This week’s question: Vessels of many descriptions have traveled the Seneca River for more than 2,000 years. When this boat was launched in Baldwinsville in 1906, it marked another new milestone in marine design. Do you know anything about this particular boat, its owner, or what new innovation it brought to boat building?
Last week’s answer: The photo from last week was taken in April 1904. It showed a variety of wagons that the Haywood Wagon Works had produced, mainly for the city of Syracuse. An article in the Gazette & Farmers’ Journal on April 14 said this was the largest shipment of their dumping and garbage wagons made since they began operations in 1903. The wagons were taken from the factory and warehouses and lined up on Canal Street (East Genesee Street) near their works early in the morning and they made a string reaching from Virginia Street to Salina.
Quoted from the article, “It was a sight that was a pleasant surprise to many of our citizens, and a cause for local pride to all, to see this visible evidence of the activity and prosperity of Baldwinsville’s new manufacturing industry, which give every indication that it will rapidly grow into large proportions. Twenty-one of the wagons were built under contract for the City of Syracuse and at three o’clock a special car arrived on the Lakeside trolley line, bringing the officials of that city to inspect and accept the wagons. The city fathers were accompanied by many prominent business men from Syracuse, including contractors and coal dealers.”
Also included were wagons and carts for companies in Mohawk, Albany, Schenectady, Oneonta, Frankfort and others from Syracuse. On Friday night the wagons were shipped out on a train requiring 14 cars.
Haywood Wagons Works was located on the site formerly occupied by the Sash & Blind Company, now the site of Dunkin’’ Donuts. It was located in Baldwinsville from 1903 to 1914.
Email your guess to [email protected] or leave a message with your guess at 315-434-8889 ext. 310 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.
