Today I'm takin y'all a trip with me down memory lane to my birthplace of Massena, New York.

When I was a child, my favorite place to visit was the Seaway Visitor Center at the Eisenhower Locks.

Queen Elizabeth visited here one time, too.

I wasn't there to meet her, but I can introduce you to someone who did.

It's funny how people think that history is boring.

But do we even know what's going on inside these pages?

It's still being written, and it's packed with wild stories and unexpected twists.

Im here to tell you the stories behind the history Its complicated, messy, and and oftentimes bizarre and strange.

You are about to learn that this is not your average history lesson.

I'm Christine Darrow, but you can call me: Before the seaway construction on the Saint Lawrence River, the region was one of the most underdeveloped in the state.

After the Seaway and Power project opened, the area set records and income, employment savings and consumer spending.

So what spurred its construction?

Iron ore.

Iron ore was discovered in Quebec and became the driving force t build what was originally known as Robinson Bay lock, later renamed the Eisenhower Lock after President Dwight Eisenhower finished his term.

As part of the Wiley- Dondero Canal its construction facilitated shipping iron ore from Canada to steel mills across the United States.

The first blast, which began construction of the St.

Lawrence Seaway, took place near Montreal, Canada, on November 17th, 1954.

The seaway construction brought 22,000 workers to the area.

My grandfather, Howard Ross, worked on the project and he remarked that it was the first time he ever saw a traffic jam in Massena.

By 1955, the population had nearly doubled within a matter of months.

Worker and their families needed places to live, shop and play.

New housing was built by Seaway contractors and offered to engineers at reduced cost.

Most workers rented rooms in private homes or local motels boarding houses and apartments.

It seemed like any loca with an attic or an extra room hung up for rent sign in the window.

Workers had money and wanted to spend their hard earned dollars in town.

Once quiet streets were filled with traffic, new stores, dancing halls and taverns packed in crowds of shift workers 24/seven.

Meanwhile, the Eisenhower and Bertrand Snell locks were built to bypass the Long Sault rapids on the St.

Lawrence River, enabling ocean vessels to access the Great Lakes.

The locks lift the ships, allowing them to navigate the river elevation changes and a direct route to the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean.

Who better to explain this than Walter Cronkite?

Well, basically the problem is this to move a huge oceangoing ship from here, uphill by water, all the wa to the ports of the Great Lakes.

How is it being accomplished?

Well, first of all, the long climb from Montreal requires a system of locks.

Locks that can literally take huge ships upstairs.

Here is how they work.

The ship enters the lock.

The gates are closed.

The water is pumped into the chamber to lift the ship up to the level of higher water upstream.

When the water in the loc is raised to the upstream level, the upper gate is opened.

And the ship steams off Thanks, Walter.

These locks were specificall designed to bypass the rapids, allowing large ships to avoid shallow and rocky sections of the river on their journey to the Great Lakes.

This significantly reduced the shipping costs for bulk commodities.

With a brief history of the events leading to the Eisenhower Locks construction and an understanding of how it works, I visited with town historian Kelsey Charter in Massena, where we discussed the dignitaries in attendance and the center's vast collection of mementos from the Queen's visit.

We have some memorabilia from, the Seaway.

Also, the CIA, in conjunction with the Queen and other, politicians at the time.

We have the newspaper archives, but also, pictures from the ceremony.

We have a bunch of legal documents, maps, in brochure type tourist stuff and, a model of the seaway that was shown to Congress.

So did any of these foreign dignitaries or even officials from Washington stay in the Massena area?

Nixon did for one night.

He came in the night before and then stayed the night.

The Queen didn't stay that long.

Yeah, she was on her yacht, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

She stayed on the yacht.

She basically wen right back on the yacht, and lef along with Eisenhower as he was there as well.

Well, not Massena.

Yeah.

In Montreal.

Okay.

Right here we have, like a timeline kind o history of it that was released.

Not, it's more like, a book of quotes, I guess.

This is the congressional report from the time that gave authorization to build the canal, which was really important because that was going really slow.

These two here are like tourist brochure, kind of.

What will you do in Massena?

What should you do?

These are the newspapers from the day.

It was front line news.

People thought it was a really important day for commerce and a lot of stuff.

So it was covered very extensively.

This is a National Geographic magazine.

Probably the only time Massena has ever been in the National Geographic.

But, it kind of just goes over, what happened and why it's important.

And these are, memorabilia from the time about, Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth.

This is from when she was crowned Queen, but was only spread around Massena during the seaway.

Looking at these photos with Kelsey, it's clear to see that the Queen's visit was a truly momentous event in Massena's history.

Let's hop into my time machin to meet Queen Elizabeth herself and experience the grandeur of the opening of the St.

Lawrence Seaway.

Today, various goods, including grain, manufactured goods and other bulk materials pass through the seaway, contributin significantly to the Great Lakes St.

Lawrence region's economic activity.

In fact, if this were a country, it would be the third largest economy in the world.

This region supports maritime activity of nearly one quarter of a million U.S.

and Canadian jobs, and generates tens of billions of dollars.

The seaway supports the region with over 100 local jobs, and has opened the new Seaway Visitor Center to the community in 2023.

Now, this is a far cry from the visitor center that I grew up with.

The Seaway Visitor Center now welcomes tens of thousands of visitors each year from all 50 states and at least 20 countries.

While the visitor center provides the opportunity to catch the lock work in action if you catch a ship passing through, it also offers a number of educational exhibits detailing the story of the Seaway and the Eisenhower Lock.

Inside, you can watch a film in the theater discussing bot the visitor center and the lock.

Test your skills loading a weighted freight ship, but don't tip it over.

Or try navigating a freighter into the lock in an interactive video game.

Inside is where we also caught up with Dolly, who at 92 years old, is recalling serving at Queen Elizabeth's luncheon during her trip to the area.

so I'm here with Dolly, who worked at the Queen luncheon over at the Cornwallis.

And we're going to start by first talking about what was that day like for you when you did you get a phone call?

Were you contacted in person?

How did you get selected to serve as a waitress at the Queens luncheon?

Well, Edith Fritos, at the Cornwallis, sent one of my girlfriends that I used to work with, Simon and her husband, and their little boy came over and she says I'm here as a messenger and Edith wants to know if you want to come and wait on the luncheon for the Queen.

And, I looked at my husband and I says, if George can take care of the kids, I will go.

I had three little bo at that time.

And, he said, go ahead.

I'll babysit.

So I went to wait on the luncheon and On my record, you know, I had to be made sure that all my... I would just say papers had to be sent to Police and checked to make sure I was ok to wait on that luncheon, and then, it was about a month to go before the lunch.

And then after that I just went 6:00 one morning, well, I was told to show up for and start out pitching in and just like all the other waitresses and done my thing and and get ready for the Queen, which she was late.

Of course she had to be, she went to one of the rooms and had tea sent to her roo because she had to prep up and, you know, before the luncheon and, after that, when they came down, we were all prepared with the at the fruit cups, ice cube, fruit cups on the tables and waiting for them to just walk in.

And I just waited on them and everything went fine.

No mishap by nobody.

There was about 12 of us, the waitresses and everything Went like a clock.

So can you walk me through what it was like?

What time you woke up that morning?

What was running through your mind as you got ready for work that day?

Nothing.

I was just... I worked there before.

I did it for three years.

So, I mean, it was not as if I was doing it for the first time, you know?

And, I was glad just to be when I called my old friends and old waitresses and a few new ones, you know.

What was running through your mind the first time you sa the Queen enter the dining room?

I thought it was quite an experience.

I enjoyed that you know, I would have been foolish not to go, because just for curiosity.

Were you starstruck?

No, because, I mean, all these years, she was my queen, you know?

So it's just like, you know, it was nothing.

It's just that I was glad that I could experience this.

Yeah.

So you weren't nervous at all?

No.

And you weren't caught staring at her?

No, not at all.

You know, when you wait on tables, that's your work.

You go do what you have to do, you know?

So were you given any special instructions?

Like any rules, any do's and don'ts?

No.

All we were told.

Well, they told us to work.

Of course we knew what we had to do.

I followed the leader.

You know.

So was there any, like, instructions beforehand?

Like proper etiquette?

Like not to talk to the queen, not to bother the dignitaries that were there?

Well, waitresses don't do that.

It just, you know, you don't interfere with people's conversation or nothing, you know, you just do your work like.

Yeah.

So there was no.

would you like extra salad dressing?

Would you like another glass of water?

There was no interactions like that.

Oh, no.

So you were seen and not heard even being a waitress?

A dumb waitress!

You don't say nothing and you'll just do your work and you talk if you're spoken to, you know what I mean?

You know, if they ask you a question, of course you'll answer.

But otherwise you don't.

Do you remember what the Queen was wearing?

I know she had a little hat on her head.

I don't remember what her dress to look like.

Who did she walk in with?

With the mayor.

Mayor levine?

I think he was at that time in Cornwall.

She walked in with the mayor.

Who sat at the royal table?

Oh, it was all that big dignitaries from the United States and Canada both.

So was Richard Nixon at her table?

Yes.

He was there, of course.

And his wife, as President Nixon, you know, it was a vice President Nixon and his wife, Pat.

And then there was Rockefeller and his wife.

And I forget all the rest of the way wheels from Washington and vice versa from Ottawa.

Oh, my hands are going up and down.

That's fine.

I talk with my hands all the time.

Was President Eisenhower there at the luncheon?

No.

He wasn't.

He left after he signed the papers on top of the power dam, I think.

Oh, okay.

That's right.

So.

So I am not the first queen that you have met.

I'm sure I'm not the same.

Are you a queen?

I am Christine, the History Queen.

I didn't know that.

Yes, that's the name of the show.

And that's why I go around doing history queen stuff.

Like talking to people who served at the Queen's luncheo and other such glamorous roles.

But other than that, like I told you that I forgot to told you before that she did go up to that room before she came.

She didn't walk right in and come in the dining room.

We had to wait a few— —Yeah—till she went and freshen up with whatever.

So what did the Queen eat?

Well, I have to tell you what the menu was?

Whatever you remember.

Well, she had.... Well, I cannot—All I know was she had fruit cup.

Okay.

And she had chicken for the lunch, and I dont know what the hell else was all on it because I didn't fill her plate.

That's traying in the kitchen.

Right.

Right.

All I did, I just pick up my dinners, put them on the trays, back then, and run in the dining room and did my thing.

Wait on the people.

So I know you had to serve a table.

How many people was 20 people at a time you had to serve?

Oh, I had yeah, a large table.

I believe it was 10 or 12.

And then I had another one, six.

18 people.

And did you did carry ou all the plates for each table?

No, I had to make a few trips.

Come on.

A tray is only this big around.

And, so I could stack it six easy.

Yeah Because plates are big enough.

You know, you put three of them on that round tray, and then you put stackers and put three more.

That's six at a time.

Do you remember who were the people that were seated at your tables?

No, I did not know.

I did not know.

Did you recognize anyone?

Besides, of course, the presidin I dont even remember what their faces looked like.

Because you don't look at the people, right?

Right.

It's just.

Okay.

There's people sitting here.

Same at the village.

And I waited on thousands of people.

What did you wear?

Tell me about your uniform.

Well, I had a black uniform.

And of course, I had black shoes.

And I had, little white it with white trim.

And I had a little white cap on my head like I do over the others.

Okay.

So when you got ready that morning, I'm assuming you did your hair and makeup.

And then do you went to the hotel to get ready for your shift?

Yeah.

I just drove by myself to Cornwall.

After I get up in the morning.

I just got ready to go to work.

You just treated it like a regular day.

Yeah, because, you know, when you used to.

As I said, I was new at it.

You know, I've done it for years, you know.

There was no excitement o jitters or oh my God, the Queen?

The Queen I was glad.

And then I was getting away from the kids for one day.

That is probably the most authentic interview I have ever done.

And that's not going to be on here.

No way.

If it's funny it will.

I had a five year old.

Mike was born in 1954, and I went in 1959.

Right.

So I had Michael, who was four, and Mark was three, and Christopher was two.

I had three of them.

And so on a scale of getting away from the kids and waiting on the Queen, which one?

Which made you happier getting away from the kids are waiting at the Queen's luncheon?

Oh, no.

No.

I love my kids.

And I hav lots of patience with my kids.

I also love my children and have lots of patience with my children.

Yeah, I know, but no, it was just an enjoyable day.

Just to be going to wait, t get to the back to the village and where I hadnt been since 53 till 59.

That was six years right.

To get back to work over there.

So tell me a little bit more about the Cornwallis.

I've never been there myself.

It's a beautiful place.

I mean six stories.

It's still operating as a hotel?

No, they tore it down o second Street, the parking lot.

It's a parking lot now?

Oh.

It is.

Every time I go by there, I show my daughter and my look like Cornwallis is gone.

And I mean, there's— —Fifth Street is not even the same.

Yeah.

I can't believe it didn't ge preserved like a place that I. Where the Queen was.

No, it was like, you know, if it was not safe for... Why leave something like a big building like that?

Right, right.

It was not safe.

It'd be well over a hundred years old now.

But you realize how old that building was.

Man, talk about memories.

The Cornwallis was old.

Yeah.

All of Dolly's reminiscing brought back some nostalgia of my own.

Like camping out on Barnhart Island and the time my mom took me fishing out on a raft on the St.

Lawrence, and she accidentally dropped my worm in the raft.

And I'm horrifically afraid of worms.

So I jumped out of the raft and actually swam all the way back to shore.

And of course, making out with my high school boyfriend at Hawkins Point.

Sorry, mom.

So another Massena tradition is to get your photo taken in front of the 45th parallel.

That is equal distance fro the North Pole to the equator.

So if you're like me and you're from Massena, New York, you can say that you're literally from out in the middle of nowhere.

And befor I left my old stomping grounds, I had one last tradition that I needed to fulfill.

So it is a Massena legend and Massena tradition that when you drive through the Eisenhower Lock Tunnel, that you honk your horn and you scream as loud as you can.

Legend has i that the vibration of the noise will cause a crack to appear in the tunnel, and when the wall cracks, it will flood all of the tunnel and all of Massena.

Do you guys want to test that theory?

Let's go.

Until next time, I'm your host, Christine Darrow.

So if.

Hold on.

Oh good lord.

Do you see that whole swarm?

Okay.

Just, “woosh!”