Questions and Answers

How can I ask a question or make a comment on some of the responses to questions that appear below? You can ask a question or make a comment simply by going to the “Contact Us” page or sending an email to the Museum at ochm@cros.net.

What is the difference between the Ottawa County Historical Museum and the Ottawa County Historical Society? The museum was founded in the early 1930s as a joint project of the Village of Port Clinton and the Ottawa County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  By the 1950s when the Village became a City and the Ottawa Co. DAR chapter faded away, it became the somewhat orphaned child of the City. The City hired the curator and paid her (nominally).  The Ottawa County Historical Society came to life during the 1950s/1960s as an effort of Virgil Gordon and Archie King. That lasted a few years until the Society abandoned the museum and the organization faded away for a period of years. The City then moved the Museum from the east room of City Hall to the basement where it flooded a time or two.  As 1978 approached a new organization, Port Clinton Area Heritage Foundation, was formed to celebrate the community’s 150th birthday (Sesquicentennial).  When the celebration was over (1979) there was some money and much interest that emerged in the Heritage Foundation,  So the Foundation approached the City and offered to take the orphaned Museum off their hands. Branded as the Ottawa County Historical Museum the effort was started to find a new home for it.  That led to what we have today.  A few years ago we rebranded, dropping the word “Historical” after several people donated or bequeathed money intended for the museum to the Historical Society and never reached its intended purpose of aiding the museum.    Loch Zeis

What does Dubytown refer to? Don’t be confused. Dubytown was simply a neighborhood populated by two or three families (fishermen, laborers) named Duby. The location of the Dubytown neighborhood was the 300 block of West Perry Street (where Port Clinton Manufacturing is today).     Loch Zeis