Massena N.Y. Town Museum - Part 2

I was touring the Massena Museum in its beautiful new building (see also Part 1, posted yesterday) and had begun where the oldest artifacts were displayed. Massena, New York was settled in 1792 by French lumberjacks and the town has a very long history, at least compared to the surrounding area, which some would say was frontier not too long ago:

This old diving helmet surprised me and looked, at first, out of place. But then I read the sign and understood that it was a U.S. Navy diving helmet, worn by a local man (James Bero) when searching for lost boat engines in the St. Lawrence River and cleaning underwater gear as part of his job for the ALCOA plant. Massena was an aluminum town and, to a lesser extent, still is:

One end of the room held old furniture and old clothing, including a military uniform (Civil War? I forgot to check). It had lots of photos, maps, tools and memorabilia from bygone days in Massena:

A woman's dress from long ago:

And a gas street lamp from the 1920s, which once brightened  Andrews Street in Massena:

And a lovely old desk. The display of old time, hand fashioned locks and latches just to the left of the desk was especially fascinating and, when I got home, I regretted not having gotten a closeup of it:

A Victorian Hunzinger/Eastlake style chair, dating back to 1870-1890:

Mother and daughter, out for a stroll. I don't know what era this was from, but it was looking to me like the 1920s or 1930s. Part of what fascinates me about such artifacts is that people kept them in such good condition for such a long time:

An old wheelchair:

I bet you don't know what this is. I don't suppose anyone does these days. It was a bottle capper from the Massena Springs Bottling Co:

Military uniform and a still - which caused me to wonder if they were displayed together for some reason, or just coincidentally. There was an antique sign on the still but I was unable to read the old handwriting:

A recreation of an old time general store.  The counter came from a local store, owned by "Honest John Serabian." But there was still more to see in the Massena Museum, and I'll post Part 3 tomorrow: