by Old Mentz | May 8, 2013 | Cayuga County, Grace Austin, Mentz, Port Byron, Port Byron school
This is the second of the photos loaned me by Joni Lincoln. It was very faded, so I did my best to bring it back. I did make out that it was taken in 1896 at the Port Byron School. Grace Austin wrote the pageant that marked Port Byron centennial. She was listed as the...
by Old Mentz | Apr 24, 2013 | Mentz, Myra Coulter, Port Byron, Port Byron school, Richard Bunn Bonelli, school students
Miss Myra Coulter was the teacher of this Port Byron class. I would place this photo around 1896-1900 as Richard Bunn (later the opera singer Richard Bonelli) is in this class in the front row and he was born in 1889.There are lots of interesting names in the record...
by Old Mentz | Apr 13, 2013 | Erie Canal, Harry King, Historical Society of Port Byron, Lock 52 Historical Society, Mentz, Port Byron, Port Byron Historical Society, Richard King
This time, I am featuring a letter I found in the files. It is a great look back at the village and what was going on in the Erie Canal times. This letter was written by the Rev. Harry King to his brother Richard T. King, who many will recall was the publisher of the...
by Old Mentz | Apr 4, 2013 | aqueduct, Cayuga County, Erie Canal, Mentz, Owasco Outlet, Port Byron, Wilt's Mill
It is not too often that I get to see a Dayharsh original, but here is one of Wilt’s Mill. It has the raised lettering in the lower right corner that shows it was made by Mr. Dayharsh all those years ago.Standing on the Green Street bridge, we are looking...
by Old Mentz | Mar 24, 2013 | Erie Canal, Hayden's Dam, Hayden's Mill, Mentz, Owasco Outlet, Port Byron
This is a nice image taken around the Port Byron area, but not of Port Byron. Of course, if the postcard printer had put down “Hayden’s Dam, Mentz, NY”, no one would know where this was.This photo is of a dam that goes way back to the 1820’s....
by Old Mentz | Mar 4, 2013 | Brown and Martens, Cayuga County, Port Byron, Utica Street
These photos are in the collection of the Port Byron Library. They show the new Brown and Martens Auto Dealer. The following ran in the Port Byron Chronicle in August 14, 1947.By July 22, 1948, the building was complete and the following story ran in the PBC.
by Old Mentz | Feb 9, 2013 | 1940, Port Byron, Port Byron school, Yearbook
My neighbor was kind enough to drop off this 1940 yearbook she found in her attic. So over time, we will feature pages of it here. As you can read, it was titled “The Phoenix” as the school has risen from the ashes just as the mythical bird...
by Old Mentz | Jan 22, 2013 | downtown, Mentz, Port Byron, Port Byron school
It is 1938 and the new school is complete. This photo gives us a real nice view of Port Byron. See what you can find. The Warren Mill, with the millpond in the upper right corner, the churches on Church Street, the lumber and coal yard, the route of the old Erie Canal...
by Old Mentz | Jan 20, 2013 | 1925, downtown, Miller's Store, Port Byron, Rochester Street, winter storm
There are a series of photographs taken of the big 1925 winter storm when about three feet of snow fell on Port Byron and the region. Here is one that is seldom seen.Miller’s Store was in the second building from the corner. It is also listed as a grocery,...
by Old Mentz | Dec 22, 2012 | Cayuga County, Erie Canal, Lock 52, Mentz, Port Byron
Here is a view of Enlarged Erie Canal Lock 52, which was taken on a winters day when the canal. Compare this to the other photo of Lock 52.The wooden platform that the people are standing on was a strainer to keep floating debris out of the turbine / overflow culvert...
