It's known as a small suburb of Syracuse in the northeast Onondaga County town of Salina. The Mattydale area has been best known over the years as a great place to shop, and a community filled with friendly neighbors. And in this edition of Your Hometown, Brad Vivacqua has more about some of the historical highlights of Mattydale.
MATTYDALE, N.Y. -- It's only a small community on a map, but one that has always received much larger buzz. Although fewer businesses exist today, Mattydale continues to be known for its commerce and neighbors on and off Route 11.
"It's certainly a heavily traveled main road and there have been a lot of families that have made their homes and families here throughout the years," said Salina Town Supervisor Mark Nicotra.
This hamlet consisting of just two square miles of land was mainly farmland in the early 1900s. That's about the time wealthy cooper Francis Victor Matty would purchase and move to 90-acres of the land from Syracuse.
"It became Frank Matty's farm. Frank Matty also had a racetrack, raised horses. Grew corn, pumpkins, you name it," said Raymond Leonard, a Mattydale historian.
Matty would make a home on Route 11 where the Family Dollar store is today. He sold plots of his land that were developed into homes and businesses along with a popular theater.
Over time, Matty, who had a strong interest in education helped start an elementary school before his passing in 1939.
Another highlight Mattydale is known for is being the one time home of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum. Although Baum was born in Chittenango, he and his family resided for a number of years where Roxboro Road Middle School sits today.
"Some of the Wizard of Oz historians can pinpoint items in the book that can be placed back to his time right here so, it's probably a fact that people don't necessarily know about Mattydale but I think is certainly an important part of the history," said Nicotra.
Aside from history, many people have always known Mattydale to be a popular place to shop. Today many popular stores still exist -- like the Northern Lights Plaza. Still things aren't quite like they used to be.
"Northern Lights Plaza was WT Grants, you had Chappels Department Store, you had Franklin Furniture, Wilson's Jewelers. We had Acme Grocery Store in there, we had A and P Grocery Store in there, we had a lot of things going over there," said Leonard.
"It's kind of fallen off a bit but those were some of the places that were attrative to not only businesses but for the residents and people who were coming through to do some shopping and what not," Nicotra said.
But if it is still shopping or perhaps something else that brings you to Mattydale again --it's likely you'll be welcomed with open arms.