Question: The photo may suggest a super sized game of Cat’s Cradle, but that’s not what the topic was. Can you identify the man or the topic? It generated quite a bit of local buzz as well as some countywide controversy.
Last week’s answer: The brick house in last week’s photo is located at 25 Grove St. on the south side of the street where it takes a bend. The couple in the photo are Walter and Mabel McMullin. This was their “first house.” The McMullins, who married in 1884, had been living in a spacious flat above First National Bank where McMullin was cashier, a post which he held until his sudden death in 1915.
The house was built by Baldwinsville’s Baptist community in 1866 to serve as a parsonage. Their church, a wooden structure, had been moved into the village from Cold Springs in 1841 and was placed upon the lot at 14 Canton St., just south of Tappan St.
As membership grew and the village prospered, the congregation purchased land on Syracuse St. at the corner of Tappan St. In 1871 noted regional architect Horatio Nelson White was hired to design a new church, and soon an imposing handsome brick edifice was erected.
The new property was large enough to accommodate a parsonage, so the existing parsonage at 25 Grove St. received a new tin roof in March, 1881 and was put on the market. One week later the parsonage was purchased by Mrs. J. L. Williams, who presented it to her granddaughter, Mrs. Irvin Van Wie, of Syracuse. The former parsonage was sold for $2,300. The proceeds were used to defray cost of new parsonage on Tappan Street.
It appears that the Van Wies never occupied the house. Within less than a year it was again on the market. Two years later Ezekial Dodge sold his home on McHarrie Street and purchased the former parsonage. The Dodges were short-term residents. In 1886 they sold the Grove Street home to Walter McMullin; consideration was $3,000.
The following year the McMullins had their first and only child, a girl whom they named Louise. When Louise was 3, the young family moved again to even larger quarters, the home at 70 Oswego St. The former parsonage was again on the market. In July 1890 it was purchased by Allen C. Gates for $3,200. The Grove Street home would now be with one family for many years to come.
Close scrutiny of the old photo shows many trees and shrubs on both sides behind the house. An 1857 map of the village shows Grove Street and this area at the curve appears as a large tree filled parcel named “Cooper’s Grove.”
The first reader to respond correctly admitted she had a bit of an advantage over other readers: she’s the present owner of the home. Carl and Barbara Edinger bought the home from Carl’s parents, and Carl’s mother, Marcia Gates Edinger, bought it from her mother.
Contact Editor Sarah Hall at [email protected] or leave a message at 434-8889 ext. 310 with your guess by 5 p.m. Friday (please leave the information in the message; we are not generally able to return calls regarding History Mystery responses). If you are the first person to correctly identify an element in the photo, your name and guess will appear in next week’s Messenger, along with another History Mystery feature. History Mystery is a joint project of the Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse and the Baldwinsville Public Library.
