Question: Residential development of the village in this area was just beginning at the time of the 1885 photo seen here. Its appearance today is that of a traditional village street featuring late Victorian homes and a number of well established maple trees. The street had been laid out by surveyor George Robinson when he worked for the Baldwin estate in the years between 1827 and 1845. Robinson’s work was the basis for the “official village map” published by J.H. French in 1857 for the recently incorporated village of Baldwinsville. It was almost another 25 years before building began on this street. Can you identify this street?
Last week’s answer: Last week’s photo showed the houses at the corner of Syracuse and Downer streets. The one on the right at 54 Syracuse St. is currently owned by the Kinslows. It is dated 1905. At one time another house stood a little north of it. It is suspected that it was moved by Squire Greenfield, as he and his wife had extensive gardens in much of that area. He moved the original house down Route 48 (Syracuse Street) possibly five houses down on the east side. Greenfield also was responsible for many of the houses on lower Downer. The house on the left is located at 20 Downer St. and is currently owned by Marianne Miles. It was built much later.
If you found the location and took a good look, you should have noticed that the barn is no longer there. However — it is! It is the two-stall garage located at 20 Downer St. The second story was shortened a little but it still has the original barn doors and even spots where horses have gnawed on the wood. It was moved and attached to the house. If you go inside you can easily see that it is indeed a former barn.
Margaret Kinslow wrote in to provide a little more detail on her own house at 54 Syracuse St.: “The lot was owned by Squire DeWitt Greenfield. His house was moved to lower Downer so that this house could be built for his daughter, Sarah Cortright.. The barn was later torn down and the wood used for a garage for the other house in the picture. Also, we have lost the magnificent elms. In 1928 the house was purchased by Dr. Moyers, a dentist. In the 1960’s the house was owned first by the Waldrons, and then the McCanns, both GE families. We moved in in October of 1963.”
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.
