A history of Port Clinton,
since 1828
Postcards, papers and photographs of Port Clinton from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Established in 1828, the town was named after New York governor DeWitt Clinton, who was instrumental in creating the Erie Canal, which connected the Midwest along the Great Lakes to the markets of the Hudson River and New York.
The city saw small population growth throughout 19th century, with a population of 1,600 in 1880 and 2,049 residents in 1890. By 1886, Port Clinton contained three newspaper offices, four churches, and one bank. Several manufacturing businesses existed in the town, with the largest being A. Couche & Company, a sawmill that employed ten workers. Most businesses provided services or products to farmers in the surrounding countryside.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Port Clinton’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewPort Clinton, Ohio. Winos Point C…, 1908: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Port Clinton
See all 7 →
Port Clinton, decade by decade
CommonsFMIB 33489 Carp Ponds in Lake Erie Region1903
CommonsFMIB 33501 Carp Ponds in Lake Erie Region1903
CommonsFMIB 33521 Carp Ponds in Lake Erie Region1903
MapFMIB 33728 Diagrammatic Plan of Carp Pond Near1904
CommonsPort Clinton, Ohio. Winos Point Club House1908 · postcard
CommonsPort Clinton, Ohio. Winos Point Club House1908 · postcard1990s
5 historic places in Port Clinton
5 places in Port Clinton are on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
When they were listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as FMIB 33489 Carp Ponds in Lake Erie Region (1903) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.