1900 Snap Shot

Snapshot of the Roadhouses on June 1, 1900

The immediate purpose here was to determine if Pard Orton was still living in the hotel portion of his old roadhouse or whether he had moved elsewhere. In the process the 1900 census provided a roll call of the roadhouse keepers of that time and they provided land marks for a census, which for most part, still did not record addresses.

Starting at Wolf and 7th North Street and heading north toward the railroad tracks

Hayes (Saloon Keeper) - 1900 NY Onondaga Salina  T623-1135-205B - Res 10, Fam 11

Eller (Saloon Keeper) - 1900 NY Onondaga Salina  T623-1135-205B - Res 14, Fam 16

Michels (Saloon Keeper) - 1900 NY Onondaga Salina  T623-1135-205B - Res 16, Fam 18

Orton (Landlord)  - 1900 NY Onondaga Salina  T623-1135-206A - Res 22, Fam 24

The other side of the railroad tracks heading north

Faatz (Saloon Keeper) - 1900 NY Onondaga Salina  T623-1135-217B – Res 264, Fam 289

Switzer (Gardener) - 1900 NY Onondaga Salina  T623-1135-217B – Res 265, Fam 290

Charles Skiff (Farmer) - 1900 NY Onondaga Salina  T623-1135-218A – Res 269, Fam 293

Horace & Hattie Hallock - 1900 NY Onondaga Salina  T623-1135-218A – Res 274, Fam 298

This was a one-block street, sometimes called an alley, one block east of Wolf Street.

    Susan Ostrander (Maud Wilson) - 1900 NY Onondaga Syracuse WD01  T623-1135-284A; 106 Gannett Ave.

Hayes had taken over Pard's old roadhouse so it's obvious at this point that Pard had moved out. Eller was a block down the street running his own roadhouse. Michels was running a small place that seldom made the news.

Pard Orton was no longer living at his old roadhouse based on the 1900 census sequence shown above. His old roadhouse had been sold to James Hayes in mid 1899. Orton was probably living on Wolf Street close to the railroad overpass. Orton’s occupation was listed as “Landlord” even though he had no real boarders. Living with the 64-year old Pard was a 27-year old widow named Johanna M. Baker and she was described as a “House keeper.” The only “Boarder” was Johanna’s 8-year old son, Guy.

On the north side of the railroad overpass, Faatz had taken over the Watering Trough location, renting the roadhouse from the Mrs. Switzer, the widow of the previous owner who had committed "suicide" in a rain barrel. Skiff was located north of the Watering Trough and is included as a landmark to determine the direction of the census enumeration. The Hallocks had purchased the burned down Rose Lawn mansion that had been turned into a roadhouse. They were in the process of constructing a replacement structure that would later be known as the Rural Inn. Horace and his brother James were in the construction business and had constructed and owned the Iron Pier on Onondaga Lake.

Susan Ostrander was the infamous Maud Wilson. She and her "husband" Henry King started a roadhouse on the Cicero Plank road where the Liverpool Road (now West Taft Road) intersected it. In late 1899 they were still running the place but at the time of this census (June 1, 1900) they had left that business and were living in First Ward and Henry was working as barber.

The Maples didn't arrive until the 1920s. Young's Roadhouse was damaged by fire in November 1897 but was repaired and was being offered for rent in April 1900. Frank Young’s saloon wasn’t in operation until about 1905. The Clarendon House being run by Mollie Young had been destroyed by fire in July 1890. The Greenpoint Hotel had been burned down while it was being run by Leahy in November 1893 and was rebuilt and Leahy was still running it in 1900.

There was an earlier Wilbur House that was located across Main Street from the better known Wilbur House, on the east side of the street. The construction of the second Wilbur House was started in December 1893 and it was being run by Clark Wilbur in 1900. The Parker House was taken over in 1894 by Charles J. King and he was still running it in 1900.