This week’s question: These two photos have something in common. One of these structures is from the past and one still exists. Do you know their locations and what they have in common?
Last week’s answer: The boat featured in last week’s photo was named the Anna Lee, after the wife of John W. Haywood, its designer and owner. Built during the winter of 1905-1906 on the banks of the Baldwin Canal near Haywood’s wagon company (today the corner of Lock and East Genesee streets), the boat was launched May 29, 1906. The Gazette reported that a large crowd was on hand to watch as this area’s first cruiser hit the waterway.
The Anna Lee was notable for both its size and its construction. Measuring 46 feet long with a 10-foot-wide beam, the cruiser was a small yacht. The entire hull was decked over creating a large cabin space below which was divided into three sections. The midship section was a spacious salon “handsomely furnished.” Sleeping quarters were in the front section and the engine room was in the stern. According to the Gazette, “the cruiser will easily carry 75 passengers and the conveniences are such that a large party can be accommodated for a long cruise.”
The boat’s fabrication was also unusual for its time. Heavy sheet steel held in place with steel rivets was used rather than wood. The result was a vessel of “substantial construction capable of standing the roughest lake weather.” Two Fox gasoline motors combined to provide 24 horse power.
John Haywood had been a coal dealer in Syracuse prior to his coming to Baldwinsville to establish the wagon works. Haywood was an engineer as well as an entrepreneur. He held several patents, most of which were for improvements to the series of wagons built by his wagon company.
In addition to the cruiser, Haywood built a steel bottomed sport power boat, the Haywoodia, as well as a large bobsled. A gregarious fellow and a prominent member of the Vagabondia Boat Club, Haywood’s cruiser was the club’s flagship and was often referred to as the “Vagabondia Annex.” Invitations to be on board the Anna Lee were prized.
Haywood’s roots were in Kirkville, where his ancestors had been early pioneers. His father and his grandfather were boat manufacturers specializing in canal boats which traveled the Erie Canal. The family homestead had developed into a large farm with a handsome and prestigious residence. John Haywood retired to the farm in 1919 where he passed away in 1931. He is buried in the family plot at Pine Plains Cemetery in North Manlius.
Email your guess to [email protected] or leave a message with your guess at 315-434-8889 ext. 310 by noon Friday. If you are the first person to correctly identify an element in the photo before the deadline, your name and guess will appear in next week’s newspaper, along with another History Mystery feature. History Mystery is a joint project of the Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse and the Baldwinsville Public Library.
