There’s no reason to go to Syracuse. Even the border guard made a face when I told him I was visiting Syracuse for fun. I only went because it was on the way to Seneca Falls to meet the cast of It’s a Wonderful Life. I suppose it’s a little stupid; I didn’t know how to pronounce the name of the city until I visited. It sounds like the grape Syrah- then the rear end of accuse.
There are, I think, three things going for Syracuse. The first can be found in its free county museum. Syracuse is in Onondaga County, which is where the Brannock device was invented and still is manufactured to this day. For those who don’t know, the Brannock device is the long metal thing shoe stores measure foot size with. For those who still don’t know, never mind.
Every Christmas, a giant decorated pine tree is erected in the middle of Clinton Square and a skating rink is mowed into shape just behind it. Facing Clinton Square are three old banks buildings from the mid-nineteenth century. The road in front of Clinton Square used to be part of the Erie Canal and had five toll booths called weigh stations. The weigh stations collected so much money that banks sprung up in Syracuse to keep all the money. From left to right they are the Merchants Bank founded in 1850, Syracuse Savings Bank founded in 1848, and Onondaga Savings Bank founded in 1855.
The third thing Syracuse has is a nice Museum of Science and Technology. I hadn’t visited, but I could tell from photos that it is better than the one in Rochester.
