Question: If you are a good detective, you should be able to tell where this photo was taken. What do you know about the train engine and the people on the tracks?
Last week’s answer: This small but impressive structure sat at the main entrance to Riverview Cemetery on Tappan Street, directly across from Division Street. The word “chapel” is over the center arch and a cross sits atop its roof. Erected in 1888, the cemetery chapel was more than a functional and aesthetic community asset. It marked the end of what had been a 50-year-old debate over the question of where a village burial ground should be established, should it be privately or publicly owned and how should it be managed.
Pioneer John McHarrie arrived in 1794 and built a log cabin home on the south side of the Seneca River, approximately at today’s site of Lock No. 24. When McHarrie died in 1807, he was buried in the area just west of his cabin. As other deaths followed, additional graves were placed near McHarrie’s creating a community burial yard, now known as the Old Yard.
No records were kept, some graves were unmarked, and burials were placed randomly, “at the pleasure of the living,” in the words of the Onondaga Gazette.
By 1840 community members recognized the need for an organized cemetery. In 1846 a burial record log was begun. Debate continued for years; land was purchased by both the village and private owners. By 1858 the community had three cemeteries adjacent to each other. The Old Yard was abutted by Riverside Cemetery which extended west to Division Street. Riverview Cemetery abutted Riverside and extended further west. Riverview and Riverside merged and incorporated in 1876. In 1879 the village turned the Old Yard over to the new association.
Grounds improvements, mapping, fencing, and landscaping followed. By 1887 it was time to provide a chapel and a storage vault for bodies awaiting burial. The main purpose was to protect both mourners and gravediggers from undue suffering due to harsh weather. The expectation was that in due time no winter burials would take place.
Architect Charles Erastus Colton was engaged to draw the plans. The interior measured 25 by 25 feet. The front was designed to be a chapel for services. A “broad hall-like opening to the rear of the building led to the vault area which could accommodate 32 bodies.” Contractors Stephen Lonergan and Charles Driscoll began construction in the spring of 1888. The interior was finished in oak, cherry and pine. Leaded stained glass windows were installed in the front and at the sides. Heavy corrugated steel which had the appearance of stone sheathed the exterior. Cost of the building was $2,000. The facility was declared to be entirely fireproof and “practically burglar proof.”
Working together the association’s board of trustees, lot owners and visitors created and maintained a village property that was treated with reverence and dignity. In 1904 the handsome Romanesque chapel was joined by a small Gothic style tool house that today serves as the cemetery office.
For more than 70 years the chapel stood as a village landmark. Eventually rust and deterioration made the building unstable. In 1962 the cemetery board condemned it as unsafe. A Thanksgiving weekend storm brought its collapse under the weight of a fallen tree. Mother Nature had prevailed.
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.
