Armstrong – Table of Contents

that had been occurring there. Despite the small size of the population, Armstrong
realized that he would need additional professional help to carry out the detailed
investigation required to study the outbreak adequately. He received the assistance of
Ross Hopkins, Assistant Epidemiologist, Ohio State Department of Health who was a
recent graduate of the new Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public
Health.
Armstrong introduced the report with descriptions of the community’s geography,
demography, and general features of the community. Kelleys Island, a political
subdivision of Erie County, Ohio is located entirely in Lake Erie, about 12 miles north of
Sandusky, 5 miles from Lakeside and about the same distance from Put-in-Bay. The
island has an area of about 2000 acres, is of limestone formation, and rises only a few
feet above the level of Lake Erie.
During the influenza epidemic of January and February 1920 there were 689 persons
upon the island, all of who were white (Caucasians). The Kelley Island Lime and
Transport Company operated a limestone quarry and crusher on the island, employing
from 100 to 300 men, - the smaller number being employed during the winter when the
lake shipping traffic was impossible. Grape growing, peach culture and fishing were the
other chief occupations on the island. From the nature of the industries it was apparent
that there was a demand for labor during the late spring, summer and fall months. This
demand was met by the influx of many people each spring who found employment, for
the most part, in the quarries, and who returned to the mainland at the approach of the
closed season for lake shipping navigation. The winter population, however, during the
1918 and 1920 outbreaks was composed almost entirely of established families who had