This week’s question: Unpaved and heavily treed, the street seen here is much busier today than it was at the time of the photo. The two men who appear to be engaged in conversation are actually standing in the middle of an intersection. The photo was taken circa 1910. Can you identify the location?
Last week’s answer: The “Walter Mercer Memorial 1994” plaque shown last week is one of a pair of plaques that flank the entrance to Mercer Park. A matching tablet bearing the inscription “Louise Mercer Memorial Park” is mounted on the brick pillar at the right hand side of the park entrance.
When the village of Baldwinsville was incorporated in 1848, its built environment was simple and unassuming. River frontage was devoted to industry and transportation. The bulk of residential architecture was functional rather than stylish. A survey of 1857 showed the percentage of undeveloped acreage far exceeded that of developed parcels. The village had wide open spaces, unpaved roads and a few plank sidewalks.
By the turn of the century the village had blossomed into a successful industrial center with railroad service, electricity, telephone companies, churches, schools, residential neighborhoods and cultural opportunities. The once abundant open green spaces were disappearing. Neighboring municipalities were investing in parks. (Liverpool had a park as early as 1885.) Baldwinsville talked about a park.
The privately owned waterfront area at the end of North Street was the site of public and private events from picnics and carnivals to circuses and political rallies, including a 1924 steak roast featuring gubernatorial candidate Teddy Roosevelt, son of President Theodore “T.R.” Roosevelt. Owner Charles J. Church agreed to sell the parcel to the village. It took more than 30 years of discussion and deliberation before the village actually purchased “the Church lot” in 1940. By that time the area was the only undeveloped property in the village that was deemed suitable for use as a recreation site.
Initially named Village Park, the 3.5 acre parcel was renamed Louise Mercer Memorial Park in 1967 in honor of the late Louise Mercer (1887-1966). Mrs. Mercer had been a lifelong champion of civic beautification and its social and economic benefits. It was her relentless advocacy that had saved Village Park as a community resource at a time when its sale was being considered as a source of revenue to balance the village budget.
The Louise Mercer plaque was cast in 1967 and installed on a small brick monument. Thirty years later park improvements saw the chain link fence separating the parking lot from the park proper replaced with cast iron fencing. Two brick pillars were constructed to mark the park entrance and the Memorial Park plaque was remounted on one of the new pillars.
Louise and her husband Russell had four children, one of whom passed away in infancy. The plaque memorializing their son Walter (1913-1994) was privately funded and installed following the late 20th-century renovations to the park entrance.
Joan Connors was the first to identify the marker’s location, Mercer Park, in a comment on Facebook. A few relatives of the Mercer family commented as well.
“Mercer Park … was first named for Aunt Louise (Uncle Russell’s wife and Bud’s mom). She was head of the Baldwinsville garden club/society,” Carlene Henry wrote. “We knew Walter as Bud and he had a small yacht and would always wave when he saw us down by the river. He was Carol Mercer’s husband; he was born in 1913.”
“My great uncle Bud — one of the kindest men I’ve ever known,” wrote Betsy Barbour.