Question: This artist’s rendering was recently completed by Marianne Miles for the owner of the house. So far as is known, the only other photo of the house as it looks here is in the 50th anniversary edition of the Gazette. See if you can find its current location. It now looks quite different from the photo shown, but several of its original architectural features still exist. One of its former owners made quite a name for himself in the local theatrical world. Can you name him?
Last week’s answer: Last week’s photo appeared at the top and center of page 1 of the June 29, 1950, issue of the Gazette and Farmers’ Journal. The description of the photo read as follows:
“Off for Valley Forge. Baldwinsville’s contingent which headed for the National Boy Scout Jamboree at Valley Forge, PA today, pictured above, includes: First row, left to right: Tommy Young, Troop 80; Paul Reeves, Post 80; Dewey Bond, Post 80. Middle row: Herbert Lodder, Post 80; Mirril McMullen, Post 80; Lyle Davis, Post 80; Ronald Naumann, Post 80. Top row: Richard Johnson, Post 80; Marks Forssell, Post 80; Theodore R. Durgee, adult advisor, Post 80; Wesley Anderson, Troop 122; Robert Payne, Troop 122. Absent when picture was taken, Roderick Dow, Post 80 and James Prahl, Troop 80.
The story accompanying the photo was submitted by Theodore Durgee, who wrote:
“The Baldwinsville Scout contingent, 14 strong, left Syracuse at 8:30 a.m. this morning by special train, via D. L. & W., for the Second National Boy Scout Jamboree at historic Valley Forge, Pa. There they will camp and mingle with 47,000 other scouts from all parts of the nation and 40 foreign countries where scouting is recognized. Without question, this will be the greatest experience of their lives…
“The scouts are organized into 35 sections; each section having a population of 1,292 scouts plus overhead leadership. Each section has its own health lodge, water supply, shower baths and commissary.
“Opening day, June 30, is the occasion of a high tribute to the Boy Scouts of America by the United States government. On that day a brown 3-cent commemorative stamp honoring our organization goes on first day sale at Valley Forge with appropriate ceremonies involving top post office officials… President Truman, Honorary President of the Boy Scouts of America, will open the Jamboree on June 30th and will remain for about two hours.”
Several readers reached out to identify the people in the photo. The first was Steve McMahon, who emailed to say the following:
“The group is Baldwinsville’s Troop 80 of the Boy Scouts of America. The man in the center of the back row is Theodore Durgee, the troop’s scoutmaster and namesake of our community’s junior high school. My father, Tom McMahon, was an Eagle Scout with the same troop…. The boy on the far left in the back row is Richard ‘Dick’ Johnson, who later lived on Canton Street Road and became one of my scoutmasters when I was a member of Troop 71. He was a patient man, a good role model and a dedicated leader.”
Bill Mignault knew some of the boys in the picture: he correctly identified Marks Forsell, Durgee, Robert Payne, Lyle Davis, Tommy Young and Paul Reeves. Others he marked with a question mark.
“The most annoying thing to me is I recognize all those that are marked [with a question mark], but their name draws a blank,” he wrote in an email.
Van Buren Town Councilor also recognized Durgee, Johnson and Young, and Martha Hosey picked out Durgee when the photo was posted on Facebook.
The first Jamboree was scheduled for 1935 in celebration of the Silver Jubilee of Boy Scouting. However, a polio epidemic caused the event to be postponed for two years. In 1937 the first official Jamboree was held. Washington, D.C. was the venue. The camp was set up around the Washington Monument and the Tidal Basin. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was in attendance along with 25,000 scouts. World War II disrupted what had been planned as an event occurring every fourth year. The next Jamboree would not be held until 1950 and Baldwinsville’s scouts were part of the re-establishment of what has become a highlight of Boy Scouting.
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.
