Question: From the label on the picture you can tell that it was the Class of 1941 from the one-room school, Chestnut Ridge. Their lives would suddenly change drastically soon after this picture was taken. Do you know where the school was located and why there would be such a change in their lives?
Last week’s answer: The gentlemen featured in last week’s mystery photo were members of the Morris Hose Company precision drill team. The hose company was a volunteer fire fighting department whose members were employees of the Morris Machine Works (MMW). They were facing south on West Genesee Street east of the Village Hall.
Throughout Baldwinsville’s first century, fire was the largest cause for change in the village streetscape. Firefighting was the principal reason behind installation of the village waterworks in 1889. Large conflagrations required more firefighters and equipment than the village fire department could provide
The Morris department was organized in late fall of 1902 after several fires had ravaged some major local industrial and commercial sites. Created to provide immediate service for incidents at the ever expanding MMW plant, the unit also supplemented the village fire department.
During the Revolutionary War, Americans had learned the value of drilling to enhance military performance. The years of peace following the Civil War found Americans pursuing precision drilling as an athletic activity and entertainment. In addition to training as fire fighters, several members of the Morris Hose Company also volunteered to become members of the new hose company’s precision drill team.
Intense training in both firefighting and drill team performance began in January 1903. The Morris Hose Company drill squad soon became a darling of the Baldwinsville community.
Under the tutelage of Captain William Tooley, the team developed award winning maneuvers and programs. Practice sessions in village streets attracted crowds. They rented space in Wormuth Hall where they practiced year-round. The unit started with 28 members and soon increased to 35.
Garbed in smart gold trimmed green uniforms and bearing a large green silk banner with gold fringe and the identification as “Morris Hose, Baldwinsville, N.Y.,” they traveled throughout the region and the state, from Poughkeepsie to the Thousand Islands, to compete for honors and cash prizes. County fairs, the New York State Fair, firemen’s conventions and local parades were among their many venues. In 1904 they participated in the Syracuse fair held in the Armory to benefit the Syracuse Soldiers and Sailors Monument fund.
Funds for uniforms, travel and rental pace were raised through fairs, balls and sponsorship of entertainments at the Howard Opera House. The first set of dress green uniforms cost $16.75 each and the large banner cost $45. The wardrobe was later expanded to include a set of firefighter’s dress garb with double breasted knee length coats, white leather helmets bearing the numeral “1” and mock hose nozzles as accessories.
Cash prizes were also a revenue source. The Sept. 26, 1912, issue of the Gazette proclaimed, “The Morris Hose Company, which has formed the habit of carrying off first prizes in the drill contests which it enters, put up a splendid drill and was enthusiastically cheered by the crowds in attendance at the (Industrial) Exposition.” That event was held in Rochester.
By 1915, gasoline powered trucks and advances in equipment brought improved response time and effectiveness in firefighting. World War I had broken out. Drilling for entertainment was replaced by military drilling for war. The Morris Hose Company disbanded.
Email your guess to [email protected] or leave a message at 315-434-8889 ext. 332 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.