1600 Block of North Salina

 

 

 

 

 

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1600 Block of North Salina Street
 

 

This map is from a 1924 Atlas of the City of Syracuse. The map has been rotated and the direction of North is toward the upper left about 45o off the horizontal North Salina Street, running through the middle of the map. The vertical street at the left edge is Wolf Street. The vertical street, on the right side is Center Street, since it passed through Washington Square in the center of the old Village of Salina. Now it is LeMoyne Ave. The street addresses are written vertically in front of the corresponding structures. The west side of North Salina Street is on the bottom. Henry King's building at 1611 is the pink (brick) structure. Two family structures sometimes had two addresses, such as 1607 and 1609 (where the Dear family was living at 1609, in 1926). The corner of North Salina and Center has a structure that appears to go right up to Center Street, it is number 1603. This was the grocery store of Pollock that had a 1601 address. The grocery on that corner today still goes by 1601. It is a two story structure, 1603 probably referred to the upper flat and 1601, that referred to the lower level where the store was located, appears to be missing from the map. A 1926 aerial photo of the intersection is similar to a satellite view of the area today, as far as the addresses 1601 - 1611 are concerned. Center Street in the map is much larger than the actual Center Street. A possible explanation is that the city easement area, reserved for sidewalks, might be included in the area shown as part of the street. The 1601 structure today has a sidewalk that runs along the south side of the store, along Center Street.   

 

1632 - Lizzie Gannon's Hotel

 

The building at this location was still standing in 1926, but has since been demolished, leaving a vacant lot at the 1632 address. Lizzie's story is told here.

 

1628 - Tom Brady's St. James Hotel

 

There is a building at this address today, but it's not the old St. James Hotel. Tom Brady's story is told here.

 

1604 - Home of Minnie Dear Drinkwine's brother, Oscar Dear, and her niece Lizzie Dear

 

Minnie had grown up in the First Ward. Her first husband was Lewis N. Drinkwine, who ran a barbershop in the Candee Hotel (later the Manhattan Hotel) on the NE corner of S. Warren St. and E. Fayette St., just across Fayette St. from Frank Matty's Alderman's Cafe. She was working at Tom Brady's St. James Hotel on S. Franklin Street. While working at the St. James, Minnie and another couple, went to Molly Young's roadhouse on the Cicero Plank Road, with visiting heavyweight boxing champion, John L. Sullivan. Minnie's husband found out and a divorce action was started. [1889-11-07] It isn't known if the divorce was finalized. After that Minnie became Tom Brady's "common law" wife and followed him to his new roadhouse in Baum's old Rose Lawn home.

 

Lizzie Dear, Minnie's niece, who was about the same age as Minnie, gained some notoriety for shooting her old boy friend, common law husband, Joseph Kearney, twice in the head at point blank range. [1890-04-24] The boy friend lingered near death after giving police a "death bed" statement that Lizzie had shot him. He later explained that he was engaged to another girl, Nellie Costello and this was the reason for Lizzie's jealousy. The other girl's parents were not aware of any relationship between Kearney and their sixteen year old daughter, who was attending Sacred Heart School. Kearney eventually recovered and married this under age girl in about six months, on August 25, 1890. [1890-08-28] Apparently no case was ever brought against Lizzie, who later married and left town.

 

The house at this location has been demolished. Today it is the site of a car wash business.

 

1601 - Grocery store where the Weasel was working

 

This was an actual grocery store in 1926 and it was operated by A. M. Pollock. Placing the fictional Weasel at that location was part of the story. The building at this location is still standing and there was a grocery store operating at that location in 2012.

 

1609 - Home of Minnie Dear Drinkwine's nephew, David Dear

 

This nephew's son was Ray Dear, Deputy Sheriff, under sheriff Lewis Scriber. [1925-05-21]

 

This building appears to have undergone some remodeling over the years.

 

1611 - Barbershop and home of Henry King and Susan King (aka Maud Wilson)

 

This building is still standing and a business is currently (2012) operating out of the back end of the first floor.

 

NOTES:

[1889-11-07] - "Sullivan Of Boston," The Syracuse Weekly Express, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, November 7, 1889.

[1890-04-24] - "Shot By Miss Dear," The Syracuse Weekly Express, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, April 24, 1890.

[1890-08-28] - "He Survived The Bullet," The Syracuse Weekly Express, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, August 28, 1890.

[1925-05-21] - "Scriber Appoints Dear To Succeed Deputy He Fired," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, May 21, 1925.