Photo and Document Archives: Artifacts and Documents

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« Historical Essay 

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Club Grounds

This archive contains photographs of the Middle Bass Club including the original Club House, Club Member cottages, the Club Boat House and docks, the “new” Club House, the Chapel and Rehberg Hall (which is located just outside of the Middle Bass Club but it is where Club Members socialized).  We attempted to list the photographs in chronological order; at the end there are a few current photographs of the Middle Bass Club from the Historical Essay.  This “original post” of the archive is dated: July 2021; the date of additions to this archive will be noted here so viewers can check for new content. 

Sub-collections: Club House -- Boat House and Dock -- Chapel -- Club House -- Rehberg Hall -- Cottages -- Other Club Ground Photos -- Recent Photographs

Club House

 

Image descriptions

1. Middle Bass Club House (Original). Built in 1874. Picture was taken mid 1870's after an addition was added. Later this was called "Club Cottage" and moved to William Rehberg's Lots 36 & 37 to house "overflow" Club Members and Guests.
2. Middle Bass Club House. Architect E.O. Fallis. Second Club House, built in 1882
3. Middle Bass Club House, note the beautiful porch
4. Middle Bass Club House showing members in rocking chairs enjoying the lake breeze on the lawn. Source: Lisa Fine Collection
5. Middle Bass Club House with members standing on Grove Avenue. Picture is taken from the Boat House looking north. Source: Lisa Fine Collection
6. Middle Bass Club House, after 1881
7. Middle Bass Club House, after 1881
8. Middle Bass Club House and Cottages. Winter view
9. Middle Bass Club House. Reception Desk and Lounge. Note the gas chandeliers and staircase to rooms all of which faced Lake Erie. Members and their guests had to sign in on a Guest Registry book when entering the Middle Bass Club.
10. Middle Bass Club House. Main Lounge. Note the love seats that face opposite ways which allowed for private conversations.
11. Middle Bass Club House. Main Lounge
12. Interior of Middle Bass Club House

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Boat House and Dock

 

Image descriptions

1. Middle Bass Club Boat House. Circa 1875.
2. Middle Bass Club Boat House with a Band Pavilion on top. View from Lake Erie looking north, water tower and Club House are in the background.
3. Middle Bass Boat House and Bandstand. Picture looking west toward the Club "Park"
4. Middle Bass Boat House and cottages along Lake Avenue. Ca. 1882
5. Middle Bass Club Dock, Club House and Member Cottages
6. Members on the Middle Bass Club dock. Ca. 1885
7. Middle Bass Club Dock
8. Johnston's Orchestra of Cleveland, Ohio. They played during the summer at the Middle Bass Club from 1900 to 1914
9. Middle Bass Club dock, circa 1908. Source: T Ewing Miller Family
10. Middle Bass Club Dock, circa 1916
11. Middle Bass Club Dock, circa 1940s. Courtesy of Judie Bahney
12. Middle Bass Club House. Circa 1940. Source: Dr. Martin Taliak Collection

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Chapel

 

Image descriptions

1. Middle Bass Chapel, Architect: E.O. Fallis. Located in William Rehberg's 2nd Addition, Lot 45. Dedicated on July 4, 1882 with the first church service held on July 8, 1882. From the Chapel Committee records book: "The need of a Chapel, on Middle Bass Island having been recognized by many members of the Middle Bass Club, a meeting of persons interested in the erection of such a building, to be used for religious and literary purposes - was held at the cottage of Mrs. D. H. Mears on the 10th day of August - 1881..."
2. Middle Bass Club Guest Register entry: August 29, 1903
3. Middle Bass Club Guest Register entry: July 17, 1904
4. Middle Bass Club Guest Register entry: July 27, 1901
5. Middle Bass Club Guest Register Book Entry: July 30,1901
6. Middle Bass Club Guest Register entry: July 8, 1899
7. Middle Bass Club Guest Register entry: September 9. 1903. Two pages showing entries from September 5 through 11
8. Rev. Edward Robert Atwill. Source: Find A Grave
9. Rev. Dr. William Budd Bodine, Source: Kenyon College Library, Gambier, Ohio
10. Olive Colton, Toledo 1894. Lisa Fine Personal Collection
11. Rev. Frederic Beal Duval. Source: Winnipeg Tribune, 15 May 1928, p. 26)
12. Rev. Daniel Moses Fisk, Toledo, Ohio, Age 45. Source: The Evolution of a School Master autobiography part 2, 1872-1899, p. 9
13. 1899 Middle Bass Club Guest Register book
14. Portrait and photos of Rev. Emory W. Hunt from 1910 and 1913 (multiple photos). Source: Denison University Archives & Special Collections
15. Middle Bass Club Chapel Library Book (multiple pages).  Taliak Family Personal Collection. Photo by Marie Demer Rader, Summer 2021
16. Brown-Hafer Marriage Certificate. Source: Ancestry
17. Middle Bass Chapel Association Records Book from the Taliak Family Personal Collection (multiple pages).  Photo by Marie Demer Rader, Summer 2021
18. Alfred George Robyn, Portrait
19. Rev. Charles Scadding Source: Wikipedia
20. Rev. Anson Smythe. Source: Cleveland Public Library, Gift of Ralph Eddy Chapman. Circa 1888.
21. Rev. (and later Bishop) Wilson Reiff Stearly with his children, Source: Find a Grave
22. Portraits and a photo of Professor Charles L. Williams (multiple photos). Source: Denison University Archives & Special Collections
23. Rev. William Wallace Williams, Pastor First Congregational Church of Toledo, Ohio Source: The Evolution of a School Master autobiography part 2, 1872-1899, p. 85
24. Rev. Thaddeus L. Wiltsee. Circa 1873. Source: Beeghly Library, Ohio Wesleyan University
25. “Count” William Rehberg Portrait. Photo taken by Marie Demer Rader, Summer 2021

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Rehberg Hall

 

Image descriptions:

1. Rehberg's Hall, circa 1891. Built by William "Count" Rehberg who sold the land to the Toledo and Lake Erie Boating and Fishing Association. Rehberg Hall is just east of the Middle Bass Club grounds and it's where Club members socialized.
2. Rehberg Hall. Interior bar.
3. Interior of Rehberg Hall, bar is to the right and stage is to the left. Ca. 1891
4. Stage and "cast" at Rehberg Hall. Ca. 1891

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Cottages

 

Image descriptions:

1. Middle Bass Club House (Original) and first cottages. Southern end of Grape Avenue with Original Club House from 1874 with outbuildings on right side.
2. Middle Bass Club: Berdan Cottage on the corner of Rehberg Avenue and Grape Avenue. William Henry Harrison and the Berdan Family are on the front porch. Rutherford B. Hayes may also be there?
3. Member cottages along Lake Avenue and Grape Avenue. Photo taken before 1881 (ca. 1879) when the first cottage was moved from Grove Avenue to Grape Avenue.
4. Middle Bass Club cottages around 1881 along Grove Avenue. Note the new Club House is built but the original Isherwood cottage has not been moved from Grove Avenue to Grape Avenue. Source: Dr. Taliak Personal Collection
5. Middle Bass Club cottages along Lake Avenue.
6. Middle Bass Club Cottages. Corner of Toledo Avenue and Grove Avenue.
7. Middle Bass Club Member cottages. Along Grape Avenue?
8. Middle Bass Club Member cottages. Along Grape Avenue?
9. Middle Bass Club: Cottages on the corner of Rehberg Avenue and Grape Avenue. The 2 cottages on the right side on Rehberg Avenue belonged to the Berdan families.
10. Middle Bass Club.  Ca. 1893
11. Middle Bass Club cottage and smaller Boat House on north side of Grape Avenue. Photo taken before 1898 (ca. 1895)
12. View of Middle Bass Club lawn tennis court (between Rehberg Avenue and Toledo Avenue on Grove Avenue) and the rebuilding of a Berdan cottage.
13. Middle Bass Club: Lawn tennis courts, approx. 1905? Negative appears to be flipped based on the location of the cottages and courts according to the 1905 Sanford Fire Map.
14. Middle Bass Club: Rodgers Cottage which burned in 1909. It was located on Rehberg's original lot 3 on the corner of Lake Avenue & Grape Avenue. Courtesy of Judy Behney
15. Middle Bass Club: Rodgers Cottage which burned in 1909. It was located on Rehberg's original lot 3 on the corner of Lake Avenue & Grape Avenue. Courtesy of Judy Behney
16. Middle Bass Club: Rodgers Cottage which burned on September 2, 1909. It was located on Rehberg's original lot 3 on the corner of Lake Avenue & Grape Avenue. Courtesy of Judy Behney
17. Middle Bass Club: Fire destroys a cottage in 1909. Looking on Lake Avenue.
18. Middle Bass Club cottage fire. Source: Lisa Fine Collection
19. Middle Bass Club showing remnants of a cottage that burned. Circa 1909
20. Middle Bass Club's dock and member cottages. After 1909.
21. Middle Bass Club Grounds: Lawn Tennis Court, circa 1915. The street is Grove Avenue.
22. Suydam cottage located on Grove Avenue across from the Club House, 1920s. Source: Carroll Terry Personal Collection

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Other Club Ground Photos

Image descriptions:

1. Middle Bass Club Grounds: Outbuildings and Club House. Ca. 1891
2. Middle Bass Club Grounds: Water Tower and Pump House, after 1900

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Recent Photographs

Recently taken photographs by Marie Rader (2021)

 

Image descriptions:

1. First Middle Bass Club Cottage, as it looks today in 2021. Photograph by Marie Rader
2. Middle Bass Club House foundation pieces in the Grove in 2021. Photograph by Marie Rader
3. Original Middle Bass Club Dock sections, as seen in 2021. Photograph by Marie Rader
4. Middle Bass Club Dock and Sea Wall pieces, as seen in 2021. Photograph by Marie Rader
5. Middle Bass Club Dock and Sea Wall pieces, as seen in 2021. Photograph by Marie Rader
6. Middle Bass Club cottage walkway where the house was either burned or torn down in 2021
7. Middle Bass Club’s Pump House in 2021
8. Sunset View from the Middle Bass Club’s Grove, 2021. Photograph by Marie Rader
9. Entrance to the Rehberg Wine Cellar. Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian
10. Entrance to the Rehberg Wine Cellar. Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian
11. Wine barrel at the entrance to the restored Rehberg Wine Cellar which was originally built in 1865 and restored by Henry M. Barr in 1990. Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian
12. Smaller gas chandelier at the entrance of the Rehberg Wine Cellar. Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian
13. Steps down into the Rehberg Wine Cellar. Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian
14. Interior view of the Rehberg Wine Cellar, looking at the back wall from the entrance stairs. Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian
15. Interior view of the Rehberg Wine Cellar, showing the back of the cellar, chandelier and windows. Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian
16. One of two identical gas chandeliers hanging in the Rehberg Wine Cellar. Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian
17. Interior view of the Rehberg Wine Cellar floor. Perhaps the blocks were used to hold the barrels of wine? Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian
18. Window in the Rehberg Wine Cellar. Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian
19. Interior view of the Rehberg Wine Cellar, showing a cutout on the side of the cellar. Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian
20. Gas(?) fixture located on the back wall of the Rehberg Wine Cellar. Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian
21. Interior view of the Rehberg Wine Cellar, looking from the back toward the front stairs. Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian
22. Vintage wine bottles located in the Rehberg Wine Cellar. Source: Jamie & Kris Hovsepian

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