Question: This piece of public art was on display in the village for almost 25 years. Do you recognize it? Can you identify its location? Do you know what it represented?
Last week’s answer: The group seen in last week’s photo was the Onondaga Castle Cornet Band. The band was comprised of members of the Onondaga Nation and traced its beginnings to pre-Civil War days. The band was standing in the middle of Tappan Street when this photo was taken on Sept. 23, 1886. First Baptist Church is seen in the right background. Note that Tappan Street is unpaved.
At the time of this photo, the group had come to town to participate in the Baldwinsville Fair. The fairgrounds were just south of the village in the area now known as Lions Park. Attired in tribal dress and featuring 10 to 20 musicians, the band performed in Baldwinsville through the 1940s. The local venues ranged from the annual Fair to the Baldwinsville Jubilee, the firemen’s convention and even a parade escorting local World War II draftees to the train station.
Originally comprised of amateur musicians, the group evolved into a concert band of professional musicians. In the latter part of the 19th century the band came under the direction of David Russell Hill, a musician, entrepreneur and a member of the Onondaga nation. Hill described himself as a “fullblooded [sic] Onondaga chief, of long and noted family.” With Hill at the head, the band composition changed from a purely Onondaga group to one made up of Native Americans from across the country. Hill renamed it the “American Indian Concert Band, formerly known as the Onondaga Indian Concert Band.” Under Hill’s leadership the band did a four-month European tour in 1910 and followed it up with an eight-month tour across the United States.
The group was one of three popular concert Indian bands included in the early 20th century Chautauqua circuits. Unlike other Indian bands on the circuit, the Onondaga Indian Concert Band performed in traditional Native American clothing. The band billed itself as “the only real professional Indian band in the world.” The band’s promotional flyer also stated, “This Indian band comes with no apologies for the character and quality of its concerts, either on account of blood or age of its members, but is willing to be judged on its merits as a musical organization” (“David Russell Hill and His Onondaga Indian Concert Band”).
Throughout his life Hill was an active member of the Onondaga tribe. Among his many involvements was the founding of the Indian Village at the New York State fairgrounds. David Hill passed away unexpectedly on October 14, 1950 at the age of 73. Services were held on the Onondaga reservation.
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.
