July 31, 1980
Picture #1 – W.W. Brooks residence and barn years ago. Mrs. Brooks is at left, while Harriet (Brooks) Eckert, mother of W.N. Eckert is at right.
Picture #2 – Union Street School before demolition
Picture #3 – The Brooks horsedrawn moving wagons ready for work
W.N. Eckert of Tampa, FL, who was mentioned in an earlier Potluck article and was a source of pictures for it, also provided more photos for today’s article.
One photo was taken in a classroom at the Union Street School, then located at the northwest corner of Union and Summit Streets. The year the photo was taken is unknown, but it must be 60 years old.
Union Street School was the largest of all elementary schools in the Fostoria Public Schools, containing 10 classrooms, according to Edna Hatfield, who did substitute teaching there.
Since many Fostorians who once attended that school will be delighted to see their old school again, a photo of it is included.
Virginia Miller, standing in the rear of the room was the teacher and principal. She moved from a teaching position at Central High to the Union Street school when it was completed, according to Edna Hatfield, who substituted for her when she was ill. She later retired and died in 1917.
Warren Eckert believes that he may be the boy shown second from left in the back row.
LIVED AT 159 ELM
The Eckert family lived at 159 Elm Street at that time, but moved to Tampa, FL in about 1919 because of Warren’s pneumonia.
Eckert said he recalls only two names of youngsters of his age back then, William “Bill” Richards who lived in the brick house on the northwest corner of North Main and High Streets, and Ashton Kleinhen who lived next to them on Elm. Both are deceased. Richards, a cornetist played in the FHS band and later as a professional in orchestras. He is buried in Fountain Cemetery.
Exchange of correspondence with Eckert turned up many interesting items, and the Fostoria photos from long ago filled in gaps. Some are included with this article…others for appropriate articles later.
Potluck columns sent to Eckert provoked many memories for he and his sister, the only two living members of his family.
BROOKS MOVING/STORAGE
Older Fostorians will recall that W.W. Brooks had a moving and storage business here many years ago. Brooks was Eckert’s grandfather on hos mother’s-side.
The storage building was on McDougal Street just across the railroad tracks.. .the building where I raised mushrooms years later. The Brook’s barn for the moving business and for the horses and wagons was at 212 Elm St. next to where Superior Paints is now.
One of the accompanying photos shows the Brooks residence back then, with the barn in the background. In later years the old house was replaced by the one there now owned by the Harry Souder family. The old barn was torn down, but it wasn’t too many years ago that some of the shed for the moving wagons were still there. Another one of the photos shows the moving drays and horses.
REMEMBER THIS?
In the center background of the latter photo can be seen a frame building which was used for carpet and rug weaving by the Glabb family. The building was also used for cigar manufacturing at one time, and Eckert’s sister, still living in Florida, learned to roll cigars there. She also played piano for the silent movies at the Luna Theatre on the west side of south Main, in the building which was demolished to make way for the Municipal Building. Incidentally, that old building was C.W. Foster’s building, which preceded the one on the opposite of the street which bears his name and is still standing.
Eckert remarked that in one of my articles about North Main Street, I had listed his brother, Marion, as living in that area. Also that his sister had married Frank Emerine of West Independence, a nephew of Andrew Emerine, president of the First National Bank, which was located at Main and Center streets, then.
He recalls many other names and locations in Fostoria from back then when he was boy living here. One was “Skip” Emerson who was a motorman on the TF&F electric line, when Eckert’s father was the conductor. Emerson later had a restaurant at the corner of North Main and Sandusky Streets.
HOW POTLUCKS GROW
Readers may be interested in how this and other Potluck articles develop. In this case, Eckert wrote to the Fostoria Area Chamber of Commerce in January 1980 seeking information about Fostoria and distant Eckert relatives who might be living here.
The Chamber didn’t quite know how to locate the requested data, and turned it over to me.
It is often a laborious task, but a rewarding one, for me as well as my audience, which starts and grows with each one of the articles. Many times it takes weeks or months before all the data is ready.
UNION STREET SCHOOL
Finally, back to the Union Street School again…in my conversation with Edna Hatfield, she recalled a few of the Fostoria youngsters who went there when she was doing substitute teaching: Dorothy Ewan, Lawton Gerlinger, Mabel Sackett, William Richards, Marguerite (Kisabeth) Hopkins. All are deceased but Miss Ewan.
Readers may recognize faces and names of those in the old school photo, or others who attended that school. Let me know!