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In January, 1864, Jay Cooke, a native of Sandusky, Ohio, then a resident of Philadelphia, purchased Gibraltar Island in the north bay of South Bass Island on Lake Erie. Cooke paid $3001 for the island and began, that summer, to have a home of blue Sandusky limestone constructed as a summer residence. Well familiar with the area from his youth and an avid fisherman, Cooke and his family enjoyed their summer retreat which was also used to entertain many notables of the period. Jay Cooke is best known as the Union Financier for the Civil War.
In 1925 the property was transferred to The Ohio State University as part of a gift of the island to support lake research. The home, known as Cooke's Castle because of its architecture, is no longer occupied as restoration work takes place. The building is on the Register as a National Historic Landmark. These web pages tell some of the story about this historic building, Gibraltar Island, and Jay Cooke.
