Question: This is one of several photos taken by Mark Chapman on Feb. 2, 1945. Do you know anything about the building shown here? Do you know if there was any special reason for taking the photo?
Last week’s answer: Last week’s photo appeared on Page One of The Messenger on Oct. 4, 1951. Featured are (left to right) Joe Port, David Rowell, Ronnie Landers, Dick Smallwood and Ronnie Cook. The five lads were home delivery carriers for The Messenger and were being prepped for a subscription drive contest. Winner would receive a $75 war bond and first runner up would receive a $25 war bond. First place would also receive a $40 scholarship to the Arthur Murray School of Dance, covering 15 dance sessions at the school’s studio in Syracuse.
An accompanying article detailed the newly inaugurated subscription drive: “Five bright, polite, sturdy, young Baldwinsville boys are today beginning a race to win a $75 war bond and they appeal to you for help … if you reside within the corporation limits of this village.”
The boys were to survey their areas to determine potential number of customers. Winner would be based upon highest percentage of new subscribers from designated pool. Carriers would be provided with 20 sample copies each week. The contest was to end Dec. 22.
Home delivery cost 25 cents a month. The five boys delivered to the entire village each Thursday afternoon. The north side was covered by Port, Rowell and Smallwood, while Landers and Cook covered the south side.
The competition ended 11 weeks later and the winner was announced on the front page of the Dec. 29, 1951 issue. Ronald Cook won the subscription race, and Richard Smallwood was first runner up.
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.
