Question: This is of one of the area’s earliest establishments. Do you know where it was located?
Last week’s answer: The large residence seen in last week’s photo is located at 33 Syracuse St., slightly south of the Tappan Street intersection. The photo was taken circa 1882 when the house was the home of Jacob Frazee. Born in 1798 in Schoharie County, Frazee had moved westward and established farms in Durhamville, then Jacksonville and finally Cold Springs.
Following the death of his wife, Phebe, Frazee retired from farming and moved into the village in 1872 where he purchased the house on Syracuse Street. There he lived with his two unmarried daughters, Kate and Emma. His son James, another of his eight children, was already in the village where he was well established as a mill owner, entrepreneur and civic leader.
Frazee took up residence on the first floor of the Syracuse St. home; the second floor was used as a rental. The 1880 U.S. census lists Flora Whipple as a boarder and the Gazette and Farmers’ Journal carried advertisements for “Misses F. Whipple and F.G. Rulison, Ladies’ and Children’s suits made to order.” The ladies’ place of business was “33 Syracuse St., Upstairs.”
A lifelong Baptist, Jacob joined Baldwinsville’s First Baptist Church where he soon became an active member and leader. Frazee frequently hosted church socials and gatherings at his home which was only yards away from the church at the corner of Syracuse and Tappan streets.
Syracuse Street was the village’s main north/south thoroughfare. The property at 31 Syracuse St., immediately north of Frazee’s, had been the site of the Traveler’s Home, a popular inn and tavern that stood from 1822 until it was torn down in 1855. An 1857 village map shows large structures on both 31 and 33 Syracuse St. The buildings appear to abut each other on their common line. Only 17 years later, a map of 1874 shows the two properties, each with a structure, but the footprints have changed and no longer abut at the property line.
Jacob Frazee passed away in 1888 and was buried in Riverside Cemetery. His home at 33 Syracuse St. continues still today as a residential rental property. Its original owner and purpose remain as yet to be discovered.
Email your guess to [email protected] or leave a message at 315-434-8889 ext. 310 with your guess by noon Friday. 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 newspaper, along with another History Mystery feature. History Mystery is a joint project of the Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse and the Baldwinsville Public Library.
