When Veterans Day comes about, I like to feature on the Lock 52 Historical Society Facebook page a couple images of a group celebrating Peace or Armistice Day. These were found in the collection of materials that came from the old Port Byron Telephone Company, and written in the border area was what they called “Peace Day”. What I enjoy is that through these snapshots, you can get a sense of the celebrations that were erupting around the land as peace was declared to end World War One. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the warring sides lay down their guns and in effect, ended the war. So I was delighted to get a third image to share when Barbara VanDetto donated some images to the Society, and I instantly recognized the photo and the caption. It was a truly rare find, and we will now have three to feature on Veterans Day. (An correction here since I wrote the column for the paper. There are two of the same, but I never realized that until I wrote this post. It is just that the captions are different. Plus you can see more detail in one. Someone made copies. Are there more out there? So not so rare, but interesting all the same.) Here are the other two that came from the phone company collection.

I did some digging into the digital files to see if the local paper said anything about the events. I was very happy to find an article about the event. Unfortunately, the copy is very poor and half the article is a blur and non-readable. The headline states, “Monday A Joyous Day. All Port Byron and Many from Surrounding Towns Turned Out to Celebrate Victory”. John Joy, Arthur Carr with his drums, and Louise Orlando with her cornet began a parade marching through the village. The school was closed and the children let out. Businesses shut their doors and joined the parade. Businessman James Hearn handed out flags to everyone. The parade “was a riot of national colors”. After gathering in the village triangle, plans were made for a evening celebration and all the local towns and villages were invited to attend. The paper states that it was the largest gathering Port Byron had ever seen.

In 1918, it was simply Peace Day for those who were happy that the war had ended. In 1919, President Wilson named November 11 as Armistice Day, while other countries called it Remembrance Day. In 1954, and following World War 2, President Eisenhower renamed it Veterans Day, to celebrate all those who had served in all the wars.

Barbara also donated a roll of Super 8 movie labeled as “Fireman Parade”. I get very excited when a can of old movie comes into our hands, as you never know what you will see. It really is like Christmas morning when the digitized files come back from the processor and I get to see something that hasn’t been viewed in years. Sadly for us Port Byron folks, the movie captures a Fireman’s Field Days in Weedsport and other events. I am sure the older folks will recognize a face or two, and I hope people make comments to help us out. Our philosophy is that history is for everyone, and we are always happy to share our new discoveries. So the film has been posted on our Lock 52 YouTube channel so that our neighbors and everyone can have the chance to view it. The highlighted link will take you to it.

The Port Byron Erie Canal Heritage Park has wrapped up another year, and it was another successful season. The reviews and comments from the visitors reflect the dedication of the staff and volunteers. Person after person comment on how our people are so friendly and knowledgeable. Over 16000 people visited the Park this year. So I was saddened to learn that the Village and Town had decided to turn down the canal rewatering and trail connections grant that would have helped to make plans on how to get some of these people out of the Park and into the village. It is a lost opportunity and I fail to think how else the local politicians can help turn the fortunes of the area around if they can’t make use of this large gift. Most places would be so happy to make use and build upon such a large and very visible attraction, and yet we seem to be doing our best to ignore it.