Gibraltar Island photograph   Save
Lake Erie Collection
Description: Gibraltar Island, known as "Gem of Lake Erie", is a 6.5 acre Ohio island located on Lake Erie. It is part of Put-in-Bay Township, Ottawa County, Ohio, but was owned by the state of Connecticut until 1807. The island was and observation site for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's naval forces during the Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813. In 1864 Jay Cooke, a Sandusky, Ohio native, bought the island and built a Victorian-Gothic mansion (now known as Cooke Castle). Julius Stone, a Trustee of The Ohio State University, purchased the island from Cooke's family and presented it to the Ohio State University in 1925. It became a home to Stone Laboratory - the oldest freshwater biological field station in the United States. The Jay Cooke Castle, built in 1865, is a National Historic Landmark. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07514
Subjects: Lake Erie Islands (Ohio); Erie, Lake, Coast (Ohio); Battle of Lake Erie; Great Lakes (North America); History of the Ohio State University; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Ottawa County (Ohio)