Bay View

How Bay View began

Bay View is a village of under a third of a square mile on the Sandusky Bay shore of Margaretta Township, Erie County. The point was called Martin's Point after Richard Martin, an early settler from New York; in the early 1920s the Bay View Company bought about 500 acres west of Bay Bridge and had an engineer plot a resort that never materialized, and the lots passed to investors and, in 1934, the park land to the property owners' association for $10. The first year-round family, the Meyerses, moved in in 1932, the Sandusky Bay Bridge opened in 1929, and electricity arrived in the 1940s. Residents petitioned for self-government, and the village was declared on July 11, 1951, with Robert Kohl as first mayor. Its population peaked at 804 in 1980 and was 608 in 2020.

Settled early 1800s (Richard Martin, Martin's Point); first year-round family 1932, platted early 1920s, by the Bay View Company (plotted by C. W. Courtney), incorporated 1951-07-11, by Bay View Company (resort promoters); incorporation petitioned by residents to the Margaretta Township trustees.

Where the name comes from

The area was earlier called Martin's Point, for Richard Martin, an early settler from New York. 'Bay View' appears with the Bay View Company of the early 1920s, the resort developer that plotted the lots; the village's history does not explain the choice, but the name describes its position on Sandusky Bay.

Before the town

No Native village or mound is recorded within Bay View itself, but the surrounding township is rich in early Native history. The Wyandot leader Nicholas Orontony had a settlement at present-day Castalia, in the same township, by 1738; the Wyandot burned it and moved to the mouth of the Cuyahoga in 1748. In 1805 the Wyandot head chief Crane dictated a letter to the governor at Detroit asking that the trader Hugh Patterson, the township's first namesake, be removed. Major Falley found an old double-entrenched earthwork near Venice on the south shore of the bay, since leveled. On June 2, 1813, a raiding party killed three children and a woman at Cold Creek (Castalia) and carried off others. The village's own history dates the Firelands' treaty story to a January 1785 treaty with the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippewas and Ottawas and a 1805 treaty that bought the remaining Indian title to the Reserve lands.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot, Ottawa.

• Wyandot settlement of Nicholas Orontony (village) — Castalia, in Margaretta Township, the same township as Bay View, by 1738 to 1748 (en.wikipedia.org)
• Double-entrenched earthwork near Venice (earthwork) — south shore of Sandusky Bay, near Venice, Margaretta Township (leveled), prehistoric or protohistoric (not dated) (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1738 — A Wyandot settlement led by Nicholas Orontony exists at the site of present-day Castalia, in Margaretta Township; the Wyandot burn it and move to the Cuyahoga in 1748.
2. 1785-01 — A treaty with the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippewas and Ottawas is made at Fort McIntosh, the first step in the Firelands' history; a treaty of 1805 buys the remaining Indian title to the Reserve lands.
3. 1805-07-28 — Wyandot head chief Crane dictates to the missionary Joseph Badger a request to the governor at Detroit that the trader Hugh Patterson, for whom Margaretta Township was then named, be removed.
4. 1810 — Docartus Snow builds the first log house and a grist mill at the head of Cold Creek (Castalia) in Margaretta Township.
5. 1812 — A meeting of Firelands settlers at Huron votes to drop Patterson's name; Major Frederick Falley renames the township Margaretta for the Margarets of his family.
6. 1813-06-02 — A party of Indians raids the Cold Creek settlement in Margaretta Township, killing two small boys, a girl of four and a woman and carrying other women and children to Detroit, from where they are returned that fall.
7. 1815 — Margaretta Township is organized by the Huron County commissioners, joined for two years with Danbury, north of the bay.
8. 1892 — The Sandusky Cement Company builds a plant near Deer Park on Route 269; workers' housing, a store and a post office form the community of Bay Bridge.
9. 1920s — The Bay View Company, backed by the Midland Bank, buys about 500 acres west of Bay Bridge; Cleveland engineer C. W. Courtney plots a resort, and the company builds three model cottages.
10. 1927-08-05 — Construction of the Sandusky Bay Bridge begins; it is dedicated February 2, 1929, costing $700,000, the longest span in Ohio.
11. 1932 — The Albert Meyers family, who had built a house in 1931, become Bay View's first year-round residents.
12. 1934 — The Bay View Property Owners' Association buys the park land from the Midland Bank for $10.
13. 1951-06-23 — The Margaretta Township trustees unanimously pass a resolution allowing Bay View to incorporate; the resolution declaring it a village is signed July 11.
14. 1960 — The village's first census count is 802.
15. 1965 — Auto traffic moves from the old Sandusky Bay Bridge to the new four-lane Thomas A. Edison Memorial Bridge; the old span is now a fishing pier.
16. 1980 — Population peaks at 804.
17. 2020 — Census population is 608.

Stories

A resort that never happened

In the early 1920s the Bay View Company, backed by the Midland Bank, bought about 500 acres west of Bay Bridge, hired Cleveland engineer C. W. Courtney to plot a resort, built three model cottages and printed a brochure. The plans never materialized, and through the mid-1920s to 1934 the land passed between Midland Bank entities until the plats were auctioned to local investors. Albert Meyers and his family built a house in 1931 and in 1932 became the first year-round residents. In the early 1930s a one-room beer joint called the Log Cabin, Ford's grocery and gas station, the Four Winds restaurant, Andy's Tavern and Yost's Cabins opened, and in 1934 the property owners' association bought the park land for $10. Electricity did not come until the 1940s.

The raid at Cold Creek

In 1813, with only three houses at Cold Creek (now Castalia), a party of Indians landed at Pickerel Creek and waited until the men were in the fields. On June 2 they entered the house of Mrs. Snow, who was ill, where twelve women and children had gathered, seized Mrs. Putnam, Mrs. Butler and Mrs. Snow, and killed two two-year-old boys and four-year-old Julia Butler. Mrs. Snow, unable to keep up, was killed; the others were taken by canoe to Detroit and given to the British agent, and returned unharmed that fall. The men, who knew nothing until almost sunset, followed the trail to the bodies and buried them, the first interments in the township. The 1889 county history adds that later 'straggling Ottawas' killed two muskrat trappers and that two of them were captured and hanged in 1818 (its own 'six years after' does not agree with that date).

The township that dropped a trader's name

Before settlement, the township where Bay View now stands was known as Patterson, after Hugh Patterson, a British Indian trader who talked of buying the whole township. In 1805 the Wyandot head chief Crane had the missionary Joseph Badger write to the governor at Detroit asking that Patterson and two other men be removed for making trouble among his people. In 1812, with war against Britain begun, a meeting of Firelands settlers at Huron voted that no township should carry the name of a man who urged the Wyandot to side with the British. They left the choice to Major Frederick Falley, who held a contract to buy the township, and he named it Margaretta for his mother, sister and nieces, all named Margaret.

Local history sources: villageofbayview.com · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org · en.wikipedia.org · shoresandislands.com · en.wikipedia.org

Lake Erie, drawn through a 42-inch gravity pipe about three-quarters of a mile offshore near Cedar Point Chaussee, with a Sandusky Bay intake used as backup The water here

• Sandusky City62% of residentsLake Erie (Sandusky Bay backup intake)
• Erie Co. Perkins District33% of residentsLake Erie (Sandusky Bay backup intake)
• Erie Co. Margaretta District5% of residentsLake Erie (Sandusky Bay backup intake)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Police stations (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 4 of 4 passed.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-07-23

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