Springing Back to Life

If you love spending time outdoors you may have visited the Great Bear Springs Recreation Area, just a few miles south of Fulton on old Route 57. I’ve walked Great Bear’s trails many times and always enjoy the company of towering trees, the meandering Oswego River and a variety of birds in song. On my walks I’ve often noticed a small abandoned building alongside one of the trails and wondered about its origins. Recently I learned some of the building’s history from Dick Drosse, one of the Friends of Great Bear.

Dick explained that the weather-worn structure was Great Bear’s Spring House, which played an important role in the water bottling company once located at the site. At the height of its popularity the company drew 100,000 gallons a day from the area’s natural springs and shipped it across the United States. That all started in 1894, but the Spring House didn’t become part of the company’s bottling methods until 1912, when its pipeline across the Oswego River had to be discontinued so the New York State Barge Canal could include the river in its waterways system.

To maintain Great Bear’s successful business, the company’s founder and owner, Frederick Emerick, had to devise another method of collecting water from the springs. Part of Frederick’s plan included the construction of a spring house, which would be designed to act as a pumping station. Frederick’s son, Stanley Emerick, a graduate of Yale’s engineering school, sketched out his father’s plan, creating a small “house” with a water reservoir capable of holding 2,000 gallons. Tankers transported water to local railcars and then shipped it to bottling sites throughout the northeast.

While Great Bear’s Spring House worked as intended, Frederick Emerick and his son weren’t looking for just an ordinary pump house. Stanley modeled theirs using Italian architecture he’d admired, elevating their water collection system to a work of art. Included in its construction were a Mediterranean-style clay tile roof, decorative corbel ends to the rafters and an interior finished with mosaic tile. In the center of the building, a tiled well circulated spring water.

For decades, water collected at the Spring House and bottled as Great Bear Spring Pure Water was a popular product. Then, in 1976, the city of Fulton was looking for a reliable supply of water for its 14,000 residents. A deal was struck between the city and Great Bear and the water bottling company discontinued its business, selling its name and polar bear logo. (Today it’s owned by the Nestlé Company.) Methods to collect and distribute water to the city of Fulton modernized and the Spring House was discontinued. Forty years later, the once beautiful structure was in disrepair.

Enter the Friends of Great Bear, a not-for-profit volunteer group who currently maintains the site. Since 2006, the Friends have been working to make a hiker’s experience safe and pleasurable. Their projects have focused on keeping trails clear of fallen trees, posting trail signs and building walkways over water and marshy areas. Last year, however, the group turned its attention to its first restoration project, The Great Bear Spring House.

In January of 2018, Fernando Araya, Great Bear Friend and arborist, began cutting and clearing encroaching trees around the House. By April, Friends volunteers, including Exelon employees, cut and cleared brush in the Spring House area. Funding necessary to begin the costly renovations was secured from Frederick Emerick’s granddaughter, Helen Emerick Stacy, and great-granddaughter, Pat Stacy Healey, as well as the Sunoco Ethanol Facility and several Friends of Great Bear. With materials and labor provided by Arrow Fence, Universal Metals and Friends of Great Bear, the Spring House’s restoration could begin.

Jake Mulcahey, co-owner of Pinnacle Builder, and his children enjoy hiking Great Bear, and he offered to repair the Spring House, beginning with its deteriorated roof. The original roof tiles proved too expensive to replace, but green metal roofing nicely complimented the white building. New rafters and sub-roof sheathing were installed where needed, and exposed rafter ends and soffits were painted.

With the roof now weather tight, Jake and his crew removed the Spring House’s inner broken ceiling and replaced it with moisture resistant sheetrock. By reviewing old photographs Jake was able to reconstruct the collapsed portico entranceway, corbel ends to the rafters and the compound curvature of the gable. Window openings were framed and fitted with clear Plexiglas. As autumn approached, the Friends of Great Bear gave the Spring House’s exterior a fresh coat of paint. An entranceway gate and metal sculpture were provided by Arrow Fence and Universal Metals.

One more step in the revitalization of the Spring House remains. This May, the Leadership Oswego County class of 2019 will add finishing touches to the house’s site. Leadership Oswego County is administered by SUNY Oswego’s Office of Business and Community Relations and its goal is to help county residents become community stewards. During the yearlong program class members study county businesses, educational institutions and government agencies, and a culminating project helps the class put their knowledge to work. This year’s class chose Great Bear’s Spring House.

Leadership Oswego County’s project includes the planting of native flowers and a tree donated by PlantCNY in the Spring House area, which, as Rebecca Trevett, of the 2019 class, explained, will fulfill the following: “Our class plans to breathe new life to a small portion of this community’s wonderful backyard oasis, Great Bear, [which will] forever bring a wellspring of joy to everyone who visits this local, invaluable recreation area.”

The next time I take a walk on Great Bear trails and come to the Spring House, I’ll pause to remember the history of the grounds I’m standing on. I’ll thank the forward-thinking individuals like Frederick and Stanley Emerick, the kindness of their descendants Helen Emerick Stacy and Pat Stacy Healey, and the many Friends of Great Bear, who have devoted their time and effort to making our walks there memorable.

The Great Bear Recreation Area’s Spring House has recently been restored.

The Fulton Elks’ Rich History

One of my favorite childhood memories is Fulton’s May Day celebration. Often the first outdoor event of the year, May Day is a weekend of amusement rides, contests, yummy food and entertainment. But for decades the most exciting part for kids has been May Day’s bicycle giveaway. When I was in grade school, each spring students got a ticket and if you were a lucky winner, you got a new set of wheels to carry you through the last weeks of school and straight into the long summer.

May Day was the brainchild of our local Elks Lodge, which planned those fun events and raised money to pay for the shiny new bikes. Fifty plus years later, I still remember the excitement as April turned to May. A book recently loaned to me explained how May Day and the Elks got their start.

The book, “History of the Order of the Elks” begins in 1868, in New York City, where a group of actors regularly got together at a tavern. Often out of work, the men found ways to support each other during lean times. When money was more plentiful the group helped others in need, and soon they formalized their gathering into an official organization. When it came time to name their group, the men narrowed their choices down to two: the bison and the elk. In a slim margin of victory—bison, seven votes, and elk, eight—the group became the Elks.

The lodge’s original charter rules still ring true today. In part they state that the Elks are “an organization of American citizens who love their country and desire to preserve its cherished institutions; who love their fellow man and seek to promote his well-being; and who love the joyousness of life and endeavor to contribute to it, as well as to share it.”

That first New York City group became known as Lodge No. 1 and as the Elk’s popularity spread throughout the country, those Lodge numbers grew. In 1903, a group of Fultonians started Lodge # 830, pledging to abide by the Elks rules.

There was, however, one Elks rule which is no longer true today. For decades, all Elks Lodges were exclusively male organizations. That changed on a national level in the 1990s. Current Fulton Lodge Secretary, 35-year member Dean Salisbury, showed me records from the Lodge’s history. Dean explained: “In our city, Patricia Kitts was its first woman member, back in 1997. A few old-timers dropped out because of the change, but including women has really been a benefit to the Lodge. Women who’ve joined here do so for the same reason the founders started the Elks: to help our community.”

Dean shared more about how the Fulton Elks serve our area, including their support for veterans, helping local cemeteries maintain their grounds, a youth hoops contest, a soccer contest and a college scholarship program. “For many years,” Dean noted, “our youth programs won awards on a national level.”

Along with talking with Dean, old newspapers helped me learn more about the Elks, including its May Day program.  Beginning in Fulton in 1951, May Day originally invited high school and grammar school students throughout Oswego County. The weekend began with a “parade featuring local school bands, color guards, firemen and auxiliaries, veterans’ organizations, fraternal organizations and industry taking part.” The second day of the event offered its first All-American Soap Box Derby, with winners of the local contest heading to Akron, Ohio, for the national derby.

By the time I was old enough to hope I’d win one of those bikes, the mid-‘60s, May Day was a must-attend event for kids. A 1964 newspaper article noted that invitations had been sent out to the city’s CYO, YMCA, Scouts and schools. Children were invited to take part in the Youth Day Poster and Essay contests, with cash awards for the winners.

By 1972, Elks programs for Fulton youth were expanded to a full week. Included was a City Government program, where students visited a Common Council meeting to participate in municipal business. By the end of the week, Saturday, there was the usual ceremonies and contest and, of course, the 12 bicycles to be given away, two for each elementary grade level.

While talking about the Elks’ history in Fulton, Dean Salisbury gave me a tour of the lodge, located on Pierce Drive. “We’ve been here since 2002,” he said. “Before that, actually since the early 1900s, the lodge was on South First Street.” On our tour, Dean pointed out the fireplace and chandelier that were brought over from the Elks’ original location.

Also on display were brass memorial plaques, which listed over 100 names of original Fulton members, their date of induction and date of passing. Another artifact on display was a series of signatures from famous visitors to our local lodge over the years, including President Theodore Roosevelt, Governor Thomas Dewey and composer John Phillips Sousa. “They would be boating down the Oswego River and stop at our Fulton locks,” Dean said. “If they were an Elk in their hometown, they’d sign in at our lodge.”

On the day I visited the Elks, lodge treasurer Silvan Johnson was at her desk paying bills. I asked Silvan why she and her husband Paul joined 10 years ago. Her answer echoed the lodge’s founding ethics: “We joined to be able to give something back to the community, to be part of something bigger than just us—to help people.”

Dean agreed, “I wanted to use my time on something worthy, something to help my community of Fulton.”

As the Fulton Elks begin their 68th year of May Day, which will take place May 3 and 4 at the Lodge on Pierce Drive, I take a moment to remember the lodge members who’ve been providing support for Fultonians of all ages.

This 1982 photo show lucky Fulton children who won bicycles at the Elks’ annual May Day celebration.

Coach Tom Carroll

Our teachers and coaches are among the most important role models who guide us through childhood and, from time to time, I like to feature one in this column. Today I’m remembering Tom Carroll, a Fulton physical education teacher and coach. Among the many young people who Coach Carroll worked with are three Fultonians and lifelong friends: Doug Blake, Steve Janas and Mike Pollock, who shared their memories of Tom Carroll with me. But before discussing Tom specifically, we talked about those influential adults in general.

“We looked up to all our coaches,” Mike said. “They each brought something to our practices that helped shape the players we became.”

“During our football years our coaches were Roger Neilson, Buck Godici, Floyd Boynton and Tom Carroll,” Steve explained.

“They balanced each other out,” Doug said. “One of the things I remember about Coach Carroll was his sense of humor. He made it fun—and football practice is not fun.”

To find out how Tom Carroll developed his coaching style, I needed to learn about his life before working with Fulton students, and Tom’s son, Tim, shared some details about his father’s younger years. Tom was born in Watertown, but his family moved to Fulton when he was a child and it was during his school years here that he participated in several sports, including football.

Around the time of his high school graduation, Tom and his friends were hearing about the escalating Korean War. They all signed up to serve in the military, with Tom entering the Marine Corps. The GI Bill provided him an education at Ithaca College, where he continued his passion for sports as a member of their football team. Tom then had a long career teaching and coaching, including in Mexico and then in Fulton.

It was as head coach for Mexico’s football team, beginning in 1961, where Tom honed his coaching skills. In his first season, though in previous years they’d struggled to win, Mexico went undefeated in Oswego County. I asked Tim how his father turned the team around so fast.

“Dad brought his training from the Marines to coaching,” Tim explained. “He developed a strong practice schedule and expected the team to follow his rules. I heard a story about a couple of his Mexico team players getting caught smoking. Dad’s punishment was to make them smoke a bunch of cigarettes with a bucket on their head, so they’d get a full exposure to smoke. He’d learned that in the Marines.

“But Dad wasn’t only about hard and fast rules; he was also a peacemaker of sorts. He was able to talk to people, often talking them down when they were angry. When we lived in Mexico, I remember hearing from my bedroom window an upset mother who’d come to confront my father late at night. She thought her son wasn’t getting enough playing time on the football team and was yelling at my dad. He brought her inside, got her a cup of coffee and talked with her to help her better understand the circumstances.”

Tom brought his successful coaching strategies to Fulton in 1967, where he taught physical education and health and became an assistant football coach. “The coaches taught us the elements of the game,” Doug said, “and Coach Carroll knew his X’s and O’s. But he was also easy to talk to. He got his point across without being mean.”

Like many coaches, Tom cared about his players beyond the football field. “When I graduated high school, I wanted to go to Ithaca College and play football,” Steve remembered. “Coach Carroll put in a good word for me at his alma mater.”

Tom’s interest in helping others went beyond school. “Dad had service in his blood,” Tim said, “and he found many ways to serve. He’d struggled with drinking and got help for himself, then took a job with the Employment Assistance Program, where he counseled others who were struggling. He was also a man of faith, which got him through a lot of his trials, and he became very involved with the church.

“Dad made sure we kids went to Mass regularly, including holy days. I remember being on the baseball field in the middle of a game and Dad showed up to take me to Mass. He motioned me to come off the field and, even though my coach was yelling at Dad to keep me in the game, I knew my father wouldn’t budge. But Dad also believed that if you got to church before communion you could leave right after communion—it was about the sacrament to him—so I was back on the field and had only missed a few innings.”

Tom also coached the high school’s golf team, a sport for which he had a lifelong passion. After retiring from teaching in 1973, Carroll became an unofficial ambassador at Fulton’s Battle Island Golf Course, often helping others improve their lives beyond the golf greens. Tom’s friend and coworker, Sonny Allen, shared this story at Carroll’s funeral, in 2009:

“I would visit him at Battle Island where he was the starter. A starter is responsible for determining where and when a person can begin his golf game. Many times someone would be upset with his position in line or scheduled time to go. By the time he left the first tee, Tom would have the person relaxed and friendly.”

When Tom’s health declined, he was visited by many fellow teachers, former students and friends. Among them were Mike, Steve and Doug. “We went together to see him,” Mike said, “and we had some good laughs remembering our football days. But we also knew that Tom was a coach who saw what sports could mean beyond the playing field. He showed us how to be teammates, but he was teaching us more than that. He was teaching us about life.”

Tom Carroll, a Fulton teacher and coach, is remembered in today’s column