Question: Few changes have been made to the exterior of this historic Van Buren home since 1890, the year this photo was taken. Do you recognize the home, know its location or its story?
Last week’s answer: The woman in last week’s photo was Alice Niver. She is shown checking the readings on the dials monitoring the acid production of the New York Ordnance Works which was located on the land we now call Radisson.
Right after Pearl Harbor, the government gave the residents, mostly farmers, 30 days to get off their property. The land, taken by eminent domain, included about 6000 acres and was bordered by River Road, Lamson Road, Smokey Hollow Road and Route 31. Those affected had to find other housing, and many had to auction off their livestock, and machinery, etc. Several of the farms were extensive.
The government came in and put up cyclone fencing and guard towers around the periphery. They constructed the New York Ordnance Works, a highly secretive operation, that manufactured Explosive D to be used in armor piercing shells. The Works had 88 buildings and all of the infrastructure to go with it.
The Baldwinsville Public Library, the town of Lysander historian’s office and the Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse all have extensive material about the Ordnance Works that was once government classified information. There are many maps, and diagrams, as well as documents pertaining to the Works. Some of the items have been duplicated at the library and can be checked out. The rest of the items at the library are in the Local History Room to be used there. Also through a grant from CLRC (Central New York Library Resource Council), the public library has been able to get the once classified photos digitized. They can be viewed on the New York Heritage website from your own computer.
If you want to know more about this contribution that Baldwinsville made to the WWII war effort, plan on attending a PowerPoint presentation of “The History behind Radisson” at the Baldwinsville Public Library at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, in the Community Room. This is being held in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the starting of the planned community we call Radisson.
The first person to correctly identify the location of the photo as the New York Ordnance Works was Keith Pritchard, commenting on the Messenger’s Facebook page.
Jay S. Woodruff emailed the Messenger to identify the woman in the photo as his grandmother, Alice Niver.
“She along with her husband Charles Niver both worked for the New York Ordnance Works (NYOW) which was located just east of Baldwinsville in the Town of Lysander in the area which is now the Radisson community. They worked there while it was in production from 1943 to 1944 in support of war effort during World War II. She was an equipment operator and Charles was a security guard,” Jay wrote. “After the NYOW shut down, Charles and Alice operated Niver’s Grill at 34 Oswego St. in Baldwinsville from 1945-1971.”
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.
