Question: Once a hidden industrial component, this object is now a piece of public art. Do you know what this is? Where it is located? Where and how it was originally used?
Last week’s answer: The object in last week’s photo is located near the edge of the road bed at 35 North Street. When put in place, the stone was several inches taller than it appears today. As the road has been paved, the surrounding lawn has been raised for drainage purposes, leaving the appearance of a sunken stone.
The stone’s function was utilitarian. Known as a carriage block or mounting block, the block bridged the distance between the high step of a carriage and the ground. It was also used when mounting or dismounting a horse. Measuring three feet wide and four feet long, it allowed women in long dresses sufficient room to navigate safely.
Not seen in the photo is an iron hitching post some 10 feet to the left of the mounting block. At one time mounting blocks and hitching posts lined the village streets. As horse power gave way to gasoline engines, the blocks and posts began to fade from the streetscape.
Most carriage steps were simple blocks of stone. However, the block at 35 North St. bears the name “Frazee.” It not only identified the homeowner but was also an indicator of relative affluence.
The residence belonged to Eliphalet Z. Frazee, a tobacco dealer. Frazee was active in civic affairs and served many terms as an assessor for both the village and the town of Lysander. Frazee purchased and rebuilt the house following a devastating fire in 1884 and moved into the house in 1886. The carriage block was a needed accessory.
During this time the country was abuzz with excitement over the upcoming 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. This would be the largest fair ever staged and New York state would enjoy great prominence, including 4,000 square feet of exhibit space in the Agriculture Building. As the center of New York’s tobacco production, Baldwinsville would be the poster child for that crop. As testimony to his involvement in both the community and his industry, Frazee was chosen to assemble an exhibit of local tobacco for the extraordinary event.
Frazee was applauded for his great attention to detail in selecting quality samples of locally grown tobacco. Thirty-five farmers from Lysander, Van Buren, Cato, Ira, Clay and Schroeppel contributed tobacco leaves for the exhibit. The Gazette thanked the participants who “made it possible for us to be well represented by our most important product at the greatest of all World’s Fairs.” Frazee was also praised. “He is a man who has the confidence of every grower, and a wide knowledge of tobacco as produced here, and also is authority as to the representative growers of this tobacco district.”
E.Z., his wife Isora and their children, Jessie and Frank, were all active in Baldwinsville’s social life. Their travels, parties and other activities were often mentioned in the Gazette’s local news columns.
Frazee was a familiar surname in Baldwinsville. James Frazee was the owner of Frazee Milling Co. He was also a staunch Republican supporter and a pillar of the Presbyterian Church. However, there was no mention in the newspaper of any interaction between E.Z. and James Frazee.
Both men hailed from Durhamville and were members of a very large and well established colonial family. Both were descendants of Eliphalet Frazee, a first generation North American, who was born in New Jersey in 1669. E.Z. and James were cousins. James was 13 years older than E.Z., had come to Baldwinsville many years earlier and enjoyed a higher community profile.
E.Z. was widowed in 1903 and by 1910 had moved to Florida where he lived with his children until he passed away in 1925. He is buried in Florida. There was no mention in the Gazette of either his move from Baldwinsville or his death. The carriage block appears to be all that remains of his time in Baldwinsville.
Richard Monica was the first person to email the correct response about the carriage block’s purpose.
“That is a buggy step for the home owned by that family name,” he wrote.
Judi Heal Hunsinger commented on the Messenger’s Facebook page with the location of the Frazee block.
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.
