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.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

The Service Flag by William Herschell

This poem was published in 1918.

http://lastquilt.com/history-of-the-service-flag.php
http://lastquilt.com/history-of-the-service-flag.php

THE SERVICE FLAG
William Herschell In The Indianapolis News

Dear little flag in the window there,
Hung with a tear and a woman's prayer;
Child of Old Glory, born with a star—
Oh, what a wonderful flag you are!

Blue is your star in its field of white,
Dipped in the red that was born of fight;
Born of the blood that our forebears shed
To raise your mother, The Flag, o'erhead.

And now you've come, in this frenzied day,
To speak from a window—to speak and say:
"I am the voice of a soldier-son
Gone to be gone till the victory's won.”

"I am the flag of The Service, sir;
The flag of his mother—I speak for her
Who stands by my window and waits and fears,
But hides from the others her unwept tears.”

"I am the flag of the wives who wait
For the safe return of a martial mate,
A mate gone forth where the war god thrives
To save from sacrifice other men's wives.”

"I am the flag of the sweethearts true;
The often unthought of—the sisters, too.
I am the flag of a mother's son
And won't come down till the victory's won."

Dear little flag in the window there;
Hung with a tear and a woman's prayer;
Child of Old Glory, born with a star—
Oh, what a wonderful flag you arel

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Port Byron Reds

Sports history certainly is a bit of a stretch for me but while researching our school mascot I found a couple articles about the Port Byron Reds.  This was a name unfamiliar to me:

Port Byron Chronicle 1951-1952
fultonhistory.com




The team formed around 1951 and headed by Andy Sorendo.  It was considered a County team and had an impressive opening season.







Auburn Citizen 1953
fultonhistory.com



School Logo

Our alums ask great questions on our alumni facebook page!  The question raised was about when the school torch logo was first introduced,  The Port Byron Library has a wonderful collection of yearbooks, while not a complete collection, one can learn a great deal by viewing them.

The Class of 1940 holds credit to being the first class to design their own custom logo for what at that time was called "The Phoenix", the annual yearbook. 

The library does not have the yearbooks for 1941 to 1943 so were not sure if this gap was due to the war or if it is just that they have not had donations for these years.

If anyone has a year book for 1941 to 1943, please check the cover and inside pages to confirm what logo was used and if the torch appears yet.  Please post your feedback to the alumni facebook page.

The torch logo does appear on the 1944 year book, now called "The Byronics".

The 1950's would bring a name change to "The Panther" but it wasn't until 1959 that the animal that would become our mascot appeared on the cover.

The yearbook staff called themselves "The Panther Club", so it would appear the school mascot's roots came from the yearbook club, who produced a circus themed yearbook in 1959, resulting in the panther appearing on the cover for the first time.