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is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Erie County. The municipality is located in northern Ohio and is situated on the shores of Lake Erie, almost exactly half-way between Toledo to the west and Cleveland to the east.
The population was 27,844 at the 2000 census. In 2007 Sandusky had an estimated population of 25,861. According to the US Census 2007 estimate, the Sandusky, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area has a population of 77,323 residents.
Sandusky is one of Ohio's most popular tourist destinations. The city is home to the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, an amusement park and entertainment management company, as well as its flagship amusement park, Cedar Point. Cedar Point features the largest collection of roller coasters in the world as well as many current and former record holders. The park also has the largest collection of rides at a single park and many thrilling flat rides as well as kiddie areas. Like most Ohio cities, Sandusky's population has decreased since the late 1970s.
Fort Sandusky was a British trading and military outpost established around 1794. The Native Americans that inhabited the immediate surrounding area were the Seneca, displaced at the outset of the American Revolution. The generally accepted theory is that the name "Sandusky" is an Anglicization of the phrase "San Too Chee", meaning "cold water." A less accepted theory is that the that the city was named after a Polish fur trader by the name of Antoni Sadowski or Jacob Sodowsky.
The Greater Sandusky area was a safe haven and a new start for refugees of the Firelands refugees of the Revolutionary War in Connecticut. Norwalk, the Huron County seat (just south of Erie County) is named for Norwalk, Connecticut, as is New London, a small town south of Norwalk.
Established as Portland in 1816, the name was changed two years later to Sandusky. Norwalk was also established in 1816; at the time, both were growing towns of a unified Huron County. Not long after, thanks to the growth of both towns, Erie County, Ohio's second smallest (in land area), came into being. The county encompassed newly-rechristened Sandusky's far west side, Vermilion to the east, and Norwalk's northern line to the south.
Prior to the abolition of slavery in the United States, Sandusky was a major stop on the Underground Railroad. As depicted in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin
Downtown Sandusky was designed according a modified grid plan known as the Kilbourne Plat after its designer. The original street pattern featured a grid overlaid with streets resembling the symbols of Freemasonry. Hector Kilbourne was a surveyor who laid out this grid in downtown Sandusky. He was the first Worshipful Master of the Sandusky Masonic Lodge.
Sandusky was the site of groundbreaking for the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad on September 17, 1835. Currently, Battery Park Marina is located on original site of the MR&LE Railroad. The tracks that ran through downtown Sandusky have since been removed due to most of the downtown industrial area being re-used for other purposes including mainly marina dockage. The coal docks located west of downtown still use a portion of the original MR&LE lines.