Question: This week’s photo shows another one of Baldwinsville’s stately homes. In this vintage photo, the house is very similar to its looks today. There are a few differences. What do you know about it? Do you know the date of its construction and where was it built? What did the owner do for a living and what unique hobby did he have?
Last week’s answer: The photo in last week’s History Mystery was taken in the 1950s when Morris Machine Works was our biggest employer. Everything that is pictured to the right of the street is part of that plant. For those that are not familiar with that operation, it produced centrifugal pumps that are used to control water and many other substances. They were and are known all over the world. The building with the Morris sign on it was formerly a tobacco warehouse, and the one that is two up from that building was its office building before the company built one where Kinney’s Drugs is now. The street running to the right is Virginia Street. If you are reading carefully, that means that the current library sets there now.
Diagonally, in the lower left corner is part of the Baldwin Canal, which was built in 1809 by Jonas C. Baldwin. It ran from the river across from Female Charitable Society at 10 River St., through the village to Lock Street and then emptied back into the river at the end of that street. The street in the photo was originally called Canal Street and is now known as East Genesee Street.
The bridge crossing the canal is going onto the Frazee Mill property, just out of the picture. It was one of the unique bridges that crossed the canal. It was a swing bridge that swung out of a passing boat’s way so that it could navigate water way. Today the businesses across from the library are located there.
Another item to note is that is probably hard to see is that there are cars parked in a few spots along the street — that surely couldn’t happen today!
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.
