Question: This woman was a very important part of one of our large employers of the past. What is she doing and who was her employer? Do you know the year this was taken? Can you identify her?
Last week’s answer: Many of the markers like the ones shown last week with the line at the bottom saying “State Education Department” have been damaged, destroyed or have come up missing. They were made of cast iron and if not regularly repainted began to deteriorate. Many need only a fresh coat of paint to be restored to their original condition. Others may be so rusted or damaged as to require substantial restoration and repair.
Funding for repair is no longer available from the state. It is left to anyone interested to undertake a repair project. We are fortunate that these two markers have civic minded individuals that have undertaken the project of restoring them.
The Halfway Tavern marker has been restored by Jason Killgrove and his son, Erik. It was quite a project as they had to research the state website for the instructions on what to do to restore it. Then strip it, paint it with a base coat, then blue and finally painting the raised letters yellow. It was very rusted and almost unreadable when they started. It took a lot of time and dedication to get it back the way it looks now. It is located in front of their home which is the site of the Halfway Tavern on Route 48 just north of the intersection of Route 48, Church Road and Route 690.
The other sign designating the First Settler in Lysander is in the process of being restored and repaired by Tammy Palmer, anchor for Spectrum News and a relative of the first settler, Jonathan Palmer. She followed the same procedure as Jason and Erik. Unfortunately, that sign was knocked off its pole a number of years ago and the base was damaged. She is currently looking for someone to help repair the base so that it can be re-erected honoring Jonathan Palmer.
Thank you to Jason, Erik and Tammy for caring enough about our local history to take the effort to restore these markers.
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.
