Question: Do you know why this was a historic event? Recycling is the obvious topic of conversation. Can you identify any of the people involved or the location?
Last week’s answer: The photo from last week was taken at the Phoenix Fair, which was located off of River Road in West Phoenix. It ran from 1873 to the early 1900s on the Oswego River Stock Farm, owned by the Pendergast family. This large farm was renowned for its fine cattle and horses.
There was much interest in fine horses among the residents in the area, so it was no surprise that the Phoenix Union Agricultural Society, and Phoenix Trotting Association, developed horse racing on the site. This was known as “The Pendergast Driving Park.”
Along with the horses came what could be called a forerunner of the New York State Fair with all of the other exhibits and amusements that we see today.
The amusement ride in the photo from last week was called a Razzle Dazzle and was regarded as the first “white knuckle” ride, one of the earliest rides to use rotation and tilting motion. It was from this ride that many of the modern midway rides were developed.
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.
