Places on the Peninsula - Lorrie Halblaub

The Story of Johnsons Island-Part 8

Around the same time that quarrying was ramping up on Johnson’s Island, a group of investors formed the first Johnsons Island Pleasure Resort Company. The company leased about twenty acres of land in 1894. Their goal was to compete with Cedar Point, which was just across the Sandusky Bay.

Cedar Point got its start after the Civil War as a great place for fishing and took advantage of its beautiful beach. From there it grew…..baseball diamonds, picnic areas, then a restaurant and a dance hall. By 1890 there were bowling alleys and in 1892, the first roller coaster.

Still only accessible by boat, Johnson’s Island Resort lacked a beach, but it had a large pavilion, boat rental, horseback riding, overnight accommodations, and concession stands. It was drawing people away from Cedar Point by booking nationally known bands to its dance hall. The resort was in business from July of 1894 to September of 1897, when fire destroyed the main pavilion. A second resort opened in 1904 but closed in 1907. Some say it failed because of competition from Cedar Point, others say it was because of the dust and noise from the quarry operation.  In 1908, The Johnsons Island Pleasure Resort was sold to Cedar Point for $800 in stock.

In 1956, plans were announced to develop the island as a vacation home site. Electricity was brought by an underwater cable in the early 1960’s and the building of a causeway was begun by a developer in 1970 and completed in 1972 so now the island is accessible by car. The Johnson’s Island Property Owners Association stoned and paved the island’s roads at their own expense.  Many beautiful homes have been built on the island since the causeway was completed, especially around the rim of the old quarry after one part of quarry wall was opened for access to the lake.  In the year 2000, the Village of Marblehead annexed Johnsons Island.

Today, Johnson’s Island, boasts attractions of the historic kind. The confederate prison cemetery, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, is open daily to visitors.  The site of the prison is still giving up insight into the lives of the prisoners through two archaeological  groups.  The Friends and Descendants of the Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison, which began in 1988 with the purchase of 17 acres of the prison compound, continues to excavate and preserve artifacts from the prison and allows groups to participate in that endeavor. They also host pop-up museums, presentations, and tours of the site. The Johnson’s Island Preservation Society founded in 2001 opened a museum in Sandusky at the  Soldier and Sailors Home, that recently moved to the Sandusky Maritime Museum where artifacts from the prison camp and information about the camp are on display.