Question: With shovels and picks at hand, this team of masons is ready to drop the keystone into place on a 12-foot-wide stone arch. Though crippled by the ravages of time and nature, the archway stood in place for 120 years until its fragile remains were removed for safety reasons. Do you recognize the scene? Can you place the archway? Do you know its story?
Last week’s answer: This photo was taken in 1911 and shows the machine shop of Morris Machine Works. The myriad belts and pulleys were the plant’s power distribution system. Founded in 1864, the company produced centrifugal pumping machinery, engines and boilers.
Within its first ten years the business survived a devastating fire, the death of one of its principals and reorganization. By 1876, Morris had won awards at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, was the largest single employer in Baldwinsville and had a 600-foot-wide presence on Canal Street (now East Genesee Street) at the corner of Virginia Street.
The Industrial Revolution was blossoming. Across the country water works were being built, mining was taking off, oil fields were being explored. Pumps, boilers and steam engines were essential tools for an efficient and profitable industrial economy. Morris Machine Works had the engineering talent, skilled workforce and business savvy to meet the ever expanding market.
The production facility grew, as did its family of employees. In 1896, employees numbered 75. By 1903, 170 were on the payroll. The previous year, the company had built 500 engines and 2,000 pumps of all sizes and had contributed over $100,000 to the local economy. For the last five years the facility had been running night and day and could not keep up with demand.
A dedicated machine shop was a necessity. Measuring 56 by 55 feet, the new shop adjoined an expanded erecting shop that boasted a large traveling crane extending the entire 227-foot length of the building. Electric lights were added. Thirty new skilled mechanics were hired and total payroll was up to 200 employees.
By the time of this photo, construction of the Panama Canal, New York State Barge Canal and New York City subway system had brought additional business. Dredging equipment was now added to the Morris product line.
The company offered innovative solutions to meet challenging construction issues arising from bold new projects of the new century. Only eight years later, total sales would pass the $1 million mark and more than 300 employees would be on the payroll.
Morris Machine Works would continue to expand in Baldwinsville and in the international marketplace until its sale in 1981 to the Gould Pump Company in Seneca Falls. Local production ceased and ownership has changed, but the Morris name continues to represent quality, a characteristic embedded in its Baldwinsville roots.
Audrey Jones was the first reader to respond with the correct answer on Facebook.
Van Buren Town Councilor Howard Tupper also responded via email.
“Morris had a turbine across the street on the Baldwin Canal which operated a generator by means of overhead cables above Genesee Street,” he wrote.
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 before the deadline, 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.
