Munger Grist Mill

Recently donated to the Franklin County Historical and Museum Society by William Loring:

Handwritten on the back is: "Munger Grist Mill, Lower Park Street, Malone 1892"

From Seaver (1918), p. 450:

"A stone flouring mill, five stories in height, near the Gravell plant, which was begun by George F. Dickey in 1868 and finished in 1870, with the expectation that it would have an output comparable with that of the large mills at Oswego and Rochester.  It was too big a proposition for Mr. Dickey's means, however, and the property soon went into the hands of Henry A. Paddock.  About 1882 it was bought and run by A. Munger for a number of years.  For a time it did an ordinary country mill business, and after Mr. Munger's death was converted into an excelsior mill.  It burned in 1911."

The "Gravell plant" referenced was a slaughter house and pork packing plant north of the center of the Village of Malone.  (ibid)   Excelsior (wood wool) is a product made of stranded wood fibers - once used as protective packaging in wood crates and as filling material for bedding and furniture products, and now used as Easter basket grass, in cooling pads, animal bedding, erosion control and archery backstops.



1910 Season J.O. Ballard & Co. Baseball Team

From the collection of the Franklin County Historical and Museum Society (1968.239):

The J.O. Ballard and Co. Baseball Team

1910 Season

Back row (L-R):
O. Roda, sub; George Bradish, 2nd base; Vital Dumas, Left Field; Arthur Hickey, 3rd base; Cloophas Stone, Center Field; Nelson Desnoyers, 1st base; Archie Manson, Short Stop

Front row (L-R):
A. Girard, Right Field; Percy Jarvis, Catcher; Eddie Jarvis, Pitcher

This summer league consisted of employees of two Malone mills:  McMillan Mills and Ballard Mill.  The Ballard team took the 1910 season 4-1.

The 1910 Season:
June 25, 1910      McMillan 15/Ballard 14
July 9, 1910         McMillan 12/Ballard 13
July 16, 1910       McMillan 12/Ballard 19
August 10, 1910  McMillan 0/Ballard 4

Amateur and semi-professional baseball thrived in Northern New York for many years, as attested by this February 14, 1900 article in the Malone Farmer:

and this article about the Malone City League's 1915 season:

June 2, 1915 Malone Farmer

Longtime service of Ballard Mill employee

1914 Newspaper Article

Click to enlarge

From the Collection of the Franklin County Historical and Museum Society (1968.261.1)

Letter Transcription:

"March 13-1889 - March 13-1914
Twenty-five years
Began work Whittlesey & Co hired by J.O. Ballard March 13 1889 - Mr. Ballard I wish to thank you for your advice and good will which you have done to me in the past. I was a fourteen year old boy out of six graded school wearing my father [sic] pants turn up to the [knees] and sewed with white cotton thread to hold them up when you bean to fix me out, if you remember how I looked, for I have not forgotten my feeling when you give me a pair of pants and you still have not give me up but have got me with a good home which had it not been for your good will and kindness I could not of had. With a family and a debt on my shoulders and all alone to earn I hope God will spare you and me for more years to come so I may have the pleasure of working for you for more years to come and that your health may be of the best and that you can enjoy the world with the rest and that your business may be prosperous. I remain your obedient servant

Joseph L. Yops"

1926 Newspaper Article

 

Photograph probably of Joseph Yops and South Pearl Street Residence

Photograph of unidentified employees of Ballard Mill

From the Collection of the Franklin County Historical and Museum Society

(1968.234)  Photo taken Jan.8, 1932 on J.O. Ballard's birthday

Pictured:  C.L. Passino (22 years of service at Ballard Mill), Frank Boda (30 yrs), J.O. Ballard (45 yrs), Joseph T. Yops (43 yrs), H.E. Passino (30 yrs) 

Joseph Yops was one of a group of Ballard Mill employees who in 1933 again visited Capt. J.O. Ballard at his home at 150 Elm Street in Malone to wish him a happy 75th birthday. At that time, Yops had been continuously employed at the mill for 44 years.