Question: Here is a picture of what appears to be a car lot. Do you know anything about it? Where was it located? Some of the buildings still exist, some do not and others have been altered.
Last week’s answer: Did you find the Baldwin Canal marker? It’s now located near the foot of the stairs on the north side of Baldwin Canal Park. It was recently replaced with the assistance of Barnes Memorial and the highway department. It’s nice to see it back in place.
About the Baldwin Canal — did you know that, when Dr. Jonas Baldwin came to town in 1807, seven-foot rapids hindered navigation on the river? In 1809, Dr. Baldwin got permission from the state to build a dam, the canal and the first bridge. This gave the village an abundant supply of waterpower, which resulted in its early growth and its onetime prominence as a milling and manufacturing town. The lock on the west end was located about where the bend is on River Street. The canal ran all along Genesee Street (Canal) to the end of lock. The other lock was located on Lock between Margaret and Tabor.
Those who have not experienced the demise of this canal may ask why it’s not still in existence. After the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, which did not go through Baldwinsville, and the much larger Barge Canal dug on the South Side in 1908, the Baldwin Canal came into disuse. It was filled with stagnant water and refuse. It was smelly! The village officers spent many hours and dollars from 1954 to 1964 trying to get the state to give permission to fill it in. In fact it took the terms of five mayors to get it completed. Finally in 1964, C. Burton Frawley Jr., Albert J. Palmer, Arthur H. Richardson, James H. Van Wie and Raymond P. McCarthy were finally able to see the results of their hard work. The job was totally completed in 1965.
Today we now have a park dedicated to that once important feature that helped to put Baldwinsville on the map.
If you want to know more, there are a lot more photos and information about the canal available at the library, museum and the town of Lysander.
Contact Editor Sarah Hall at [email protected] or leave a message at 434-8889 ext. 310 with your guess by 5 p.m. Friday (please leave the information in the message; we are not generally able to return calls regarding History Mystery responses). If you are the first person to correctly identify an element in the photo, your name and guess will appear in next week’s Messenger, along with another History Mystery feature. History Mystery is a joint project of the Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse and the Baldwinsville Public Library.
