Otto Jennings and Succession: "The Force" that Created Presque Isle
During the summer of 1908 a University of Pittsburgh botany professor was collecting plant samples at Cedar Point, Ohio when a colleague suggested that he shift his study efforts to Presque Isle in Erie, Pennsylvania. Dr. Otto E. Jennings traveled to Presque Isle the following summer and began a 50-year tenure on the peninsula.
During his time there, Jennings discovered, documented and dated the impact of Presque Isle's unique style of succession on the peninsula. He also shifted his professional focus from plant-gathering to sand spit geology.
Jennings brought colleagues, including his wife Grace, who was also a biologist, to Presque Isle. He built a research station in park's interior and initiated a system of overall biological studies of Presque Isle as he worked to preserve the park and its plant-life.
His work, which catalogued and dated Presque Isle's early formation as well as its plant, aquatic, insect, and animal life, stands as a monument to the scientific study of and continued protection of the peninsula. It also explains the "force" that has been at work, systematically growing Presque Isle from west to east.
This event will be live-streamed on our Facebook page and later posted to our Youtube Channel and Website (www.JESerie.org).
Historian and author David Frew, Ph.D., is a JES Scholar-in-Residence. An emeritus professor at Gannon University, he held a variety of administrative positions during a 33-year career. He is also emeritus director of the Erie County Historical Society/Hagen History Center, where he had previously served as Executive Director for five years, and is president of his own management consulting business.
After beginning with a five-year career in engineering, Frew took a teaching fellowship at Kent State University, where he earned a doctorate in Organizational Behavior in 1970. His love of Lake Erie brought him back to Erie where he became a faculty member and the founding director of Gannon's MBA Program. His career at Gannon included administrative posts as Director of the Health Services Administration and Public Administration Programs, as well as Dean of the Graduate School. In 1982 and 1983, he took a leave from Gannon to complete a post-doctorate at Kent State University where he completed advanced coursework in psychology and research design. He was also a visiting professor at Mercyhurst University for four years.
Dr. Frew has authored or co-authored 40 books, most recently “Accidental Parade: A 13,000-Year History of Presque Isle,” and more than 100 articles, cases, and papers. His work has appeared in publications ranging from refereed journals such as The Journal of Applied Psychology to popular magazines such as Sail Magazine and Cruising World.
Growing up on Erie's lower west side as a proud "Bay Rat," Frew was known to join neighborhood kids playing and marauding along the west bayfront. He has written for years about his beloved Presque Isle and his adventures on the Great Lakes. In the “On the Waterfront Series” for the JES, the Scholar-in-Residence takes note of life in and around the water.
