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According to Richard J. Wright, after the waterfront at the north end of Meigs Street was filled in for a shipyard, the property was leased to Monk in March of 1874. At this location, Monk built a marine railway that was 339 feet long, 125 feet wide and 12 feet of water. Vessels up to 400 tons could be accommodated. The first vessel built at Monk's new yard was the yacht Sallie in 1875. The side-wheeler R. B. Hayes, which plied the waters between the islands, was built at the Monk yard in 1876. John E. Monk, master shipbuilder of more than 35 vessels at Sandusky, died in July 1896. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery, Sandusky, Ohio. VALENTINE FRIES (1817-1877) Valentine Fries was born around the year 1817. He built several vessels in Milan, Ohio and later established a shipyard in on the west bank of the Huron River about a half mile north of Milan. This location was known as Fries Landing. William Shupe and William Raynor built vessels at the Fries yards. Valentine Fries died in Milan in 1877 at the age of 60 years of age. William Shupe is credited with building most of the vessels at the Fries Milan yard. He was born in 1813 in Amherst, Ohio and was married to Emeline Gillmore, daughter of Aretus and Aurelia Nichols Gillmore. They were married on January 29, 1839 in Lorain, Ohio. Their union was blessed with four children. Shupe had also worked for Captain Henry Kelley. It appears the first vessel he built at Milan was the Osprey in 1853. William Shupe, passed from this life in 1879 at the age of 66. He is buried in Milan Cemetery, Ohio. William Raynor was the foreman at Fries Landing. Little is known about him other than that he built vessels for, Alfred Minuse, a vessel owner and also for, August Mowry, a Milan business man, prior to working for Valentine Fries. Raynor and Shupe built the schooners, Charles Foster (1877), propeller William Edwards (1879), and Golden Age (1882) at Fries Landing. The following account written by the Sandusky Register describes the launching of the Marian L. Page, the first vessel built at Fries Landing: "A pleasant drive of an hour from Milan down the river brings us to the scene of action, V. Fries' shipyard, where the work of building an immense "three-master" has been going on for some time, and had progressed so far its construction that it was whispered around there would be a "launch." As a launch was something new to "Milanites," everything in the conveyance line was eagerly seized upon, and Saturday afternoon the road leading to the yard was covered with one continuous line of carriages, wagons, etc. At the time given for the launch to take place there was some five hundred people present to witness the schooner's "first step." As there was some two hours to wait after reaching the yard before the launch would occur, we took a stroll through the different buildings forming "Friesville," as it 172