Winners to be recognized at Civil War Encampment

Press release, GCC

MEDINA – When Genesee Community College hosts the Civil War Encampment at its Medina Campus Center next spring, organizers want to recognize the efforts of dedicated citizens who work hard to preserve the county’s history.

GCC is accepting nominations for “Heritage Heroes Awards.” Nominations will be accepted through Jan. 31, 2014.

“Residents of Orleans County take great pride in their heritage,” said Jim Simon, Associate Dean of GCC’s Orleans County Campus Centers in Medina and Albion. “We want to recognize the time and investment of individuals who are tireless advocates for local history.”

Nominees for Heritage Heroes can be any age but posthumous nominations will not be accepted. History professionals and GCC employees are also not eligible for the award, nor are those who serve on the awards selection committees. Nominees must be Orleans County residents. Nominations will not be retained for future consideration.

Derek Maxfield, the Encampment coordinator, pushed to create the award for local Heritage Heroes.

“We’re excited to initiate these awards,” Maxfield said. “When we held the Encampment in Medina last year, it became obvious how this county values its history and embraces its preservation. These efforts often go unnoticed. This is a way to shine a light on those who make many personal sacrifices in order to preserve history for future generations.”

The Heritage Heroes will be recognized during a ceremony at the annual Civil War Encampment at GCC in Medina in April 2014.

To nominate someone for the Heritage Heroes Awards, write up a brief statement outlining the person’s contributions, projects, and community affiliations. Include his/her name (anonymous nominations will not be accepted), address, phone number, and email address.

Submit the nomination to:

Genesee Community College
ATTENTION: Heritage Heroes Committee
11470 Maple Ridge Rd.
Medina NY  14103-9675

Nominations may also be emailed to Jim Simon at jsimon@genesee.edu. Please write Heritage Heroes Nomination in the subject line.

A screening committee made up of community members, history professionals, and GCC students will review the nominations and select finalists. From those finalists, a committee including GCC Associate Dean Jim Simon, Assistant Professor and Encampment Coordinator Derek Maxfield, and Orleans Hub Editor Tom Rivers will choose the Heritage Heroes.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Frank and Rocco Sidari look at the gravestones carved by their grandfather Francesco Spada in St. Joseph’s Cemetery on Brown Street.

ALBION – Frank Sidari wanted to show me something in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, the Catholic burial ground on Brown Street. He knows I’m interested in the community’s quarrymen heritage.

I met Frank, 88, and his brother Rocco, 91, there today. They were waiting by a row of gravestones carved out of Medina sandstone. Their grandfather, Francesco Spada, was the stonecutter on the projects.

Spada lived from 1864 to 1933. He came to Albion as a boy, moving here from Alfedena, the hometown for a lot of the local Italians.

His grandsons – the Sidari brothers – both served in World War II and then worked long careers as carpenters. They have lived on East State Street most of their lives. That is the street where many of the Italians settled. They had quarries a short walk from their homes. Some of the quarries were in their back yard.

The gravestones for two of Spada’s children, who died young from the flu.

The Sidaris remember their grandfather carving stone. Today, they looked at the carvings and the artwork on the stones in the cemetery.

“How in the Hell did they do all that fancy work?” Rocco said.

Spada somehow carved holes in the top of the gravestones and then set a cross on the top. Rocco, who was chief steward for 990 carpenters on the hydroelectric power project in Lewiston in the 1950s, is impressed by the talent of the stonecutters from a century ago.

“I don’t know how they did it,” he told me.

Spada etched a spade design on the gravestones. He added images of an anchor, the moon, diamonds and other symbols. The names and words on the stones are written in Italian.

Frank said the Italians were close-knit and a lot of fun while he was growing up.

He also said the flu and other illnesses claimed a lot of people when they were young. Looking at the garvestones today for his teen-age children, you could feel Spada’s grief. He poured his heart into the gravestones for his children.

occo and Frank Sidari are brothers and life-long friends. They posed for a picture in St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

By Bill Lattin, Orleans County Historian

ALBION – These baseball players represent the Albion High School team in 1902.

The mascot in front is Bernard Hunt. Kneeling next to him on the left is Mike Duggan and on the right is Ralph Vick.

First row standing, from left: Walter Radley, Paul Williams – manager, and Willard Gaskel.

Others standing in back from left include: George Beckwith, Fenner Smith, W. Crandall, Francis Blake Sr., Homer Brown and Bill Carr.

By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian

EAGLE HARBOR – This picture of Miss Florence Sheldon shows her around 1900 with golf clubs on the Eagle Harbor Golf Course.

The course was established in 1898. It was located on the Eagle Harbor-Waterport Road near Otter Creek.

It was a six-hole course on both sides of the road with a club house on the west side. It ceased to operate by World War II.

Sheep were used to keep it mowed, although hand mowers were used on the greens.

By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian

MEDINA – The post card shown here was mailed on Nov. 27, 1905. It depicts the Oak Orchard Creek flowing under the old Erie Canal Aqueduct in Medina.

This is looking north down the creek where just on the other side of the aqueduct it tumbles over the Medina Falls. Note the depth of the canal over the arch.

By Bill Lattin, Orleans County Historian

WATERPORT – Lillian Sargent of Waterport posed for this photograph taken by Fred Holt around 1925.

She is the epitome of style for a teen-age girl of the 1920s. Note the bobbed hair, beads around her neck, summer dress, stockings and shoes.

She was the envy of girls whose mothers would not let them get their long hair bobbed.

This was meant to be an artistic picture but it also shows us a lot about the style from the Roaring ’20s.

By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian

ALBION – The Albion High School baseball team had its picture taken in 1933 in front of what was then the Albion High School on East Academy Street. (The building is now the Albion Academy and is used for senior citizen apartments, Nutri-Fair and the Arc of Orleans County.)

What is really great about this picture is that all the players are identified.

The team includes the bat boy in front named Richard Foster.

Second row, from left: Pat Monacelli, Anthony Glenn Peter “Coke” Ross, Philbrook Vick, Nellio DiGuilio, Amaday “Cal” Colonna, Edmond Biordi, Louis Hollenbeck, Clyde Furness and Robert Bloom.

Third row: Peter DeLuca, F. Craig Campbell, Sam Juliana, Sam Martillotta, Louis “Pooch” Massaro, John Russelli, Jack Newman, Ralph Tiffany, Robert Wood and Coach Spierdowis.

Back row: Angelo Bell (manager), Mike Christopher, Ted “Bear” DiLaura, Steve Adams, Bruce Farnsworth, Dominic DiLodovico, Frank “Pete” Morrow, George Dragon, Joe Christopher and Henry Dragon.

By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian

SHELBY – In this picture taken in 1889, we see the log cabin built by Alexander Coon in 1811. He was the first settler in the town of Shelby.

The woman in the photo is identified as Betsy Boyce Benson. These first homes in our region were usually about 16 feet square, consisting of one room and perhaps a loft.

By the end of the 19^th Century most of these early dwellings had been removed and replaced with much better housing.

ALBION – About 40 years ago, Albion’s downtown had a grocery store, clothing and jewelry shops, as well as lots of other independent merchants.

Albion resident Gar Trusselle found these photos and sent them to The Orleans Hub.

The top photo was taken from near the canal looking south. The Waterman building, which is next to the Briggs building, was standing in the early 1970s. A fire about a decade later would remove that structure from the collection of historic structures in the downtown.

The photo below shows East Bank Street. You can see projecting signs and awnings on some of the buildings back then.

“I remember doing a lot of our shopping there when I was growing up,” Trusselle said. “So many stores were downtown at that time. Clothing, jewelry, groceries and several of each. Oh well, I guess that’s progress.”

WATERPORT – When the Waterport Trestle was dismantled in 1995, local photographer Don “Cookie” Cook was there to document the historic removal.

Cook knew the demolition of the landmark over the Oak Orchard River was an event that needed to be recorded for history. He donated the photos to the Orleans County History Department.

Frank Zicari scanned in the images, and shared them with The Orleans Hub. Cook wrote down the dates when the photos were taken and included descriptions from the scenes.

The top photo was taken on Sept. 13, 1995, and shows operator Jerry Weakland and Mark Woodley removing ties from the Hojack Railroad Bridge.

Here are more photos, and Cook’s words:

Aug. 24, 1995 – Looking east, one section is down (the far end).

Aug. 28, 1995 – Down comes another section of the Hojack Railroad Bridge.

Aug. 28, 1995 – Dismantling the Hojack RR Bridge

Sept. 20, 1995 – Jack Weakland of Plastings, Pa. and his son Jerry remove the last Hojack Railroad Tie (610 total were across the bridge) on the west bank near Clark Mills Road. Charles Pelleschi, the landowner from Summerhill, Pa., watches the removal.

Oct. 2, 1995 – Jack Weakland by the bulldozer gives directions as the Hojack Railroad Bridge is winched up at Clark Mills Road one piece at a time.

By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian

ALBION – Recently the Five Star Bank building at the northwest corner of Main and West Bank streets in Albion was freshly repainted. (Click here for a previous article.)

In this photo from about 1890 we see much more detail in the architecture. Here the brick has not yet been painted, which is in contrast with the decorative stone trim, making the building much more lively than today.

This large three-story block was built in 1882 by William G. Swan and boasted two-story corner tower. To the right appears the Sickels Block, which conformed in the same style known as Eastlake.

The corner store was operated by George Barrell, a druggist – hence the mortar and pestle symbol on a post in front.

The name James Bailey & Son appears on the awning next door where they operated a grocery store. These store fronts are now all a part of Five Star Bank.

ALBION – When Paul Mann thinks of historic downtown Albion, he longs for the Main Street of the early 1970s, an image captured in this post card. The photograph shows Main Street, looking north from near State Street.

“Notice the parking meters, awnings, signs, the Rialto Theater,” Mann wrote in an email. “Shell Gas station is now the municipal parking lot. This is the Historic Albion that I remember.”

There is also a nice hitching post in the bottom left corner, in front of the former Swan Library. Mann also notes the photo includes a nice-looking 1969 Plymouth Fury.

“This is a great place to go exploring.”
– Brandon Blount

Photos by Tom Rivers – Brandon Blount stands by one of the stone walls that once propped up a bridge in Waterport by the Oak Orchard River.

WATERPORT – The former Waterport Trestle is famous locally. Mention the trestle around these parts, and many people will talk about riding their bikes and snowmobiles on the elevated bridge that used to carry trains over the Oak Orchard River. The trestle has been gone for 20 years.

The stone pillars and support bases for the trestle still remain. The stone is massive.

Every fall, hundreds of fishermen pass by the trestle bases along the Oak Orchard River. Stray from the fishing path along the creek and more of Waterport’s history remains in the woods.

The stone supports for a bridge that may have been built in the mid-1800s remain next to the Oak Orchard River, about a 100-yard walk from the Waterport Dam.

Brandon Blount doubts many people venture off the worn dirt paths in one of the area’s most popular fishing spots. Locals and out-of-state anglers will crowd the area by the Waterport Dam trying to hook Chinook salmon. They may venture down a path on the east side of the river to see how the fish how are biting.

Blount, 35, grew up taking many walks in the woods with his grandfather, the late Don “Cookie” Cook, a well-known local wildlife photographer. Cookie also liked the area’s history. He found an eager ear in Blount.

Fishermen seem oblivious to all of the old stone pieces near the Oak Orchard River and their past role in holding up bridges.

About two weeks ago Blount showed me the remnants of two pieces of Waterport history. The Medina sandstone walls remain on the west side of the Oak Orchard River just north of the trestle. The walls were part of a bridge that Blount thinks may date back to the 1850s.

It doesn’t have any steel supports. One of the wooden beams remains. Blount said the old bridges were typically abandoned and left to rot while something new may have been built close by. That’s what happened in Waterport.

Brandon Blount created this map of the area just north of the Waterport Dam. He highlighted the spot of the former Waterport Trestle and two bridges that once spanned the Oak Orchard River. The trestle is the bigger red box on the bottom. An older bridge was north of the trestle and then it was replaced with one farther to the north. Blount used an image from Google Maps to create the map.

The first bridge still has a wall and a beam and a few cast iron pins that helped hold things together. There isn’t a well worn path by this. You have to battle the weeds and dodge the trees.

One of the wooden beams still sticks up. But it looks like the bugs and nature have taken a toll on the wood. This stone wall can be seen on the other side of the river. In fact, several fishermen were wading in the water not too far away, oblivious to the area’s former industrial and railroad mite.

Blount is pictured by one of the support beams that remains from a bridge that was removed long ago from Waterport.

Blount knows some people know about the bridge with the wooden beams. If you have an imagination and wander down the river, you’ll see the stone wall and the beam and you might wonder.

The second bridge is harder to find. A stone wall doesn’t stand right next to the river in plain view. Blount walked through the woods, high-stepping weeds and fallen limbs. It took a couple tries, but then he found a steel girder sticking up in the dirt. Then there were two more of them. A 5-foot-high stone wall, nearly camouflaged by the wilderness, then appeared.

A wall of sandstone is set back in the woods by the Oak Orchard River. Blount thinks it was used to hold up a bridge about a century ago.

Blount suspects this one dates from the late 1800s to early 1900s. There are other stone walls nearby that once held up this bridge that connected Park Avenue to Clark Mills Road. The walls, which tower about 12 feet high and remain solid sandstone structures, are off the beaten path.

“I’ve brought people down here who have lived here their whole life and they didn’t know this was here,” Blount said.

Blount used to venture along the river, trying to catch fish. Now he prefers to go with his camera and very little modern technology.

Nature has reclaimed much of the area around a former bridge in the woods of Waterport.

“This is a great place to go exploring,” Blount said.

Orleans Hub plans to post historical photos of the trestle and the bridges in the future. We get a lot of feedback on the “Vintage Orleans” photos. However, history is more fun to discover on foot. The Hub hopes to share more adventures about local history.

Artist Judson Smith painted a mural of a tugboat and canal scene inside the Albion Post Office in 1939.

ALBION – When the nation was gripped with the Great Depression in the 1930s, the federal government dispatched citizens for a series of paid public works projects.

One of those projects included building a new Post Office for Albion in 1937 at the southwest corner of the intersection of Main and East State streets. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Two years after the building opened, with the economy still struggling, the federal government hired artist Judson Smith to paint a large mural inside the Post Office. Smith painted a scene of the canal village with tugboat passing under a lift bridge. The scene includes a farm, stores and a factory.

The mural remains in the post office, set up high over the door for the postmaster.

The mural portrays a generalized canal village with a lift bridge, farm, stores and a factory.