This week’s question: This photo shows a significant event taking place in Baldwinsville. From this day forward life in Baldwinsville would dramatically change. Do you know what was taking place? What was the date?
Last week’s answer: As stated in the question last week, the lives of those in the picture would drastically change shortly after the photo was taken. The year was 1941 and if you know anything significant about that year, it was the year of the attack on Pearl Harbor and our nation’s entrance into World War II. Shortly after that happened, the families of the children were given 30 days to vacate their property so that a munitions plant could be constructed. They would have to move somewhere else. The school that was located on Chestnut Ridge was closed (Chestnut Ridge was located roughly where Willett Parkway is now).
The identities of those in the photo are as follows: Bottom row, from left to right: Fred Hudson, David Kingsley, Frank Buffano and John McArdell; middle row: Dick McArdell, Carl Hobbs, Kenneth McArdell, Irma Jean Hudson, Gale McArdell, Joe Buffano, Earl McArdell, Helen McArdell and Wanda Jenda; top row: Raymond Hauswirth, Phyllis Hudson, teacher Miss Parlow, Gene Johnson and Fred Hauswirth.
If you want to know more about this significant time in our history, check out the Baldwinsville Public Library. The Local History Room has photos, declassified materials from the government, diagrams and maps in the large map file. There are also several items that have been duplicated and are available for circulation. Check out the top of the map cabinet in the local history room for a pamphlet that lists much of what is available. The Shacksboro Schoolhouse Museum and the town of Lysander also have material.
Bob Scherfling was the first person to contact us with the correct answer. He recalled that the government forced the school to close for the creation of “the Project,” as the Ordnance Works was called.
“Most of those kids … in that school were the McArdells,” he said.
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.
