Question: Necessity was the “father” of invention for the gentleman in the photo. He is pictured here with his daughter, who as an infant was seriously ill and needed to be in the hospital. Can you identify them and the invention that helped to revolutionize health care?
Last week’s answer: By the summer of 1942, the structures in last week’s photos were commonplace. The construction of the New York Ordnance Works was well underway and the whole area was under tight security.
Cyclone fencing and guard towers surrounded the “project,” which included Route 31 on the south to Lamson Road on the north, River Road on the east to Smokey Hollow Road and the DL&W Railroad tracks on the west. A number of roads were closed off.
No longer was the public able to travel Sixty Road to get from here to Phoenix. River Road was sealed off with guards posted at the Belgium Bridge, and West Phoenix to the north. Also swallowed up by the “project” were Potter Road, Kellogg Road east of Smokey Hollow Road, Chestnut Ridge Road, Carpenter Road and Cordell Hill (Sabine) Road and others.
To ensure that no saboteurs infiltrated the munitions plant, about 28 sentry towers stood along the 10.5 miles of fencing with armed guards on duty around the clock. Those involved with the operation were constantly reminded not to talk about their work. “Loose talk may reach the Enemy” and “Avoid the company of strangers or others who are curious about where you work and what you are doing” were daily drilled into those who worked there. This was war.
While a number of readers recognized the Ordnance Works, Shirley McMahon recalls being a “plane spotter” in one of the sentry towers when she was in high school:
“My mother and I were plane spotters,” she said. “We had armbands, identification books that we had to study for types of planes and a regular schedule. We lived on Church Road. We never saw any enemy planes with our binoculars but we felt like we were doing our part for the war effort.”
“We had a scheduled time to watch for German planes,” she said. “We had a book and everything that went with it.”
Curious about the New York Ordnance Works? Visit the Baldwinsville Public Library, the Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse and the historian at the town of Lysander. As for the library, there are a number of items on the circulating shelves available to take out.
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.
