Stop 16- Gere Building: The Businessman

GPS- 43.055510, -76.186161

 For this next piece of our canal tour, we will be diverging from the Empire State Trail, to stay of the path of the original Erie Canal. These two paths will join up again in Solvay. The Empire State Trail takes its path into the Inner Harbor and around the western side of Onondaga Lake. You'll bike through industry, the old salt flat area, and roughly follow the scenic path along the lake. Who knows? Maybe you'll see and eagle or two. 

But this is not the path of the Erie Canal.

Once you leave the Amos Mills, the path of the Erie Canal is...drum roll, please....

 Erie Blvd West! 

This road is built over the Erie Canal. 

Cleverly named, isn't it?

As you follow the road, you'll pass the old railroad yard used by the New York Central and tracks still used by the Susquehanna and Western on your left, pass by old factories and forges until the Erie Canal, once again, meets up with its older friend, the Genesee Turnpike. Some of the oldest streets in the City of Syracuse retain the names of their origins from times-past. Salina St (think saline) running north/south, dividing the city east/west was the route to the early salt blocks. The Genesee Turnpike retained its name under Genesee St and The Erie Canal became Erie BLVD, both crossing Syracuse east/west, essentially dividing the city into four quadrants. The canal last saw its old friend, the Genesee Turnpike, in Clinton Square, But it took the higher paths, and the Erie Canal the lower ones. So every so often, they crisscross

c1810 map James Geddes

During the canal days, the strip of land where you see the Byrne Dairy store had varied uses that lasted through the mid-1900s. 

First, where you see the Byrne Dairy, is where Botanic Hospital was. 

The first hospital, in what would eventually become Syracuse, the Botanic Infirmary offered natural herbal cures to patients

"Significance: Built as the first hospital in what is now the city of Syracuse, this building derives its name from the use of botanical ingredients, such as gum of myrrh, Indian tobacco, undistilled whiskey, and cayenne pepper to treat illnesses." ~LOC

Considering the treatments available at the time, these were a far gentler way to treat illness, at the least, usually doing no harm.

In the above illustration, you could arrive by road or by boat and seek treatment for your ailments within your wall.

Location, Location, Location!

Some more info here:
https://library.syracuse.edu/digital/collections/g/GreekRevivalInSyracuse/1430WestGeneseeStreet.htm?fbclid=IwAR3B632OA8kPIIE0330HOiJDL6gtdAf9OKSC81Fe1ewrvVpweSRNc16tFNY

Then next, following Erie Blvd on this small piece of land...

...as you float by in your packet boat, you'd find manufacturing!

A bicycle factory (seen behind the Botanic Infirmary above)

And...Onondaga Pottery which later changed its name to 
Syracuse China

https://www.cnyhistory.org/2017/01/syracuse-china/?fbclid=IwAR0XUG0hDkQFNnarpgtw44h6zQtuPi13Z5EP6swzJl3xMegCFbO8kCkuua4

 

This maker of fine china...

had humble origins as Farrar's Pottery.

It changed hands many times and built around the original works.

And during WW2, Onondaga Pottery changed its lines 

to make ceramic land mines for the war effort!

More about Syracuse China

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syracuse_China?fbclid=IwAR0OTGMq41mocU9P5s7IwQlZYeayuWYqB0sxB1a_K354rq_yFkkOARarx_Y

So why did these places build around here?
It was the ideal spot: Location, location, location!

Not only did the Erie Canal flow by its eastern side, the Genesee Turnpike at its southern side, the railroads ran right past as well! 

The railroad line you just followed, went past this little industrial hub.

c1852

Without the businessman, the canal would have been little use to a growing country.

Without someone to see and need and fill it, the canal would have had no customers.

Without the businessman, the canal would have been 

little more than an expensive artificial water feature.

So savvy businessmen took advantage 

of these three modes of transportation 

and set up shop here.

But with all these goods being manufactured, 

where were all these goods going to be stored before they went to market?

Enter the Businessman, Robert Gere who saw the potential of money 

to be made in so many aspects of the canal.

Who was Robert Gere?

"He was involved in the salt, lumber, iron and railroad businesses. He was superintendent of Salt Springs 1848-1851, and built locks on the Oswego Canal. He organized the Geddes Core Salt Company with Hamilton White and Horace White."

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69336398/robert-gere?fbclid=IwAR1P5gxAuPzf9Kk5V0dosdoUy113CR7jfXXGlK1DuBXbPi65gMBFPif_2wU

He built the large brick building on the northern end of this strip of land,

seeing the need of housing goods before they went to market and filling it.

On the parapet, 

After the canal, the Gere Block was the home of Sanford Trucks

They specialized in Fire Equipment

And Haverly Milk Coolers Co. occupied one end of the building

from the 1920s-1940s

before becoming a paint manufacturing plant known as 

Strathmore Paints 

After Strathmore closed, the building sat idle waiting its next job...

 

...soon to be a mixed use facility.

But hiding behind this building, on its east side, is the only 

above ground piece of the Erie Canal in Syracuse...

...this section of the Erie Canal wall!

Syracuse was at such a low point in the canal that literally everything is buried, 

except this section of retaining wall from the canal.

It stands a testament to time about 

this bustling piece of land,

the businessman, 

and the many opportunities to be found along the Erie Canal.

Two hundred years have seen quite the changes: from stage to canal boats 

to railroad to bicycles to cars and more!

What changes will the next 200 years see on this piece of land? 

Who will be the new entrepreneurs to set up shop to fill a need?

But we can't stop long to ponder this future we haven't arrived at yet, so we journey on with our packet boat...we picked up our order at Onondaga Pottery,

 dropped off an order at the Gere Building ...

And so we head onto our next stop...

 

.

Stop 14- Clinton Square: The Commercial Hub

GPS- 43.050882, -76.152308

So how did Clinton Square become the hub and heartbeat of downtown? 

Two main reasons: the Genesee Turnpike intersecting the Erie Canal! This 1810 map would be one of the last showing an unbroken Genesee Turnpike Road.

c1810 map by James Geddes

This area was swamp...but many saw potential with the salt to the north, mills on the creek, and the coming of the Erie Canal...enter Bogardus...whose name was lent to the crossroads...he invested in what would become Clinton Square!

About Hendrick Bogardus:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28021436/hendrick-bogardus?fbclid=IwAR2b9uo7NgtN84OEqy9z0qWKIhsJHqGheinc5xKwOPXe2L6PBHnS0D3sPvY

When the canal opened in 1825, the growing village along the canal needed a proper name...a history by Dennis Connors on "what's in a name"

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://yuripavlov.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/HowDidSyracuseGetItsName-DennisConnors2015.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1lVpAFrpdG-QwXeOlu7AK1qGF_HOuSk1U1IL5qP0gx0GrnfO2zyShP8SM

And so Syracuse grew around the canal...

so much that 13 years later, it has quite became quite the hub of commerce

This Village of Syracuse in 1834 in the map above, 

while still in its infancy, 

grew up with both the Genesee Turnpike and the Erie Canal 

transecting the heart of the new village through

"Clinton Square" so named after Gov. DeWitt Clinton and the canal.

By the 1850's there was boat traffic, businesses, and a place to get goods to and from market. In this pic you can see the original Syracuse Savings Bank Building on the left and the Coffin Block that proceeded the Gridley Building in the middle

And the market did not always look as appetizing as our local farmer's markets do today

By 1868, this area was continuing its growth

By 1875, it truly was the city center!

Sometimes this square was even used just for fun...

like the infamous Greenways New Years Picnic!

Or even a balloon demonstration

Or ice skating when it was drained back for winter maintenance!

Then it was used to commemorate our Soldiers and Sailors Monument

The Syracuse Savings Bank Building on the eastern edge of the square 

was designed by J Lyman Silsbee

Although the exterior was remodeled in the 1920's, 

the walls hide a secret...

...that was covered in retrofitting it for "modern banking".

This bank building was built with a drive up...er...float up canal access window. Being on the towpath, this bank could be easily accessed by canal boaters. This was a convenience for the captains and kept the dirt off the floor of the "new" bank. Here is a pic of it under construction which actually took from 1875-1877.

You couldn't get around Clinton Square ...and its neighbor Hanover Square without nearly tripping into a bank...there were so many! 

The Gridley Building was originally built as the Onondaga Savings Bank

The "newer" Onondaga Savings Bank Building

And the Gere Bank Building around the corner

And the Flagship Securities Building next to the 

"new" Onondaga Savings Bank Building

And don't forget about the Third National Bank Building Red building on left on James and N Salina just north of the Syracuse Savings Bank Building...and several other financial institutions nearby

And if you'd rather play than bank, well, 

there was always the
Bastable Block with plays at the right edge of the pic above 

or
the Wieting Opera House in the pic below

There were plenty of places to stay, eat, or be entertained 

only a mule shoe throw from the canal

Some more info about the buildings around Clinton Square:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Square#:~:text=Clinton%20Square%20is%20surrounded%20by,Savings%20Bank%20Building%20(1897).

But times change and the use of the square has changed...once the canal boats used the northern route of the Barge Canal, it became a parking lot...

Then, a series of public gathering parks, culminating in Clinton Square today...

which gives a nod to the canal when there are no gatherings in the square...

the fountain which sits in the path of the old canal

And easily drained back when large festivals fill the square with people once again

Here to you can see a few feet of the upper layers of the canal wall that goes much deeper below the street surface...history buried under our feet...as is most of the old canal in Syracuse proper due to Syracuse being a low elevation point.

But our time in the commercial corridor of Clinton Square has come to an end...we may stay a day here...stopping at the bank, getting supplies from the shops, loading and unloading goods...and maybe even seeing a show at at the Wieting Opera House. We'll give the mules a rest for the night, then off our journey will continue to our next stop...