I discovered that the letter was written by Bradford Chase, who was born on Dec. 29, 1809. Bradford had moved to the town of Van Buren in Onondaga County, where he met pioneer Gabriel Tappan, one of the town’s first settlers and its very first supervisor. Here Bradford married Gabriel Tappan’s daughter, Emeline, before settling down to a life of farming on the outskirts of Baldwinsville. But, I wanted to know where. So, I looked further and found more.
Bradford Chase died on March 30, 1893, after spending the last 50 years of his life on his 50-acre plot of land. Later that year, his third wife, Caroline, sold the farm. The first buyer sold it a short time later to someone else, who didn’t keep it very long either. That’s why the farm was known thereafter as the “Chase Farm,” at least until another family came to stay for 67 years.
On April 2, 1902, Albert Johnson and his wife, Harriet “Hattie” Hay Johnson, bought the farm from Willis Cornell. It apparently kept its former name for at least a few years, because the following year, a classified newspaper ad for a stud boar referred interested parties to “Albert Johnson at Chase Farm.” By 1910, Albert and Hattie Johnson’s family included children, Walter, Sarah “Delilah,” Harriet “Hattie,” Mabel and Albert, Jr., who was born on Sept. 7, 1904.
Albert Johnson, Jr., who farmed with his father, began keeping a ledger in 1920. It records all of the income and expenses of the this family farm through 1930, which in addition to produce, eggs and dairy products, also sold farm implements and equipment to area farmers. Local folks with names like Connors, Crego and Loveless bought machinery, fertilizer, grass seed, vegetables, milk, butter and eggs at the Johnson Farm.
Albert Johnson, Sr., died in 1927. Albert, Jr., married Vera Rice, daughter of Anthony and Luella Rice of the town of Lysander, on July 3, 1929. Two years later, Albert’s mother, Hattie Hay Johnson, died. Albert and Vera Johnson inherited the 50-acre farm. In addition to helping her husband manage his family farm, Vera taught at the Wright’s Corners Rural School in the town of Lysander. The births of son, Victor, and daughter, Marilyn, followed in the 1940s. I was fortunate enough to track Marilyn down in Norwich, where she’s been known as Marilyn Carley since her marriage 50 years ago to David Carley of Manlius.
Marilyn Johnson Carley has vivid memories of life on the farm. “We had registered Holsteins. For breeding purposes, my father wanted our farm’s registration to read ‘Tamarack,’ in honor of the big tamarack tree in our yard. But, it was already taken, so all of our cows were registered under the herd prefix ‘Tam-Rack.’ We also had a vegetable stand on the farm. It was pretty makeshift compared to those of today, but it was a busy spot right there on Route 31. We sold sweet corn, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage and cauliflower. Later in the fall, we sold pumpkins and winter squash. As a kid, my father would let me manage the pumpkin sales. I would sort them into two groups, one for pies and the other for jack-o-lanterns, and then sort them by size before selling them.”
Marilyn continued. “I went to the South Side School on Canton Street through the fifth grade. Then, I was in the first class that attended sixth grade in the new Van Buren Elementary School, which opened in 1957. That was the same year that the Ford tract was completed on land that had been Jim Ford’s farm. His house faced Division Street, where he had a walk-in cooler for the strawberries and asparagus that he grew in the 1950s. We knew Jim and Kate Ford quite well. They married late in life and never had any children, but they loved them.”
Marilyn’s older sister, Ellarie, died a few years ago, and her brother, Victor Johnson, moved away from home, too. He still owns the Skan-Ellus Drive-In on Route 20, the old Cherry Valley Turnpike. Through their grandparents, Anthony and Luella Rice, the three Johnson siblings are related to many other farm families in the area, including the Abbotts and the Bitzes. One first cousin, Luella Abbott Oakes, has very fond memories of their father, her Uncle Albert Johnson. Luella explains that “Marilyn’s mother and mine were sisters. My favorite memories are of summers spent on the Johnson Farm. Uncle Albert would always treat us. He kept ice-cold root beer in the milk-house cooler for those hot summer days. And when it got really hot, he would load us into the pick-up truck and drive us to Mud Lake to swim.”
On July 13, 1968, Albert Johnson, Jr. passed away in the house in which he was born nearly 64 years earlier. His death left Albert’s family in a bit of a quandary. Clearly, Vera couldn’t manage a 50-acre farm on her own. Both Ellarie and Marilyn had married and were busy raising families of their own. And Victor, the only son, had no interest in farming long-term. So, what would become of the Chase-Johnson farm?
This was a typical question faced by many farm families of the time, including those located right here. The town of Van Buren comprises about 36 square miles or about 23,000 acres. In 1860, it had a population of just over 3,000 people. Most of these folks were farming, because about 17,000 acres or about 75 percent of the land was under cultivation at that time. One hundred years later, the population of the town of Van Buren had tripled to just under 9,000 people. But, very few of these folks lived on farms by 1960, because only less than 3,000 acres or just 12 percent of the land was being used for agricultural purposes.
So, Vera Johnson made the difficult decision to sell the family farm to commercial property developers from Syracuse. It’s easy to understand why developers focused at first on the town of Van Buren and not on the town of Lysander. Nearly all of the recent residential development in the Baldwinsville area, like Seneca Knolls, Harbour Heights and Village Green, had all sprung up in the town of Van Buren. In fact, the Urban Development Corporation had not yet announced that the town of Lysander was their preferred site in all of New York State for a new planned community of unprecedented size and scope. Known first as Lysander New Community, it would later become Radisson.
Instead, these Syracuse businessmen jumped at the chance to develop a prime piece of property on the corner of Downer Street Road and East Sorrell Hill Road, known today as Meigs Road. On May 22, 1969, the Baldwinsville Messenger announced that, “Plans for an extensive multi-million dollar shopping center and housing complex were presented to the Village Board at its meeting Monday night….The shopping center, complete with a seasonally air-conditioned, enclosed mall, would encompass the area bounded by Downer St. and E. Sorrell Hill Rd., formerly the Albert Johnson farm….In an interview yesterday, Mr. (Mayor Raymond) McCarthy was enthusiastic concerning the possible development…‘These men (the developers) know what they are doing. They are no fly-by-nighters, but have planned carefully and well. The shopping center would be similar to Fairmount Fair, but more modern.’”
On Aug. 14, 1969, the Messenger quoted the developer as stating that “in looking over the projected population increase in the area for the next 20 to 25 years, it is probable that the mall would be expanded from the presently proposed 175,000 square feet, to include a chain department store, a theater and additional individual shops. The plan as it now stands might include a junior department store, a supermarket and several small stores, totaling about 25….After several years of investigating different properties within the towns of Van Buren and Lysander, it was decided that the ‘Johnson Farm’ parcel best filled the necessary requirements for a mall-type development.” But, the shopping center was not yet a done deal.
The Messenger reported on the same day that, “Over 80 village residents overwhelmingly opposed a petition for rezoning the former Albert Johnson farm, Downer Rd., at a public information meeting held by the Village Board Monday night.” One concerned resident commented that they were “not against growth, but felt that the plans as they were presented were “wrong.” Another stated that she was “curious as to what all this money is going into. We have almost all we might want right here in the village…We need another supermarket like we need a hole in the head.” The village board, “acting on the tenor of feeling expressed, postponed decision until further studies are made concerning the proposed development of a mall-type shopping center on the property.”
But, you already know the end of this story. The Chase-Johnson Farm became Tri-County Mall, may it rest in peace. In fact, in the same year that Tri-County Mall was born, two other sweeping changes occurred nearby. Construction was completed on the Route 690 bypass, and developers bought the Arthur Ranger farm further west on Downer Street Road to build River Mall.
This 50-acre plot of land once represented a community’s chance for greater prosperity in 1969, just as it supported Bradford Chase’s family and three generations of Johnsons over the years. Tri-County Mall may be an eyesore today, but we shouldn’t lose hope. Folks who live in the apartments just above the old mall tell me that they see more turkeys and deer every year. Just as the animals are beginning to reclaim the land, perhaps the plants will do likewise. Regardless of its ultimate fate, we can all agree on one thing. When we stand nearby and close our eyes, we can all imagine the strange mix of hope and regret that Bradford Chase felt when he wrote that letter back in 1843.
Looking Backward will appear in the Messenger every other week or so, as long as there are stories to tell and the spirit moves me to tell them. If you have questions about this story or suggestions for future ones, including any local historical images or information, please contact me via e-mail at bvillehistory@earthlink.net.
Albert Henry Johson, Sr., and Hattie Hay Johnson, circa 1925, who bought the Chase Farm in 1902.
