The_Greenpoint

The Greenpoint Hotel

This is a picture of the Greenpoint Hotel as it appeared in 1912. The original hotel, operated by Thomas Leahy, was damaged by a fire early in the morning of November 27, 1893. This replacement structure was erected soon after the fire, and Leahy was once again running a roadhouse in 1896.

Introduction

The Greenpoint Hotel was at the intersection of Buckley Road and 7^th North Street. It was not on old Liverpool Road. In this area of the town of Salina there is no road that bears the name of Greenpoint Road. Over the years, as found in various newspaper reports, the old Liverpool Road (formerly the Liverpool Plank Road), Buckley Road and 7^th North Street have all, at one time or another, been described as the “Greenpoint Road.” Crandell Melvin, a member of a family that has long lived on Buckley Road, had his address in a legal notice given as Greenpoint Road. Therefore a road possessing this name can be either a road in Greenpoint itself or a road that will take one to Greenpoint.

1898 USGS map of the Town of Salina. The information for this map had been surveyed in 1893. The roads shown are Buckley Road, running SW to NE and 7^th North St, running SE to NW. The old Greenpoint Hotel was located at the intersection of those two roads. On November 27, 1893 it was reported that Tom Leahy’s roadhouse burned to the ground. Another roadhouse was constructed at the same intersection and it was occasionally referred to as Tom Leahy’s old place. Therefore it must have been rebuilt on the old location and Tom Leahy must have been associated with the roadhouse for a while to get his name associated with the new structure. Thomas Leahy's land was in the eastern quadrant of the intersection that included Bear Trap Creek.

Overview

The table below was developed to determine the existence of a roadhouse / hotel in the area of the intersection of Buckley Road and 7th North Street. As a result, some of the news items are less than interesting although they do provide important evidence of an association between the place and a particular individual at a point in time. The more interesting items will be developed in more detail.

Date	Description	Comment
1880 Census	Thomas Leahy was a farmer.	Leahy was the first person associated with a roadhouse at this location so he was traced back in time a short ways.
1889-05-08	Thomas Leahey was described as a hop grower.
1892 Census	Thomas Leahy was a Hop Grower.
1893-03-16	Thomas Leahy’s property on Buckley Road was foreclosed.
1893-11-27	Tom Leahy’s Roadhouse Burns [1893-11-27] Location: "directly across the road from Moyer's stock farm..." The insurance covered most of the loss and based on subsequent reports Leahy rebuilt the roadhouse.	First item found linking Tom Leahy to a roadhouse, hotel or saloon. He and his wife only had two children, not five as mentioned in the story.
1896-01-25	In an article about his mother’s funeral Thomas Leahey was described as “a hotel keeper at Greenpoint.”	The place must have been rebuilt because Leahy is described as a hotel keeper a little over two years after the fire.
1896-07-28	“Thomas Leahy of Salina, a farmer, was arraigned charged by Special Officer Carey with cruelty to animals…”	Six months after his mother’s funeral Leahy was described as a farmer.
1897	William J. White, Greenpoint, Salina. Liquor license issued.	In 1894-02 a liquor license was issued to William J. White of 1722 N. Salina St.
1900 Census	William White listed his occupation as “Hotel keeper.” White was living next to Thomas Leahy who had formerly run the Greenpoint Hotel but was also a hop farmer. Leahy’s son William was a bartender, perhaps at White’s hotel.
1904-12-27	Mary A. Leahy died at St. Joseph’s hospital on December 26, 1904.
1906-06-09	Opening – Green Point Hotel – Snyder & Fadt, Proprietors
1906-06-22	“Miss May Leahy, daughter of the late Thomas Leahy, who *for years* conducted a hotel at Greenpoint, one mile north of the city line...”	The “late” descriptor was in error. Thomas Leahy and May were living with his son William at the Orton Hotel in 1910. Thomas Leahy died on March 19, 1934.
1907-03-11	Help Wanted at Green Point Hotel – Otto Schafer Prop.
1908-02-11	Convention at Green Point Hotel, formerly Leahy’s place, postponed. Thomas G. Child is the proprietor.	This was Tom Leahy’s replacement place since his original roadhouse burned to the ground in November 1893.
1909-06-01	Albert Jarvis Prop of Green Point Hotel – Dance & ice cream social.
1909-11-29	The Greenpoint Hotel is for sale. Located One mile North of Wolf St.
1910-01-11	J. Wheeler is the NEW proprietor of the Greenpoint Hotel. Will open the dance hall to the public free.	Is this the same guy who was at the Rural Inn?
1912-01-20	Greenpoint Hotel available to rent

1912-06-19	There were several articles about the fight between the Heinz brothers and the Merrell brothers that took place at the Greenpoint Hotel and the subsequent events. The Merrell brothers had taken George Shipman's (the Proprietor of the Greenpoint hotel) horse and wagon for a ride, without his permission, and then returned it. Afterward, William "Buck" Merrell remained in the barroom in hotel and was drinking. An argument developed between Buck and Shipman, early in the afternoon, over the earlier wagon incident and Shipman told Merrell to leave, which he didn't. While Shipman was out of the room Merrell was less than polite to Mrs. Shipman, who also told him to leave. According to one witness, at this point Fritz Heinze, who had also been drinking in the barroom, worked his way into the situation and the fight between Merrell and Heinze was on. Other witnesses say Shipman and Merrell started fighting in the barroom and then the three Heinze brothers, who had been outside the bar, came into the barroom and joined in the fight. A man named Bert Mara helped free Merrell from his assailants and Merrell left the bar and went to find his younger brother Fred and together they planned their revenge. The Merrell brothers returned to the Greenpoint Hotel, later that day, and in short order the Heinze brothers, the Merrell brothers and Shipman were in a brawl on the barroom floor. Mrs. Shipman, armed with a fireplace poker, chased some of the fighters out of the barroom and the fight continued on the front yard of the hotel. A Merrell brother-in-law, Dave Ranger (identified as David Chetwin in earlier reports), helped support his relatives. The Heinzes were getting the worst of it and so retreated to the rear of the hotel where they found a wood pile and saw fit to arm themselves with clubs selected from the wood pile. Their choice of weapon turned the tide of the battle and the Merrells and Ranger retreated after the Merrells had received near lethal beatings. They made their way down 7th North Street with the Heinze brothers close behind. The Merrells and Ranger were taken by Mrs. Ed Chetwin (see picture above) who then threw her body against the gate in the fence surrounding her house. This and probably a little battle fatigue caused the Heinze brothers to pull back and walk off down the road, headed for the city. The Merrells recovered and in the end the three Heinze brothers only received $10 fines each and six month suspended sentences. “Assistant District Attorney Chapman has received so many complaints of lawless actions in the vicinity of Green Point that he is determined to clean up the section.” [1912-06-19a], [1912-06-19b], [1912-06-20a], [1912-06-20b], [1912-06-21], [1912-06-26], [1912-06-28a], [1912-06-28b].
1912-11-05	George Shipman is the keeper of a hotel near Greenpoint. He pleaded not guilty to charges of allowing his place to become disorderly.
1912-11-27	“George Shipman, proprietor of a hotel at Green Point, was arraigned before Judge Ross on Tuesday and fined $100 or 100 days for selling liquor on Sunday. It was near his hotel that the Merrell-Heinz feud took place last spring.”
1916-02-01	Road House For Sale – Green Point Hotel – 14 rooms rent $25, House $187 year.
1920-10-19	UPPER 4-ROOM FLAT - And one lower 5-room flat to rent, on the corner of Seventh North and Buckley rd.; upper flat $15. lower flat $20. Phone James 11-F-13. A. J. Melvin.	The old Greenpoint Hotel was being rented out a residential flats.

After almost 10 years of inactivity the old Greenpoint Hotel rose again, reincarnated as Smith's German Restaurant.

This is a 1926 aerial picture of the Four Corners. North is up and Buckley Road is running SW to NE and 7th North Street is running SE to NW. In the northeast corner of this intersection is the most likely location for the Greenpoint Hotel. This was the corner of the intersection where Thomas Leahy owned land. The hotel related activities disappeared from the newspaper after 1916 and an ad appeared in 1920 renting out the old hotel as upper and lower flats. In 1925 Ward Smith opened the old hotel as a restaurant. It was during Prohibition so liquor couldn't be served legally.

Brewery Found At Smith's Restaurant

"1,000-gallon wildcat brewery, 24 barrels of beer and a large amount of bottling and racking equipment rewarded the search of federal prohibition agents yesterday afternoon in the cellar of what is known as 'Smith's hotel,' at the corner of Seventh North st. and Buckley rd. Led by Assistant Deputy Administrator Duncan F. Craig, the federal agents knocked at the door of the building and asked the man who answered if he had any objections to their going through the cellar. He let them in and in a walled-off portion of the basement they discovered the wildcat brewery." [1931-01-28]

Liquor License was issued to Ward B. Smith, in 1933, for an operation at the intersection of Buckley Road and 7th North Street.

Even World War II couldn't stop the good times from rolling on at Smith's Restaurant.

1951 Aerial photo of the Buckley Road and Seventh North Street intersection. Orientation: North is up.

The Last Ad for Smith's Restaurant - Late December 1959

After a 34 year run that included the Prohibition era, the Great Depression and World War II Smith's Restaurant finally closed its doors in 1960. None of the other "roadhouses" could match that longevity.

Trivet House – Northeast Corner of Buckley Road & 7^th North Street

Date	Description
1962-07-09	Opening of the Trivet House Restaurant.
1963-04-18	Cuban worker in the Trivet House kitchen dies.
1963-04-26	Herb Marsden was the owner of the Trivet House.
1964-10-09	Trivet House undergoing repairs
1964-11-30	Fire destroys the first floor of the Trivet House.
1989-12-20	The Trivet House name was changed in late 1988. The new name was the Four Corners.
1990-05-03	Help Wanted Ad – A cook
1991-May	The Four Corners was gone and construction was starting on the new and larger Chase Lincoln Bank office.

1966 – Aerial view of the Four Corners area. Up is North and 7^th North Street is running NW to SE, while Buckley Road is running SW to NE. On the right, at the northeast corner of the intersection of Buckley Road and 7^th North Street, is the newly opened (1962) Trivet House. Whether the older structure that was the former Greenpoint Hotel and later Smith's Restaurant was used, remodeled or replaced when it became the Trivet House is unknown, but the location was the same.

June 2011 - The current occupant of the NE corner of Buckley Road and 7th North Street.

NOTES:

[1893-11-27] - "Tom Leahey's Road House Burns at Midnight While His Family Sleep," The Daily Standard, Syracuse, NY, November 27, 1893.

[1912-06-19a] - "One Dying After Bloody Battle On City's Outskirts,"-Part 1,The Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, NY, Wednesday, June 19, 1912.

[1912-06-19b] - "One Dying After Bloody Battle On City's Outskirts,"-Part 2,The Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, NY, Wednesday, June 19, 1912.

[1912-06-20a] - "Mr. Merrell Interested," The Post Standard, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, June 20, 1912.

[1912-06-20b] - "Fresh Outbreak Feared In Feud," The Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, June 20, 1912.

[1912-06-21] - "'Buck' Merrell Is Too Dazed To Tell A Coherent Story," The Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, NY, Friday, June 21, 1912.

[1912-06-26] - "Hines Brothers Lodged In Jail," The Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, NY, Wednesday, June 26, 1912.

[1912-06-28a] - "Heinz Brothers Sentenced," The Post Standard, Syracuse, NY, Friday, June 28, 1912.

[1912-06-28b] - "Hines Brothers Fined $10 Each," The Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, NY, Friday, June 28, 1912.

[1931-01-28] "Raid Wildcat Brewery," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Wednesday, January 28, 1931.

Trivet House – Northeast Corner of Buckley Road & 7th North Street

Trivet House – Northeast Corner of Buckley Road & 7^th North Street