Lock 52 on the Erie Canal

The Lock 52 Historical Society takes its name from Lock 52 on the Erie Canal. I think Lock 52 is the only old canal lock you can see from the NYS Thruway, and many people see it, albeit very quickly, as they zoom by on the highway.

The top photo was taken around 1935, when the canal had been closed for 18 years. Don Gallagher wrote that the photographer was Cliff McComber, but little else. You can see that someone had been picking away at the stones. The skeleton of the lock gate was still there, but the wooden deck and lock tenders house was gone. The bottom photo was taken around 1900, with the lock in its full glory.

Other Lock 52 photos to come.

Don Gallagher

I never knew the man, but he deserves many thanks for preserving many of the photos I have been using here on this blog. Plus Don added descriptions to them, which is such a help many years after the fact. So Don, for all your work, here is to you.

St John's Church

A view of St John's that I have never seen before. Don Gallagher wrote;
"Rochester Street in foreground. Left to right- Episcopal Church, St John's R. Catholic Church, then Wellington (Bill) Bush home. Owasco Outlet on right side of picture. The Episcopal Church was torn down and a house built there. The Bill Bush home was torn down and a two story cement block building was erected there. This picture was probably taken in the late 1920's or early 1930's."

After I wrote the above post, I ran this photo with the following in the Auburn Citizen;

I really enjoy seeing photos of Port Byron and Mentz that are not the usual downtown scene. The photo I include today shows the Wellington Bush home, which was located next to St. John’s Church on Rochester Street. We also get a nice view of the Episcopal Church.

This is part of the Gallagher collection that I have been featuring on the Lock 52 Historical Society blog. Don wrote that the photo was taken in the 1920’s or 30’s and that the house was later torn down to be replaced by a two story cinder block building. (The block building was seen in the 1950’s air photo I featured last year.) After checking, I see that Wellington lived in this home in 1920, but lived in Wolcott in 1915. Wellington was listed as owning a repair shop.

In doing a quick search for Mr. Bush, I think Don may have gotten the date a little wrong. It is clear in the photo that Rochester Street is in its current location. After checking, I see that in 1929 Mr. Bush was involved in a dispute over the State taking his property so they could straighten Rochester Street. So I think the photo might date from the late 1930’s, or even into the 40’s. It has been such a long time that things were changed that we might forget that Moore Place and a part of River Street was once Rochester Street.

And after the article ran in the paper, Lucille Hitchcock called to say that this house was moved, not torn down. It was on the corner of King and Rochester until a few years ago, when it was torn down. I then found, quite by accident, this newspaper account. (PBC August 14, 1947) This just goes to prove that you shouldn't take everything as written in stone, even if it is written on the back of a photo.

 

For all you canal buffs out there, this house is sitting in what is now a parking lot that was built over the Clinton's Ditch canal aqueduct.