by Old Mentz | Apr 26, 2018 | Uncategorized
The spring of 1918 would be very different for the three canal villages of Cayuga County. No longer would water fill the canal that had helped to shape the villages 98 years prior. No longer would the citizens hear the sound of tin horns blown by the passing boatmen....
by Old Mentz | Mar 30, 2018 | Uncategorized
It’s spring appeal time again! Yes, we know, no one likes to be asked for money, and believe me, no one likes asking you for money. But the Society does need your support. We can’t survive without your help. So if you enjoy what we do, ask yourself if it...
by Old Mentz | Feb 28, 2018 | Uncategorized
November 29, 1924 was a big day in Port Byron. The doors of the new National Bank of Port Byron were to open for it’s first public inspection. All were welcome, in fact, all were encouraged to come and see “one of the finest and best looking buildings between New York...
by Old Mentz | Jan 28, 2018 | Uncategorized
The beautiful woman, blue eyes a-twinkle with untold deviltry relished her shocking disclosures to unsuspecting listeners: She lived in a fraternity house and wore pants before it was proper for a lady to do so. Scandalous! Eyebrows jumped sufficiently high at these...
by Old Mentz | Nov 10, 2017 | Uncategorized
On November 11, 1918, someone has the foresight to capture the Armistice Day celebration in Port Byron, here called the “Peace Day celebration Nov. 11, 1918”. Then they wrote a caption on the other; “Peace, a small gathering for songs, yells, noise,...
by Old Mentz | Nov 5, 2017 | Uncategorized
Sixty-three years ago, police departments all across the Untied States were on the lookout for a Port Byron teenager who had disappeared from the village without a trace. It’s one of those little stories that sit in the files of that Lock 52 Historical Society that...
by Old Mentz | Oct 16, 2017 | Uncategorized
I came across this photographic copy of a print or painting that showed the Port Byron’s Owl Club Roost #1. As with many items stuck on the shelves, there are no attributes, notes, who did it, no hints at all as to what it was. The print does offer clues of it’s own....
by Old Mentz | Oct 14, 2017 | Uncategorized
At the Lock 52 Historical Society, I have a shelf of Port Byron branded items. One of these items is a small jar that once held Pure Horse Radish made by F.W. Jacobs. Dave Thomas stopped by and said he had an article on the man, which gives us a look into the...
by Old Mentz | Aug 27, 2017 | Anita Messina, June Pultz, June Seamans, Port Byron, Port Byron Historical Society
By Anita MessinaAn expert Sudoku player, skilled at crossword puzzles and an eager listener to books on tape, June’s brain waves keep on a-tumbling. “Now don’t make me sound like Wonder Woman,” she warns when learning that her personal history was about to be...
by Old Mentz | Apr 29, 2017 | Anita Messina, hardware store, Port Byron, Stella Pokrzywa
True Value to the VillageBy Anita Messina 1960. Rudolph Schasel was mayor of a canal village with lingering prosperity developed during the energetic days of the great Erie Canal waterway. Here and there small bruises began, not terribly noticeable because, as Stella...
