This week’s question: The train seen here is unusual. It does not have the appearance of either a standard freight or passenger train. The photo was taken in the village of Baldwinsville circa 1908. Do you have any idea where in the village the picture was taken or what kind of train this may be?
Last week’s answer: Last week’s photo shows Harvey Hudson Sr. (left) and John Patchet Sr. seated on the West Genesee Street side of the Seneca House. John Patchet is seated near the hotel’s southeast corner, Oswego Street.
The date and location of the image required sleuthing. Several clues were available.
A search of old issues of the Baldwinsville Gazette & Farmers’ Journal, as well as the Messenger and the website findagrave.com yielded biographical information about John Patchet. He was born in 1815 and moved from his Lysander farm into the village in 1902 to live with his daughter on Salina Street. Being a gregarious fellow, this put him happily within walking distance of the village center where he could easily socialize. Patchet passed away in 1904. This dates the photo to the period of 1902 to 1904.
The photo clearly shows the location as being a commercial area. A comparison of old photos identifies the location as the southeast corner of the Seneca House hotel. A landmark of the Four Corners, the Seneca House hotels (there were three of them) were on the northwest corner of the Four Corners. The reflection in the window behind the gentlemen shows the three story building still in place on the south side of West Genesee Street.
The facade of the hotel yields clues as well. The village post office occupied the corner space in the hotel from 1894 until 1908. The mail slot is visible in the photo. Mail delivery to village homes did not begin until 1908. The entrance to the post office was an ideal location for someone who relished socialization.
Additional clues are found in the shape of the second story window heads which are arched, a change from the pointed heads found on the previous hotel which had burned to the ground in 1893. The curved iron framework behind Hudson and Patchet is another clue. These structures protected sidewalk skylight vaults which allowed natural light to enter the building’s basement. This modern innovation in commercial architecture was introduced in 1890.
A search for information about Harvey Hudson did not yield immediate results. It is very possible that Harvey may have been Mr. Hudson’s middle name. That poses yet another mystery for local history sleuths!
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.
