Welcome to the History Corner!
Celebrating the rich history of Port Byron, New York, an old Erie Canal village in the Town of Mentz. This site is dedicated to the legacy and heritage of our community as well as a variety of regional historical tidbits. I hope you enjoy your visit and will stop by again.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

NYS Cemetery Aerial Maps

In need of help finding a cemetery?

Here are some useful links to help you navigate:


To view the aerial maps, jump down to the list by township and click on the respective cemetery to see the map.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Port Byronite

Port Byronite coined as early as 1878!

Well folks, it's official.  If you are from Port Byron, NY you are a "Port Byronite".


Thanks to fultonhistory.com, the term can be traced back as early as 1878 in The Evenings Auburnian when five our of residents left for Texas.

The phrase has been used to describe all kinds or activities connecting to our home town, from race car drivers, school bowling teams to fireman's parades.


 


1950 Weedsport Cayuga Chief

Not on your best behavior?  Then be prepared; you may be called out on the carpet for it as shown in this Syracuse Herald clip taken from the Port Byron Chronicle:



Photo per Rootsweb 




The term Port Byronite was even found in our business district when the Brown and Martens show room opened in 1948.




1948 Grand Opening of Brown and Marten Auto Dealers




How proud are you to be a "Port Byronite"?

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Masonic Building Design

Sometimes when browsing published histories of other places, your eyes will see something that brings back the feeling of home.  That was the case when reading the history of North Platte, Nebraska.

Looking at their buildings, I was drawn to North Platte's brick jail building.



The picture above appears in the book North Platte: City Between Two Rivers by Jim Backus.  If this building looks familiar, your eyes may be spotting the similarity to Port Byron's Masonic Building below:







While the buildings are not an exact copy there is enough similarity to see they have similar design with ours having an extra floor and more elaborate center windows.
Link to original photo here









Full copy of Port Byron's Masonic building can be found here