Automobiles in 1908 Were an Adventure

 This photo and caption reproduced below were authored by Hotel Lafayette owner, local historian, and accomplished photographer S. Durward Hoag. This was one of his entertaining Marietta Times columns “Round and Round Below the Railroad Tracks” from the 1960s and 1970s. Spelling and punctuation are from the article.

 

ROUND AND ROUND DELVES INTO MARIETTA’S EARLY AUTOMOTIVE HISTORY; DISCOVERS ENACTMENT OF “NO. 1 RULE OF THE HIGHWAY”!

     This photo was taken on Newport Pike in the fall of 1908. The cast of characters and the automobile are easily identified by YE EDITOR after a number of years studying vintage photographs of early 1900 local scenes and Mariettans. LEFT is Mr.and Mrs. L. L. PEDDINGHAUS and in the rear seat are Mr. and Mrs. WM G. YOUNG. The automobile is a 1908 No. 34 RAMBLER, Brewster Green (color) and equipped with Dunlop tires. This is the 4th Rambler purchased by Mr. Peddinghaus who lived at 428 Fourth Street. The car license number is No. 28 - the first such tags issued by the State of Ohio and this particular plate does not have a year date on it.

     On the RIGHT is a POPE TOLEDO automobile, owned by Mr. and Mrs. TOM SHEETS  who lived in the big white home at Third and Sacra Via now occupied by the Marietta City School Board. Occupying the front seat with Mrs. Sheets is the Sheets’ family dog TOWSER. In back are the HAMILTON  sisters who resided on Fifth Street. Worth mentioning is the fact that the SHEETS automobile won FIRST PRIZE for being beautifully decorated in the 1908 Fourth of July parade. Maybe the two pretty Hamilton Sisters in the rear seat might have influenced the judges’ decision.

     But back to “RULE NO. 1” on the highway in 1908 (which) was “Stop and help your unfortunate neighbor.” For you see, TOM SHEETS has the hood raised on his POPE TOLEDO (vehicle on the right in the photo) and is tinkering aplenty. It looks like friend PEDDINGHAUS is about to jump down and assist - or maybe is chiding TOM a little. Or, on second thought…..this man LEW PEDDINGHAUS besides being an expert jeweler, was also a remarkable photographer with an uncanny sense of proportion and drama. He also had a cagey device, little known in 1908 - an automatic timer. He might just have set up his tripod, focused his camera, and engineered this dramatic scene for the record in the tried-and-true manner of Hollywoodian experts….

     This was the day of right-hand steering wheels, acetylene headlights, air bulb horns, and when you had a (flat tire), you got out your kit and tire pump and you worked and you pumped and pumped and pumped. Many thanks to HAROLD BARTMESS, 129 Muskingum Drive who unearthed the photograph of the good old old days, nearly 60 years ago.

Note: Mr. Peddinghaus’s jewelry business was sold in 1918 to Walter A. Baker, your author’s grandfather, and his cousin Henry Baker. The store became Baker & Baker Jewelers, operated today by Larry Hall and his family.

S. D. Hoag: Ice Capades on the Muskingum River

S. Durward Hoag was the long time owner of the Hotel Lafayette in Marietta during the 1940-1970 period. He was an astute businessman, Marietta area promoter, and local historian. Many credit him with helping add I-77 to the interstate highway system. There was no I-77 in the original plan.

He ran a weekly Marietta Times advertisement which featured his "Round and Round Below the Railroad Tracks" column. It was a clever mix of Hotel promotion, community interest, history, and commentary. The column always featured Marietta photographs - many he took himself and others he collected over the years. His collies (one was named "Yampa") were often featured, usually with a goofy photo. 

I marvelled at his writing output. How could he manage the hotel while producing a full column with several in depth topics and photos each week, I always wondered. He also kept prodigious scrapbooks on area happenings. They are housed in the Washington County Public Library Geneology and Local History branch.

It is winter now, as you've probably noticed. In researching a recent blog post about the winter of 1977, I came across the photo below in one of Hoag's articles, dated December 4, 1962. The photo and his caption tell the story of one severe winter in 1905. The photo and caption appear on the website label which appears as "Ice Scenes- Wiki of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County."

The photo is viewed from Harmar with the Williamstown Bridge in the background. Look at the highest part of the building in the upper left part of the photo. To the right of that rectangular tower is a smallish looking spire. That was the Bellevue Hotel. When it burned down in 1916, the Hotel Lafayette was built on the site. 



S. Durward Hoag’s narrative which accompanied the photo:

Ice Capades of 1905: Mariettans in January of 1905 watched the thermometer drop below zero for an extended spell. Ear muffs, long underwear, galoshes, hand muffs and fur-lined gloves were dug out of the mothballs ready for use. A light snow had fallen but was not heavy enough for good sledding or sleigh-riding. Many Mariettans, wise to the way of the rivers had already broken out their ice skates and had oiled, polished and sharpened them, ready for the day when the Muskingum River ice would be thick enough to hold a body in complete safety. 

Those were the good ole days when automobiles, movies, radio and TV as we know them today were unheard of. Local folks made do with whatever was on hand and found a lot of fun and recreation provided by nature such as fishing, boating, swimming, hiking, camping and in winter ice skating. 

Few people of this generation in Marietta have seen or experienced ice skating provided by nature. It has been 25 years or more since the rivers froze sufficiently to provide one of the most exhilarating and healthful of outdoor sports. There was no age limit for ice skating and anybody from tots, age two to oldsters, age 75, danced, frolicked, played tag, cracked-the-whip and other games. Few feelings compare to the thrill of gliding silently across the ice with all the freedom of movement that only ice skating can provide. Here was provided good clean fun and healthy exercise. Ice skating is an excellent aid for posture, a straight back and graceful movements of the body as well as providing a healthy glow from exercising the whole body. 

Either figure skating or ice skating, Mariettans enjoyed the Ice Capades of 1905 as shown by the above pictures, the upper along Muskingum Park and the lower at the mouth of the Muskingum River.