BALDWINSVILLE — Question: It’s fairly clear that this is the aftermath of a fire. Do you know its location and what burned?
Last week’s answer: The church in the photo last week was possibly one of the oldest places of public assembly in the town of Lysander and maybe Onondaga County. Before Feb. 4, 1828, when the first regular annual meeting was held, the organization of the “Second Religious Baptist Society in Lysander” was duly reported to Judge Otis Bigelow and recorded in the office of the county clerk. At that time subscriptions were solicited for procuring land for a burying ground.
The trustees also started the process of erecting a house of worship. Apparently construction was slow in coming, but it was finally built during the summer of 1833 and the annual meeting of the society Feb. 3, 1834, was held in the new building.
The pews, or sittings, were constructed with doors that locked and rented for various sums, depending upon their distance from the front of the church. This rental also included as plot at the burying grounds — this also happened in the reverse when buying a grave plot.
Around 1855, dissension among the trustees took place over the handling of the church finances. This lasted off and on for a number of years. Because of this the religious society, as a unit, terminated its existence Jan. 22, 1903, when the property was sold to the Friendly Hand, a fraternal order of Lysander.
Even though the church no longer existed a very active cemetery association still carried on the work begun by the Second Religious Baptist Association of Jacksonville. Today this is known as the Jacksonville Cemetery Association.
In 1889, the Lamson Grange took the building over. Today it still owns the building; however, it is not in the same location as it was when it was built in 1833. Because of the relocation of Lamson Road, the building was relocated a little south to a vacant lot on Fenner Road where it still sets today. The steeple has been removed.
The building still is in used as a gathering place for the community surrounding Jacksonville.
In fact, the Lamson Grange will host the Jacksonville Cemetery Association’s annual meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 1. Light refreshments will be served and the public is encouraged to attend and discuss cemetery issues.
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.
