The Martin's Address

     I've been studying maps of Manchester, New York today, still trying to figure out the correct address for Patrick Martin who I wrote about in the earlier blog below this one.  I believe I now have the answer!

     Looking at the 1904 map, Merrick Ave. (marked with the red X) ends at the King property.  Today, Merrick is a much longer street, it follows the red dotted line.  Clearly, when Patrick and Anna lived on the property in the left corner (with the green X), you could not get to their hotel/saloon from Merrick Avenue--you had to access the establishment from Main Street.  I'm convinced the dotted line leading to their their little corner was an access road, like the one shown in a horseshoe shape by the saw mill in the lower right corner, and that is why the 1900 census gives their address as Main Street.   
     Today there is also a road that runs west from Main Street along the southern boundary of the Martin property, apparently an extension of the saw mill road.  The horseshoe shape is no longer there, nor is the saw mill. That road now runs straight along the Martin lot before meeting another road leading past the old roundhouse.
     It's surprising how much a village can change over the years, and not that many really.  In 1892, twelve years before the map above was drawn, the Lehigh Valley Railroad had elected to build their freight transfer yard in Manchester.  The LVRR was a major carrier of freight and passengers in the Northeast and the yards were huge.  The little village of Manchester experienced a population explosion as workers flooded in which resulted in the need for more housing. Hence the expansion of Merrick Avenue and other areas.  It's all  gone today--the tracks, the buildings; for the most part only the deserted roundhouse remains, a silent reminder of Manchester's heyday.