Question: This unpretentious frame structure has had three distinctly different lives since it was built in 1844. Do you recognize it? Can you pinpoint its location? Do you know anything about its varied uses?
Last week’s answer: The house in last week’s History Mystery, built circa 1860, was designed by noted architect Horatio Nelson White. It is located at 73 Oswego St. and was built in the Italianate style. White must have been very busy in our little community, because, within the next few years, he also was responsible for three of our churches: the First Baptist, the United Methodist and the Presbyterian.
Samuel C. Suydam and his wife Anna were early residents there. Mr. Suydam was a prominent businessman, owning a major jewelry and drug store, a director of the First National Bank and one of its stockholders. He was also a prominent Mason and elder of the Presbyterian Church. As an elder in the church, he took on the responsibility of the winding and care of the town clock in its steeple. Each week he climbed the tower stairs to perform this duty.
In his spare time, he spent time with his unusual hobby — astronomy. On the north roof of his house he had a small revolving observatory with a telescope. This feature of the house was removed years ago.
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.
