Question:
Baldwinsville — We think we’ve been having a lot of snow in the last couple of weeks. If you’re an old-timer you will remember the blizzard that we will remember at the end of the month. What was the year? Do you have any memories from it? What’s the location of the photo?
Last week’s answer:
The post-World War II building shown in last week’s photo had its first grand opening April 25, 1947 as Goulet Motors, Inc., Lincoln-Mercury Sales and Service Garage. The building was located at 34 E. Genesee St. at the corner of Lock Street.
In 1955 the business passed from Al Goulet to Paul Henson and the name became Baldwinsville Motor Sales. Four years later Henson sold the property to Merchants National Bank & Trust Company of Syracuse. Merchants, founded in 1850, announced it was opening its 10th location, a Baldwinsville branch to serve the growing population of this area.
Following a $150,000 renovation program, the new banking facility opened on Dec. 21, 1959. Features included a night depository and a large safe deposit vault. Opening week gifts included a free plant to every visitor (“as long as supplies last”) and a four-piece steak knife set for every customer who opened a new savings or checking account in the amount of $25 or more and to everyone who rented a safe deposit box.
Lysander native Charles Pratt was the branch’s first manager. Baldwinsville residents Mrs. Rosalind Shaw and Mrs. Joyce Paige were on the staff, as were Mrs. Terry O’Mara of Brewerton, James Sartori of Mattydale and Kenneth Maxim of Cicero.
In 1993 Merchants merged with OnBank, which had an office in River Mall. The following year OnBank merged its two Baldwinsville offices into a new facility adjacent to Tri-County Mall on Downer Street. The East Genesee Street property sat vacant until 1998 when it was purchased by Dunkin’ Donuts and was once again rehabbed to begin yet another life.
continued — It seems all of Baldwinsville knew the answer to this one, but the first to write in was Karen Rice, clerk to the Lysander Planning, Zoning and Codes Office—though she admits she got some help: “The former Merchant’s Bank was located at the corner of Lock and East Genesee Street,” Rice wrote in an email to the Messenger. “That I remember … I ‘cheated’ on the rest and asked a lifelong resident, Ron Patchett, what it was before that. He said it was a Lincoln Mercury Car Dealership that he worked at.”
Contact Editor Sarah Hall at [email protected] or leave a message at 434-8889 ext. 310 with your guess by 5 p.m. Friday. 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.
