2021 Summer Programs

Sunday Afternoon Lecture Series

Each summer, LHS offers popular Sunday afternoon lectures with historical content. This year, they will be held in  Orchestra Hall at 122 W. 2nd St.  Each begins at 1:30 p.m. Once on the Lakeside grounds, admission to the lectures is free.

Shuttle service and limited parking are available within the gates during the Lakeside Chautauqua summer season.

June 27th: Time Travel: Lakeside 1961 and the Lakeside Newsstand, presented by Gretchen Curtis. Visit Lakeside in 1961 to see the construction projects, hear some Hoover entertainment, enjoy recreational activities and go to the movies. After this excursion, Gretchen will take us back to 1900 and we’ll travel through time standing in front of Block 19, Lot 8  - now known as 210 Walnut Avenue – to learn how ten business owners used this property to serve Lakesiders until it was purchased in the fall of 2020 by the Lakeside Heritage Society and transformed into the LHS Archives.

July 4th: No program this week.

July 11th: Lakeside's Legacy of Women Leaders: Eleanor Durr, presented by Gretchen Curtis. Eleanor Durr (1901-1994) started her Lakeside life as a Hotel waitress in 1919. She came back as a year-round resident in 1946 and spent her next 40 years impacting this community through leadership, including being a founder of the Fine Arts Club, Antiquarian Club, Heritage Society, serving as president of the Woman’s Club and initiating the annual Tour of Homes, and being the Superintendent of Sunday Schools at the Methodist Church. Known as “Miss Lakeside,” she authored two books of Lakeside stories as part of her legacy. Durr’s original watercolor paintings and books will be on display. 

July 18th: The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle: A Gem of the Otherwise Tawdry Gilded Age, presented by David Blank. The CLSC, started in 1878 at Chautauqua Institution in western N.Y., became a model for adult education in the U.S. This talk will describe how CLSC founders came to create the CLSC and how it was implemented, and review a sampling of content in the original CLSC programming. The CLSC reading program continues today in New York, Lakeside and elsewhere.

David Blank, a long-time Lakesider, served two terms on the Lakeside Board of Trustees and is presently on the Lakeside Foundation Board.

July 25th: World War II POW Camps in Ohio: Camp Perry, presented by James Van Keuren.  During World War I, Camp Perry served as a training center for Army officers and marksmanship instructors. During World War II, Camp Perry served as a POW camp for German and Italian prisoners. Italian prisoners were lightly guarded and worked alongside the civilians at the camp and as workers at various local industries, returning to the Camp each night.

James Van Keuren, a summer Put-in-Bay resident, is a retired professor of educational administration and dean of the College of Education at Ashland University. Jim will have copies of his book on this subject available for purchase.

August 1st: The 1961 Disappearance of the Mary Ellen Inn and Cafeteria, presented by Phil Dale. In 1905, Ida Crites constructed a three-story guest house at the corner of Third Street and Cedar Avenue. The Inn and Cafeteria were owned by Mary Ellen Hall of Toledo from 1920 to 1934 followed by owners John Lane and Henry Martin. The Mary Ellen was razed in December 1961 and replaced by a parking lot.
 
Phil Dale, who presented a fascinating history of the Richard’s House in 2020 and leads the LHS walking tour about the Destructive Fire of 1929, will tell the story of this bygone building.

August 8th: The Keystone Guest Cottage and The Maxwell House, presented by Elaine Cottrell and Jeanne Maxwell Vaughan. The Keystone Cottage, at the corner of Second Street and Maple Avenue, is the oldest cottage in continuous use as a guest house inLakeside, having provided sleeping accommodations for 122 years under theownership/management of just four owners. Elaine Cottrell, the current ownersince 2000, will review the Keystone history.

The Maxwell House, at 239 Walnut, was built in 1886, and served as the Lakeside Post Office 1910-1921 and has been owned by just three families. In 1954, the house was sold to Paul and Ada Maxwell who began taking guests at $13/week. Their daughter, Jeanne, who is the current owner, will share stories of the Maxwell House. 

August 15th: A Lakeside and Put-in-Bay Love Story, 1887, presented by Gretchen Curtis. Gretchen will describe details of life in Lakeside, Put-in-Bay and the Detroit area as described in love letters dated 1886-1887 exchanged between Libbie Magle, a Put-in-Bay resident whose father was ship captain and Alex Bruce who worked in Lakeside. Gretchen will continue the known story of these young lovers who are buried in a Sandusky cemetery. The seminar will conclude with highlights of Lakeside love stories from the latter half of the 20th century through 2020.

August 22nd: Our 30 Years at the Patio Restaurant 1991-2021, presented by Brent Behnken. Brent and Heidi Behnken purchased the Patio restaurant in 1991, the year they were married. For 30 years, as their family has grown, they have provided summer meal service three times a day, plus delicious donuts and Toft’s ice cream, at the corner of Second Street and Walnut Avenue, where the Dining Hall, a double-wide tent structure, provided meals in the 1880s. Brent will walk us through their 30 years at the Patio, including reconstruction after a major fire, to reveal how they have done it.