Question: One thing about life is that change is constant. Obviously this is a photo of a demolition. Do you know what was being demolished and its location? What was it replaced by?
Last week’s answer: Last week’s image ran on page 1 of the June 10, 1897, issue of Baldwinsville’s weekly newspaper, the Gazette and Farmers’ Journal. Details about the proposed new two-story village hall filled most of the front page and included the plan for the first floor.
Prominent regional architect Charles Erastus Colton had been engaged to design the new structure following a devastating fire that had leveled the first village hall some six months earlier.
The village incorporated in 1848 but had no need for a municipal building until 1854, when it acquired its first fire fighting equipment. Centrally located near the Four Corners, George Wells’ old cabinet shop was purchased and remodeled to accommodate the gear. Three years later a second floor was added to provide public meeting space.
By the 1890s the facility had become cramped and was viewed by many as shabby and a poor reflection on industrially successful Victorian Baldwinsville. While the 1896 fire was not welcome, it opened the door to opportunity. The ruins were removed and adjoining property at the east was purchased to allow construction of a larger facility.
Charles E. Colton, architect of Syracuse’s new City Hall, was hired to design a building that would reflect the village’s status as a booming industrial center interested in keeping up with the times. The building had to accommodate the fire department, justice court, jury room, and lock up as well as a meeting room and a trustees’ room. The parcel could accommodate a building 43 feet 9 inches wide and 62 feet in depth. Trustees authorized $5,000 for its construction.
Bids exceeded $5,000; much discussion ensued. The ultimate conclusion was that rather than “cheapen the design,” the village would authorize an additional $1,000 to maintain the integrity of Colton’s design. Exterior details were preserved as were the specs for the interior.
The Gazette described the first floor as follows: “Main entrance to hall and staircase in oak, 4 feet wide, with midway platform. Justice’s court, 15 ½ x 30 feet. Jury room, 8 ½ x 13 feet. Lavatory and toilet room, 7×8 feet. Side entrance to cell corridor and Justice’s court, 4 feet wide. Cell corridor, 18×24 feet, with 3 steel cells in center, each cell to have a water closet and drinking cup; the cells to be set on sandstone floors, 3 inches thick, and each cell is 5 x 7 ½ x 7 feet in size. The cells are built of 3/16 inch sheet steel, with angle irons riveted with steel lattice doors, secured with Yale cell locks. All interior doors of the cell corridor are of sheet steel, with special locks. All corridor windows will be covered with steel grating. Prisoners can be brought directly in from the cell corridor to the courtroom. The fire department consists of a large hose and ladder room, 16 x 54 feet, and a storeroom in the rear. Arrangements for drying hose will be provided by rack on one side of the large room…”
The new structure was dedicated with a ball in the new meeting room on George Washington’s birthday, Feb. 22, 1898.
The structure has been modified numerous times to accommodate changing needs. The fire department has moved out, the lock up has been eliminated, the police department has been installed, and a significant expansion was added in 1998.
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States in 1997, the village hall continues to bear out the Gazette’s prediction of 1897: “The edifice is not to be a temporary affair but is to be one of the features to which we can call the attention of visitors with a pride in so doing, and barring destruction by fire will long endure as a testimonial to our enterprise and thrift.”
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.
