Old Brutus Historical Society

Something to think about! It is amazing that Weedsport and the Town of Brutus did not grow larger or become more industrious considering all of the modes of transportation that have served us over the years. The granddaddy being the Erie Canal that ran along almost the entire length of the village and from the East side to the West side of the town that by it's completion in 1825 connected us with Buffalo and Lake Erie on the west and Albany and the Hudson River on the east.... The canal would close in 1917 to be replaced by the Barge Canal System on the north edge of the town locally using the Seneca River. By the 1850's railroad transportation had reached Weedsport and we would eventually have three class 1 railroads plus the electric trolley here. The New York Central with it's four track main line would connect us with over 11,000 miles of tracks to New York and Boston in the east to Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis and St. Louis in the west. On the North side of the village stood a beautiful passenger station on the south side of the tracks and on the north side were the freight house, a stock yard to handle cattle and a freight yard. The West Shore Railroad ran from Weehawken NJ to Buffalo right through the village with a passenger station and freight yard between South St. and South Willow. The Lehigh Valley Railroad Ran through the village crossing South Seneca St. and having a station and yard where the masons have their hall on Rt. 31. The Lehigh ran from central Pennsylvania to Fair Haven Hauling millions of tons of coal to the docks at Fair Haven. The Rochester, Syracuse and Eastern electric line traversed the village from east to west with the passenger and light freight station on South Seneca St. across from the Presbyterian Church. After the line closed down in 1931 the station was used for many years as the Grange Hall and is now a private residence. At one time there were approximately 34 arrivals and departures of passenger trains daily here in Weedsport. Highways and roads that have evolved from country roads to today's paved highways include the New York State Thruway, State routes 34, 31, and 5 connect us to the entire country. If all of this were to be put on a map it would show that we were on the busiest transportation hubs in the state. It makes you wonder why we did not grow larger. Richard Weiczorek Town of Brutus, Weedsport Historian

Moving forward in time 50 years to 1981, Weedsport celebrated it's (150-Year) sesquicentennial with t-shirts and other village memorabilia. But again... without much fanfare...but in only 10 yrs. we will be celebrating the bicentennial (200th year) of the village...

On April 26, 1931, Weedsport celebrated it's first 100-Year celebration as an Incorporated Village. But, it appears it became a somewhat muted affair. Our newspaper search only uncovered two articles that mentioned Weedsport's centennial. A CAYUGA CHIEF article (below) says holiday planners hoped it would take place during the "-OLD HOME DAY-" celebration. But later articles did not follow up on this story. Another yearly celebration that Village residents looked forward to was "-THE FARMER'S PICNIC-". And both festivals did exist at the time these news article were published in 1931. While these festivals were well received, not much is really known about them. Maybe someone out there knows!! If anyone has any old stories from their Grandparents time - please share- Thank you.

April 9, 2021. Weedsport, NY. "When are stones not just stones"?... When walking through the south parking lot of Cook's Diner in Weedsport, you may or may not notice a row of large cut stones laying in the packed down dirt. These stones were near the old Agway brick building, which was torn down in 1980. This neat row of stones was actually the berm side of the Erie Canal!!! My Father (Don Atkins) told me about the stones being part of the Erie Canal as he had to deal with many of the large stones when he was building the Village DIner - now Cook's Diner - in the 1950's. Also, I spoke to Ezio Leonardi and he remembers when his Father was constructing their building, the wall of the Erie Canal was near the west side of their building (the gray building). If you can imagine a straight line drawn from the stones in my photos, you can see where the side of the Erie Canal must have been. It is closer to Seneca Street than you might think!

March 30, 2021. Weedsport, NY Ok, back to the West Brutus Street Bridge over the Erie Canal today. The first picture is from a post card taken from the west side, or from the towpath of the Erie Canal looking at the West Brutus Street Bridge. You can see by the post card how high in the air the bridge actually was. The second picture is of the bridge as we look north, down what today is Erie Drive (go figure) or Route 31. As I discussed in a previous post, look how much dirt..., etc. it took to fill the canal and also cover most of the first story windows on the 1875 brick buildings. The third picture is of a steam tug heading toward Port Byron and west on the canal. As we pointed out in the previous post, the little house still stands on Erie Drive today and the SAVE barn would be where the car wash now stands. Pictures three and four are taken from the brick buildings on the side of the canal. In picture four, look how the tug drops its smokestack to get under the bridge! Its truly hard to believe where this actually existed, but I am glad someone took pictures to document our past! More about the bridge next week - the death of the bridge - stay tuned! When we open back up, please come visit us at Old Brutus Historical Society, we have a lot of local displays concerning the Erie Canal. See more

GOOD NEWS FOLKS!! OBHS is beginning to re-open ever so slowly. Our Historian, Richard Wieczorek will "talk history" on Wed evenings from 5 to 7 PM. Please follow COVID guidelines by staying 6 feet apart and wearing a face covering. Also, we ask that you DO NOT TOUCH the exhibits. Stop by and ask him about your own family heritage.

Sorry...for everyone's health and safety...the Old Brutus Historical Society will remain closed for a while longer. Please check back here for updates. Thank you....

AND NOW FOR THE REAL THING...This is the actual film shown in local theaters to our parents and grandparents. This is Pathe camera footage of the Hindenburg Disaster from May 6, 1937 at Lakehurst Naval Airstation in New Jersey. We should remember that in those days we did not have television, so people went to theaters to get their news and entertainment. As we watch this film 83 years later, these scenes of the disaster are still powerful images. Thirteen of the thirty-si...x passengers died, and twenty-two of the sixty-one crew died; most survivors were severely burned. Also killed was one ground crewman, the civilian linesman Allen Hagaman. Ten passengers and 16 crewmen died in the crash or in the fire. The majority of the victims were burnt to death, while others died jumping from the airship at an excessive height, or as a consequence of either smoke inhalation or falling debris. Six other crewmembers, three passengers and Allen Hagaman died in the following hours or days, mostly as a consequence of the burns.

This last week marks the 83rd anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster, a fiery catastrophe we've all seen replayed dozens of times. Yet even now we still don't know for sure why the airship was desctroyed. Historians have continually debated the potential causes, but the lack of new evidencesince most of it was destroyed in the firehas made this task speculative. One thing is for certain: The Hindenburg disaster still fascinates us. This 2011 Hollywood film is probably the best recreation I have seen...

Today is May 8th, the 75th anniversary of V-E Day, the victory of the Nazis in Europe. Several displaced persons (DP's) came to settle here, including a very special couple from Poland. Below is a photo of Wolodymyr (Walter) Prokopiw and his wife Olga...known to most in the Village as "DOC PROK". I am sure an entire book could be written about Doc Prok. I have heard many stories about this humble man. Walter came to Weedsport in 1960 and served as Weedsport’s school physic...ian for many years while he built a large general practice at Weedsport, with his wife handling the clerical aspects of the office. While many knew him as a simple country doctor, most were not aware of his harsh war time experiences. When the Nazis marched into Poland, Dr. Prok was sent to a concentration camp to become the prison doctor. Despite his status, he endured harsh treatment. He reported having been beaten several times, and his ribs were broken. Another torture was having both his eye lids sewn open, something he would mention only in passing to his patients after the war. This photo was taken at a welcome luncheon when both Walter and Olga became naturalized as US citizens in Zanesville OH on Jan 09, 1957. After a long medical career, Dr. Prok passed away in 2001 at the age of 94. Both his wife and his mother are buried with him at the Holy Spirit Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Campbell Hall, N.Y. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE)

Some additional historical perspective comes from an article in the Rochester D&C from Dec 2, 1897 (Page 4). This is BEFORE the labor strike started and describes the canal repair work to be completed. Weedsport was certainly a busy place back then...