Question: This sketch of a village home was printed on a popular map in 1880, shortly after the home was built. Do you recognize the house? Can you identify its location or know anything about its first residents?
Last week’s answer: This answer is thanks in part to an article that Lynn Tanner submitted to the Messenger in 2011. It was written by the late Chuck Rock. Chuck joined the New York State Urban Development Corporation in the development of a planned community named Radisson. He served on its board and was recognized for his continued dedication to the community. He had the distinction of building the first home in the new community and he resided there for 45 years until his death in October of this year.
The photo from last week is the sign at the entrance to Radisson beside Willet Parkway which is currently being refurbished and upgraded with the addition of an American flag. This unique structure was built to unite the development’s past with the present. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the original Lysander New Community Development Corporation (the organization that developed the planned community that became Radisson) were responsible for molding a new town from what was nothing more than World War II industrial remnants. One of the most talented of these visionaries, influencing the early stages of what eventually became Radisson, was the architect Sergei Yevich. He was instrumental in the design of most of the man-made elements that form the basic framework of Radisson as we know it today, including the original road system, open space system (pathways, Beechwoods, playfields, etc.), the Aspen House, former RCA building at the pool, Willett Pond and Lake Oberon and the list goes on.
Early on he was challenged to find an element around which the new community could relate to the past. That element ended up as the entrance sculpture to Radisson. Yevich designed it based on the historic cradles that held vats containing chemicals used in processing the destructive materials that were the end product of the former munitions operation. Those original cradles still exist and can be viewed on the walking trail by Drumlin Heights off Willett Parkway. The intent behind the design of the entrance sculpture was to provide a visible symbol at a key location of how positive and productive use can be achieved from remnants of a war time period. The recently installed history marker on Willett Parkway is in the area of that production.
Christine Wierzbicki emailed the Messenger with the correct answer.
“When they were making munitions those were the stands that the vats sat on to make gunpowder,” she wrote.
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.
