On April 15, 1975, James R. Brown, then managing editor of the Sandusky Register, presented a copy of the book At Home in Early Sandusky to Virginia Altstaetter, president of the Board of Trustees of the Sandusky Library. The book’s author Helen Hansen and Barbara Wendt looked on.
Mrs. Hansen autographed books at a reception at the Follett House on May 4, 1975, in commemoration of the book’s publication. The Register made a generous contribution in financing the publication costs, in memory of former Register publisher, Dudley A. White, who had supported the idea that the Follett House could be restored as a living memorial to Sandusky’s past. The Follett House was placed on the National Register of Historic Landmarks on December 31, 1974, and opened to the public as a museum in early July of 1976, the summer that the United States Bicentennial was celebrated.
At Home in Early Sandusky was based on a series of articles in the Sandusky Register by Helen Hansen in 1958 and 1959, known as “Stately Old Homes.” Mrs. Hansen provided historical details for over a hundred of the older homes in Sandusky, illustrated with photographs. The first article in the book was devoted to the Oran Follett House. In Article 12, she wrote about the Joseph M. Root home on Adams Street.
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| Joseph Root house, 231 E. Adams St. |
An index in the back of the book lists the individuals and businesses mentioned in the book. All proceeds from the sale of At Home in Early Sandusky went to the restoration of the Follett House Museum.
Because of Helen Hansen’s devotion to local history, we can learn a great deal about the homes and people of Sandusky’s past. Mrs. Hansen and Virginia Steinemann co-authored two volumes of From the Widow’s Walk: A View of Sandusky, with even more historical information about Sandusky and Erie County. Visit the Sandusky Library to view these informative local history books.