Medina High School - Mirror Yearbook (Medina, NY)

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C O N T E N T S if Qfltliiiiiiisttfettioiz, . . . . 12. Cletsses . . . I9 .Ait'i11ities. . . . . 34 Athletics . . . . . 44 Feettiitfes . . . . . 49 I Advertisements. . . . 56

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r..w.?.. PURE ORD EARBooKs come and go, and with them marches an endless procession of themes. Some are awkward conscripts from remote lands and subjects, others are natural and suitable volunteers. This year's theme is in this latter battalion. The Medina of the past is, and should be, one of the most interesting subjects to the citizens and the younger sons and daugh- ters of this village. In the 1936 Mirror the editors have endeavored by drawings, maps, and articles to re- capture some of the fading and perhaps completely for- gotten early Medina. Besides these features, the 1936 ' 'Mirror contains a complete and enduring record of the school year, omitting no phase of student activity. To present these two subjects has been the dual aim of the Editors.

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A il ssassga. 5 in ':1:s:r: ff- iu-: 1 15-3 :Q T 3- S1 r.- 7 H. -L ,Q 512254 2: V' M' HWWEMN axial 1 duwwaywibd -Q-F' --W' Ltig T I 2 yfa- F- s- 5 l . ' 2 Q 4-12 ' ' M 'A xi Q 3 0, I H 7 - f gli Q ig,-:fir . l 2- ,-f-f' 'ff E.Al IaY Log cabins and rude huts made up the first Medina. Until in 1822 Mr. Eggleston, a not too scrupulous contractor, arrived to build the Erie Canal through this section, the future site of Medina was an uncleared woodland. A deep- rutted road that ran from the flourishing village of Barne- gat, or Shelby Center, to Ridgeway was the only trace of civilization. In the train of this canal builder followed fifteen frontier drifters and three barrels of whiskey as working capital. Quickly others of the local settlers were hired for the pro- ject. These men were forced to hew out crude dwellings similar to the one in the illustration to shelter them on their three-year digging task. Soon, in the cluster of cabins about the canal at the foot of Shelby Street, now Main Street, the center of frontier life, a tavern, arrived. This elegant and luxurious hotel, kept by Uri D. Moore, was a structure of logs and rough hewn timbers. With the com- ing of the tavern, Medina was on its way. vkvkflf Not only was the Erie Canal the direct cause of the found- ing of Medina, but it was also one of the chief factors in its growth and prosperity. The stream of commerce that moved on it ranged from black rascality, negro slaves, to all kinds of commodities-all passing through Medina. Moreover, the raceways, which supplied it with water, furnished an excellent source of power for mills and manu- factories, which was first utilized by David E. Evans. In 1825 this man laid the foundations of a stone flour mill, pictured on the left, on the present site of the Bignall plant. Gwinn's Mill, as it was known from the man who soon acquired it, was connected with the canal by a navi- gable raceway behind Shelby Street on the east side. Canal boats would unload their grain at its elevator. This was the forerunner of a long line of mills of every sort from Hedley's saw mill to Becker's oil mill. Pkilsbk Simeon Bathgate, an emigrant from Scotland in 1788, was the founder of one of Medina's chief industries. About 1829, the town's first foundry was built in Center Alley, now Main Street Alley, near the raging Erie. This building, depicted on the left, served for about forty-five years until it was burned. It was the pioneer in a leading phase of Medina's economy. Pk Pls Pk Medina grew rapidly. Although it was not the mushroom 3' -4' IL E -.5-i ' A gi M a : ' -:-'94,-M. .. Y ff 'lE?311'- - , ,iaiiefgfgas-'H - .F's:-..-se'.42. .- ? g:' 1 .-:..1: -.,f...-., rr .155-554-'f:: 2- - U -' - - .. .. 5 L i ! I p I 5 : 2 2- .. .4 s f- E E: I- f N 2 1 aes Ni 5 1 fr-'A Z , . ,- 6