Question: New construction in a public space usually makes front-page news. It often features an architect’s rendering of the facade of the proposed addition to the local streetscape. It is rare to find the architectural plan for the building’s interior on the front page as well. But the image seen here was actually part of a front-page news story that ran on page 1 in the Gazette & Farmers’ Journal many years ago. Do you know what the story was about?
Last week’s answer: Last week’s photo shows a boat livery on the north bank of the Seneca River in the center of the village. When the photo was taken circa 1940, entrepreneur Edwin Hopkins was running the business across the street from his home at 12 River St. He was just around the corner from the “new” post office, which had opened at 1 Charlotte St. the year before. Hopkins’ fleet of approximately 12 rowboats was available for hire by the general public. A large American flag marked the site next to a small gazebo that was outfitted with storage racks holding oars for the boats.
The Seneca River, a major transportation thoroughfare and source of waterpower that developed industrial Baldwinsville, was also a playground for recreational boating. For more than a century the river had been plied by vessels ranging from private launches and speedboats to canoes and rowboats. Large packet boats took hundreds of passengers to festive outings and celebrations. Boathouses of all descriptions lined the river banks.
Boating was not reserved for the well-to-do. Boat liveries rented canoes and rowboats by the hour or day, accommodating the needs and desires of fishermen, swimmers, picnickers, and many others. “Boats to Let” signs could be found from Meadow and River streets to lower Downer and Charlotte streets. In 1891 the Riverside House, a hotel on East Genesee Street, proudly announced that it was adding a boat livery for the entertainment of visiting fishermen.
Hopkins’ name joined those of Herschel, Dykeman, Parks, Miller, Elsinger, Lee, Smith, Green, Tucker, Cunningham, Cross, Michels and, very likely, many others who ran boat liveries in Baldwinsville throughout the years. They were part of a brotherhood that stretched the waterfront from Oneida Lake to Cross Lake.
Edwin Hopkins was an involved member of the community. Hopkins was a volunteer fireman, sponsored a bowling team, and even participated in the village wide outdoor Christmas decorating contest. Unfortunately, Hopkins’ career as a boat livery owner was cut short by a hit and run driver in September 1942. On his way to a wartime job at Halcomb Steel, Hopkins stopped at Dow’s Corner to clear his windshield during a heavy rainstorm. A car traveling “at an excessive rate of speed” hit and killed 45-year-old Edwin Hopkins. The driver was never found.
Unable to continue the business on her own, Hopkins’ widow, Clara Bye Hopkins, ran a display ad in the Gazette the following June thanking Baldwinsville for its support and announcing that she had sold the boats and was closing the business.
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.
