July 1, 2022

OSWEGO – Fort Ontario State Historic Site presents its next “History on Tap” meeting featuring Oswego City Historian Mark Slosek at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 6. Admission is free for the presentation in the Riverview Room at G.S. Steamer’s Restaurant in the Clarion Inn, 70 E. First St., Oswego.

Slosek will show a PowerPoint presentation of photographs and images of the east side of the city of Oswego before and after the 1960s urban renewal movement. Many of the photographs were taken by his father, Tony Slosek, who was also Oswego City Historian, just before buildings and entire city blocks were torn down.

Mark Slosek is a retired school administrator and former history teacher whose career in public education spanned 39 years of service with the Fulton City School District. He received his B.A. in History and Education from Niagara University, an M.A. in History and C.A.S. degree in School Administration from SUNY Oswego. Mr. Slosek spent thirty years of his career at the Fulton Junior High School, first as assistant principal and then as principal.

As Oswego City Historian, Slosek maintains active membership in several organizations including the Association of Public Historians of NYS, APHNYS Tri-County Municipal Historians Association (Region 8), member of the proposed Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, the Oswego County Municipal Historians Association, the Heritage Foundation of Oswego, the H. Lee White Maritime Museum, the Oswego County Historical Society, Friends of Fort Ontario, and the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum.

For more information on the “History on Tap” program, contact Paul Lear at 315-343-4711 or paul.lear@parks.ny.gov. Updates and program information will be posted on the “Friends of Fort Ontario” Facebook page.

THE WAY IT WAS – A Frank Barbeau photo of the J&K Boiler Company, which began serving the Oswego community in the 1940s and was owned by James Tesoriero. The buildings pictured were on East Second Street in Oswego. Later, they were torn down and the lots were used as parking for the Oswego Midtown Plaza and now for the East Lake Commons apartment complex. The photo was a calendar submission by Dave Tesoriero.