Middle Bass Club Stories
Historical Essay Chapel Story Veteran Biographies
Artifacts Club Grounds Documents Guests Maps Members Portraits
This archive contains Toledo and Lake Erie Boating & Fishing Association and Middle Bass Club official documents such as the Articles of Association, List of Members, Articles of Incorporation, Club House Rules, etc, arranged chronologically (from oldest to latest) by the date on the documents. Also included are membership cards, party invitations, excerpts from the Club House Register (which all Members & Guests had to sign in order to enter the Middle Bass Club.) Wall inscriptions from a cottage are also included. 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. If you have photographs to add, please contact Marie Demer Rader at marie.rader@gmail.com.
Toledo and Lake Erie Boating & Fishing Association 1875 Membership Card for James Clark. Matthew Shoemaker, President, Leander Burdick, Treasurer.
Toledo & Lake Erie Boating & Fishing Association announcement for a Pleasure Excursion Social Party on Saturday, July 24th, 1875.
List of Officers and Articles of Association of the Toledo and Lake Erie Boating and Fishing Association, 1877-78 (transcription, PDF file,5 pages)
Article of Incorporation, March 5, 1880. Toledo and Lake Erie Boating and Fishing Association.
Toledo Club (Toledo and Lake Erie Boating and Fishing Association) and Rehberg's Vineyards and Hall on Middle Bass Island, circa. 1882.
1882 Club House "ticket" from A. F. Rutherford, Supt.
Invitation to Dinner, Supper and Dancing at Middle Bass, Circa 1880s. Tickets were sold at L. S. Baumgardner & Co. and J. O. Reed's companies in Toledo.
Toledo and Lake Erie Boating and Fishing Association letter, 1890s.
Tag from a wooden crate found at his Middle Bass Club cottage. The wooden crate came from Lake Shore Foundry in Cleveland, Ohio via steamer to Middle Bass Island addressed to Middle Bass Club member Clarence Elisha Burke. Circa 1890. Clarence Elisha Burke was a Middle Bass Club member from 1890 to 1907. He owned a cottage on Grove Avenue. Source: Marie Demer Rader
Writing found on a Middle Bass Club Grove Avenue cottage wall, 1890. Cottage owners: Clarence Elisha Burke & Maria Sanford Hayward Burke of Cleveland, Ohio. Source: Marie Demer Rader
Toledo & Lake Erie Boating & Fishing Association, Fishing Log. 1892 catches for members Edward E. Dwight, Jethro G. Mitchell, Francis Pilgrim Isherwood, Burt Baker, James Clark and Willis Bixby.
Middle Bass Club letter from Supt. A. F. Rutherford to member James Clark. June 20, 1894. Source: Ohio Genealogy Express.
Club House Ledger: Wednesday, May 10, 1899. Note President Grover Cleveland, R. D. Evans and John Uri Lloyd were guests of Middle Bass Club member LeRoy Brooks.
Club House Rules and Regulations of the Middle Bass Club, 1895 (PDF file, 4 pages)
Club House Ledger: Saturday, July 15, 1899. Note the Toledo Member family names: Baker, Shaw, Gosline, Kelsey, Holbrook, Cone, Berdan, Frost, Walbridge & Cummings.
Middle Bass Club Postcard, circa 1900.
Club House Ledger: Thursday, July 19, 1900. Note the Toledo Member family names: Lewis, Doyle, Scribner, Stoddard, Gosline, Kelsey, Lewis, Wilcox, Rowland, Backus, Holbrook, Walbridge, Robison, Berdan and Geddes.
Club House Ledger: Saturday, August 18, 1900. Note the Toledo Member family names: Bell, Suydam, Colburn, Simmons, Backus, Lemmon, Berdan, Cone, Shaw, Woolson, Geddes, Dwight, Rowland, Coffroth, Rodgers, Colburn and Kelsey.
Club House Ledger: Wednesday, August 29, 1900. Note the Toledo Member family names: Baumgardner, Rodgers, Baker, Kelsey, Colburn, Lewis, Berdan, Baker, Poe, Holbrook, Nettleton, Shaw and Rowland.
Club House Ledger: Saturday, September 22, 1900. Note the Toledo Member family names: Brown, Baumgardner, Berdan, Marvin, Kelsey, Rodgers, Isherwood, Reynolds, Young, Shoemaker, Woolson and Bell.
Toledo & Lake Erie Boating & Fishing Association. Fishing Log of May 10 & 11, 1901. Note "ex-President Grover Cleveland's" catch.
Middle Bass Club Sunday, August 24, 1902 - Johnston's Orchestra Program
Middle Bass Club Sunday, August 16, 1903 - Johnston's Orchestra Program
Middle Bass Club Postcard, 1906.
Middle Bass Club House Menu for July 4, 1907
Toledo & Lake Erie Boating & Fishing Association, Fishing Log, last entry in 1908. 1905 catches for members Albert T. Colburn and James Brown Bell and 1907 catches for member Clarence Elisha Burke and family.
Postcard addressed to Miss Florence Blattner, Middle Bass Club, Middle Bass Ild, Ohio, showing the Steamer Toronto on Lake Erie. It was stamped July 31, 1907 in Rochester, N.Y. and stamped REC'D Aug 12' M 1907 MID OHIO. Florence Blattner was most likely a "domestic" employed by the Middle Bass Club. in 1904, Florence Blattner was a domestic at The Hotel Monticello in Toledo and in 1910 she was a waiter at The Hotel Monticello. Source: Marie Rader
Middle Bass Club Guestbook: Signature "graffiti," 1910-1911
Middle Bass Club Guestbook: Signature "graffiti," 1910-1912
Letter from J. M. Rauch to Middle Bass Club regarding the upcoming 1915 season.
Writing found on a Middle Bass Club Grove Avenue cottage wall, 1925. Cottage owners: William K Terry Sr & Helen Wright Suydam Terry of Toledo, Ohio. Source: Marie Demer Rader
Middle Bass Club Guestbook: Signature "graffiti," 1909-1933
Put In Bay Gazette article, "Exclusive Club at Middle Bass Opened." July 3, 1936.
Middle Bass Chapel Association Records Book
