Thank you to Beth Crawford and David Rudd for the time and research they put into their presentation at our 2023 Annual Meeting - The Arts & Crafts Movement in CNY, Stickley’s Eastwood factory, & their influence on Eastwood.
Eastwood History & Notable Sites Map
Eastwood, "The Village Within The City," has a lot of interesting little tidbits of history, memories, and unique and interesting places - points of interest in a walkable, village-like setting.
Looking for a painted mural on an old brick building? We have four (five if you count the one that is covered up by another building.) Do you know where they all are?
How about discovering where there used to be an old speakeasy during prohibition? The building is no longer there, but you've probably walked passed it many times.
Or how about borrowing a book at one of the many Little Free Libraries scattered throughout our neighborhood? You'll find those here as well.
Did you know that the 24-second shot clock used in basketball was invented at The Eastwood Sportscenter? Don't know where that was? You'll have to look on our map to see if you can find it.
Have some fun looking over the many plotted out points of interest in our little Village in the City.
We’ve done our best to credit image sources. If you see a citation missing, please let us know at info@eastwoodneighbor.com.
This map is optimized for viewing on a phone. For better viewing on a desktop computer, click the box in the upper right corner to “view larger map.”
In 2023, funded by a Gifford Foundation “What If” grant, we’re partnering with Eastwood’s own, David Haas, owner of @SyracuseHistory Instagram account, to document stories about Eastwood’s past & present. If you want to share your ‘Eastwood story,’ email David at davidhaaswmw@gmail.com.
Eastwood Past & Present Interviews
Winter 2023: Volume 4
Born to George and Anne Chase in 1946, Peggy was the first of four children. Peggy’s parents met while they were kids living across the street from each other on Beech Street. Her father’s family, the Chases, eventually moved to Baker Avenue on the Southside while her mother’s family, the Hopkinses, moved to the “country,” which is how they described their home in Eastwood on Stafford Avenue. At that time, Eastwood was not part of the City of Syracuse and was a semi-rural area with a growing population on the outskirts of the city. The Hopkins family established a strong nucleus near Stafford with extended family living in their home and nearby on Midler and Melrose.
Despite the move, George and Anne remained close. The two eventually dated, married, and moved into an apartment on Tyson Place in Eastwood where they started their growing family. The children attended Blessed Sacrament School and her father worked for Carrier while her mother was a stay-at-home mom.
At the end of this year, Margaret “Peggy” Chase, will close out a decade long-run as Eastwood’s representative on the Onondaga County Legislature. It wasn’t always Peggy’s intention to be a community leader when she was elected ten years ago. Her lifetime of hard work and passion for Syracuse gracefully caught the interest of Mark Stanczyk, the then County Legislator for District 9, which includes Eastwood. With a little encouragement and faith from Mark, Peggy ran for office and was elected. “I thought everyone would ask, ‘Why is this old woman trying to lead us?’” she said, recalling, “I didn’t expect to win.”
Peggy’s story begins in Eastwood.
When the Chases felt it was time for a house, they looked in Eastwood, specifically on Ridgewood Drive. The home that won them over was constructed in 1919 and was one of the earliest houses built on the street. The house was just what the family wanted – a house with charm, close to family, and big enough for all six of them. They put in an offer, but as the sale neared completion the owner had a change of heart. The Chases settled on a different property located on Kinne Street in East Syracuse. Peggy and her brothers transferred to Saint Matthews School.
The Chases still longed for a home in the Eastwood community, though. In 1953, Peggy says her family was out looking at empty lots on Ridgewood Drive one afternoon with hopes of building on the street. The owner of the home they nearly bought three years earlier was outside and recognized her father. She asked if he was still interested in purchasing her home – the answer was “yes!”
The family purchased the home and moved in right away. Peggy and her siblings returned to Blessed Sacrament School and spent their youth in Eastwood. Peggy recalls seeing all the empty lots in and around Ridgewood. “In the winter months, we would sled on all the hills that are now streets. Clover Ridge was one big hill,” she said, “That wasn’t even a street, we used it for sledding and playing.” Peggy recalls the days when there was really no need to leave Eastwood. “Everything was here, everything was within walking distance. You could go from Shotwell to Thompson without needing to leave for a thing.”
During her teen years, Peggy attended St. Vincent's High School. Upon graduating in 1963, she had ambitions to become a doctor. Le Moyne College was recently established and was offering a pre-med program. A college with religious affiliations and close to Eastwood, Le Moyne was an easy choice for her college career.
Peggy’s Confirmation
Upon speaking to her college advisor about her goals, Peggy was told that becoming a doctor would, “be taking a man’s job away from him, and to instead consider becoming a nurse,”. Peggy said, “I wasn’t happy about it, but I listened.” She enrolled at Upstate Hospital and within two years graduated with a nursing license. Peggy continued her education and received a BS in Nursing Education from SUNY Oswego, and later an MS and eventually a PHD in Education Administration from Syracuse University. Peggy worked at Upstate Hospital until taking a job as the supervisor of the ER at St. Joe’s Hospital and later moving on to Community Hospital, where she worked for more than 20 years until retiring in 2008. She maintained a teaching role at SUNY Morrisville for a few more years.
By the mid-70s, while working for Upstate Hospital, Peggy purchased a small home on Skaneateles Lake. Life was set. With the death of her parents, her father in 1975 and her mother in 1986, her plans would change. Her mother left Peggy their family home and Peggy had to make a decision – to move back to Eastwood or sell the family home and remain in Skaneateles.
Peggy’s College Graduation
“I couldn’t bear to sell the home. I wanted Eastwood, and I chose Eastwood,” Peggy said. Peggy moved back into her childhood home and has lived there ever since. “I think my mother knew I would need this home to take in family members at various times,” Peggy said. “All my brothers have lived here at different times as they needed support, along with my nieces.”
When I asked what is different about Eastwood today, she said that neighbors don’t know one another like they once did. “There were block picnics, backyard gatherings, and 30 kids on each block. Today, there aren’t as many kids and I don’t know my neighbors like I once did,” she said.
“One of my favorite things about Eastwood is the TNT and ENA meetings and events. You have the chance to see everyone and be involved in your community. That is special and Eastwood is unique in that sense”, she said. Peggy added, "The main reason I didn’t want to stay in Skaneateles was because there was no neighborhood feeling. Eastwood is a true neighborhood.”
Near the end of our interview, I asked how she feels stepping down from her role on the County Legislature. Peggy said she has mixed feelings about leaving, “I’ll miss my constituents, but the district maps have changed and it’s time,” she said. When I asked if she could change anything, including choosing to live in Eastwood for all these years, Peggy responded without hesitation, "Nope, I would choose Eastwood."
Fall 2023: Volume 3
The name John Smith has long been used as a pseudonym. A way to conceal someone’s identity when privacy was needed. The name has often been associated with, “the average name for an average person.” But Eastwood’s John Smith does not fall into these categories. His name is common, but the person behind the name is not.
I recently interviewed John for our third installment in my newest series titled, “Eastwood: Past and Present,” for the Eastwood Neighborhood Association, in which I interview a current neighborhood resident to share their connection and history with the Eastwood neighborhood.
I drove to Wendell Terrace, just shy of Eastwood and near the Sedgwick area, to interview John. John was recently honored for his 60 years of involvement with and volunteer work for the Eastwood Community and I knew I had to sit down and speak with John to learn about his love for the area.
Born in 1929, John grew up on Shotwell Park. His father was a lawyer and his mother was a housewife, as he said. He was the youngest of four children – three sisters and himself. As a child, John attended Huntington Elementary School, walking to class each day and spending time in the outdoor pool behind the school. While reminiscing about his childhood days, John sang an old nursery rhyme that triggered a memory for him: “Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie, kissed the girls and made them cry.” Do you remember those lyrics,” he asked? “I had to sing them on stage as a kid and kiss a girl on the cheek and then run off stage!”
Following Huntington, John’s parents enrolled him at Christian Brothers Academy in Dewitt. Here, John excelled as an athlete, playing football. Upon graduating, he enrolled at Syracuse University and joined the football team in 1948. When I asked how college went, John said, “not great,” as he grinned.” John only spent two weeks at Syracuse University, before leaving the school. “It was just way too big for me,” he said. Although his time at SU was brief, his relationship with football would follow him for most of his life.
John transferred to a school in Pennsylvania and then to Binghamton University to complete his college career. While in Binghamton, John lived with his uncle who was an undertaker. John thought he would follow in his uncle’s footsteps, but he eventually returned home to Syracuse and started a job as a traveling salesman. “I went door-to-door selling brushes, and I loved it! I loved selling and I was good at it. I knew all the tricks,” said John. “Always sit lower than your customer, let them stand over you and feel like they have the power. I brought a suitcase with me on every sale and sat on the suitcase looking up. It works more often than not.”
His successful sales career eventually led him to Sears Roebuck just outside of Downtown Syracuse. He started in the plumbing department, then moved to the automotive department installing covers on car seats. He also worked at a Metropolitan store where he would meet his wife, Josephine. John would tell me that Josephine worked as a soda jerk when they first met. “I sold items in the back of the store and she would give me ice cream at the end of the day. She won my heart through my stomach,” John said with a laugh.
When the couple settled down, they purchased a home in Eastwood, on Hillsdale Avenue just a few streets from where he grew up on Shotwell. John would eventually begin working for Midstate Equipment before branching off on his own and starting a successful business – JC Smith INC., a construction equipment company that still operates on Peat Street today.
The couple would have four children and decided to stay in the area. “There was no place better to raise kids than in Eastwood,” said John. “That was true back then and is still true to this day.”
In 1961, when his children became old enough to play organized sports, John realized there was not a football team for them to join in Eastwood – so he started one. “Eastwood High had the mascot of a bear, so I said, why not keep with the theme and I founded the Eastwood Bears youth football team.”
The league started by playing on different fields in the area that were underutilized at the time. The children would practice in a grassy area on Grant Boulevard, in front of the Shop City Shopping Plaza. They would also play at Eastwood Heights, Huntington Elementary School, and Cummings Field.
Despite their nomadic existence, the Bears gained popularity and many children in Eastwood joined the league. John’s family would be extensively involved throughout the years. His wife, Josephine, worked concessions and coached the cheerleaders, his sons played on the team, and his daughter did cheer.
After 30 years, John wanted a home for the Eastwood Bears with a proper field and clubhouse. He had already begun to coach the sons of his former players and felt they deserved their own space. In 1994, he petitioned the City and got approval to call Norwood Park their own. What the park did not have was a field or a clubhouse. “I took a two-year sabbatical from work and spent my time building the field and clubhouse,” said John. Utilizing his contacts in the sales and construction industry, John had Norwood Park built at no expense to the City. The league grew to eventually have ten teams of all ages with more than 400 kids from Eastwood. Due to the park’s improvements, Eastwood launched a softball and lacrosse league, as well.
John stayed coaching the Eastwood Bears until 2021, a total of 60 years with the organization he founded. When I asked John why he coached for so long, well after his children played, he simply told me, “Because I loved it.” You might think that John’s fondness for football also inspired him to continue all those years, but he laughed saying, “I did not really care about the sport. I just cared about the kids. I wanted to be involved and I wanted to stay involved in Eastwood and our children.”
In August, the City of Syracuse thanked John for his service to the community by renaming the Norwood Park football field the “John C. Smith, Jr. Fields at Norwood Park.” Although he is not officially involved anymore, last week, John’s son Jeff, drove John to the field to watch the now Eastwood Grizzlies practice from his car. The team’s name was changed to mark the end of an era when John retired.
When I finished my interview with John, I began walking out the door and remembered I never asked him about his personal favorite football team. A college athlete and football coach of sixty years, why didn’t I ask about the Bills, Jets, or Giants? I turned back towards him and inquired. John remarked quickly, “My favorite team? The Eastwood Bears.”
Spring 2023: Volume 2
“There is no other place I ever wanted to be.” Those are the words of Joan Decker, the second subject in my newest series titled, “Eastwood: Past & Present,” for the Eastwood Neighborhood Association, in which I interview a current neighborhood resident to share their connection and history with the Eastwood neighborhood. Her words ring true as told through her life in the neighborhood.
Joan turned 90 years old this month and for all but six of her 90 years, she has lived in the Eastwood area. For those six years, she lived in East Syracuse.
Joan’s unique connection to the area is that she has lived in many properties throughout Eastwood as a child. So many, that she has a hard
time giving an exact number. “My father never owned a home,” she said. “He was a fixer-upper man, so he would rent a property and fix it up for the landlord and then be moved to another home to fix. I have lived from Teall to Thompson and everywhere in between,” she said. When reflecting upon her childhood in Eastwood, Joan remembers playing at a home on Mosley Drive. “I would play Nancy Drew with my friends. We used to get a newspaper and look for a crime to solve. Somedays there were no crimes in the paper and so we had nothing to solve.”
Joan met her husband, Bob, while attending Blessed Sacrament School on James Street as a child. Bob was a couple years older than Joan and was one of her brother’s classmates. As Joan recalls, she thought of Bob as a “doofus.” “He was a photographer and he took photos of all the sports teams – of all the guys that I had a crush on,” Joan said. It was not until later that she spent time with Bob while out at a summer camp that she realized she was mistaken. “Our parents were friends and so we were spending time together and I realized he wasn’t a doofus, he was wonderful. He asked me on a date, and the rest is history.”
Currently, Joan lives on Plymouth Drive in her husband’s childhood home. This house has been in the Decker family since it was built in 1927. Together, the couple had six children, which garnered 15 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren. Joan’s adult life was spent working for businesses like Goodyear, Central City Business, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and being a stay-at-home mom.
Bob and Joan’s first apartment shortly after marrying was in the Grant Village complex near Shop City. After marrying, Joan wouldn’t compromise on where they would live. When I asked Joan what had kept her in Eastwood all these years, she reflected heavily on her family and her beloved parish, Blessed Sacrament. “It was important to stay close to Blessed Sacrament and all the happenings in Eastwood. The church and school were the nucleus of my life,” Joan said. Two of her children are staples of the longstanding educational and faith traditions at Blessed Sacrament. Bobby Decker, the Facilities Manager, and Mary Lynn Giacobbe, the Music Director.
Joan and Bob sent Bobby and Mary Lynn, along with their other children, to Blessed Sacrament School. The children and Joan made many friends in the neighborhood through their involvement with the school and parish. The couple would organize neighborhood dinners and cocktail parties for the Eastwood neighbors, fostering friendships and further strengthening their ties to Eastwood. Back then, neighbors would take turns hosting dinner parties. “Eventually we had to drop the cocktail portion since on some occasions we never got to the dinner,” Joan said with a laugh. The parties were hosted from the 1970s until the early 1990s – up until Bob’s health deteriorated.
Bob passed away in 1999. Joan recalls telling Bob that she could not believe they were going to see the year 2000 – but, he died that very night.
When Joan looks back upon her life, she says the happiest time was when her children were teenagers and she had a full house of energy, noise, and laughter. “Those kids did things, they had fun, and my greatest joy was watching it all happen with Bob.”
As Joan looks ahead, she says she is not sure what is to become of the Decker family residence. It is still the family home where all the holidays and big celebrations take place. Joan held back tears as she noted that she hopes the property can stay in the family, but there is no set plan just yet. As Joan says, she hopes to be lovingly “carried out of the home,” when the time comes. To keep her memories alive, the family has asked her to write down stories and answer questions about her life through a platform called “Storyworth.” The website was created to preserve loved ones’ meaningful moments and memories through prompts. The answered questions are then made into a book. Joan’s book is expected to be printed and published later this summer.
As I closed my conversation with Joan, I asked her what she thought was different about Eastwood today than the Eastwood she grew up in. She told me this was a difficult question. “What this community has done in an ever-changing world should be celebrated. Eastwood is different, but not in a bad way. Life is challenging, but Eastwood is doing very well in the crazy world we are living in and if I had to pick a place to live again, I would pick Eastwood each and every day. I love my Eastwood.”
Winter 2023: Volume 1
“Sure, I can talk, I LOVE Eastwood.” Those are the words of Kathleen Godlewski. I called Kathleen to take part in my first interview for our new column, Eastwood: Past & Present, in which I interview a current neighborhood resident to share their connection to and history with our community.
My name is David Haas and I am a local storyteller who has lived in Eastwood my entire life. This new column will focus on folks who have lived in Eastwood for many years. I want to find out, what is it about Eastwood that kept them here for so long or that got them to come back. You can expect to see this column in each quarterly newsletter.
Kathleen’s story starts on Shotwell Park. She was born in 1961 and lived at 143. She was the sole daughter in a family of six children. She attended private school locally, enjoying both Blessed Sacrament and then Bishop Grimes. After graduating, she married and started a family of her own while working in the medical field. Her first house was on Craton Street. For those with a map nearby, this technically falls just outside of
Eastwood near the Lincoln Hill neighborhood, but we will give her the benefit of doubt!
A few years later, Kathleen learned there was a home for sale on Shotwell. The owners has been spending a lot of time in Florida, and Kathleen's parents hinted that if she reached out to them, she might be able to purchase the property. She did and she and her husband, Charlie, moved back to Shotwell Park in 1989 to raise their three daughters on the block where she grew up.
“I wanted my children to have the childhood I enjoyed on Shotwell,” she said. “It’s a wonderful street for a family and we had so much fun growing up there. We had so many big families with a lot of kids – we went out the door in the morning and came back at night.” Kathleen said she keeps in touch with so many of those friends she spent time with in her childhood. She can remember swimming at Huntington, walking to Schiller Park and riding bikes all over Eastwood. Kathleen was proud that many of the activities she participated in as a youth, she was also able to experience with her children such as enjoying the holiday parades, walking for ice cream, seeing movies at the Palace, skating at Sunnycrest and visiting Paine Branch Library. Kathleen and her family were also instrumental in getting the Shotwell area closed from traffic during the July 4th weekends so the neighborhood could host block parties.
Today, Kathleen has settled on Luddington Street in the Arlington Heights area of Eastwood. For a brief period, she had moved to Camillus in 2014, but life circumstances brought her right back to the area she calls home in 2015. Her children have grown and she has since sold both her home and her parent’s home on Shotwell Park. Kathleen remarks that the similar joys of Eastwood and her youth still bring a smile to her face today. “I love seeing the kids’ on my block bouncing along the street. The best sound is the kids out having fun – little things like that bring me joy and show that Eastwood is thriving and alive.”
Kathleen was also quick to comment on all the improvements she has seen in the business district of Eastwood, on James Street. She says Eastwood has “rebuilt itself through new energy. I love the innovative venues! Found Things, the Curd Nerd, Cracked Bean, the restaurants, there is so much excitement in the area.”
Last year, Kathleen was diagnosed with breast cancer and began treatments. She gives credit to the support from neighbors and many lifelong friends that she has made in the area with her positive recovery. With additional treatments, doctors believe she will be 99% cancer free this June.
On most days, you can find Kathleen walking the neighborhood with her little companion, Aniya – the adorable dog you see in the photos! Be sure to say hi to Kathleen and Aniya next time you see them enjoying the community.