Question: A village resident came upon this plaque recently and found it puzzling. Do you know where it is located? Do you know its purpose or its story?
Last week’s answer: The photo from last week is a house that has had quite a different past from its current use. It is located one-half mile south of the village at the intersection of Syracuse Street and Maple and Van Buren roads. At the time that it was built by O.B. Herrick that intersection was called Herrick’s Corners.
It was common in the early years of settlement for industries to start up on a crossroads, at a source of waterpower and where the raw material was available. In the 1830s Herrick built the small brick building on the southeast corner of the intersection to be used as a sieve factory. Here, the business of manufacturing wire screen articles was established and lasted until the 1870s. It made such items as fanning mill screens and coal sifters.
A sizeable forge was at the rear of the structure, with a chimney rising above it. There the blacksmith made the heavier metal parts that were required for the items. Baldwinsville’s first newspaper, the Onondaga Gazette, read: “O.B. Herrick’s brass, copper, and iron wire screen and sieve factory, ½ mile south of the river bridge.”
After 40 years of operation, the sieve industry was disbanded. In later years the Dows turned the structure into the comfortable residence seen today. They also owned the stately Greek revival home located on the same intersection. Today that intersection is called Dow’s Corner.
Several readers called, emailed and commented on Facebook with the correct answer, but Jan Golden was the first person to identify the structure as Mary Dow’s home.
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.
