USA > New York > Onondaga County > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 65
USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 65
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The public school registration in September, 1907, made a new record. At the High School. Principal Charles F. Harper assumed his position, sue- eeeding Prof. William K. Wiekes, who took charge of the newly established . chair of oratory and literature. The registration at the Business High School
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
at the opening was two hundred and ten, an inerease of fifty over the previous year.
Upon the opening of the new Court House in 1907, the Board of Edu- cation took up rooms in that building. The Board of Education then con- sisted of Giles H. Stilwell, president ; Herbert W. Greenland, T. Aaron Levy, Bert W. Moyer, William A. Curtin, M. D., J. Richard Street, Ph. D., and George W. Schilly and Patrick D. Cooney, clerk. The report for 1907 showed thirty-nine schools, five hundred and eleven teachers of whom twenty- seven were men, a registration of twenty thousand four hundred and twenty- seven pupils and an average daily attendanee of sixteen thousand three hun- dred and ninety-one. In 1908, Commissioners John W. Church, Carl Sutter and Frederick W. Sager succeeded Commissioners Greenland, Curtin and Schilly.
The cost of the senools to the city since 1890, exclusive of permanent funds which go into school buildings, makes an interesting table for study, as follows :
1890
.$191,040
1891
195,098
1892
210,776
1893
230,373
1894
230,578
1895
230,977
1896
286,196
1897
271,244
1898
314,723
1899
280,530
1900
364,645
1901
340,693
1902
331,394
1903
382,197
1904
416,955
1905
423,139
1906
444,695
1907
463,780
In 1903 the Christian Brothers Academy, a school which had steadily risen by good work and credit won by its students. was incorporated. In 1904 the Solvay Iligh School on the West Woods Road, Solvay, another pro- gressive school for higher education was ereeted at a cost of
forty-five thousand dollars. Upon April 8, 1902, St. John's Military school at Manlius was burned, and a new and larger school immediately rebuilt. In 1907 one hundred and forty of the old students returned and there were seventy new students. .
534 .
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
Onondaga, outside of the eity lines, is now divided into three commis- sioner districts. The First District includes Camillus, Clay. Elbridge, Lysan- der, Salina and Van Buren. Second District, Geddes, Mareellus, Onondaga, Otiseo, Skaneateles. Spafford, Tully and the State school at the Indian Reserva- tion. Third Distriet, Cicero, Dewitt, Fabius, Lafayette, Manlius and Pom- pey. Many handsome school buildings are found in the county, among them being the Baldwinsville Academy, Jordan High School, Liverpool Union School, Warner High School, Marcelhis High School, Onondaga Valley High School, Skaneateles High School, Solvay High School, Tully High School, East Syracuse High School, Jamesville High School, Fayetteville High School and the Manlius High School.
From a yearly circulation of thirty-nine thousand eight hundred and twenty-three to one hundred and sixty thousand two hundred and twenty- two; from eighteen thousand and sixty-two volumes to seventy-one thousand five hundred and thirty-two, and from an annual maintenance expenditure of three thousand and fifty-eight dollars to thirty-eight thousand four hun- dred and eighty-seven dollars. is the history of the growth of the Syraense Publie Library in a score of years, told in brief. The year 1907 marked the semi-centennial of the library, for it was in 1857 that the work was begun of bringing into one room at the City Hall of the various libraries of the ward schools and forming the Central Library. Today the library has cer- tainly one of the most artistie buildings in the city for its home, and each day its admirable capacities for its purpose is being more generally appre- ciated. In 1880, when the library was in the old High School building. where it had been moved in 1869, Rev. Ezekiel W. Mundy became librarian and he has remained at his post to the present, his work-results the best encomium and reward for twenty-seven years of effort. The library remained under the direction of the Board of Education until February, 1893. when that body, by reason of the change in the State Library laws, recommended that the library be placed under the supervision of the Board of Regents. and appointed President Giles Il. Stilwell of the Board of Education to lay the matter before the Common Conneil. Charter amendment resulted in the appointment of a Library Commission consisting of Mr. Stilwell, Seekel Brou- ner, James K. MeGuire, Nicholas Peters, Jr., and Horace White, Mayor Jacob Amos and Superintendent of Schools A. B. Blodgett being later added by the Board of Regents. This commission first met on August 23, 1893, made the name the Syracuse Central Library and applied to the Regents for a char- ter, the grant being made December 13, 1893. Permission was then given to remain in the High School building another year, and the Council turned over books, furniture and funds to the trustees.
The old Putnam school building was set aside for library use in 1894. remodeled, and, on July 15, the work of moving the books began. In 1895 J. William Smith went upon the board in place of Horace White, while in 1896, Mr. MeGuire, by reason of becoming Mayor, was ex-officio member of the board and Miss Arria S. Huntington was appointed to the vacancy. In
535
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
1896 Dr. Ely Van De Warker succeeded Mr. Peters. During the winter of 1895 and 1896 the reference department was first opened to readers on Sun- day afternoons, with gratifying results, and it was at this period that the local history and genealogical departments began to attraet notice as a result of the especial attention given by the library authorities.
In 1897 the decision was reached to fit up a reading room for children. a provision which has since been continued with advantage. Hiram O. Sib- ley succeeded Dr. Van De Warker in this year. John J. Cummins came upon the board the following year, and services in this fine work have also been given by Charles E. Stevens, Iliram B. Danziger, Edward K. Butler, Dr. Roderick C. Melennan, George Timmins and Salem Hyde, as trustees, and Mayors Jay B. Kline and Alan C. Fobes, ex-officio members. In March, 1898, a distributing station was opened in the West End and proved an advantageous method in library work. The library was placed in a posi- tion of financial safety and independence in 1898 by the enactment of an amendment to the city charter permitting a stated income for the library. Later, branches were established upon the North Side and in Elmwood.
It was during Mayor McGuire's administration that the most eventful thing happened for the public library. Each year Mr. McGuire wrote to Andrew Carnegie of the needs of a library building until word was received that Mr. Carnegie would give two hundred thousand dollars for the pur- pose, under an agreement that the city would appropriate not less than thirty thousand dollars annually to the support of the building and library. The gift. was accepted, James A. Randall was chosen architect. the trus- tees gave time and effort to the project, the people bore with patience ineon- venient quarters in the remodelled Freeman building at Jefferson and Grape streets and in the University Block. and the result is satisfying with a public pride in the Carnegie Library building. that has the genuine promise of being lasting. Additional land was obtained at the Putnam school site by con- demnation and the building took four years for erection. The corner stone was laid on September 1. 1902, and on March 23, 1905, the building was opened to the public with appropriate exercises. The total expense for site, building, furnishings, ete., was nearly three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The
total shelving capacity is above one hundred and sixty thousand volumes; for newspapers five hundred volumes, and unoccupied space for forty thousand more volumes. In 1905 John D. Barrow of Skaneateles, gave sixty paintings of Onondaga. Central New York. Adirondacks, Lake George and Mohawk river scenes, painted by his own hand, to the library, which were framed and hung at the donor's expense. The Sons of the American Revolution set up in the juvenile room a copy of Dallin's equestrian statue of Paul Revere, the original of which is in the public gardens in Boston.
Upon January 15. 1903. Andrew Carnegie gave ten thousand dollars for a library building in Solvay, and to this sum Frederick R. Hazard added a like sum on March 23, 1903.
536
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
The inaugural meeting of citizens for the purpose of establishing the Syra- cuse Museum of Fine Arts, was held at May Memorial Church on January 22. 1897, and the movement which there took form resulted in the opening of the city's first museum in a gallery upon the second floor of the Onondaga County Savings Bank building, on November 21, 1900, with Professor George F. Com- fort as director. The president in 1907 was Hon. Theodore E. Hancock ; vice- president, Salem Hyde, and treasurer, James Barnes.
The formation of the Central New York Society of Artists was the direct outcome of the advantage of a fitting gallery in which to hold an exhibition of work. The first exhibition was held in the Museum of Arts in November, 1902, and the second in December, 1905.
With the addition of many handsome church edifices in the past few years there has come also the formation of new societies to fill the needs of growing suburbs, and an expanding interest that finds practically all the city churches in their most prosperous periods. The taking down of the handsome old brown stone church of the First Presbyterian Society at Salina and Fayette streets, made necessary by the crumbling effects of time, was a matter of regret to every Syracusan no matter his creed. The building had been so closely linked with the city's history that it seemed as if the city had suffered a distinet loss. Yet the succeeding edifice of the First Presbyterian Society upon the old homestead lot of James J. Belden in West Genesee street, proved such a judicious selection as to location and beautiful result in Gothie architecture, that it was but a transition of the city's pride from the old to the new. The taking down of the spire of the old church to prevent its falling, completed July 30, 1901. left the building so shorn in appearance that the society was prepared for the changes which followed. Upon January 18, 1902, the society accepted the offer of Mr. Belden of his property in West Genesee street, which was undoubtedly the moving cause as to location. The contract was let for the new edifice on November 24, 1903, the corner stone laid October 5, 1904, and in the spring of 1906 the dedication and first ser- viees were held.
The First M. E. Church had also outgrown its building at West Onon- daga and South State streets, and bofore 1899 was begun the definite plan of a reconstructed property the work of erecting a chapel facing upon East Jefferson street, at a cost of nineteen thousand dollars, being done that year. Services were held in the chapel until the new church, erected at a cost of sixty thousand dollars, was completed. The corner stone was laid July 30, 1903.
The South Presbyterian Society was organized on January 18. 1901. The installation took place May 17, 1901, with a congregation of seventy, and the society was soon so flourishing that the work of building one of the hand- somest and most artistic church edifices in the city was undertaken. The chapel was completed and dedicated July 7, 1902, and the building at South Salina and Colvin streets was dedicated April 21, 1907. The edifice cost about eighty thousand dollars.
537
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
The corner stone of the Delaware Street Baptist Church, which had been organized March 6, 1889, was laid on June 17, 1897, and the church soon answered the need of that growing seetion. The Erwin Memorial M. E. Church was dedicated January 2, 1898. On March 15, 1891, the day follow- ing the great fire in Syracuse which destroyed many properties, St. James Church in Lock street, was burned. A new location in James street, just east of the old site. was seeured and the new church finished in 1892, a beau- tiful Gothie doorway at the side entrance being preserved from the old church. On November 22, 1898, the church was dedicated by Bishop IIun- tington as the Church of Our Savior.
. During the notable pastorate of Rev. Cortland Myers at the First Bap- tist Church from 1890 to 1893, the church was enlarged at an expense of nineteen thousand dollars. The Fourth Baptist Church was dedieated Novem- ber 7, 1893. In the early autumn of 1887 the Westminister Presbyterian Church at Graves and Douglas streets was completed. The church was ineor- porated in 1897. The Good Will Congregational Church at Grace and Mas- sena streets was dedicated on January 15, 1891, and the Elmwood Presby- terian Church was dedicated on March 2, 1894. The South Avenue Congre- gational Church building, adjoining Merrick school at Bellevue avenue. was started in November, 1907, the first structure, to be added to at a future date, to cost twelve thousand dollars. The new structure of the East Solvay Methodist Church, eosting sixteen thousand dollars, the church having been organized ten years, was dedicated October 6, 1907. The Calvary Baptist Church in East Genesee street, was dedicated January 5, 1908.
Many notable celebrations of church anniversaries have taken place, such as the fortieth of the Plymouth on November 19, 1893; the twenty-fifth of the Fourth Presbyterian on February 3, 1895; the tenth of the Good Will on May 5, 1895; the seventy-fifth of the First Baptist on February 16, 1896; the golden anniversary of the Central Baptist from May 31 to June 3, 1896; the tenth of the Geddes Congregational on November 15, 1896; the Park Presby- terian golden jubilee on January 3, 1897; the First Ward Presbyterian dia- mond anniversary, January 24, 1897; First Baptist Sunday School, seventieth, January 31, 1897 ; the one hundredth anniversary of Rev. Samuel J. May's birth at May Memorial, October 20, 1897; the semi-eentennial of the First Reformed, May 15, 1898; the seventy-fifth of the First Presbyterian on October 22, 1899; the tenth of the Delaware Street Baptist on March 6, 1899; the thirtieth of the University Avenue M. E. on June 8, 1899; the thirtieth of the Fourth Presbyterian on January 31. 1900. and the thirtieth of Grace Episcopal on December 9, 1900.
At Pompey on August 15, 1904, the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Pere Simon Le Moyne's coming to Onondaga was celebrated.
Twenty years has seen the great work of Bishop Patrick A. Ludden come to fruition. It was in 1887 that Syracuse became the seat of a new diocese. and the Rt. Rev. Bishop Ludden was chosen to preside over the new see, ยท seleeting the Church of St. John the Evangelist as his pro-eathedral and making
538
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
the Rt. Rev. J. S. M. Lynch, D. D., his vicar general and rector of the cathedral, and the Rev. P. F. McEvoy chancellor and secretary. Then the church was enlarged and improved to meet the requirements of these changes. A Cath- olie academy, chartered under the Regents, was established at a cost of nearly one hundred thousand dollars. The Sisters of St. Joseph and the Christian Brothers were placed in charge and since then the Christian Brothers have also established a first elass commercial college beside the acad- emy, which is also chartered. In 1906 the Christian Brothers purchased the William Kirkpatrick homestead in East Willow street, adjoining the hand- some academy built at Willow and North State streets, and the old Kirk- patrick house was rebuilt and made into still another school building. Rev. Michael Clune succeeded Dr. Lynch as pastor of St. John's.
St. Mary's, the second Catholic church in Central New York, which has the costliest church edifice in the city, erected by Rev. James O'Hara at a cost of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, is the present Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception at Montgomery and Jefferson streets, being dedicated as the Cathedral March 13, 1904. Rev. Father O'Hara's untimely death occur- red December 7, 1889, he being succeeded by Rev. John Grimes, who made many notable improvements in the church property, including the work which stands where La Concha bath house once stood at the western end of the church, that property being purchased by John Dunfee on October 8, 1902. In 1906 Rev. Father Grimes was made monsignor by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Lud- den.
Rev. Dr. John F. Mullany took charge of the parish of St. John the Baptist in 1897, and to the brick edifice which cost one hundred and twenty- five thousand dollars, he added much and enlarged the school, chartered by the Regents, besides building two mission churches in the suburbs at a cost of twelve thousand dollars. One of the notable celebrations was that of the Church of the Assumption, which on May 1, 1892, celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. Two of the most flourishing schools have been built up in connection with this church, the girls' parochial school being completed in 1891, taught by the Sisters of St. Francis, and the church has properties valued at three hundred thousand dollars. Rev. J. J. Kennedy of St. Luey's, succeeded Dr. Lynch as vicar general, and in 1890 was made monsignor. Monsignor Kennedy died during Holy Week, 1906, to his noble church record being added that of building a great school, St. Lucy's Academy, completed in 1892, and practically freeing the church from debt. Rev. P. F. MeAvoy was appointed by Rt. Rev. Bishop Ludden rector of St. Lucy's on May 1, 1906; he was made vicar general of the Diocese of Syracuse on June 14, 1906, and received the title of monsignor on December 17 following.
Among the new Catholic churches is the Sacred Heart (Polish) church organized in 1892. At present there is building a new church upon the prop- erty adjoining the wooden structure in West Genesee street, which it is expected will be completed in two or three years at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars. It is being built of Gouverneur marble. The Rev. Francis
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539
1
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
Rusin is in charge, and also has a large parish school taught by the Sisters of St. Francis. The church was dedicated by Bishop Ludden on October 20, 1907. i
From a mission organized in 1891 the St. Vincent de Paul parish has sprung, the church being organized by Rev. William F. Dougherty in 1895. The corner stone of the beautiful new edifice in Vine street was laid by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Ludden on November 10, 1895, the permit being given for a forty-five thousand dollar building, but the property is now valued at close upon one hundred thousand dollars. The church was dedicated upon Novem- ber 7, 1897. The Iloly Trinity Church was organized in 1890 and in 1891 the building was dedicated. There is a property valued at twenty-five thous- and dollars in charge of Rev. John Reuland, with a parish school. Rev. Francis J. Quinn organized the parish of St. Anthony of Padua in 1901, the temporary chapel being dedicated September 15, 1901. St. Peter's (Italian) Church purchased the old church property at Burnet avenue and North State streets for twelve thousand dollars on October 1, 1895, the parish being organ- ized that year. One of the latest and most beautiful church edifices to be built is that of St. Cecilia's at Solvay. The parish was organized in the autumn of 1903 by Rev. James F. O'Shea, the corner stone of the new building being laid on September 24, 1905; and the church being dedicated by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Ludden on December 2, 1906, the cost of the building being placed at fifty thousand dollars, and the value of the property at seventy thousand dollars.
The Rescue Mission, which has accomplished innch in a general religious work, was established September 4, 1887, for the non-churchgoing masses. The first quarters were at 340 East Railroad street, near Mulberry street, in the heart of one of the worst districts of the city. In a short time, about a year, this small hall was outgrown, and then the place was taken at 115 Mulberry street, afterward changed to South State street, which were still occupied in 1908, with Harlow B. Andrews long its president; A. M. Knickerbocker, secretary; W. J. Park, treasurer, and George Frank, superintendent. In 1888 and 1889 a gospel wagon service was inaugurated.
540
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
CHAPTER LXII.
HISTORY AND ITS CELEBRATIONS.
Two things contributed materially to the revival of the Onondaga Histori- eal Association in 1892 and gave it that life as a publie institution and stabil- ity in the publie interest which assure its continuance so long as mankind shall look to history for profit. These reviving things were the approaching centennial of the creation of Onondaga county and the formation of the Histor- ieal Club for the purpose of reviving interest in Onondaga history. With a broad and benefieent charter the Onondaga Historical Association had been organized in 1862. Probably the chief eredit for its inception was due to James Noxon, and it was in his office that the first meeting was held on January 16, 1862, to diseuss the proposed society, which was along the lines of so many literary societies which existed in the eities of the East about that period. Six days later the formal meeting was held for organization under by-laws which had been drawn, and the first officers eleeted, Joshua V. H. Clark, the historian of the county, being the first president, with Charles R. Wright recording secretary, James Noxon corresponding secretary, and James S. Leach treasurer. With these officers the following were the first directors : Truman K. Wright, Jonathan Kneeland, John L. Stevens, Nathaniel B. Smith, Edmund B. Griswold, Lyman W. Conkey, Charles O. Roundy, Homer D'L. Sweet, William Baumgras, Crayton B. Wheeler, John A. Green, Jr., Henry Didama, William Tefft, Jr., Robert Townsend and Samuel N. Holmes.
The special aet of the Legislature granting a charter which gave power to hold and transfer property with the privilege of exemption from tax, was passed April 29, 1863, and a flourishing period was entered upon with rooms in the oldl Corinthian HIall block on North Salina street. The succeeding presidents down to 1908 were James Noxon, Amos Westeott, William Kirk- patrick, John M. Wieting, Elias W. Leavenworth, William A. Sweet, Alexander H. Davis, Henry D. Didama, Carroll E. Smith and A. Judd Northrup. In 1867 new exhibition rooms for relics were established in the Clinton Block, and in 1871 the collections were transferred to the Wieting Block. For three or four years these rooms were kept up, and then interest lagged, publie lec- tures and the social and literary features which had been so popular beeame less frequent, and finally the collections were stored in the Syracuse Savings Bank building and the association fell into obscurity. A social gathering at the home of Mrs. Eliza Lawrenee Jones, May 31, 1892. to celebrate her eightieth birth anniversary, resulted in the formation of the Onondaga Historical Club, the interest in which was such as to suggest a union with the Onondaga His- torieal Association, which had for nearly twenty years kept up its organization by the election or the holding over of its officers. The brief history of the
541
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
Historical Club closed on October 25, 1892, when the board of directors of the Onondaga Historical Association voted to take in the members of the club.
In 1893 William Kirkpatrick was elected to the presidency of the associa- tion for the second time, and llomer D'L. Sweet, who for twenty-eight years had served as secretary, died on November 16 of that year. Before the close of 1893 the association began to plan for the proper celebration of the cen- tennial of Onondaga, which came in 1894. With the substantial profits which arose from the historie tableaux, a great feature of the celebration given under the auspices of the association, steps were taken by the directors to secure quarters for future meetings and a museum. Rooms were taken in the Syra- ense Savings Bank building, the collections were transferred, and on October 2, 1894, the new quarters were thrown open to the members. Then began the period of the association's greatest activity. In 1896 and again in 1898 it was found necessary to enlarge the exhibition rooms until the whole eastern half of the fifth floor of the building was occupied. Upon June 6th, 1895, the anniversary of the celebration day of Onondaga's centennial, was begun the observanees of Pioneer Day, annual events signalized by trips of the mem- bers to some historie spot. With the society have become associated as active branches, the Botany Club, which had long done valuable work in the study of the botany of Onondaga. the Academy of Science, organized in March, 1896. and the Genealogical Society of Central New York, formed in 1898.
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