Remembrances of Mills and Petrie Memorial Gymnasium, Parish, N.Y.

Remembrances of
Mills and Petrie Memorial Gymnasium,
Parish, Oswego Co., N.Y.

by Lewis A. DeGarmo

If you grew up in Parish, NY, chances are you have fond memories of the Mills and Petrie Memorial Gymnasium. It has been in existence since 1925, when it was dedicated to the village of Parish. Maybe you attended a basketball game in 1926, or learned to shoot pool in the 40’s, or roller-skating in the 50’s, or Ping-Pong and bowling in the 60’s and 70’s.
The recreation committee took a step back in time when businesses of Parish got together and honored SF Mills and NA Petrie with a dinner, and a reenactment of the dedication on December 22, 2000, to reminisce of times gone by.

Many thanks to Mary Lou Guindon, Parish Town Historical Society, for sending this in, and Mr. DeGarmo for his wonderful memories of Mills and Petrie Memorial Gymnasium, and photograph of the State Bank in Parish.

Mr. DeGarmo was unable to attend the reenactment of the dedication of Mills and Petrie Memorial Gymnasium on Dec. 22, 2000, due to a family gathering. He was disappointed to miss this opportunity and wanted to share some of his memories with those gathered for the occasion. The Town Justice Harold Wert read DeGarmo’s recollections at the reenactment.

I remember looking in the window of the gymnasium as Mr. Petrie was being
honored. I remember his white hair and handle-bar mustache. There were three of
us looking in – Lewis A. Wood; Lewis A. Henderson and Lewis A. DeGarmo. We
three young men thought that the people inside were really something because the
only place we had eaten out was the Street Car Diner in Syracuse where a meal
was 75¢ to $1.00, a hamburger sandwich 10¢ and ice cream was a nickel a cone.

I remember seeing on this occasion Bob Mosher, Elmer Cottet, George Weaver,
Hadwen Fuller, Dr. Davey, Frank Miller, B.J. Morgan who was the druggist and I
think Mayor of the village or else A.J. Mosher, W.B. Harter, James Gray, Leslie
Gray and Harold or George Allen and also their wives. We couldn’t go in to see
who else was there, but these people we saw as they were going into the gym for
the big event and festivities. This was probably one of the most spectacular
happenings of our young lives/ Also, A.C. Cottet and W.C. Richards, NYS
Compensation adjusters were present to experience the event.

I well remember the time that the rollerskating rink, the basketball court and volley
ball court were in the gym and the pool table and table tennis or ping pong table
were upstairs. There was also a room upstairs to play cards in where the present
Mayor Lillian Harter’s office is.

There were places for spectators to watch the games. When they were playing
basketball they had the referees on a little shelf on the East side wall of the gym.
There was a horse shed behind the gym which would probably accommodate a
dozen horses.

Lewis Wood, Rowlan Bulson and I used to set up pins for 5¢ a game on Friday
nights for the leagues. We could not have the windows open because the men said
it was too much of a draft, but the air was blue with smoke from cigars and
cigarettes and we suffered.

Rowlan Bulson and I earned our first new bicycle. It cost me$29.95 form Sears
Roebuck mail order. It was a cadillac of bicycles, double handle bars, double
forks, and double cross bar.

State Bank, Parish, N.Y. As I grew older and had a position in the State Bank of Parish I well remember this: a man from Ashton Illinois who had worked some with the Mills & Petrie Estate, so he knew most of the ins and outs, came to Parish and contacted Mr. Fuller who was Cashier of the State Bank. Some of the people thought that the community was going to get more money, so Mr. Hammel (I believe his name was), was entertained most graciously. He gave the people the impression he had to go to New York on Petrie business. He obtained some money, I don’t know how much, from a few local people because he was running short. Mr. Fuller thought it was rather odd that he didn’t have an expense account, so he called the Petrie attorneys in Ashton. They said he was a fictitious individual and a plain crook and they were looking for him and to try to hold him for the law, but Mr. Fuller had already taken him to Syracuse to put him on the train. Later the man was caught in the New England states, I think Vermont, and had a free ride back to Illinois to face charges.

(Early years at State Bank Parish, N.Y.
- Mildred Snell, Gail Davey, Catherine
Gannett, Art White, Lewis DeGarmo)

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