This week’s question: Even though hundreds of vehicles drive by this site each day, it is unlikely that most of the passersby even give this note. The photo shows the remnant of what once was one of the most highly trafficked destinations in the village. Can you identify the location? Do you know what this foundation once supported?
Last week’s answer: The building in the photo was located across from the current Kinney Drugs on East Genesee Street. Access to it, besides the railroad, was by a bridge over the Baldwin Canal.
In the summer of 1886, a group of local industrialists built a private railroad that ran from Baldwinsville to Amboy Station. Late that year the main station building was erected to provide accommodations for passengers and shipping. The railroad was not financially successful and in 1890 D.L. & W. Railroad took over the property and ran it as a branch of their Oswego Division. The railroad only lasted until 1908 because of the construction of the Barge Canal. The abutments for the railroad bridge still exist east of the river bridge.
For several years, the freight house on the property was used by a carting company and horses were stabled there. It also saw a large amount of freight moved through the terminal, at times a greater amount than was run through the third ward freight yards further east on East Genesee Street.
In 1918, a lumber business bought the property. Lewis M. Tappan, and his partner George Reinhardt, started the Tappan & Reinhardt Lumber Company. After many years of successful operation, Reinhardt retired and Tappan continued the business as Tappan Lumber Company. In 1951, Al Latham took over the operation and operated it under the name, Tappan Lumber Corp. The building in the photo was used as the office.
The structure was torn down in 1963 when the Baldwin Canal was filled in. In August 1968, it was announced that the S.M. Flickinger Co., Inc. had acquired the site and was planning the erection of a supermarket to be operated as Super Duper. That building is the same one that stands behind the B’ville Diner. It has been the site of many other commercial enterprises over the years.
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.
