak peek before the opening were individuals, businesses, and board members who paid $1,000 each as lifetime members. A reception and program at the Catawba Island Township Community Hall was followed by a tour of the new museum and cultural center. These people are the founders in the group’s Council of Nabagon, named after the legendary Native American from Catawba Island legend and lore, according to trustee Linda Snyder, event organizer.

Among the trustees present were Rick Thomas, Don Rhodes, Bill Van Der Giessen, Ken Landon, John Gibson, and Cindy Gunderson. Also seen were Catawba Island Club’s Jim Stouffer, Carol Imes Luscombe and John Luscombe, and Cherry Peirce and her family including granddaughter Lexi Fodor, who designed the museum logo. She is the daughter of Danielle and Todd Fodor.

Items such as an antique ballot box and key fob from the Cliff House Club at Catawba Point decorated tables with food samples from Cheese Haven, Bassett’s Market, the Nor’Easter Club, the Orchard, Rudder’s, Catawba Island Garden Club, Mary Jane Gibson, Debbie Newman, Mon Ami Winery, and Firelands Winery.

There is no admission charge. Annual memberships are $25 or $100 for a lifetime membership.

Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, plus the second and fourth Saturdays of each month through October. For information, call 419-967-5363 or go to catawbaislandhistoricalsociety.com or the society’s Facebook page.

YARK Subaru Rock N Roar at the the Toledo Zoo and Aquarium was on the wild side. Jim Lieber Fever DJ spun ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and today’s tunes in the Africa! Overlook. Dancing continued with Fu5ion playing pop, R&B, jazz, rock, and country from different eras in the zoo’s air-conditioned Malawi Event Center, boasting a 73-foot-long aquarium wall of colorful African fish. Refreshments were available via the zoo concessions and cash bars.

The major sponsor behind Yark was Hollywood Casino Toledo, followed by Cumulus Toledo, Lamar, Kroger, and Yuengling. The $45,000 net proceeds benefit the zoo’s conservation initiatives locally and globally including migrating birds, Tasmanian devils, Pacific birds, Kihansi spray toads, and more.

MANY of the area country clubs hosted their annual lobster parties including Toledo Country Club and Belmont Country Club. Mmm: summer salads, corn, potatoes, seasonal fruit, and more including lobster, the mainstay.

In addition was the annual Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce Clambake presented by PNC at Hollywood Casino Toledo outside overlooking the Maumee River. The 700-plus movers and shakers enjoyed cocktails and then dined under a giant tent decorated with red, white, and blue. Among the crowd of lobster lovers were Ben and Peggy Brown, Ron and Sandi Dulay, David and Mary Charles Woodward, Keith Burwell, Tom and Betsy Brady, and Jeff Abbas and wife Rhona Alter.

Sponsors included Buckeye Broadband, Telesystem, The Blade, Palmer Energy Co., RCO Law, Bowling Green State University and the University of Toledo, plus a host of others including HCR ManorCare, Health Management Solutions, Hylant, Go Logistic, Mercy Health, Meyer Hill Lynch, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and ProMedica.A SIGHT well worth seeing is the Catawba Island Historical Society Museum at Union Chapel on East Porter Street. The museum opened June 16 and welcomes visitors en route to the area islands.

The chapel, a former non-denominational church established in 1888, was an idle Catawba Island Township building since the early 1980s, but it has been renovated and leased to the Catawba Island Historical Society as a museum to preserve, protect, and share the area’s heritage. It all started in a log house behind the Ottawa City General Store and Museum at NW Catawba Road and East Porter Street when local historian Don Rhodes, owner, was permanently closing and sought help relocating the historical treasures he had collected and displayed for decades. He, with friends, started the Catawba Island Historical Society, a nonprofit corporation headed by its president, Craig Koerpel.

Exhibits are both static and changing themes, including artifacts, photos, books, and documents. The museum’s first exhibit, A Cool Way to Spend a Hot Day, is dedicated to the ice harvesting industry on the Lake Erie shoreline and along Sandusky Bay at the turn of the 19th century, when there were no electric refrigerators so ice was cut from the lake to help keep food fresh.

Cutting, storing, and delivering ice provided winter employment for agricultural workers when the summer ended. “Serving an ice cold beverage 150 years ago were remarkable tributes to ingenuity and hard work,” said Connie Batterton, museum curator. Catawba Island had two commercial ice houses: one near the site of the present Miller’s Ferry Dock and another where the Catawba Island Club is now located. In addition, the fish companies each had their own ice refrigeration facilities, while some local families shared smaller ones.

Privy to a sneak peek before the opening were individuals, businesses, and board members who paid $1,000 each as lifetime members. A reception and program at the Catawba Island Township Community Hall was followed by a tour of the new museum and cultural center. These people are the founders in the group’s Council of Nabagon, named after the legendary Native American from Catawba Island legend and lore, according to trustee Linda Snyder, event organizer.

Among the trustees present were Rick Thomas, Don Rhodes, Bill Van Der Giessen, Ken Landon, John Gibson, and Cindy Gunderson. Also seen were Catawba Island Club’s Jim Stouffer, Carol Imes Luscombe and John Luscombe, and Cherry Peirce and her family including granddaughter Lexi Fodor, who designed the museum logo. She is the daughter of Danielle and Todd Fodor.

Items such as an antique ballot box and key fob from the Cliff House Club at Catawba Point decorated tables with food samples from Cheese Haven, Bassett’s Market, the Nor’Easter Club, the Orchard, Rudder’s, Catawba Island Garden Club, Mary Jane Gibson, Debbie Newman, Mon Ami Winery, and Firelands Winery.

There is no admission charge. Annual memberships are $25 or $100 for a lifetime membership.

Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, plus the second and fourth Saturdays of each month through October. For information, call 419-967-5363 or go to catawbaislandhistoricalsociety.com or the society’s Facebook page.

YARK Subaru Rock N Roar at the the Toledo Zoo and Aquarium was on the wild side. Jim Lieber Fever DJ spun ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and today’s tunes in the Africa! Overlook. Dancing continued with Fu5ion playing pop, R&B, jazz, rock, and country from different eras in the zoo’s air-conditioned Malawi Event Center, boasting a 73-foot-long aquarium wall of colorful African fish. Refreshments were available via the zoo concessions and cash bars.

The major sponsor behind Yark was Hollywood Casino Toledo, followed by Cumulus Toledo, Lamar, Kroger, and Yuengling. The $45,000 net proceeds benefit the zoo’s conservation initiatives locally and globally including migrating birds, Tasmanian devils, Pacific birds, Kihansi spray toads, and more.

MANY of the area country clubs hosted their annual lobster parties including Toledo Country Club and Belmont Country Club. Mmm: summer salads, corn, potatoes, seasonal fruit, and more including lobster, the mainstay.

In addition was the annual Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce Clambake presented by PNC at Hollywood Casino Toledo outside overlooking the Maumee River. The 700-plus movers and shakers enjoyed cocktails and then dined under a giant tent decorated with red, white, and blue. Among the crowd of lobster lovers were Ben and Peggy Brown, Ron and Sandi Dulay, David and Mary Charles Woodward, Keith Burwell, Tom and Betsy Brady, and Jeff Abbas and wife Rhona Alter.

Sponsors included Buckeye Broadband, Telesystem, The Blade, Palmer Energy Co., RCO Law, Bowling Green State University and the University of Toledo, plus a host of others including HCR ManorCare, Health Management Solutions, Hylant, Go Logistic, Mercy Health, Meyer Hill Lynch, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and ProMedica.