Question: A cannon in Baldwinsville! Do you know where it was located and what it represented? Next week there will be two ways of finding out about it. The answer in the Messenger will give some information about it and its surroundings, but if you attend the Beauchamp Historical Club meeting on Sept. 12, a more complete history will be presented. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the Baldwinsville Village Hall.
Last week’s answer: The photos from last week all picture the Baldwin Canal — in its demise!
For those who don’t know, the Baldwin Canal really put us on the map. When the first permanent settler, John McHarrie, came in 1792 (or 1794), there was a 7-foot rift between what is now North Street and the Riverview Cemetery. He made his living fording boats over the rapids. That all changed when Jonas Baldwin was one of his customers. By 1809, Jonas had purchased all of the land on the north side and gotten permission from the State to build a canal to be used for power and navigation. This canal did so much business carrying grain, lumber, coal, flour and other goods that Baldwinsville became known as the “Port of Baldwinsville.”
Even after the Erie Canal came along, the Baldwin Canal was still very much in use. When the Barge Canal was completed in 1918 there was little need for it and it became an eyesore filled with smelly debris. It took a long time for the village fathers to get approval to purchase the land and fill in the old canal. It was finally completed in 1965.
The pictures from last week show four different views of the Baldwin Canal demise.
1. This shows what was left of the lock on the west end of the canal approximately at the shoreline by the Female Charitable Society loan closet at 10 River Street.
2. Note the Baldwin Canal Bridge in the middle of the photo — it is still in existence today on lower Oswego Street. The area in front is now a parking lot.
3. This is what is left of the canal in the 1950s — approximately opposite Virginia Street. The building on the left was first used for the Baldwinsville and Syracuse Railroad and later by Tappan and Lumber Co. Note the bridge crossing the canal in the background.
4. This gives an idea of the debris in the stagnant water — location behind what is now the B’ville Diner.
Several readers were able to identify the photos of the Baldwin Canal, but the first was Christian O’Brien on Facebook.
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.
