This week’s question: The subjects in this photo were a familiar site in Baldwinsville between World War I and World War II. What were their main responsibilities and where were they stationed?
Last week’s answer: Last week’s mystery photo is inscribed on the back: “With Christmas greeting to a loved one — (Just so you won’t forget how we look). Louise Smith, Oneida St., December 15, 1901.”
These late 19th-century homes are numbers 18 and 16 (left to right) E. Oneida St., immediately east of Baldwinsville’s 1867 high school grounds. Part of the original Baldwin estate, there had been no development on these parcels until the homes seen in the mystery photo were built.
Number 16 was the first. The April 28, 1887, issue of the Gazette reported, “F. L. Smith has purchased a lot of I.M. Baldwin on E. Oneida St., just east of the Academy grounds. Consideration $300. We understand that Mr. Smith intends building a residence there this summer.” The same issue announced that Smith had received a promotion at the James Frazee Milling Co.
Frederick L. Smith was manager of the plaster mill associated with the large Frazee operation. By 1910 Smith had risen to the position of director, secretary and treasurer of the entire milling company.
Smith and his wife Louise, her mother, Harriet Cornell, and her sister Abby Grace Cornell moved into their new home in the summer of 1887. Both Louise and Abby were actively engaged in village social life. In 1913 Abby started the Rotary Club’s Christmas basket program to quietly bring Christmas cheer to some of the village’s less fortunate families. Abby was also a dedicated Red Cross volunteer. Frederick Smith passed away in 1912. His wife and sister-in-law remained in the home until the mid 1930s. The 1940 U.S. Census lists the residents as Egbert Turner and family.
Two years after the Smith home was completed, the June 6, 1889, the Gazette reported, “Mrs. Rachel Reynolds has purchased a lot of J. A. Clark on East Oneida Street, just east of F. L. Smith’s residence. Price $325. She expects to build a residence thereon.”
Rachel Reynolds’ husband Augustus, a carriage maker, had passed away in 1883. All members of the Reynolds family were staunch supporters of Baldwinsville’s Presbyterian church.
Reynolds and her adult children, William and Bessie, moved into 18 E. Oneida St. the following April. William was a highly successful village hardware merchant. Daughter Bessie was a teacher and became Baldwinsville’s first official school librarian. Both mother and daughter were active members of Baldwinsville’s Female Charitable Society where they served terms as directresses and officers. Neither William nor Bessie ever married. Following the death of their mother, the home was sold.
Attorney Edward Chapman, his wife Carolyn and stepdaughter Alma Becker were the next residents. Alma graduated from Syracuse University and went on to found the Baldwinsville Messenger, publishing her name as A. Becker, Editor. The first issue was Thanksgiving, 1925.
The 1930 and 1940 U.S. Census both list the residents of this home as being the Robert Orvis family.
Changes have continued. Sometime during the 20th century the porch on #18 was removed and #16’s porch was extended to become a wrap around veranda.
With deep back yards open to the school grounds, these neighbors have watched countless baseball games, heard hours of happy playground voices, and witnessed thousands of “photo ops.” If they had kept a group diary, one can only imagine the story it could tell.
Geraldine Oemcke called with the correct answer.
Email your guess to [email protected] or leave a message at 315-434-8889 ext. 310 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.
