Question: An account of this occasion was reported on the front page of Baldwinsville’s Gazette & Farmers’ Journal in 1896. Forty-nine years later the photo was printed in the Rotogravure section of the Syracuse Sunday Post-Standard. Do you know anything about this event or this very picture? Do you know why it was front page news?
Last week’s answer: The photo from last week shows Baldwinsville Electric and Sports Center at 16 Oswego St. with owners Roy Ochampaugh and Ted Everts looking at the new sign. This was their third location. When they originally opened in 1944, they were located at 10 Oswego St. and went by the name Baldwinsville Electric and also Baldwinsville Appliance Company. They were best known for their electrical contracting making repairs on various types of electrical equipment.
After a number of years in that location, the firm moved to 23 Oswego St. in order to secure more room to properly display a greater amount of their products. The name changed again and became known as Baldwinsville Plumbing and Heating Co. and later Farrell Plumbing and Heating Co. They sold Hotpoint refrigerators and water heaters, Maytag washers, dryers and other appliances, Admiral and Sylvania TV and radio, sporting equipment, stamps and coins. B’ville Sport Center was also an authorized exclusive dealer in this area for Colt, Browning and Ithaca guns.
After a disastrous fire at 16 Oswego St. in 1959, the two firms bought the location and constructed a still larger building. This location, shown in the photo, had two primary advantages as their rear door opened up on the village-owned free parking next to today’s Baldwin Canal Square. Their was also a free parking lot just across the street from the front of their store.
Other items available were Toro and Moto-Mower power lawn mowers; Sherwin-Williams and Super Kem-Tone paints and supplies; and electrical supplies and fixtures.
The building in the upper left has been extensively remodeled. Built in 1841, it was the most prestigious commercial building in town (but that’s another story that was done in a previous History Mystery). In 1964, a rear section collapsed and the building’s upper floors were removed and a new roof was constructed over the first floor.
Be sure to note the parking meter on the right. At that time there was parking all along the street with parking meters to boot. Hard to believe today!
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.
