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LAFAYETTE SQUARE. 
 
■' 
 
 A HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 City of Buffalo 
 
 
 ITS MEN AND INSTITUTIONS 
 
 Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 1 90S 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE BUFFALO EVENING NEWS 
 
 Buffalo 
 

 designed 
 
 and executed bv 
 
 Hausauer-Jones Printing Co 
 
 Buffalo, N. Y. 
 
 - w 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 A HISTORY of the city of Buffalo must, of necessity, be more or less a history of the entire 
 Niagara Frontier. Upon each has the other depended for more than a hundred years. 
 However earnest the historian may be in his desire to write that which concerns only 
 the municipality of today, irresistible temptations will lead him away, beyond the city, along the 
 smiling banks of the Niagara, where so much that concerns the past of Buffalo was enacted. 
 
 It seems, indeed, that our progenitors saw everything except the spot that must, inevitably, be the site 
 of a great city, and chose for the settings of their pioneer days locations that have since become 
 obscure and completely overshadowed by the great community that builded near. In this book 
 has been chronicled only the more important of those early-day happenings — only those that had 
 some direct bearing on the settlement and growth of Buffalo. 
 
 Many histories of Buffalo have been written, yet our history is in fragmentary state. The claim 
 is not made that this work is a complete and comprehensive history of the city; for, though Buffalo 
 is far from being an old city, the events that have aided or retarded its progress, the people who 
 have been factors in its social, political, and business life, and the institutions that are, or have 
 been, a part of its general structure, are too many to describe, even briefly, between two covers, and 
 could not possibly be included within the limits of this present work. 
 
 However, the author does claim some merit of arrangement. He has essayed to set up a series of 
 legible guideposts, marking the most important periods of the city's life, and to describe, brieflv, the 
 most conspicuous people and events contemporary thereto. The volume sets forth a chronological 
 succession of facts in which one may trace Buffalo's development and growth from a mere collection of 
 Indian tepees down to the present day, when we glory in being one of the truly great cities of the globe. 
 
 The compilation of the work has afforded no small degree of pleasurable surprise. Data that 
 are truly astonishing have been gathered — facts that show Buffalo's supremacy in many lines and prove 
 conclusively that the city is, in other respects, the equal of any in America or elsewhere, for business, 
 industry, and social intercourse. 
 
 Above all else an earnest effort has been made to make this work historicallv accurate. Unfortu- 
 nately, in our early days there were many dates, names, and instances that are todav — and ever will 
 be — in dispute. In such cases the author has consulted records, and written matter that is 
 accorded the merit of being closely and intelligently written, and has carefully weighed the 
 evidence, choosing the course that seemed best and most worthy to follow. 
 
 The biographical sketches which comprise a large part of the work have been carefully prepared 
 by a corps of competent writers, and, so far as possible, they have been personally authenticated by 
 the subjects. The series includes the city's most prominent men, and sets forth, concisely, the achieve- 
 ments of these agents of progress who have made Buffalo what it is and who are ben- upon making 
 a greater city with greater institutions. The value of the work must be apparent to all, and as time goes 
 on its worth will increase until it becomes a veritable treasure-house for the historians and genealogists 
 of future years. 
 
NIAGARA SQUARE 
 
A HISTORY OF 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The first white visitors. — La Salle and The Griffon. — Fat her Hennepin's diary. — Loss of The Griffon. — .Settlement. — Colonel Proctor's 
 diary. — First house in Buffalo. —First schoolhouse. — Arrival of Joseph Ellicott, agent for The Holland Land Company. — Land holders. 
 
 THE first known white persons to approach the site 
 of the present city of Buffalo were three French 
 Catholic priests on their way to establish mis- 
 sions among the Indians to the northwestward. 
 Ketchum and other historians agree that this was about the 
 year 1620. ll docs not appear that they visited, or even 
 beheld, the month of Buffalo (reck. Indeed, all the knowl- 
 edge we have goes to show that they did not. It is certain, 
 however, that from the natives they received information 
 of "a prodigious cadence of water between two lakes, that 
 falls down after a most surprising and astonishing manner, 
 insomuch thai the universe does not afford a parallel" and 
 of the '"wooded banks of the upper river where beaver and 
 other fur-bearing animals abound." This scope undoubt- 
 edly included the site, and these words represent the first 
 conception of civilized man. of this spot destined to become 
 the great gateway of the northern waters. 
 
 At the time the region was peopled by those tribes that 
 formed the Iroquois Confederacy, or Five Nations, and so 
 had been since 15.'59, which, according to the most reliable 
 research, was the approximate period of that tribal affiliation. 
 A word of those people, who excelled in peace anil war 
 scarcely less than our people who now dwell on what was 
 once their soil. History affords no parallel with those 
 who formed the confederacy. Skilled in war, overwhelming 
 in prowess, magic in their oratory, fulfilling their tribal obli- 
 gations with a high sense of honor, they formed a complex 
 study for the few men of learning who were permitted to 
 know them. Some of our earlier writers, terrified by their 
 aggressive warfare, charmed by their oratory, and eased by 
 their crude hospitality, describe them as the '"red Romans" 
 and hint at some previous contact with white people, which, 
 however, scents hardly possible. The ordinary speech that 
 was common at their campfire, in translation becomes an 
 oratorical marvel ; yet it is said that in translation it loses 
 much of its beauty. 
 
 In war their maneuvers were such as would elicit praise 
 from any modern army board, while some of their more 
 brilliant campaigns would do credit to a Caesar or an 
 Alexander 
 
 The first white arrivals found them engaged in a bitter 
 war with the Huron Indians, who inhabited the shores of 
 the lake now bearing their name. The Franciscan brothers 
 became interested in the latter tribe, and Champlain was 
 induced to join them in three expeditions against the Iroquois. 
 (hie of these expeditions across Lake Ontario proved 
 disastrous to the French, who were sorely repulsed in an 
 attack upon one of the castles of the Onondagas. Soon 
 afterward the Five Nations assumed the aggressive and 
 invaded Canada, defeating the Hurons almost in sight of 
 Quebec. Here the Five Nations proved their skill and 
 cunning, not to say diplomacy, in binding the French by a 
 strict bond of neutrality which absolutely prohibited their 
 interference. 
 
 The Five Nations did not confine their warfare to the 
 neighboring tribes, but proved their generalship by fighting- 
 far from their respective bases. Virginia and Maryland 
 settlers reported large bands of the Five Nations' warriors 
 
 returning from successful wars in Virginia; DelaWare ObserV- 
 ers likewise; and in the height of their power the Senecas, 
 though surprised by a war party of superior numbers, 
 mustered six thousand men ami fought a great battle with 
 the Erie, or Cat, tribe near Canandaigua Lake, practically 
 exterminating their opponents. Tradition says that many 
 years afterward a war party of the descendants of the Erics 
 crossed the Mississippi, ascended the Ohio, and fought a 
 great battle with their forefathers' rivals near this city. The 
 Iroquois were again victorious, their antagonists being slain 
 to a man and their bodies burned and their ashes buried in a 
 mound near the old Indian Mission Church, which was to 
 be plainly seen up until a comparatively few years ago. 
 
 With the advent of the white man. working to contrary 
 purposes, it is not strange that the history of the Five Nations, 
 so fit and willing to fight, became involved with that of the 
 two great European powers who were then contending for 
 supremacy on this continent. History records pretty fully 
 the chicanery, and, ofttimes, deceit, employed by both the 
 English and French to make allies of the Senecas and their 
 tribal affiliates, a condition that eventually led to war between 
 these two powers. 
 
8 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 In most of this early history Te-osah-wa, or Buffalo 
 Creek, figures conspicuously. The council fires were lighted 
 here for white emissaries as early as 1688 and as late as 1791, 
 always to the purpose of allying the Five Nations with the 
 French against the English, with the English against the 
 French, or, in the final years, with the Americans against 
 the English. Runners between Fort Frontenac (later Fort 
 
 In the fall of 107!) La Salle, with a party of thirty persons, 
 left Quebec for Mackinaw by way of the lake, arriving in 
 the Niagara Riyer late in November. Here for the first 
 time they beheld the falls of " Oneagara," and Father Henne- 
 pin, the priest of the expedition, recorded some most vivid 
 impressions, which, fortunately, have been preserved. 
 
 ''It is true," he says, "that Italy and Sweedland boast 
 
 CITY AND COUNTY HALL 
 
 Niagara) and points in Canada, were daily visitors here, 
 and the Seneca village in Buffalo Creek witnessed history- 
 making events that are, in number and importance, entirely 
 beyond this volume to encompass. 
 
 Perhaps the most interesting epoch in the earlier history 
 of this section is that which witnessed the arrival of M. de 
 La Salle on his expedition to the headwaters of the Niagara, 
 and the subsequent building and launching of The Griffon, 
 the first craft of tonnage above the Indian canoe to navigate 
 the waters of Lake Erie. 
 
 of some such things, but we may well say that they are but 
 sorry patterns when compared to this of which we now speak. 
 
 "At the foot of this horrible precipice we meet with 
 the River Niagara, which is not above a half a quarter of a 
 league broad, but is wonderfully deep in some places. It is so 
 rapid above the descent that it violently hurries down the 
 wild beasts while endeavoring to pass it to feed on the other 
 side, they not being able to withstand the force of the current 
 which inevitably casts them down headlong over six hunched 
 feet. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 "This wonderful downfall is composed of two great 
 cro>s streams of water and two falls with an isle sloping along 
 
 the middle of it. The waters which fall from this vast height 
 do foam and boil after the most hideous manner imaginable; 
 making an outrageous noise more terrible than that of 
 thunder." 
 
 On January 22d, 1679, La Salle selected a spot which 
 Father Hennepin describes as being '"two leagues above 
 the great fall of Niagara," undoubtedly the present site 
 of the village of La Salle, where La Salle and his companions 
 built a dock for building the ship designed to navigate tin- 
 waters of Lake Erie. Four days later the keel was laid, 
 and soon thereafter La Salle returned to Fort Frontenac 
 (Niagara), leaving in charge of the work an Italian named 
 Tonti, who had been forced to flee from his native 
 
 Naples. 
 
 '»] 
 
 land to France after the revolutioi 
 
 The construction of the ship 
 progressed favorably in the face of 
 many difficulties — disagreeable weath- 
 er, insolence of the savages, and a 
 frequent deplorable shortage of food 
 and the other necessities of life. In 
 due time The Griffon, named after the 
 arms of the Count Frontenac, was 
 in readiness for launching and was 
 blessed, after the form of the Roman 
 Catholic Church, by Father Hennepin. 
 
 "We fired three guns," records 
 the good priest's diary, "and sang Te 
 Deum. which was attended with loud 
 acclamations of joy of which those of 
 the Iroquois who were present were 
 partakers, for we gave them some 
 brandy to drink as well as to our 
 own men, who immediately quitted 
 their cabins of rinds of trees and 
 hanged their hammocks under the deck 
 of the ship there to lie with more secur- 
 ity than ashore. 
 
 "The Iroquois, being returned 
 from their beaver hunting, were 
 mightily surprised to see our ship 
 us 'Ot-koif — that is in their language, "most penetrating 
 wits,' — for they could not comprehend how, in so short a 
 time, we had been able to build so great a vessel, though it 
 was but sixty tons. All the savages inhabiting the banks 
 of those lakes ami rivers I have mentioned, for five hundred 
 leagues together, were filled with awe and admiration when 
 they saw it." 
 
 In August of 1679, with the help of twelve strong men 
 who pulled from shore, and a veritable gale filling its sails, 
 'The Griffon came successfully up the river and into the 
 lake. On August seventh, with two Recollects and a crew 
 of thirty-two men The Griffon sailed from the mouth of 
 Lake Erie, taking a course west-southwest in a favorable 
 wind. In seventy-two hours, during which Providence seems 
 to have guided the ship around the treacherous shoals, the 
 craft entered "the mouth of the strait which runs from 
 Lake Huron into Lake Erie" reaching that point on the 
 
 tenth. Hence the first voyage through Lake Erie was made 
 in the creditable time of three days. 
 
 On August twenty-third The Griffon entered Lake 
 Huron, where it encountered a gale that buffeted the frail 
 boat lirst in one direction and then in another. So serious 
 did the prospect become that La Salle concluded they were 
 undone and enjoined all his crew to kneel and say final 
 prayers. All save one obeyed, a pilot who never could be in- 
 duced to pray, and now. when death struggled for the rudder, 
 cursed roundly, after the traditions of his occupation. Lastly, 
 he heaped imprecations upon La Salle, whom he charged with 
 bringing him to perish on a nasty little lake and lose the 
 glory he had acquired by his long and courageous navigation 
 of the ocean. 
 
 The storm abated, however, and on the twenty-seventh 
 The Griffon arrived at Missilimakinak, its ultimate des- 
 
 afloat and called 
 
 DELAWARE PARK LAKE 
 
 filiation. In spite of perfidy and dishonesty that developed 
 among the members of his crew despatched to procure a 
 cargo, one was obtained, and on September eighteenth the 
 vessel set sail, in a fair wind, for the return voyage. Neither 
 the ship nor the crew was ever heard from after that time. 
 There were tales among the Indians that she was lost soon 
 after sailing, ami some historians assert that she was lost 
 on Lake Erie. The former is more probable. Had she 
 passed down she would undoubtedly have been observed 
 by some one of the numerous Indian villages along the shores. 
 Thus began the lake commerce that has been the most 
 important factor in the development and upbuilding of 
 Buffalo. Even now, in the days of the great passenger 
 crafts and freight leviathans, the construction of The 
 Griffon presents a show of enterprise and perseverance 
 that is seldom equaled. When it is considered that all the 
 material for the building and equipment of the ship had to be 
 packed around the falls, up the steep declivities, and a 
 
10 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 distance of about nine miles on the backs of men, four of 
 whom were required to lift a single anchor, of which there 
 were two, it cannot be denied that these men were fit fore- 
 runners of a hardy class that has since increased the com- 
 merce of the Great Lakes to a point where it is the marvel of 
 the present age. 
 
 The execution of the treaty of Fort Stanwix opened a 
 vast territory to sale and settlement in the then New West, 
 and had much to do witli the rapid populating of New Am- 
 sterdam, as Buffalo was first called. This territory extended 
 to Ohio and was immediately overrun by settlers, who desig- 
 
 as the settlement at the mouth of Buffalo Creek was called 
 by the Indians. Fort Erie was garrisoned by British soldiers, 
 who were useful in maintaining discipline, by intimidation, 
 over the Indians here. Their several officers, agents, and 
 traders were permanently located here under protection of 
 the Fort Erie garrison. William Johnson, a half-caste, 
 resided with the Indians, and Cornelius Winne, or Winney, 
 from the Fishkills, had his trading post on the banks of Little 
 Buffalo Creek (later the Hamburg Canal) in the rear of the 
 present site of the Mansion House. Whine's trading post 
 was, as far as is known, the first building erected by civilized 
 
 BRISBANE Bl "ILIUM! 
 
 nated their claims with utter disregard for treaty reserva- 
 tions and stipulations. Finally, after several ineffectual 
 attempts to regulate settlement, the entire territory was sold 
 to "the agents of the Ohio Company of Associates" for one 
 million dollars, which was paid largely in Continental cer- 
 tificates. Bounty certificates were also accepted in payment, 
 and nearly every officer in the Continental Army became 
 ;i shareholder —General Washington himself , it is said. Then 
 the lands were opened to general settlement. 
 
 From the close of the Revolutionary War to the time 
 of activity in the forts on the northern and northwestern 
 frontiers, British authority was supreme at Teh-ose-ro-ron, 
 
 man on our city's site. Winne was also a silversmith, and 
 gained much business, and not a little favor, with the Indians 
 by his beaten-silver ear ornaments and gewgaws peculiarly 
 attractive to the aboriginal eye. 
 
 Xo more comprehensive description of the settlement at 
 the mouth of Buffalo Creek is available than that contained 
 in the diary of Colonel Thomas Proctor, who, in company 
 with Captain M. G. Houdin, visited the Indians here in 1791. 
 After a striking description of the lon<r journey from Phila- 
 delphia to the lodge of Chief Cornplanter at the headwaters 
 of the Alleghany River, he says: 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 11 
 
 "April 23d, 1791.— Wo left O'Beel's (Cornplanter) 
 town about twelve o'clock and proceeded with a few chiefs 
 
 and warriors (the whole not being ready to depart with us) 
 taking the route for Buffalo ("reek through the village called 
 
 Cattaraugus, which we did not reach till the 25th, in the 
 
 o 
 
 evening; and on our way thither passed through a settlement 
 of Delaware, or Munsee, Indians in which were about twenty 
 
 houses. 
 
 "April '2(>th. — We took up our journey toward Buffalo 
 ("reek and in about five miles going we came upon the verge 
 of Lake Erie which had a beautiful appearance, il being a 
 pleasant morning and the waters were very serene, and 
 looking over the lake we could just perceive tin- land upon the 
 other side. We traveled along the sandy beach for some 
 miles and were obliged, at three or four different 
 places, to leave the shore and take to the woods, 
 the rocks having come bluff up to the deep water. 
 
 "April l 27th. — We arrived at 
 Buffalo Creek having traveled through 
 a country of exceeding rich land, from 
 our last encampment, the extent of 
 which I have not been able to ascer- 
 tain. The preemptive right to this 
 valuable country is vested in the State 
 of Massachusetts, but is at present the 
 property of the Honorable Robert 
 Morris of the city of Philadelphia by a 
 recent purchase. The principal village 
 of Buffalo belongs to the Seneca 
 Nation and in it Young King and 
 Farmer's Brother reside: as also Bed 
 Jacket, the great speaker and prince 
 of the Turtle tribe [clan!-]. On my 
 
 entering the village there were mim- 
 es o 
 
 Iters of Indians collected at the hut 
 where we alighted from our horses, 
 and. on taking a general view of these 
 Indians, I found that they were far 
 better clothed than those Indians 
 were in the towns at a greater dis- 
 tance, owing entirely to the immediate 
 intercourse they have with the British, 
 being but thirty-five miles distant from Fort Niagara and 
 
 but six miles from Fort Erie, situated on the th side of 
 
 the Lake, from which sources they are supplied yearly with 
 almost every necessity, so much as to make them indiffer- 
 ent to their huntings. 
 
 \pril :50th. — No business today but private counseling 
 among ourselves. In the evening Captain Powell [British 
 Indian Department attache- at the British garrison. Fort 
 Erie] invited me to go with him to a store in which he was 
 interested, and his partner who kept it, a Mr. Cornelius 
 Winney of Fishkill. With the last named gentleman I 
 staid until the Monday following, through a very Dressing 
 polite invitation, which I at length accepted of. being lame 
 and much indisposed through fatigue and change in diet. 
 such as from poor to exceeding poor, indeed; but with him 
 there was plenty of every necessary and given with so good 
 a grace that I shall seek occasion to return the compliment. 
 
 " May .'id. — By invitation I dined this day (in company 
 with Captain Houdin) with the principal chief of the Onon- 
 daga Nation, named Big Sky. I lis castle lay about three miles 
 cast of Buffalo, near which were twenty-eight good cabins, 
 and the inhabitants in general I found to be decent and well 
 clothed, particularly their women, some of which were dressed 
 so richly in silken stroud, etc., and ornamented with so many 
 silver trappings, that one musl be of the value of thirty 
 pounds. " 
 
 Cornelius Winney, mentioned in Colonel Proctor's 
 diary, seems to have been beyond doubt the first qualified 
 resident of Buffalo. lb- seems to have reached here about 
 L788-84 and to have established a crude but comfortable 
 home, which he occupied until the surrender of Fort Niagara 
 to the Americans in 1 ?!><>. It is quite certain that there was 
 no other white man's home here until long afterward. 
 
 Though Winney's relations as a trader were entirely 
 
 SCENE IX DELAWARE PARK. 
 
 with the English, he seems to have been friendly and loyal 
 to the Americans. Among the papers of General Chapin, 
 Superintendent of Indian Affairs, the following record of 
 Winney's correspondence is found: 
 
 "Buffalo Creek, 23d August. 1792. 
 
 I inform Gen. Ghapin that about seventy-nine of the 
 Canada Indians is gone to Detroit. They seem to be for 
 war and a number of Indians is to go up. I further inform 
 you that the Indians of this place is to go up by the first 
 King's vessel that comes down. Prince Edward is arrived. 
 Should 1 hear anything worth while to write I shall let you 
 know. 
 
 I am yr. most obedient and very humble servant. 
 
 C. Winney." 
 
 The house built by Winney stood until after the general 
 settlement in Buffalo, which began in 1802-03, and is noted 
 in the field notes of the first survey. 
 
12 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 In 1792-03 Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, sold all his 
 great holdings in this part of the country to Mr. Herman 
 Leroy for others in Holland, who, being aliens, could not 
 hold lands in their own names under our laws. This sale, 
 by Robert Morris to the Holland Land Company, being made 
 before the Indian title to the land was extinguished, it was 
 stipulated by Mr. Morris that he would assist the purchasers 
 to extinguish these titles as soon as practicable. Accordingly 
 
 j £ i 
 
 THE FEDERAL BUILDING 
 
 a council was held with the Senecas in 1797, and the Indian 
 titles extinguished, except that to twelve reservations, aggre- 
 gating three hundred and thirty-eight square miles. Though 
 a part of the site of the present city of Buffalo was included 
 in a two-mile strip reservation made by the Indians along 
 the lake and river, even this was eventually ceded to the 
 Holland Land Company through the efforts of Captain 
 William Johnson, a staunch friend of the red men. 
 
 In 1795 the village boasted three houses, that of Captain 
 William Johnson, the trading post of Winney's, and the home 
 of a Dutchman named Middaugh. The latter occupied 
 
 a house on Johnson's lot near what is now Exchange Street. 
 John Palmer also built a house there about this time, accord- 
 ing to Laincourt, who spent a night under Palmer's inhospi- 
 table roof. Palmer, who came here as an Indian trader, 
 was the first innkeeper in Buffalo, and a cheerless inn it was 
 if we may believe the diaries and correspondence of the agents 
 and government emissaries who stopped beneath his roof. 
 "He had neither rum, milk, nor common foods" is a fre- 
 quent entry in the records condemning 
 the city's pioneer boniface. Bad as he 
 was as a tavern keeper, his presence here 
 had its good effect on the settlement, for. 
 in 1801, one of his family, Joseph \\. 
 Palmer, probably a brother, conceived 
 the idea of building a schoolhouse. 
 This, to our best knowledge and belief, 
 was the first step in the educational 
 system which has since grown to be 
 a model for cities throughout the 
 country. 
 
 Palmer's agitation for a school- 
 house interested Joseph Ellicott, agent 
 for the Holland Land Company, who 
 laid out a plot of land for the purpose, 
 " it being expressly understood that the 
 inhabitants will erect a schoolhouse 
 at their own expense." The school- 
 house was erected, the financial bur- 
 den being borne by the settlers, and 
 it stood until the burning of Buffalo 
 in 1KLJ. 
 
 In 1801-02 the Holland Land 
 Company surveyed the land upon 
 which our city now stands, and gave 
 it the name of New Amsterdam. 
 This supplanted the Indian name of 
 "Te-osah-wa," which means " the 
 place of the basswood," as applied to 
 the Indian village, and "Tick-e-ack- 
 gou-ga-haunda," or Buffalo Creek, 
 the Indian name they applied to the 
 stream of water that flowed past their 
 huts. In some records the Indian vil- 
 lage is described as "Teh-ose-ro-ron," 
 a discrepancy due to the fact that the 
 latter is the Mohawk pronunciation 
 and the other the Seneca. 
 
 The name New Amsterdam does 
 not seem to have been received with much favor, ami in the 
 property conveyances of 1811 and 18L2 we find that it has 
 been dropped and the name " Buffalo" substituted. 
 
 A muster of the settlers in Buffalo at the close of the 
 century shows but a few, all courageous spirits, emigrating 
 from the Atlantic coast and Eastern Canada, which sections 
 were fast filling with people who were crowding agriculture. 
 Michael Middaugh and his son-in-law came from 
 Canada, probably in 1794-9,5, and established a home on 
 the halfbreed Johnson's land, probably near what it now the 
 
 corner of Washington and Exchange streets. 
 
 Middaugh 's 
 
TIIK CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 13 
 
 family name became extinct, but Lane was survived by 
 several daughters, who were belles in the early social history 
 of the city. Lane's descendants claimed the land on which 
 Middaugb had lived, a claim that developed a litigation which 
 occupied the courts for many years. 
 
 Sylvanus Maybee came to the month of Buffalo Creek 
 as an Indian trader in 1796-97 and conducted an Indian store 
 in a In"- cabin west of Main Street and north of Exchange 
 Street. Later he left the colony and established himself 
 at the mouth of Cattaraugus Creek in 1800. 
 
 " Black Joe," supposedly a runaway slave, was also a 
 resident of that time. His cabin adjoined Winner's, and 
 his services as interpreter were often required, for he spoke 
 the Seneca tongue fluently. It is not improbable that he 
 was adopted into the Seneca tribe, for he later married an 
 Indian woman, by whom he had children. 
 
 In 1798 Mr. Asa Hansom emigrated from Sheffield, 
 Massachusetts, to Geneva, later accepting the Holland Land 
 Company's offer of a generous donation of land to the seven 
 persons who would agree to open houses of entertainment 
 for travelers at locations "about ten miles asunder" on the 
 road from the eastern transit, or boundary, of the Holland 
 Land Company's purchase, to Buffalo Creek. Mr. Ransom 
 located at Clarence and subsequently became a very promi- 
 nent man in the community, having much to do with the 
 early development and settling of the city of Buffalo. Before 
 the division of Niagara County he served well as sheriff. 
 
 In that same year, 1?!>S. the Holland Land Company's 
 surveyors began their work, which was completed in 1803. 
 By the records William Johnson appears to have been the 
 first qualified landowner in Buffalo, and was. in fact, the lead- 
 ing citizen during the survey and settlement. He had been 
 employed in the Indian Department of the British service 
 from the outbreak of the Revolution and gained great in- 
 fluence over the Indians. He died in 1807 respected by all. 
 In 1801 Doctor Cyreneus Chapin visited Buffalo, and 
 upon his return to Sayersfield, Oneida County, he formed 
 a company of forty citizens, who sought to purchase a town- 
 ship from the Holland Land Company's holdings here. It 
 is likely that John Crow, who came here in 1801-02, was one 
 of those citizens interested by Doctor Chapin. Mr. Crow 
 
 occupied a home on inner lot number one near the corner 
 of Washington and Crow streets. The house, originally 
 constructed of logs, was built by William Johnson, but Mr. 
 Crow built a frame addition, which was probably the firsl 
 frame structure in Buffalo. Later refinement rebelled at 
 the name Crow Street, the populace maintaining that the 
 crow is an unclean and vulgar bird, whereupon a village 
 merchant suggested the name Exchange Street, which was 
 adopted and is used to this day. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Ellicott entered upon his duties as agent 
 for the Holland Land Company at New Amsterdam in 
 January, 1801, establishing his office in the Johnson or 
 Middaugh dwelling house. His diary, carefully written, 
 describes his various business efforts and sales of land, as well 
 as frequent excursions to surrounding territories. One of 
 these scheduled transactions was his own purchase of about 
 one hundred acres, including the entire front of what is now 
 Main Street between Swan and Eagle streets. This he 
 intended for his permanent home, but later he built a home 
 in Batavia and thenceforth seemed to lose all interest in the 
 city he had laid out. From manuscript and correspondence 
 still preserved it is apparent that Ellicott considered Black 
 Rock "equally or more advantageous for a town than 
 Buffalo." 
 
 Among the land purchases of that period (ISO.'!) were: 
 Doctor Cyreneus Chapin. lot number forty-one. township 
 eleven, eighth range, ninety-five acres, $346.50; William 
 Deshay, lots numbers fifty-nine and sixty, township eleven. 
 eighth range, eighty-six acres, $4:50; Asa Chapman, lot 
 number four, township eleven, eighth range, one hundred 
 and twenty-seven acres, $445. 50; Isaac Hulburt, part of 
 lot number sixty-one, fifty-nine acres, $-29.5.00; George 
 Burgar, part of lot number sixty-one, fifty-nine acres, $-23-2.80; 
 William Hodge, lot number thirty-five, forty-seven and three 
 tenths acres, $-236.50; and others. The complete list of 
 landholders at that time in Buffalo— or New Amsterdam, 
 as it was then called — included William Bobbins, Henry 
 Chapman, Sylvanus Maybee, Asa Ransom, Thomas Stew ait, 
 Samuel Pratt, William Johnson, John Crow, Joseph Landon, 
 Erastus Granger, Jonas Williams, Robert Keane, Vincent 
 Grant, and Louis Le CouteuK. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Reverend Timothy Dnight's observations of the frontier town of Buffalo. — First religious services. — First church. — Rigid 
 Sunday observance. -Ebenezer Johnson. — Beginning of civil government. — First newspaper. — War of 1812. — First hostile act. — 
 Attitude of Indians. Capture of the Adams and the Caledonia. — Duel on Grand Island. — Invasion of Canada. — Defeat of American 
 ii in- Burning of Buffalo. — Flight of the refugees. 
 
 IN 1804 the Reverend Timothy Dwight visited Buffalo, 
 and gives probably the most comprehensive descrip- 
 tion of the little settlement struggling to grow in spite 
 of the adverse conditions of the times. 
 
 "Buffalo (reek, otherwise New Amsterdam, is built 
 on the northeast border of a considerable millstream which 
 bears the same name. A liar at the mouth prevents all 
 vessels larger than boats [rowboats, presumably] from ascend- 
 ing its waters. For boats it is navigable for about eight 
 miles. Its appearance is more sprightly than some others in this 
 region. The southwestern hank is here a peninsula covered 
 with a handsome grove. Through it several vistas might 
 he cut to advantage, as they would open fine views of the 
 lakt — a beautiful object. The prospect which they would 
 furnish toward the West and Southwest would he boundless. 
 
 "The village is I mill about half a mile from the mouth 
 of the creek and consists of about twenty houses. The 
 Holland Land Company owns the soil. Hitherto they have 
 declined to sell it, and, till very lately, to lease it. Most 
 of the settlers have therefore taken up their ground with- 
 out a title. The terms on which it is leased are that the 
 lessee shall, within nine months, build a house thirty feet 
 front and two stories high and shall pay (if I mistake not) 
 two dollars annually for each lot of half an acre. 
 
 "The streets are straight and cross each other at right 
 angles, hut are only forty feet wide. What could have 
 induced this wretched limitation in a mere wilderness, I 
 am unable to conceive! 
 
 "The spot is unhealthy, though of sufficient elevation, 
 and, so far as I have been informed, free from the vicinity 
 of stagnant waters. The diseases which prevail here are 
 those which are common to all this country. 
 
 "The inhabitants are a casual collection of adventurers 
 and have the usual character of such adventurers thus col- 
 lected, when remote from regular society, retaining but little 
 sense of government or religion. 
 
 "We saw about as many Indians as white people. The 
 Superintendent of Indian Affairs of the Six Nations also 
 resides here. 
 
 " New Amsterdam is at present the thoroughfare for 
 all the commerce and traveling interchangeably going on 
 between the Eastern States (including New York and New 
 
 Jersey) and the countries bordering on the great Western 
 lakes. The creek is frequently said to unite with the River 
 Niagara. I should say, as I believe every other man would 
 say who spoke from his own inspection, that it unites with 
 Lake Erie; and that the River Niagara begins two miles 
 further north, at, or rather just below. Black Rock.* Here 
 the first perceptible current commences, while, at the mouth 
 of the creek the waters, unless disturbed by the wind, are 
 perfectly still and have exactly the same appearance as other 
 parts of the lake. 
 
 " At Black Rock a town, which is a mile square, has been 
 laid out. Between the rock and the shore is the only secure 
 harbor on the American side. The period is not far distant 
 when the commerce of this neighborhood will become a great 
 national object and form no small part of the interests and 
 happiness of millions. [How prophetic!] 
 
 "The prospect presented at Buffalo is most attractive. 
 Dircctlv opposite, at the distance of two miles, but in full 
 view, stands Fort Erie, a blockhouse accompanied by a suite 
 of barracks and a hamlet. It exhibits a much greater degree of 
 improvement than anything we saw west of the Genesee River. 
 Beyond this hamlet, a point stretches to the South-west and 
 furnishes an imperfect shelter to the vessels employed in the 
 commerce of the lakes. Seven of these vessels lay in this 
 harbor at this time and present to us an image of business 
 and activity which, distant as we are from the ocean, is 
 scarcely less impressive than that presented by the harbor 
 of New York." 
 
 It must not be understood that those mentioned as 
 settlers and travelers comprised either the sole permanent 
 or floating population of the little settlement. In the earliest 
 years of the century (1800) a comparatively large number of 
 men, in the capacity of Indian traders and trappers, had 
 their homes here or frequently visited the mouth of Buffalo 
 (reek in the course of their business routine. Many of 
 these married Indian women, who bore them children, and 
 it is not improbable that some of the city's best-known fami- 
 lies sprang from these obscure unions. When the school- 
 house previously mentioned was built, there were settlers 
 in sufficient number to make the expense per capita com- 
 paratively light. It does not appear who was the first 
 
 *He evidently mistook Bird Island for Black Rock. 
 
 14 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 II 
 
 teacher, the opinion-- of historians being divided between 
 young Mr. Palmer and a Father Holmes, who had j 1 1 -t 
 finished a collegiate course. It is certain, however, thai 
 Messrs. Hanchett, Tomlinson, and Callender taughl in il 
 during the War of 1812. Il »;i- destroyed when Buffalo 
 was burned, and the general government reimbursed those 
 who had contributed to its construction. There arc men 
 still living whose fathers received their sole education in this 
 first schoolhouse, which was situated on the west side of 
 Pearl Street below Swan Street. 
 
 The schoolhouse also served frequently as a place of 
 public worship, probably the first one in the settlement. 
 In it the Reverend Doctor Elkanah Holme-,, a missionary 
 to the Indians. " preached for the inhabitants of New Amster- 
 
 was probably the 
 
 jospel in Buffa 
 
 dam. " The Reverend Doctor Holmes 
 first regularly ordained minister of tlu 
 though he may have been preceded Lv 
 exhorters, who were common in neigh- 
 borhood services at the time. Subse- 
 quently a son of Doctor Holmes 
 married a daughter of Doctor Cyreneus 
 Chapin, and the venerable missionary 
 visited her frequently, and. it is 
 believed, made his home here for a 
 short period. 
 
 This irregular spiritual adminis- 
 tration continued until the year 1811, 
 when the Reverend John Alexander 
 and Jabez B. Hyde wen- sent to 
 establish a mission among the Indians 
 at Buffalo (reek. Upon their arrival 
 they found much opposition to their 
 project among the Indians, the leader 
 of the anti-mission party being none 
 other than Red Jacket, the famous 
 orator of the Iroquois Confederacy. 
 On that occasion he delivered himself 
 of an opinion that has since been 
 quoted many times in religious con- 
 troversies. He said he had listened 
 attentively to the arguments in favor of 
 
 the religion of the whites, and that if it would accomplish 
 all that was claimed for it. well and good; hut as he was not 
 fully satisfied with the proof at hand, he suggested that it 
 first he tried on the white people of Buffalo, for they were 
 great rascals, -they cheated the Indians, drank much whis- 
 key, and made the Indians drunk, — that they never spoke 
 the truth and were always quarrelsome. If the missionaries 
 would go down and preach to them he would faithfully 
 watch results and he happily converted in the event of com- 
 plete success. 
 
 The first church of any denomination in Buffalo was 
 organized in February, 1812, by the Reverend Thaddeus 
 Osgood, an itinerant missionary, and it is believed to have 
 been Congregational in character. It had twenty-nine 
 members, of whom eight were males ami twenty-one females. 
 Later it became the First Presbyterian Church of Buffalo. 
 After the burning of Buffalo the members became scattered, 
 hut. being intensely devoted to their religion, managed to 
 
 continue their meetings, the first after the burning of Buffalo 
 taking place in the house of Amos Callender, and later in a 
 part of Landon's tavern, where the Mansion House now 
 stands. Subsequently the services were held in a barn on 
 the opposite side of Main Street and finally in the district 
 schoolhouse on Niagara Street, erected after the fire. 
 
 Saint Paul's Episcopal Church was next organized, 
 the organization being completed in L817, with the Rev- 
 erend Samuel Johnson the first rector. In 1818 the first 
 Methodist Church was organized by Elder Glezen Fillmore, 
 a small church building being erected on Pearl Street. The 
 usages of that denomination did not permit of a permanent 
 incumbent of the pastorate, and there were frequent changes. 
 Elder Fillmore, a relative of President Fillmore, probablj 
 preached in this church more often than any other. 
 
 Buffalo was then a perfect example of morality, particu- 
 
 I.1LY POND, DELAWARE PARK 
 
 larlv as to the observance of Sunday. Deacon Callender 
 quarreled with a neighbor who was so unmindful as to unload 
 a rick of hay on Sunday. In The Buffalo Gazette, the village 
 paper, is recorded a resolution of the Moral Society of Buffalo 
 as follows: 
 
 "Resolved that, after the 23d of November instant. 
 the laws prohibiting violations of the Sabbath shall he strictly 
 enforced against all persons who on that day shall drive into 
 the village with loaded teams, or who shall unload goods, 
 wares or merchandise, or who shall vend goods or keep open 
 stores or shops for the purpose of trading, or laboring, or 
 who shall engage in hunting, fishing, etc., etc. Also against 
 the parties of pleasure riding or walking to Black Rock or 
 elsewhere." 
 
 In 1808 there were more lots sold in Buffalo than in 
 any previous year, and the people appear to have abandoned 
 the idea that ultimately Black Rock must overtake and dis- 
 tance Buffalo as a business and industrial center. Though 
 
16 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 the date of conveyance of a lot is not always the date of first 
 settlement, it is probable that that year marked the first 
 appearance of many men and women who gave being to 
 some (if the present city's foremost families. We find in the 
 record of that year's sales the names of Jabez Goodell, John 
 Hoop, Elisha Ensign, Joseph Wells, Asa Fox, Gilman Folsom, 
 David Mather, William Hull, and Rowland Cotton. About 
 that time, also, came Joseph Landon, the tavern-keeper, 
 well known by Buffalo people up to the last generation. 
 Jesse Ketchum was another early purchaser of town lots. 
 Though living in Canada, he purchased much Buffalo real 
 estate, and at the outbreak of the Patriot War in 18,'57-38 
 he came here, where he resided until his death. His name 
 is commemorated in the Jesse Ketchum medals, that have 
 for many years been awarded in our public schools. 
 
 In 1809 Doctor Ebenezer Johnson came, bearing a letter 
 of introduction from Hezekiah Granger, of Cherry Valley, 
 to Erastus (hanger, of Buffalo, commending the young prac- 
 titioner to Erastus Granger, who as- 
 sisted him in establishing his practice 
 here. The field offered greater op- 
 portunities, however, for young John- 
 son's business abilities, and, after the 
 War of 1812, during which he served 
 as a surgeon and physician, he opened 
 a drug store and subsequently became 
 a banker and broker. He became one 
 of the wealthiest men on the Niagara 
 Frontier, and was chosen for Buffalo's 
 first mayor, serving two terms. 
 
 Mavor Johnson is described asbe- 
 ing of pleasing address and command- 
 ing presence and with something of 
 a John Adams contour and expression, 
 such a man as would attract attention 
 in any assemblage of gentlemen. He 
 lived on Delaware Avenue "in opulence 
 and splendor, having a large park 
 
 enclosed with a high picket fence ornamented with 
 trees and shrubbery, plants and flowers, walks and water- 
 falls, with deer feeding and gamboling in the mimic forest 
 prepared for them." Misfortune overtook Mayor Johnson, 
 however, and his ample wealth was swept away. Eventually 
 he was driven to seek aid from relatives in a distant State, 
 where he died but little past middle age. 
 
 About 1805-06 the organization of civil government 
 became the paramount necessity, and in 1808, upon the 
 organization of the County of Niagara, the Legislature made 
 "Buffalo, or New Amsterdam," the county seat upon con- 
 dition that the Holland Land Company would erect a suit- 
 able courthouse and jail upon a desirable lot and convey the 
 same to the county. The company complied, building the 
 courthouse in the middle of what is now Washington Street, 
 near Lafayette Square. The first session of court was held 
 in June, 1S0S, in Landon's tavern, the judges being Augustus 
 Porter, first judge; Erastus Granger, Zattu Cushing, James 
 Brooks, and Martin Pendergast, judges; Asa Ransom, 
 sheriff; Louis Le Couleulx. clerk. 
 
 Up until this point in the city's history we have had to 
 rely for our data upon the books of the Holland Land Com- 
 pany, the memoranda of individuals, and old papers in the 
 possession of the Buffalo Historical Society. At this time, 
 the year 1811, there came a new force to the struggling little 
 frontier village in the shape of a newspaper, published for the 
 first time in the month of October under the management 
 of Messrs. S. II. and H. A. Salisbury and called The Buffalo 
 Gazette. It has proved almost as much of a boon to us of 
 this present time as it proved to those of a contemporary 
 period; for it is, presumably, an accurate chronicle of events 
 as they transpired at that time, the most important period 
 of our history. Editor Salisbury first distinguished his 
 publication by using it for an ax to chop off the final "e" 
 from the city's name, then written "Bufl'aloe." In a 
 scries of humorous articles he ridiculed the Holland Land 
 Company and the Post Department for this superfluity, 
 the whole culminating in a mock litigation, printed 
 
 SOUTH PARK CONSERVATORY 
 
 in the Gazette December 29th, 1811, as follows: 
 
 "Etv Molo Gv ) . t t * it 
 
 ■' • I Law Intelligence 
 
 ^ i ^ ■ • \ Court of People's Bench, Buffaloc. 
 
 General ( )pimon. J 
 
 "This was an action brought before the Court for the 
 purloining of the fifth letter of the alphabet and clapping it 
 on the end of the name ' Buffalo.' 
 
 "The plaintiff contended that he had both reason and 
 right on his side, and he could not only prove from high 
 authority that the defendant was guilty, not only of a gross 
 dereliction in thus adding the silent superfluous 'e' to the 
 high-sounding ' Buffalo,' but that he had, in his filchings, 
 taken one of the official functionaries, one of the most impor- 
 tant members of the alphabet, one, in fact, introduced into 
 all circles, parties, societies and even into electioneering 
 caucuses, and placed him where his usefullness would be 
 entirely abridged, where he must raise his final head in 
 silence where he would be known only in name." 
 
 Doctor Johnson and Noah Webster's depositions both 
 testified that there was no such character as " e" in the town 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 17 
 
 of Buffalo, and General Use also gave testimony. These lately received from England, upon receipt of which Congress 
 
 efforts of editor Salisbury were successful, and the "e" went into secret session and remained in secret conclave 
 
 was gradually and finally dropped, giving us our present until the evening of the 2d, when the last news arrived from 
 
 spelling. Washington. This message related to a declaration of war 
 
 It was during this year of 1811, that witnessed the estab- against England as is stated in I lie New York papers, which 
 
 lishmenl of The Buffalo Gazette and the arrival of many men also state that a hill, declaring war against England, has 
 
 who were destined to become great forces in Buffalo's life, passed the House of Representatives by a majority of thirty- 
 
 thai fears of a war between the United States and ( I real Britain 
 began to he entertained. Simultaneously the settlers here 
 along tin' frontier realized their particularly dangerous 
 position in that event. The Indians hereabouts were known 
 to he still friendly with the Mohawks, who had removed 
 to Canada, and this added to the general apprehension. 
 This for the reason that the Mohawks were known to he 
 under British influence, and might, in time, induce their 
 tribal brothers on this side to rise. To ascertain the true 
 feelings, Indian Agent Granger and the tribes held a great 
 council fire, at which the Indians were enjoined to remain 
 
 SCENE IN PARK LAKE, DELAWARE PARK 
 
 five. The hill was sent to the Senate, it is also rumored, where 
 it was rejected by a majority of one. Other accounts stale. 
 in substance, the same. The next mail, we expect, will 
 elucidate the subject." 
 
 The same issue of the Gazette details that "Col. Swift 
 has returned from Albany and has assumed command of the 
 volunteers on the Niagara River to the number of six hun- 
 dred"; also that "Nathaniel Allen, Esq., has been appointed 
 paymaster and has arrived at Black Rock with $40,000." 
 It is known that a courier was despatched from Wash- 
 ington to Niagara by the British minister there, with news 
 of the declaration of war. Thus the 
 news was received hy the British com- 
 mander considerably in advance of the 
 official communication to any of our 
 own officers. Plans were immediately 
 made by the British to capture every- 
 thing American within their reach. 
 The first act of hostility on the frontier 
 was the capture of a boat loaded with 
 salt and which was hecalmed off the 
 mouth of Buffalo Creek. 
 
 Scattered through upper Canada 
 were numbers of young Americans, 
 who were captured, and the British 
 speedily became much better prepared 
 for war than our own people. The 
 Buffalo Gazette of July 12th, 1NK>. 
 states that on that date the British 
 garrison at Fort Erie consisted of six 
 or seven hundred men, nearly all 
 veterans of wars in various parts of 
 
 the world. It also claimed that the 
 neutral, with tin' assurance that everything would he speedily British had more than one hundred pieces of flying, field, 
 settled. This their chieftains promised to do, hut. though and garrison artillery. This is highly improbable, and hut 
 the promises were made in all sincerity and were subse- shows the nature of the extravagant rumors that grew out 
 quently adhered to, the fear of the Indians operated adversely, f the excitement at the time. 
 
 ami large numbers of the settlers left, so that there were "Fort Erie has been strengthened considerably " declares 
 
 probably less than a thousand persons here when the war the same paper. "A redoubt of many rods in length was 
 broke out. thrown up Wednesday and Thursday last on the hill a few 
 
 A very irritable state of affairs existed. Frequent shots rods below the house of John Warren, Jun.. and directly 
 were fired from across the river, and indignation meetings opposite the house of General Peter B. Porter at Black 
 were of daily occurrence on this side. The following was Rock." 
 
 Immediately upon the report of the declaration of war 
 the militia was ordered out on the line, (ieneral Hopkins, 
 who resided a few miles east of Buffalo on Buffalo Plains, 
 ordered out his entire brigade; and General Porter, but 
 recently returned from Washington to his home in Black 
 Rock, assumed command of the operations. Only the most 
 
 printed in The Buffalo Gazette July 12th, 181-2: 
 
 "WAR" 
 
 "War has so long heen the order of the day that it is 
 very difficult to ascertain by the signs of the times whether 
 we shall have it in reality or have it in words mere paper 
 shot. The information contained in this paragraph may he active measures for defense were taken, for the reason that 
 of the utmost importance to the country. Time will deter- an immediate invasion was expected. At first the attitude 
 mine On the isth instant the President sent a message of the Six Nations Indians was questioned, and Mr. Erastus 
 to both houses of Congress accompanied with documents Granger caused several councils to be held for the purpose 
 
18 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 of ascertaining the intention of the red warriors. The fear, 
 on the part of the inhabitants, was effectually allayed when 
 Farmer's Brother, one of the most influential of the native 
 warriors, organized the local Indians into a brigade and led 
 them into battle himself, where they acquitted themselves 
 very creditably. 
 
 The summer having passed with no act of war save an 
 occasional random shot across the river, the citizens of 
 Buffalo became emboldened, and made their first aggressive 
 movement early in October, when one hundred and two 
 men. in their boats, commanded respectively by Lieutenant 
 Jesse 1). Elliott, I . S. X.. Lieutenant L. Watts, sailing master, 
 and Doctor Cyreneus Chapin, of buffalo, crossed the river, 
 boarded and captured the British brig Adams and the schooner 
 Caledonia, and cut them adrift. The brig was sent on the 
 rocks near Squaw Island, and the schooner was burned. 
 
 GATES CIRCLE 
 
 The spectacular dash from this side drew the fire of the 
 British, and one man was killed and eight or ten wounded. 
 The Buffalo Gazette summarized the casualties thus: 
 
 "The first shot from the British batteries killed Major 
 Cuyler. A 24-pound ball passed through the house of 
 Orange Dean; a six-pound ball through the store of X. Sill 
 & Co. Above 300 shots were fired from the British bat- 
 teries." 
 
 Aliout this time occurred the surrender of General 
 Hull at Detroit, and the battle of Queenston, which, together, 
 contributed to the general depression along the frontier. 
 Shortly afterward the British garrison of Fort Erie came 
 over to Squaw Island and captured two American boats, 
 one loaded with cannon balls. A day or two following, 
 the Fort Erie battery opened on Black Hock and its adjacent 
 fortifications, exploding some ammunition and demolishing 
 several dwelling houses. The return fire from the American 
 
 side was but intermittent, there being nothing but six-pound 
 guns in the fortifications. 
 
 In the early fall of 18L2 Brigadier-General Alexander 
 Smythe arrived in Buffalo. His arrival was followed by 
 numerous bombastic addresses to the army, in which charges 
 of cowardice were made against officers who had previously 
 commanded the lines. General Smythe laid plans for an 
 invasion of Canada, which, indeed, were really put into 
 effect to the extent of embarking troops, but which con- 
 cluded in a fiasco. The subsequent criticism, and General 
 Smythe 's charges, involved him in an affair of honor with 
 General Porter, which, so far as is known, was the only 
 duel ever fought in this vicinity. The principals met near 
 the head of Grand Island, attended by the customary seconds. 
 Two shots were exchanged without effect, and the hand of 
 reconciliation was proffered and accepted. 
 
 November twenty-fourth found 
 the militia elans still gathering; hut a 
 spirit of unrest, due to inactivity, was 
 plainly manifest. The Maryland vol- 
 unteers desired to either fight or go 
 home. The Pennsylvania men went 
 into winter quarters grumblingly, and 
 others were making their dissatisfaction 
 plain to their officers. In short, the 
 military situation along the frontier at 
 the close of the year was anything hut 
 reassuring. 
 
 Early the following spring occurred 
 the successful invasion of Canada. 
 the capture of York (Toronto), Fort 
 George, and other garrisons, and the 
 complete discomfiture of the British 
 soldiery. This was followed by a 
 complete turning of the tallies, the 
 retaking of Fort George, and the with- 
 drawal of the American troops, who, 
 however, destroyed most of the prop- 
 erty before departing. 
 
 Early in June, 1818, the victory 
 of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry 
 on Lake Erie caused spirits to he revived here on the 
 frontier, and the news of the destruction of the British 
 fleet was the cause of great rejoicing. Later the people of 
 Buffalo were permitted to honor the gallant young commander 
 with an elaborate dinner, at which the officers of the army 
 and navy were present and shared. Joyful as they were, 
 however, and bouvant. they were not prepared for any such 
 defeat as was administered to them by the British troops 
 just as the year was closing. 
 
 Though it was certain that the British were making 
 plans for the invasion of the frontier, it was very uncertain 
 where the wedge would be driven. When, on the night of 
 December L 29th, 181.'?, the report was spread through the 
 village that the British had landed down the river below 
 Squaw Island, it was believed to be only a feint to draw off 
 the force at Buffalo, where it was thought the principal 
 attack was to be made. With more confidence in their 
 
THE CITY <>F BUFFALO. 
 
 19 
 
 deductions than seems to bave been warranted, thecom- 
 manders refrained from sending any considerable force to 
 that point. 
 
 The enemy had landed under cover of a very dark 
 night, and consequently his numbers could not be ascer- 
 tained. The mounted patrol below Squaw Island was 
 driven in, and in the darkness the enemy cautiously crepl 
 toward the city, meeting practically no resistance. A com- 
 pany of volunteers under command of ( 'aptain Hull was sent 
 out to scout, and their first intimation of the immediate 
 presence of the enemy came when they had advanced t" a 
 point near to the banks of Conjocketj (now Scajaquada) 
 ('reek, and a volley of musketry was poured into their ranks. 
 The darkness, the silence following the volley, and the uncer- 
 tainty of the enemy's whereabouts, were too much for the 
 raw recruits, and they retreated. Daylight revealed a large 
 force embarking in boats higher up the river, and the whole 
 American force was directed against the new invading party. 
 As soon as this was observed by the force that had previously 
 landed, it moved up and was not observed until it made a 
 vigorous attack on the American rear. This attack, from 
 an unexpected quarter, caused our forces, mostly volunteers 
 and militia, to break and run, and a rally became an utter 
 impossibility. Thenceforward the enemy had an unob- 
 structed march into the town, taking the direct road, now 
 Niagara Street, and throwing out their Indians as scouts 
 and skirmishers on either side of tin' road under cover of 
 the woods. 
 
 The adult male population of Buffalo had gone to Black 
 Rock early in the morning, leaving tin- women anil children 
 behind, under a strong belief that the enemy would he repulsed 
 as upon a former occasion. When the alarm was given that 
 the British and Indians were coming, panic filled every breast 
 and self-preservation became the only law. There were, 
 of course, many instances of heroism, but for the most part 
 the terrified citizens fled, each for himself. Some took the 
 Batavia road, others the Cayuga Creek road, and some fled 
 to the friendly Indian reservation. But the majority took 
 the road across the ferry to the lake and fled up the beach 
 road, which was considered by far the safest course. On 
 the morning of their flight from their burning homes a farmer 
 from one of the south towns, on his way to market with a 
 load of cheese, met the retreating villagers and immediately 
 
 became possessed of their terror. Dumping his cheese out 
 
 upon the ground he filled his wagon with helpless wi u and 
 
 children and facilitated their flight. Mounted men swept 
 women and children to the saddles in front of them and aided 
 them to escape. families were separated not to lie reunited 
 for weeks; in fact, some were never reunited. 
 
 So sudden was the attack and so lew were the avenues 
 of escape that most of the refugees left all their belongings 
 behind to lie destroyed in their burning homes. Some 
 families, with more foresight than others, began two days 
 before to remove their belongings and had departed when I he 
 British began their advance on the town. 
 
 A few men who wore in the morning battle at Black 
 Hock wore able to reach the village in advance of theenemv 
 .iinl warn their neighbors. Among them was the courageous 
 I )octor < hapin, who, upon reaching a point near the junction 
 of Main and Niagara streets, found a squad of men and 
 small boys with a cannon, recovered from a lately wrecked 
 vessel at the mouth of the creek. This gun was mounted 
 upon wagon wheels, and was not at all a formidable weapon. 
 Doctor Chapin joined thi' little band, and a few shots were 
 fired at the advancing foe, doing considerable execution 
 
 before it became disabled by being blown from its carriage. 
 Doctor Chapin. under a white flag that fluttered from his 
 cane, advanced towards the enemy ostensibly to ascertain 
 their terms for surrender. Really, however, he designed to 
 give the inhabitants more time for their retreat, and his ruse 
 actually resulted in retarding the advance for a considerable 
 period. Hut it availed nothing in the end. and soon there- 
 after the torch was applied, as the invaders said, in retaliation 
 for the burning of Newark. The next day every house in 
 Buffalo, with the exception of two, was in ashes, and the town 
 site was deserted save for the household cats brooding over 
 the ruins and an occasional Indian looking for plunder. 
 The last issue, before the fire, of The Buffalo Gazette was 
 published from its regular office December 14th, 1813; the 
 next one from Harris's tavern, near Williamsville, January 
 eighteenth, more than a month afterward. Hence it is 
 apparent that the refugees did not return at once to Buffalo, 
 but remained in safe places until further clashes of arms 
 in other sections of the country had resulted favorably to the 
 American cause and had inspired confidence. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Return of the refugees. — Building again. — Help for the distressed. — General Winfield Scott in command on the frontier. — Second 
 invasion of Canada. — Capture of Fort F.rie. — Battle of Chippewa. — Battle of Lundy's Lane. — Explosion of magazine at Fort Erie. — 
 Defeat of British garrison. — Siege of Fort Erie. — Relief of the Fort Erie garrison. — End of the war. — Immigration. — Another news- 
 paper—First murder trial.— New courthouse. — First bank. — First steamship. — Red Jacket defends a witch-slayer. — Hanging of the 
 three Thayers.— The "City of Ararat."— Completion of the Erie Canal. — Death of Red Jacket.— Financial depression. — Movement to 
 liberate Canada. 
 
 OUR progenitors seem to have been rather better 
 pioneers than soldiers, and the disaster in the 
 campaign of late 1813 was followed by a period 
 of commendable activity which entirely offsets the disgrace 
 of the rout before the British arms. For several days after 
 the burning of the town the place was entirely deserted. 
 Samuel Wilkeson and a companion returned secretly and 
 found no living thing between what is now Cold Spring 
 and the ferry, save a cat prowling among the blackened 
 ruins. In a week, however, the more venturesome had begun 
 to return to their smoldering habitations and with true 
 Yankee pluck began to hew the timbers for their new homes. 
 The commissary department of the army issued limited 
 rations, which, together with the game they were able to kill, 
 afforded the hardy builders a comfortable living. The Legis- 
 lature, too, gave attention to the distress calls and voted 
 fifty thousand dollars in aid of the sufferers, five thousand 
 to the Tuscarora Indians, and a like sum to the residents 
 of Canada driven out of their environs for their friendship 
 with the United States. The city of Albany voted one thou- 
 sand dollars, and the city of New York three thousand dollars 
 for the same worthy objects. In spite of this the winter held 
 much of woe for the homeless, and many are the tales of 
 distress chronicled in diaries and publications of the time. 
 
 As spring approached, life on the frontier revived. 
 More troops came, and consequently a greater circulation 
 of money was added to the rather slim volume of business, 
 and a ready market was found for produce. Lovers ever 
 found time to court, and in March, 1814, one number of 
 The Buffalo Gazette contained two wedding notices, which 
 was a record for the time. The town quickly sprang from 
 its ashes, and by April thirty or forty houses had been erected 
 among the ruins left by the British. 
 
 On April tenth a distinguished young soldier arrived, 
 and confidence increased, for, though but thirty years of 
 age. General Winfield Scott's fame had preceded him, and 
 he was considered the highest type of the gallant soldier. 
 He first established headquarters at Williamsville, then at 
 Buffalo, where his '* irregular" army was put at drill and soon 
 attained a high degree of efficiency. It is a singular fact 
 that here, in this exposed frontier post, the young general 
 
 was training men who were destined to follow him through 
 the Mexican War and who there acquitted themselves nobly 
 as soldiers. 
 
 June twenty-eighth The Buffalo Gazette stated, non- 
 officially, that a rumor to the effect that an immediate advance 
 was impending, was erroneous, yet, on July third, the advance 
 was begun. The force of Major-General Brown, Scott's 
 superior officer, consisted of two brigades of regulars under 
 Scott and Ripley and one of volunteers under General 
 Porter. The latter comprised five hundred Pennsylvanians, 
 six hundred New Yorkers, and nearly six hundred Indians. 
 One of the most picturesque figures in this latter contingent 
 was Red Jacket, the Indian orator, who, though his timidity 
 in battle was well known, would not offend his pride by 
 remaining at home. 
 
 Fort Erie was garrisoned by one hundred and seventy 
 British, the main body of the enemy being at Chippewa, 
 eighteen miles below the fort. On July second Brown, 
 Scott, and Porter planned for Ripley to embark at Buffalo 
 in the night and land a mile from the fort, up the lake. Scott 
 was to cross at Black Rock and land a mile below Fort Erie, 
 which the columns were instructed to capture. Though an 
 unfortunate difficulty came, in the shape of a fog that made 
 Ripley's landing several hours late, Scott's instructions were 
 so well carried out that he alone invested the fort and received 
 its surrender. On the afternoon of the third Scott marched 
 down the river and on the morning of the fourth drove in 
 the enemy's outposts. Followed by Brown and Ripley, 
 he marched to the south side of Street er's Creek, two miles 
 south of Chippewa, with nothing but the narrow stream 
 between them and the British Army. Late the following 
 night General Porter crossed the creek and marched toward 
 Chippewa, his movement precipitating the battle of Chippewa, 
 the first battle of the war in which a large body of British 
 troops was defeated in the open field, an event that greatly 
 encouraged the American arms and established confidence, 
 generally, along the frontier. The British losses were five 
 hundred and fourteen, nearly two hundred dead being found 
 on the field. The Americans lost fifty killed, one hundred 
 and forty wounded, and a few taken prisoners. Though 
 
 20 
 
'/'///•; CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 21 
 
 accurate returns are not available at this late day, it is prob- 
 able that the American regulars engaged numbered about 
 thirteen hundred and the British about seventeen hundred. 
 
 On July eighth Ripley's brigade forced a passage of the 
 Chippewa, and General Riall, the British commander, 
 destroyed his works and moved to Queenston and later to 
 Fort George, where Ripley pursued hut decided that his 
 force was insufficient to attack. Reinforcements of the 
 British garrison at Fort George made it seem prudent to 
 withdraw, which Ripley did. 
 
 July twenty-fifth Brown's army encamped at Chippewa 
 with its rear so closely pressed by Riall with reinforcements 
 that Seott's brigade was sent to check him. Scott met 
 the enemy near Bridgewater, and his gallant hand held their 
 ground hut sent for Brown's brigade, which arrived shortly 
 before night. The enemy's line was then near Lundy's 
 Lane, a hill near by heing the key to 
 the position. Miller's regiment of 
 infantry carried this hill and captured 
 the artillery, stationed there, at the 
 point of the bayonet. General Ripley 
 then led forward with his reserve regi- 
 ment and drove the enemy from the 
 field. 
 
 When darkness fell the enemy 
 rallied, and then ensued some of the 
 most spectacular movements in the 
 history of warfare. Three times the 
 British stormed the heights, only to he 
 driven hack at the red flash of deadly 
 fire from the American line; thrice 
 their shots anil cries drowned the 
 roar of the cataract and as many 
 times the din diminished, leaving the 
 rumble of Niagara to he punctuated by 
 the shrieks of the fallen redcoats. But 
 failure followed each attempt of arms; 
 and two hours afterward, with one of 
 the captured guns and General Riall, 
 the British commander, as prizes, the 
 Americans departed from the field 
 
 and marched to Fort Erie. But the victory was not unat- 
 tended by disaster; both Brown and Scott were seriously 
 wounded and brought to Buffalo for treatment. 
 
 Later General Drummond, the British commander, 
 stormed Fort Erie with hut partial success, or rather with hut 
 temporary success. Three times he led his forces against 
 the ramparts and was repulsed. The fourth time, with his 
 voice raised above the din urging his men to "give the damned 
 Yankees no quarter," his force stormed over the parapet, 
 the gallant commander receiving his death wound as he saw 
 his men victorious. When our forces were driven out rein- 
 forcements were promptly sent by Generals Ripley and 
 Porter, and an attack was made with great valor. Presently 
 one of our cannon halls reached the fort's magazine, and a 
 terrific explosion followed, killing and maiming many of the 
 triumphant British. Disheartened by the death of their 
 commander and dazed by the explosion, the British soldiers 
 
 fled, the fort falling again into the hands of the Americans. 
 
 This battle was witnessed by hundreds of people standing 
 on Buffalo's water front, to whom the whole spectacle was 
 easily discernible. At night the glare from the burning 
 fort lit up the country for miles around. A day or two later 
 the wounded prisoners were removed to Williamsville for 
 treatment, and those prisoners who were able-bodied were 
 taken to the prisoners' depot at Albany. 
 
 Then the British, heing constantly reinforced. Nettled 
 down to lay siege to the fort. Meanwhile the little American 
 garrison was heing depleted by sickness and disease, and 
 their situation became so desperate that Governor Tompkins 
 called out all the militia west of the < ienesceand ordered them 
 to Buffalo. Once assembled here General Porter called tor 
 volunteers from their ranks to go to Fort Erie's relief, and 
 about September tenth they were conveyed across the river 
 
 ARCH BRIDGE, DELAWARE AVENUE 
 
 in the night and encamped on the lake shore above Towson's 
 Battery, General Brown in command. September seven- 
 teenth the volunteers were paraded, the news of the recent 
 victories on Lake Champlain and at Plattsburg read to them, 
 and a high state of enthusiasm was engendered. Under the 
 spell of this they were led forward to attack the three batteries 
 the British had constructed around the besieged fort, which 
 they did with success, and, just before sunset, reached the 
 fort ami reinforced the gallant little hand that had garrisoned 
 it. in front of the whole British force. 
 
 The relief of Fort Erie was one of the most skillful 
 maneuvers in the history of warfare, and it is regrettable 
 that no more is known about who planned it. Xapier, the 
 famous British military historian, cites it as one of the very 
 few instances where a single sortie compelled the raising of a 
 siege. 
 
22 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 The raising of the siege of Fort Erie was substantially 
 the end of the war on the Niagara Frontier. Several unim- 
 portant little skirmishes occurred, so insignificant as to be 
 seldom dignified by description in journals of the time. 
 
 January 15th, 1815, the news of the victory at New 
 Orleans was announced in a Bufjulo Gazette "extra," which, 
 by the way, was probably the first newspaper "extra" in the 
 city's history. One week later the good news was followed 
 by the still better news of the signing of the treaty of Ghent. 
 Post riders carried the news, doctors disseminated it, and 
 every possible agency was employed to let the people know 
 that they might again take up the long-suspended vocations 
 of peace. Here in the town there was a week of jollification, 
 wining and dining, which ended in a Sunday of devotion 
 and fervent thanks to the Almighty for the new-found peace. 
 
 Immediately after the advent of peace the flow of immi- 
 
 The first political campaign of note occurred about this 
 time, when the Assembly district comprising Niagara, Catta- 
 raugus, and Chautauqua counties was awarded two members. 
 The strife resulted in the election of Daniel McCleary, of 
 Buffalo, and Elias Osborne, of Clarence. 
 
 In June, 1815, the first murder trial in the county 
 occurred — the trial of Charles Thompson and James Peters, 
 soldiers in the regular army, for the murder of James Burba, 
 a fanner living near the village. They were subsequently 
 executed in public, the prisoners being guarded by a regiment 
 of militia under General Warren. 
 
 In 181(i a new courthouse was built on the east side of 
 Onondaga (Washington) Street, on the present site of the 
 Public Library. This courthouse stood until 1876, and 
 is still remembered by citizens who are now in middle life. 
 
 In July, 181(i, a scarcity of money caused a serious 
 
 -~^fc:v£ 
 
 BUFFALO PUBLIC LIBRARY 
 
 gration west began, a movement that was to mean much to 
 the city's development. Immigrants literally poured over the 
 Holland Land Company's grant, and the country around about 
 Buffalo attained a surprisingly high state of cultivation in an 
 incredibly short period of time. Strangely enough, Williams- 
 ville and Clarence Hollow were Buffalo's rivals and really 
 gave promise of phenomenal growth. In March, 1815. the 
 country recognized General Porter's war services bv electing 
 liiiu to Congress, and subsequently he attained a cabinet 
 position. In 1815 another newspaper, The Niagara Journal, 
 entered the local field to compete with the old established 
 Gazette, and for the first time the opposing political parties 
 each had an organ through which to shout its grievances. 
 The Gazette had always leaned toward Federalism, but 
 the new journal was distinctly Democratic in doctrine, and 
 the two enlivened those prosaic days with many type duels 
 that no doubt contributed greatly to the gaiety of the times. 
 
 condition in local business affairs, and the Bank of Niagara 
 was formed for the emergency. The capitalization was 
 five hundred thousand dollars but only the modest sum 
 of six dollars and twenty-five cents on each share of one hun- 
 dred dollars was required to be paid in. 
 
 The summer of 181(1 was a notable one, and is chroni- 
 cled in the ancient diaries as having witnessed the most 
 outrageous caprice of the weather goddess in the then short 
 history of the frontier. It snowed in May. and on June ninth 
 a frost nipped the early vegetation. That year grain was 
 scarce, vegetables could not be procured, and the whole 
 population turned to the rifle and depended upon the wild 
 game, which fortunately could be found hereabouts in abun- 
 dance. The Indians invoked the aid of the Great Spirit 
 and offered sacrifices to bring relief; on one occasion they 
 burned a white dog and a deer, but the next morning there 
 was a harder frost than ever, which naturally shattered their 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 23 
 
 Faith somewhat. The inhabitants were seriously distressed 
 during the following winter, and lived <>n "short rations," 
 as many old chronicles, still preserved, attest. 
 
 In the summer of 1 s 1 7 Buffalo received its first visit 
 from a President. Monroe, having spent a <lav at Niagara 
 Falls, came ii|> the river on August ninth and was escorted 
 to Lan don's tavern, where an elaborate dinner was served 
 in his honor. He embarked the same evening for Detroit. 
 
 The year was one of great import to the struggling 
 frontier town, for it witnessed the passing of the hill for the 
 construction of a canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie. This 
 waterway subsequently became the main avenue of 
 travel between New York and the West. and. more than 
 any other thing, facilitated and promoted the growth of 
 Buffalo from a small town to a great city. The 
 canal is described elsewhere in this volume. 
 
 In 1S18— August twenty-third, 
 to he exact — another important mark 
 was reached in the growth of the com- 
 merce of Buffalo. On that day the 
 first steamboat plowed the waters of 
 the lake, the Walk-in-the- Water, which 
 had been constructed at Black Rock 
 during the previous nine months. 
 Lake commerce at that time was small, 
 but the possibilities were very evident. 
 
 It seems almost incredible that 
 slavery should ever have existed in 
 Buffalo. Yet, in ISIS, it seems that 
 a local law for the abolition of slavery 
 was made necessary. Among the 
 blacks owned near Buffalo were five 
 brought from Kentucky by General 
 Porter's wife, she having been a 
 Kentuckian, the daughter of the 
 Honorable John Breckenridge, before 
 her marriage. 
 
 In 1820 the first daily mail was 
 established between Buffalo and 
 Albany and the first agricultural fair 
 
 was held in Niagara County, both events of paramount 
 interest to the population. By the census of that year the 
 whole county of Niagara, including Buffalo, was 23,313, of 
 whom 15,668 were in the present county of Erie. This the 
 people considered a warrant for a division of the county. 
 A petition granted by the Legislature in 1821 divided the 
 county, and Buffalo became the county seat of Erie County. 
 
 It is interesting to note that even at this late date the 
 inhabitants were much annoyed by wild animals. Wolves 
 there were in abundance, and a bounty was paid by the county 
 of Erie for scalps of the animals, one Indian having received 
 three hundred and sixty dollars in one forenoon from the 
 sale of wolves' scalps. Bears were common, and wildcats 
 could be found in most any part of the adjacent forests. 
 
 The year of 1821 affords a strange spectacle — the killing 
 of a woman as a witch. That spring an Indian died of a 
 strange disease, and a squaw named Kauquatau was sus- 
 pected of bewitching the deceased. Accordingly she was 
 
 slain by Tommy Jimmy, a well-known Indian brave. The 
 civil authorities issued a warrant, which was served by 
 Pascal P. Pratt. Red Jacket himself assuring Mr. Pratt that 
 Tommy Jimmy would be on hand when the time came for his 
 trial. The word was kept, and Tommy Jimmy was arraigned 
 for murder. Red Jacket appearing as his counsel. When 
 his white brethren tried to convince him of the absurdity 
 of believing in witches, the wily old chief faced the court and 
 told the assembled wise men the story of the witch davs in 
 Salem in such a dramatic manner, charging the whites 
 with similar practices but comparatively a few years before, 
 that he utterly shamed the prosecution out of court, and the 
 case was dropped. 
 
 Iii 1S21 there came a tall voung man of stalwart frame, 
 open countenance, and pleasing manner, who was subse- 
 quently to play a most important part, not only in the life 
 
 BI DWELL PARKWAY 
 
 of the frontier, but in the affairs of the nation. That man 
 was Millard Fillmore. In 1823 he was admitted to practice 
 law in this county, and immediately opened an office at 
 Aurora, where he remained for seven years. There is no 
 evidence that during those years Fillmore gave any indication 
 of greatness, and lor years he was obscure and unknown. 
 
 'The year of 1S2.> was an exciting one in Buffalo, 
 being marked bv a tragedy which was well remembered by 
 the old people of the last generation. 'This was the murder 
 of John Love and the hanging of the three Thayers. Love 
 was killed in the town of Boston, and in February, 1825, 
 the Thayers were arrested for the murder. 'They wen' 
 tried on April twentieth before Judge Reuben II. Walworth. 
 District Attorney Potter appearing for the people and Thomas 
 C. Love, Ebenezer Griffin, and Ethan I?. Allen representing 
 the defendants. 'The evidence was conclusive, and the 
 Thayers were sentenced to death. The executions were 
 public, as usual, and it is estimated that fifteen thousand 
 
24 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 people, the largest number ever assembled in Buffalo up 
 until that time, witnessed the grewsome spectacle in Niagara 
 Square. 
 
 Red Jacket, the old Indian sachem, seems to have been 
 the only absentee from this grim public function. Judge 
 VValden was entering the village on the morning of the hang- 
 ings, when he encountered Red Jacket headed towards the 
 open fields. 
 
 " Why, how is this?" asked the Judge, ''why do you not 
 attend the execution like the others?" 
 
 "Ugh!" growled the old chieftain, ''there are fools 
 enough there already; battle is the place to see men die." 
 
 In September, 1825, Major Mordecai M. Noah, an editor 
 and politician of New York, " laid the cornerstone of a city to 
 be called Ararat" on Grand Island. This was designed to 
 be a city of refuge for the Jews of the whole world. How- 
 ever, this was as far as the plan ever 
 progressed, and the Jews of the 
 world had to seek refuge elsewhere. 
 
 The great event of the year, as 
 affecting the prosperity and growth of 
 Buffalo, was the completion and open- 
 ing of the Erie Canal. It was finished 
 October twenty-fourth, and on the 
 twenty-sixth, according to a previous 
 arrangement, a grand celebration was 
 held along the line. 
 
 The completion of the canal was 
 not immediately followed by any great 
 increase in business, the wheat crop 
 not being of consequence, and the other 
 crops being disposed of locally. A large 
 immigrant travel quickly followed, 
 however, and the Erie Canal speedily 
 became known as the "path to the 
 great West." 
 
 The people of the time seem to 
 have been just as susceptible to the 
 wiles of the press agent as now, for in 
 1827, we find a most wonderful 
 spectacle being prepared for an 
 
 expected crowd of people at Niagara Falls. This was 
 nothing less than the shipping of the schooner Michigan over 
 the Horseshoe Falls. Thousands of people came from all 
 over the country to witness the unique spectacle. On the 
 appointed day the craft, with a crew consisting of a buffalo, 
 three bears, two foxes, a raccoon, a dot;-, a cat, and four <reese, 
 was steered as close to the brink as possible and cut away. 
 She went straight, head on, over the cataract and was dashed 
 into bits. Of the crew, the two geese paddled ashore and 
 the two bears saved themselves by jumping and swimming 
 ashore above the falls. Nothing was ever seen of the other 
 animals, but an effigy of General Jackson, placed in the bow 
 of the boat, was seen riding the rapids triumphantly, a good 
 omen, his adherents said, for the success of his candidacy 
 for the presidential chair. 
 
 The principal historical event of 1830 was the death of 
 Red Jacket, easily the foremost red man of that early period. 
 
 He died in his cabin on the Buffalo reservation, January 
 twentieth of that year. Evidently he had a premonition of 
 death, for he spent his last hours among his people, giving 
 them advice and directing them in their future dealings with 
 the whites. 
 
 "Bury me," he said at last, "by the side of my wife, 
 and let my funeral be after the custom of our nation. Let 
 me be dressed and equipped as my fathers were, that their 
 spirits may rejoice at my coming. Be sure that my grave 
 be not made by a white man; let him not pursue me there." 
 
 Thus passed the greatest of the Iroquois. His end was 
 marked by the same pagan practices to which he clung 
 throughout his long life. Almost his last request was that, 
 after death, a certain small vial of water be placed in his hand 
 to ward off the devil. In 1839 a subscription provided for a 
 marble slab to be placed over the old chief's burial place. 
 
 SC KNE ON RICHMOND AVENUE 
 
 Long afterward, when the Senecas had removed to the Cat- 
 taraugus Reservation, some admirers of Red Jacket, fearing 
 his bones would be plowed up, disinterred them and sealed 
 them in a leaden casket expecting to reinter them at Forest 
 Lawn. This elicited a protest from the Senecas, who de- 
 manded and received the precious relics. 
 
 Many years afterward William Cullen Bryant found the 
 bones in the keeping of an old Indian woman, who sur- 
 rendered them to the white people. They were afterward 
 buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, in Buffalo, and over the 
 grave was erected a granite pedestal, surmounted with a 
 heroic bronze cast, more than life size, of Red Jacket in his 
 council regalia. 
 
 In 1832 Buffalo was incorporated as a city, with five 
 wards and a population of approximately ten thousand. 
 That autumn, the period of Jackson's second election to the 
 presidency, witnessed also the selection of the young lawyer, 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 it 
 
 Millard Fillmore, for Congressman from the Thirtieth 
 
 District. Such a high position was seldom attained bya man 
 of his years, and Fillmore at once became one of the fore- 
 most figures of the frontier. There is little doubt bul thai 
 the popular favor which eventually led him to the presidential 
 chair began at this point in his life. 
 
 In lH.'W the cholera made its appearance in America. 
 and, following the tide of immigration westward, inflicted 
 a serious blow upon Buff alo. It did not become epidemic to 
 any great extent, however, and gave only a slight indication 
 of the destruction and woe it was to inflict at a subsequent 
 period. 
 
 In 1834-35 a wave of unhealthy speculation swept over 
 the country, particularly along the Great Lakes section. 
 Wherever there was a possibility of a harbor, and at many 
 places where there were absolutely no possibilities of ever 
 creating any port of commercial value, towns had been laid 
 out and the surroundings traded upon. Here in Buffalo the 
 abnormal speculation was at its worst. Prices advanced to 
 an almost prohibitive point and financial panic was plainly 
 impending. It was hastened locally by the exposures, in 
 183(>, of the forgeries of Benjamin Rathbun, then the leading 
 business man of the city. Then the situation became acute. 
 and many men, who had considered themselves well-to-do, if 
 not wealthy, suddenly awakened to find themselves paupers. 
 The presidential election was lost sight of in the gloom, and 
 attracted practically no attention. 
 
 Van Buren was elected president and Marcy elected 
 governor, but the city of Buffalo went heavily for the 
 Whigs. The year closed in great depression and anxiety. 
 One ray of hope came in the otherwise hopeless year; that 
 was the completion of the first railroad out of Buffalo, to 
 Niagara Falls. This enterprise promised much. 
 
 Black as 183b' was in our annals, it was made bright 
 by contrast with the following year, which was. from all 
 points, the darkest year in all our history. During this 
 twelvemonth, despair and depression reached their lowest 
 point. Failures were numerous; defalcations ceased to 'cause 
 surprise; and poor people were in a serious way for food and 
 the bare necessities of life. 
 
 It was this condition, probably, that abetted the feeling 
 against the Holland Land Company and its interest charges 
 on land credits still outstanding. This feeling grew to a 
 point where indignation meetings were held and the press was 
 filled with sarcastic condemnation of the Holland landlords. 
 Gradually the land-buyers paid up and threw off the yoke, 
 but the year was ever marked in history as "the year of the 
 Holland Land fight." 
 
 In the winter of 1837-38 Buffalo was given something 
 fresh to think and talk about. For several years lower 
 Canada had been displeased with the government of Great 
 Britain. Eventually this resulted in rebellion that was 
 crushed only at great cost. But it continued long enough 
 to enlist the sympathy of many Americans along the borders, 
 especially here in Buffalo, and secret lodges of "hunters" 
 were established to give aid to those who continued a^ 
 belligerents. 
 
 Several men of this class established themselves on Navy 
 Island In Niagara [liver and engaged the little steamer 
 Caroline, owned by William Wells, of Buffalo, to transfer 
 men anil supplies from Schlosser's dock to Navy Island. 
 December twenty-seventh she tied up at the dock, and next 
 morning came the news that, during the night, a British 
 force had crossed the channel, cut her cables, killed one man 
 anil wounded others, then set fire to the craft and sent her 
 over the falls. 
 
 The excitement, upon receipt of this news, was intense. 
 Rumors filled the air; the British were coming; war was upon 
 them; and a general call to arms was urged. It was soon 
 
 found that Sir Alan Mc.Nab, C( nanding the British frontier, 
 
 had sent the assailing force. It was plainly a violation of 
 the international agreement of the time, but President Van 
 Buren, being a pacific person, never obtained redress — in 
 fact, never made any real effort. 
 
 The Americans were put to their resources to prevent 
 a serious clash between the two sides; the militia was called 
 out to restrain expected invading parties, and General Scott 
 was sent here by the Government. Three armed British 
 schooners sought to attack the American steamer Barcelona, 
 but Scott moved his men to Black Rock, opposite the ships, 
 and. posting his artillery on a height, ordered the British 
 to weigh anchor and leave, which they did, their only alter- 
 native being to remain there and risk being blown outof the 
 water. January fifteenth the British regulars and the Cana- 
 dian militia trained their guns on Navy Island and shelled 
 the "army of invasion'' from their cover and drove them to 
 the American mainland. 
 
 Later, when the lake had frozen over, another attempt 
 was made to invade Canada. The Buffalo City Guard and 
 Clapp's Volunteers were called out one night anil marched 
 to Hamburg, thence three or four miles on the ice towards 
 the middle of the lake, where they found thirty or forty men 
 comfortably housed in shanties, waiting for reinforcements 
 before starting on their mission to liberate Canada. They 
 surrendered readily, and their capitulation marked the last 
 attempt to invade Canada until the Fenian raid in 18C7. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 First railroad connection with the East. — Fillmore mentioned for the vice-presidency. — Era of great prosperity. — Fillmore 
 elected.— The "Ebenezer Society." Murmurs of civil war. — Buffalo the morning of Sumter's fall. — ''Minute men." — Departure of 
 the regiments lor the Civil War.— The war period.— Peace.— Politics of the period after the war. — Grover Cleveland's ascendency. — 
 Governor Cleveland. — President Cleveland. 
 
 T 
 
 HE city recovered very slowly from the financial 
 depression and its attack of " militarism, " and 
 it was not until 184.5, within the recollection of 
 many people of our present day, that business again 
 assumed an entirely normal character. In 184^ the 
 Mil Halo & Albany Railroad was completed, this being the 
 city's first railroad connection with the East. In the same 
 year Millard Fillmore declined a renomination, and William 
 A. Mosely was sent to Congress in his stead. During the 
 last two years of his tenure of office Mr. Fillmore was chair- 
 man of the Ways and Means Committee, next to the Speaker 
 the most important personage in the House of Representa- 
 tives. In 1844 Mr. Fillmore was mentioned for the vice- 
 presidency by the Whig Convention, to go on the ticket with 
 Henry ('lav, but at the convention Mr. Frelinghuysen was 
 finally chosen, and Mr. Fillmore was nominated for governor, 
 being defeated by Governor Wright. 
 
 In 184.5 began an era of prosperity such as the frontier 
 had never before known. Money was plenty, but not un- 
 healthily so, and the records show that more farms were paid 
 for and more mortgages discharged that year than in any 
 previous like period. New churches were built: frame 
 houses took the places of log cabins that had served up until 
 that time; and the lake commerce took on new and more 
 active aspects. Great fleets in this port were constantly 
 transferring their grain to the canal, and labor was in demand 
 at a fabulous price. 
 
 In 1848 came the introduction of slavery into local 
 politics. In June of that year, when the Whig Convention 
 convened. General Taylor was nominated for the presidency 
 and Millard Fillmore for second place on the ticket. The 
 Democratic Convention named Cass and Butler. But a 
 third ticket entered the field, called "the Barnburners," and, 
 with the idea of uniting all enemies of slavery extension, the 
 famous Buffalo convention was called for August 9th, 1848. 
 The slogan of that convention was, "No more slave States 
 and no more slave Territories. " This was the first local 
 sign of tli*- sentiment that was, but a few years later, to pre- 
 cipitate one of the greatest civil wars in the history of the 
 world. 
 
 Tin- following spring Buffalo's eminent citizen, Fillmore, 
 was installed in the second seat in the nation, a position he is 
 said to have filled in a way highly dignified anil with manners 
 
 that won him a host of admirers. July Oth, 18,50, President 
 Taylor died, and Fillmore became President, just twenty- 
 one years after having entered public life as a member of 
 Assembly. He immediately formed his cabinet, selecting 
 for his postmaster general his former student and partner, 
 Nathan K. Hall, who had been a member of Congress but a 
 single term. This selection occasioned much criticism and 
 invited many charges of favoritism, but it was vindicated 
 by the incumbent's capable administration, his unswerv- 
 ing integrity, and his devotion to duty. 
 
 By 18.50 the population of Buffalo had increased to 
 42,261, with an army of immigration marching constantly 
 through its gates, a percentage of which detached itself at this 
 point and increased the figures rapidly. Of these immi- 
 grants a number, from Rhenish Prussia and Hesse, formed 
 the "Ebenezer Society" and purchased of the Ogden Com- 
 pany ten thousand acres of land in the present town of West 
 Seneca. Until 186.'5 this community thrived, giving one of 
 the most forceful lessons in thrift to be seen in western New 
 York and attracting an excellent class of immigrants, some 
 of them to be the beginning of our very best German families 
 of today. In the period between 1857 and 1863 the members 
 of the society disposed of their land holdings and moved to 
 Iowa, where greater agricultural opportunities were offered. 
 From 1850 to 1857 the city enjoyed great general pros- 
 perity, and foundations were laid for some of the large business 
 houses which contribute today to the city's mercantile suprem- 
 acy. One result of this prosperity and general well-being 
 was the extension of the city limits to include Black Rock. 
 In 18.5.5 the Republican Party was formed, and received 
 into its ranks a large portion of Buffalo's voters. The fol- 
 lowing year came the triangular fight between the Democrats, 
 Republicans, and Americans, the three parties being more 
 equal in numbers in Buffalo than in any other city in the 
 Union. This marked the last appearance of Millard Fill- 
 more in politics. Thereafter he lived in quiet and dignified 
 retirement, for the greater part of the time in the old Fillmore 
 home on Niagara Square, which still stands. 
 
 In 18.57 there came another period of business depression, 
 lesser in consequence than that of 18:57, but, nevertheless, 
 sufficiently serious to hamper the growth and progress of 
 the city. By 1860 this condition had been relieved, and the 
 city, again normal, had a population of 81 ,1-29. In that year 
 26 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 27 
 
 the vote of the city in the presiden- 
 tial contest was about evenly divided 
 between Lincoln and Douglas. 
 
 Rapidly following came what 
 was probably the most momentous 
 period in Buffalo's history. No sooner 
 bad the triumphant shouts of the 
 Lincoln party died away than there 
 came murmurs of discontent from 
 the South. All know how. one after 
 another, the States in the South 
 seceded from the Union; how their 
 preparations for war went on and on, 
 presaging the serious events that 
 were to come; how, at last, it culmi- 
 nated in the spark that set the blaze 
 on the morning of April 15th, 1861. 
 
 The Buffalo morning papers of 
 April l.ith, 1861, contained the news 
 of the bombardment and surrender of 
 Fort Sumter, and within the hour a 
 call had been issued for a meeting to 
 be held at the courthouse on Lafay- 
 ette Square at half past seven o'clock 
 in the evening, to organize "a body of 
 minutemen for immediate service." 
 The courthouse was filled to overflow- 
 ing that night, until chairman Eli Cook saw the impos- 
 sibility of ever forming an intelligent routine of business 
 under such a handicap, and adjourned the meeting to assem- 
 ble later in Kremlin Hall, where a second adjournment was 
 made necessary by the ever increasing crowd. Lastly it 
 was seen that an open-air meeting was the only practicable 
 course, and it took place in front of the American Hotel. 
 
 
 
 SEAL POOL, THE Zoo 
 
 THE ZOO, DELAWARE PABK 
 
 then standing on Main Street between Eaele and Court 
 streets. 
 
 Fired by the speeches and the great wave of patriotism, 
 the youth of the city rushed to the nation's defense, and that 
 night, before the final adjournment, one hundred and two 
 able-bodied young men had signed the call for volunteers. ( )n 
 the eighteenth General Scroggs summoned those who hail 
 enrolled, and the first volunteer com- 
 pany in Erie County was formed, with 
 William II. Drew as captain, R. P. 
 Gardner first lieutenant, and E. 11. 
 P. Shurley second lieutenant. 
 
 Immediately the Seventy-fourth 
 and Sixty-fifth regiments opened 
 recruiting stations and began to enroll 
 volunteers. On May third four com- 
 panies left for Elmira, the first vol- 
 unteers to leave this city for the front. 
 On the eleventh six companies 
 left, joining the four other companies 
 already departed, and forming the 
 Twenty-first New York Volunteer 
 Infantry, under Colonel William F. 
 Rogers. In September another reg- 
 iment left, the Forty-ninth New York 
 Volunteer Infantry. under Major 
 Daniel 1). Bidwell. Battery I of the 
 First New York Artillery lefl the same 
 month under Captain Michael Weid- 
 rich There was also active recruiting, 
 in the city, of separate companies and 
 
28 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 to fill outside organizations and bring them to their full 
 quota. In February, 1862, the One Hundredth New York 
 Infantry was sent out and despatched immediately to the 
 seat of war. 
 
 .Meanwhile politics had taken a paradoxical turn. Oddly 
 enough, though the Republicans swept the State by a 
 hundred thousand majority and had carried the country in 
 the two previous years, at this time the Democrats were at 
 least partly successful, electing locally both a senator and 
 a sheriff. 
 
 After the successive disasters in the Peninsular campaigns 
 the Government called for three hundred thousand more 
 troops, and Buffalo responded nobly. September fifth, the 
 One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment, under Colonel 
 Edward P. Chapin, set out for the front, every man being 
 of the city or county. The summer's disasters in the field 
 naturally strengthened the administration's opposition at 
 the fall election, and the county went Democratic, the 
 Honorable John Ganson being elected to Congress by about 
 three thousand plurality. 
 
 During the year 1804 the people of the city were almost 
 entirely concerned in the movements of the armies. Business 
 was at a standstill; prices were well-nigh prohibitive; and the 
 city's brawn was at the front fighting the country's battles. 
 In this year, for the fourth time, the Democrats were success- 
 ful at the polls, electing the Honorable James M. Humphrey 
 to Congress. 
 
 The following year, 1805, brought an end to the war 
 and the return of the city's men to their vocations of peace. 
 It is not the purpose of this volume to detail Buffalo's asso- 
 ciation with the war period, her influence on the total result, 
 and her standing as a loyal community. Neither would it be 
 possible, for it would necessitate the following of every 
 campaign; for in all, except the armies of the West, were 
 to be found her sons, and thousands of them laid down their 
 lives in the cause or came home maimed or ill, having made 
 man's greatest sacrifice in the cause of country and humanity. 
 
 For the States of both the North and the South it required 
 a long time to recuperate from the dire effects of the Civil 
 War. Business was paralyzed; industries were in a state 
 of chaos; the city was filled with returned soldiers, who were 
 unable to take up their old vocations immediately. The 
 city came nobly to the rescue; funds were established; and. 
 as fast as possible, positions were found for those men who 
 had served their country, and, in serving their country, had 
 lost their own sources of income. 
 
 It is doubtful if in any other city in the Union such kind- 
 ness and thought were shown for the army of heroes, and 
 the paramount thought among the people of Buffalo seemed 
 to be to show appreciation of the sacrifice the soldiers had 
 made. 
 
 Very soon the business and industrial depression began 
 to show signs of relief. Old industries resumed, and new 
 industries sprang up, until, in a very short time, Buffalo 
 assumed her normal condition again and the effects of the 
 civil strife rapidly disappeared. 
 
 At the election following the war the Republican Party 
 came into ascendency and elected a majority of candidates 
 in the county. However, in the following year, the Demo- 
 crats resumed leadership and elected the Honorable James 
 M. Humphrey to Congress — a reelection. In 1867 the 
 Democrats retained their supremacy; but the following year 
 the county went back to the Republican column with a rush, 
 the Grant electoral ticket, and the Honorable David S. 
 Bennett for Congress, being elected by a majority of more 
 than two thousand. 
 
 In 1809 the Republican Party retained power, but the 
 following year the Democracy captured the ballots and sent 
 the Honorable William Williams to Congress. In 1871 the 
 Republicans took their turn again, likewise in the year 1872, 
 the year of the Grant and Greely campaign. In 1873 there 
 was a division of honors, both parties electing equal numbers 
 to office. In 1874 the Democrats elected every candidate 
 save Congressman, the Honorable Lyman K. Bass being 
 reelected to that office, which he had held in 1872. The 
 next year the Republicans won by a majority of three thou- 
 sand five hundred, and in the presidential election of 1870 
 the result was divided, the Honorable Daniel N. Lockwood 
 being sent to Congress from this district. 
 
 In 1877, '78, and '79 the Republicans were in power, 
 but in 1880, although the county gave a good majority for 
 James A. Garfield, the Democratic candidate for Congress, 
 the Honorable Jonathan Scoville, was elected by a small 
 majority. In 1881 the Republican State ticket had a major- 
 ity in the county, while the local candidates of the party were 
 badly defeated. 
 
 In 1882 Grover Cleveland, then mayor of Buffalo and 
 the county's former sheriff, received the nomination for 
 Governor of the State of New York. This was his third 
 step in a political career that was to bring him twice to the 
 highest office within the gift of the American people. In 
 that year the State went Democratic by the largest majority 
 ever given to a candidate in any State in the Union, some- 
 thing more than 190,000. The Buffalo city vote was Repub- 
 lican 11,404, Democratic 17,156. Two years later, in the 
 campaign of 1884, Grover Cleveland, at that time the Gov- 
 ernor of New York State, received the nomination for the 
 presidency against James G. Blaine, and was elected. The 
 city vote was Republican 18,530, Democratic 17,477. In 
 1888. which was again presidential year, Benjamin Harrison 
 was elected president over Mr. Cleveland. In 1892 
 Mr. Cleveland was again nominated, with Adlai E. 
 Stevenson, and defeated Harrison and Reid, the Republican 
 national ticket. 
 
 Previous to his meteoric public career, Grover Cleveland 
 was a practicing lawyer in the city of Buffalo, and favorably, 
 though comparatively little, known in the State bar, and 
 practically of no national fame. His services as mayor, 
 governor, and president, however, entirely justified the con- 
 fidence placed in him, and his diplomatic handling of 
 several delicate situations which came in his official career 
 marked him as an able man, well fitted for the tasks of his 
 high office. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 First street railroad. — Buffalo Historical Society. -Beginning of the city's great business houses. — The Grosvenor Library. — 
 Young Men's Christian Association. — Burning of the American Hotel. — Death of the firemen. — The Fenian raid. — Reorganization of the 
 police department. — New city and county hall. — Beginning of the park system.— Railroad extension. — Lake tonnage. — The stock 
 yards. — City's industries. — Great buildings.— Real estate. — Panic of 1893.— Railroad strikes. — (irade crossings abolished. — Paving. — 
 As a convention city. — The G. A. R. 
 
 THE first street railway company had been organized in 
 Buffalo in I860, although a horse road had been 
 operated for some years between the city and 
 Black Rock. May 19th, I860, ground was broken on 
 Main Street for car tracks, and a few flays later the 
 Niagara Street line was commenced. The first car over 
 the Main Street line was run June 11th, 1860, and on June 
 twenty-third cars began running on the Niagara Street line. 
 Aside from the contributions to the Federal cause, the 
 year 1862 had marked the formation of the Buffalo Historical 
 Society. Its formation was a matter of much local impor- 
 tance, and its board at the time comprised the foremost men 
 of the city. Notwithstanding the enormous cost of the war, 
 a financial drain that extended to every hamlet in the land, 
 save for the inevitable chaos there was seeming prosperity 
 throughout the North, particularly in Buffalo. This was 
 due to the enormous demands of the Government for war 
 material, which had promoted many industries. Buffalo 
 advanced with the gen- 
 eral tide. The five 
 years between the surren- 
 der at Appomattox and 
 1870 were prolific in new 
 business projects and 
 public improvements. 
 Railroads were extended 
 and building became 
 general. That period 
 witnessed the establish- 
 ment of what are today 
 our largest business 
 houses, including The 
 William Hengerer Com- 
 pany, The Adam, Mel- 
 drum & Anderson Com- 
 pany, J. N. Adam & 
 Company, Walbridge & 
 Company, the Third 
 National Bank, and 
 others. 
 
 GROSVENOR LIBRARY 
 
 At that time Buffalo was well supplied with public 
 institutions which were a source of untold benefit. Among 
 those wcii' the Grosvenor Library. In 1857 Seth Gros- 
 venor. then living in New York, made a bequest, of which 
 the following is a transcript: 
 
 "I give to tin' Mayor. Aldermen, and Commonalty 
 of Hie city of Buffalo, in the county of Erie, to be paid in 
 two years after my decease with interest. $1(1,0(10. $10,000 
 of which to be appropriated to the purchase of a lot and 
 building thereon (unless the city of Buffalo shall give a lot 
 for that purpose) in which case the whole $10,000 shall be 
 expended on the building which is intended for a public 
 library, and the remainder. $.'{(), 000. to be invested forever.and 
 its income to be used in the purchase of books, to be always 
 kept open for the use of the public, and the books not to be 
 lent out nor rented, and only used for reading in the build- 
 ing." 
 
 One provision of the bequest was that the city should 
 
 appropriate a sufficient 
 sum annually to pay 
 the current expenses of 
 the library, and under 
 these conditions the city 
 accepted the bequest and 
 the fund was paid over 
 in 18(1.). Suitable rooms 
 were secured for the 
 library in the Buffalo 
 Savings Bank Building, 
 and the library was 
 gathered and opened to 
 the public in 1870. The 
 first board of trustees 
 were <). H. Marshall. 
 George R. Babcock, and 
 Joseph G. Masten. The 
 city appropriated four 
 thousand dollars a year 
 for the expenses. In the 
 course of time a consider- 
 
 29 
 
30 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Y. M. C. A. BUILDING 
 
 able building fund was accumulated, and in 1891 the trustees 
 took steps to erect the present beautiful and convenient 
 library building at the corner of Franklin and Edward 
 streets. The library contains upwards of seventy-five 
 thousand volumes and seven thousand pamphlets for 
 reference use, and in 18!)7 passed under control of the city. 
 Another important institution alluded to is the Young 
 Men's Christian Association, which, while it had its incep- 
 tion as early as 185^, did not attain much success until 1868. 
 At first it occupied quarters in the building of the Young 
 Men's Association. In 18.).'5 it moved into Odeon Hall, 
 in which was held, in June, 18.»4. the first annual convention 
 of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation of the United States and 
 British provinces. Kremlin Hall was 
 taken in 18.55, but the association 
 became involved in financial embar 
 rassment and was forced to sell much 
 of its furniture and move into much 
 less extensive quarters in the Arcade 
 Building. September 8th, 188^, il 
 purchased the property at the junction 
 of Genesee, Pearl, and Mohawk 
 streets. At the beginning of the pres- 
 ent century the association purchased 
 the property at the junction of 
 Genesee, Franklin, and Mohawk 
 streets, erecting thereon the .second 
 
 finest Y. M. C. A. building in the 
 
 world. 
 
 January L 2.ith, 1865, the American 
 Hotel on Main Street, between Eagle 
 and Court streets, where the Adam, 
 Meldrum & Anderson Company's 
 store now stands, was burned to the 
 ground, causing not only a large 
 financial loss, but also the death of 
 three prominent young men of the city, 
 who died in the discharge of their 
 duty. They were James H. Sidway. 
 George H.' Tift't, and William H. 
 Gillett. 
 
 At about this time the organization 
 of so-called Fenians had assumed im- 
 portance throughout the State, and 
 Buffalo became the center of exciting 
 and warlike scenes. In May, 1865, 
 the Fenian soldiers began to arrive in 
 the city, and in the early pari of June 
 ten thousand were quartered in this 
 place. About midnight of May 31st, 
 I860, squads of the invaders marched 
 through the streets towards Black 
 Rock to a convenient point, whence 
 they crossed to Canada on canal boats 
 towed by tugs. The Federal authorities 
 adopted prompt measures to prevent the transportation of men 
 and arms across the river. The steamer Michigan passed down 
 the river, but too late to prevent the crossing. On June 
 second General Grant arrived in the city and placed General 
 William F. Berry in command of the frontier. A detachment 
 of the regular army was ordered to Fort Porter from Sacketts 
 Harbor to quell possible disturbances. An engagement 
 between the Fenians and the Canadian militia was fought 
 at Ridgeway. June second, which resulted in the defeat of 
 the invaders. An attempt was made from Buffalo to rein- 
 force Genera] O'Neil, in command of the invaders, but the 
 retreat had gone too far, and the reinforcements turned to 
 
 
 THE COUNTRY CLUB 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 31 
 
 assisting in the transportation « > t* tin- defeated Fenians t<> 
 Buffalo. This substantially ended the invasion, tin- agi- 
 tation ceasing on the twelfth of June, and the Fenians return- 
 ing to their homes. 
 
 A reorganization of the police force of the city of Buffalo 
 was effected in lS(i(l. The law authorized the creation of 
 the Niagara Frontier Police District. The new organization 
 was under the control of a hoard of commissioners, and con- 
 sisted of a superintendent, captains, detectives, and patrol- 
 men. After an existence of ahout five years this police system 
 showed signs of weakness. A new law then cut off the out- 
 lying districts and created the Buffalo City Police Department. 
 
 During the winter of INTO 71 the citizens and officials 
 took steps for providing a public building in Buffalo adequate 
 to the needs of both the city and county. In IS? I the 
 Legislature passed an act providing for the proposed build- 
 ing, and the Governor appointed a commission. Franklin 
 Square was selected as the site, and in April. 187 L „', A. J. 
 Warren was employed as architect, and his plans were 
 accepted. In March, 1876, it was formally taken possession 
 of by the judges, the liar, and county officials. The ( 'ommon 
 Council chamber was formally occupied in the afternoon 
 of the same day. the address being delivered by Mayor Philip 
 
 Meeker. 
 
 April 14th, 1869, a law was passed under which, with its 
 various amendments, the present grand park system of Buffalo 
 has been created. Of recent years the park system has been 
 much improved. New features that have become popular 
 in cities of the old country as well as in the larger cities of 
 the United States have been adopted. Wading pools, public 
 playgrounds, the zoological and botanical exhibits, have been 
 added, until Buffalo's system of parks has become a model 
 for other cities. 
 
 Notwithstanding the financial depression in the peiiod 
 between 1870 and 1880, there was considerable railroad 
 extension. This included the formation of The Buffalo & 
 Jamestown Railroad Company, operating southward through 
 the towns of West Seneca. Hamburg, Eden. North Collins, 
 and Collins, and crossing Cattaraugus Creek at Gowanda. 
 
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 BF.AR PIT, THE ZOO 
 
 CHAMBEB OF COMMERCE 
 
 The road was sold under foreclosure in 1877, and today is 
 controlled by the Erie Bailroad. 
 
 The population of Buffalo in 1 S?."> was 134,557; in 1880 
 it was 155,134. The tonnage of vessels arriving and clearing 
 from the port of Buffalo in 1880 was 5,935,746 tons: in 1890 
 this had increased to 7,566,415, while in 18!)(i the figures had 
 reached 1 1,304,607 tons, and for the year 1!I07 it had reached 
 the enormous figure of 1 4, (>.)!), 14 k 2 
 tons. 
 
 Sixty-tour years have elapsed since 
 the first records were made of the 
 receipts of anthracite coal in Buffalo. 
 In 1 S4-2 only 900 net tons were re- 
 ported. In 18.V..'. 33,000 net Ions; in 
 1862, 132,500 net tons; in 1872,521,000 
 net tons; in 1892, 4.840.700 net tons. 
 Last year the figures were 9,000,000 
 net tons received l>\ rail alone. The 
 figures for the coal receipts by lake 
 are not available. 
 
 By virtue of its situation, the 
 early establishment of adequate 
 stock yards, and its railroad facilities, 
 Buffalo is one of the largest cattle 
 markets in the world. In this there 
 has been an enormous development 
 
;>2 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 in the past thirty years. The receipts of hogs, sheep, 
 and cattle compare favorably with the largest similar 
 markets in the United States, while Buffalo has become 
 the greatest horse market in the world. 
 
 With the installation of unlimited electric power from 
 Niagara Falls the city came into its own as a manufactur- 
 ing center. Before that time it had never been such in 
 a para nu unit degree, but with power offered at a lower 
 price than can be obtained in any other State, vast 
 industries were immediately attracted. This has 
 resulted in two great steel industries locating tributary 
 In the city. Innumerable smaller manufacturing 
 establishments have been added year by year, until 
 now Buffalo's industrial schedule tallies upwards of 
 seven thousand wage-paying industrial institutions. 
 The steel industry, which is fast becoming para- 
 mount in Buffalo, is more extensively described in 
 another chapter. 
 
 Willi the advent of better times after the panic 
 of 1873 there came a surprising movement in real estate 
 and building. Business blocks of great cost were 
 erected with surprising frequency, and the supply 
 never seemed to surpass the demand. In the past 
 twenty-five years such splendid structures as the Erie 
 County Savings Bank, the Prudential Building, the 
 Ellicott Square Building, the Chamber of Commerce, 
 the Brisbane Building, the German Insurance Com- 
 pany, the Buffalo Library Building, the D. S. Morgan 
 Building, the Mutual Life Building, the Statler 
 Hotel, the Iroquois Hotel, the Buffalo Savings Bank, 
 the Buffalo Evening News Building, the Fidelity Build- 
 ing, and many others have been added. 
 
 This remarkable activity in building stimulate! I real 
 estate operation, and in Buffalo this activity extended 
 principally toward what is known as the Elmwood 
 section. It is doubtful if in any other city in the 
 Union a more desirable residence section can be found 
 
 WADING POOL, HUMBOLDT PARK 
 
 MUTUAL LIFE BUILDING 
 
 than this same district. It has been 
 built up with desirable homes — large, 
 roomy structures of a pleasing style 
 of architecture and with especial efforts 
 to surround them with beautiful 
 grounds and shrubbery. The real 
 estate operations in other sections 
 around Buffalo were numerous, and 
 did not always work to the public 
 welfare. There were false valuations, 
 forced inflations, and illegitimate 
 speculations which often worked to the 
 disadvantage of home-builders, and 
 for several years afterwards an un- 
 favorable result was felt in the city's 
 financial progress. However, real 
 estate centrally located in the city and 
 improved with business or residence 
 buildings was hardly at all involved 
 in these mere mushroom sections. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 33 
 
 SPAULDING BUILDING 
 
 In ISD.'i there came a financial crash from which Buffalo 
 suffered in common with other cities. It was not until the 
 Spanish-American War that the city completely recovered 
 from its depressing conditions —conditions thai were largely 
 due to the unfortunate speculations in real estate in the 
 
 reached Ilorncllsville, 
 and on the twenl v-h'rst 
 of .Inly affected freight 
 transportation in this 
 city. 
 
 The Seventy fourth 
 and Sixty-fifth regi- 
 ments were placed on 
 g u a r d at depot S, 
 freight 
 
 roundhouses, 
 
 h o u s e s, a n <i c o a i 
 trestles. In the after- 
 noon of the twenty- 
 second the Lake Shore 
 Railroad called for 
 help at its round- 
 house, and General 
 Rogers, with a detach- 
 ment of troops, re- 
 sponded. The sol- 
 diers were jeered at 
 and greeted with a 
 shower of stones. The 
 ( icncral ordered his 
 men to take aim, 
 whereupon the mob stampeded and the troops occupied the 
 roundhouse. The night of the twenty-third the Westfield, New 
 York company, which had been ordered to Buffalo, encountered 
 the mol> a short distance outside of the city, and in the trouble 
 that followed several men were wounded. On the evening 
 
 :ighties and the early nineties. Since that time the operations of the twenty-third matters assumed such a serious aspect 
 
 that a public meeting was called. Mayor Meeker presiding. 
 The ( 'ominon ( duncil was called upon to increase the number 
 of patrolmen to 
 
 in real estate have been conservative and to a great extent 
 conducted by men who appreciated that real values and a 
 stable business method constitute the only safe, permanent, 
 and profitable system. 
 
 The Buffalo Real Estate Exchange was organized Janu- 
 ary '2:5d, 1SS.5. It erected a home on Pearl Street in lS!>.5-9(i 
 at a cost of four hundred and sixty thousand dollars. 
 Eor years practically all the real estate business of the city was 
 conducted from that center. 
 
 The immigration into the city and county has, of recent 
 years, been of a widely diverse character. Today, while 
 the English-speaking nationality predominates, there are 
 very large German, Polish, and Italian elements of citizen- 
 ship. The Polish colony is particularly progressive, has 
 several churches and parochial schools, its own newspaper, 
 and the social and musical societies of the "fatherland" 
 have taken root and flourished in this their adopted home. 
 
 This large and varied population, and the fact that 
 Buffalo is a great railroad center, contributed to swell the 
 railroad men's strike in 1877. Hen' that movement found 
 one of its most active centers. This trouble began in Mar- 
 tinsburg, West Virginia, and spread to the West, and before 
 the night of the nineteenth of July, 1877, every employee in 
 Chicago had quitwork. In Pittsburg a mob took possession 
 of the railroad property, and there and in Baltimore men 
 were shot down in the streets. On the twentieth the strike 
 
 not more than 
 one thousand. 
 Two thousand 
 citizens were en- 
 rolled for general 
 duty. Company 
 1) of the City 
 
 Guard tendered 
 
 its services to the 
 authorities, and 
 on the twenty- 
 fourth the aug- 
 mented patrol 
 service was ready 
 for duty and sup- 
 plied with am- 
 munition. The 
 mob of vandals 
 turned their at- 
 tention from the 
 railroads to the 
 leading manufac- 
 tories <>f the city, 
 
 BUILDERS' EXCHANGE 
 
34 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 which in several instances were closed under compulsion. 
 The factory of John T. Noye & Son was attacked and 
 the doors broken in. and a detail of police was compelled 
 to charge the vandals. This substantially ended interference 
 with business places. The destruction of railroad property 
 in East Buffalo, which had been threatened, was prevented 
 only by a close patrol and the presence of the militia. To 
 the effective action of the police was due in a large 
 measure the early extinction of the strike, which ended on 
 the twenty-fifth. 
 
 Another important railroad strike took place in Buffalo 
 in 1S0-2. A disagreement over wages was the cause of this 
 industrial rupture. 
 
 August thirteenth, the movement began against the 
 Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad. Eighteen 
 freight cars, two passenger cars, and two flagmen's shanties 
 were burned in the Lehigh Valley yards. Ten loaded cars 
 were uncoupled on the Lehigh trestle and sent thundering 
 down the trestle to collide with and wreck a locomotive and 
 destroy the water tank. The Seventy-fourth and Sixty-fifth 
 regiments were ordered out on the fifteenth, and within a 
 few days the Governor had practically the whole militia 
 force of the State on the scene. II. Walter Webb and other 
 prominent railroad officials conducted the fight against the 
 strikers from the Iroquois Hotel, and defeat was inevitable. 
 On the twenty-fifth the switchmen's union gave up the fight, 
 and the strike collapsed almost immediately. 
 
 A feature of modern progress of great importance to 
 Buffalo is the abolition of grade crossings of railroads. The 
 crossings commission was created in 1X88, and the first board 
 consisted of the following -named persons; Robert B. 
 Adam, William J. Morgan, George Sandrock, Charles A. 
 Sweet, Edward H. Butler, John B. Weber, Frederick Ken- 
 dall, Solomon Scheu, and James E. Nunan. Augustus F. 
 Scheu, James Ryan, and Henry I). Kirkover were subse- 
 quently added to the commission. After discouraging 
 negotiations, the commission was finally successful, and 
 during the year 1896 contracts were signed by all the impor- 
 tant railroads entering the city, and work began which is 
 being continued at this writing. It is believed that event- 
 
 ually all city crossings will lie made absolutely safe through 
 the work of this commission. 
 
 The paving of Buffalo streets with asphalt composition 
 was introduced in 1882. Since that time this smooth street 
 surface has been extensively laid. At the present time there 
 is three hundred and thirty-five miles of this pavement, 
 making Buffalo the finest-paved city in the world. 
 
 On account of its hotel facilities and its desirable situ- 
 ation. Buffalo has come to be known as America's greatest 
 convention city. The forerunner of thousands of conventions 
 was the thirty-first annual encampment of the Grand Army 
 of the Republic held August 23d to 28th. 18!)?, in this city. 
 This first showed to the public how well fitted Buffalo is 
 to handle great crowds. The military camp, which was a 
 model in every respect, was established at the Front, and 
 named in honor of Commander Jewett. President Mckinley 
 arrived on Tuesday afternoon, his headquarters being at the 
 Niagara Hotel. The great parade of the G. A. R. took place 
 on Wednesday, one of the most imposing and impressive 
 spectacles of the kind ever witnessed. It was estimated 
 that during the week there were two hundred thousand or 
 more strangers in the city, and the great crowds were handled 
 with dispatch, all being comfortably provided for, and even 
 minor complaints were scarce. 
 
 During this convention of the G. A. R., Chapin Post. 
 No. 2, the second Grand Army post in the United States, 
 was conspicuous. In many respects it is the most notable 
 G. A. R. post in existence, having several times been the 
 banner post in point of numbers. It was named in honor 
 of Edward Payson Chapin, who fell at the battle of Port 
 Hudson, May 27th, 18(i.'S. Scarcely second in standing is 
 the Bidwcll Wilkeson Post, No. i), also one of the largest 
 G. A. R. posts in the country. At the present time there are 
 seven (i. A. R. posts in Buffalo, totaling a membership of 
 more than twelve hundred. 
 
 To Chapin Post, Xo. L 2, and to Post-Commander 
 John 1). Leib, is due the credit of erecting the beautiful 
 soldiers' monument in Forest Lawn and setting apart a burial 
 plot for friendless and indigent veterans. The heroes of 
 1SU1-65 are still further honored by the magnificent soldiers' 
 and sailors' monument long ago erected on Lafayette Square. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Erie Canal. -Its importance to the Buffalo of an early day- Government aid refused State provides funds. -Work started 
 — Canal opening celebration. Dimensions of the original canal, ('anal improvements. The canal's part in settling the great \\ e I 
 Tolls abolished.— The campaign instituted by The Buffalo Evening News results in a decision to enlarge the waterwaj toa thousand-ton 
 
 barge canal size. 
 
 THE most important factor in the development of 
 Buffalo has boon the Erie Canal, which justifies 
 a special chapter in this volume. The first 
 person who definitely and publicly advocated the con- 
 struction of a waterway from the Hudson River to 
 Lake Erie was Jesse Haw ley, a native of Connecticut, who 
 published his ideas in an essay in The Pittsburg Common- 
 wealth, signed "Hercules." So far as the public is con- 
 cerned, therefore, Jesse Hawley is entitled to be called the 
 originator of the Erie Canal, for the identity of "Hercules" 
 has been determined to be Jesse Hawley. 
 
 Mr. Hawley supplemented this with a series of articles 
 in The Ontario Messenger, a paper issued at Canandaigua, 
 which brought the people of XewYork State to a realization 
 of the benefits to be derived from such a waterway. Sub- 
 sequently Mr. Hawley 's plans were followed, all save his 
 recommendation that the canal should be built by the United 
 States, it being eventually built by the State of New 'Sink. 
 
 All efforts to obtain financial assistance from the general 
 government failed, and in March, 1812, Dewitt Clinton and 
 Gouverneur Morris, as commissioners, reported their failure, 
 and recommended the construction of the canal by the State. 
 The following June the Legislature authorized the borrowing 
 of five million dollars with which to construct the canal; 
 but the war with Great Britain stopped all such efforts, and 
 in 1814 the law was repealed. 
 
 After the close of the war. Clinton, assisted by Jonas 
 Piatt and Thomas Eddy, again agitated the construction 
 of the canal, and in April, 181(i, the Legislature passed a 
 law appointing a commission, naming Clinton as its president. 
 On the fifteenth day of April. 1817, a law was finally passed 
 authorizing the construction of the canal, and the following 
 year the people of the State proved their anxiety for the pro- 
 ject by electing Dewitt Clinton governor by an overwhelming 
 majority. 
 
 The work was rapidly pushed, the middle section from 
 Utica to Montezuma being completed in July, 1820. The 
 part east of Utica was finished in October, IS'.':!. The 
 western section was begun later than the others, and extended 
 from Montezuma westward to what was then an indefinite 
 terminal. The contestants for the terminal were the rival 
 
 35 
 
 villages of Buffalo and Black Hock, ami a vigorous war 
 was waged in behalf of their respective claims. 
 
 At this time Governor Clinton's term of office had 
 expired, and he was again chairman of the board of canal 
 commissioners. He and his associates finally decided in 
 favor of Buffalo. 
 
 The first work done on the canal in Erie County was at 
 Tonawanda — or, rather, where Tonawanda now stands, 
 for that city has been entirely an outgrowth of the canal. 
 
 On the ninth day of August, 182.'5, the work of actual 
 canal digging in Erie County was formally opened, ground 
 being broken near the Commercial Street bridge in Buffalo. 
 The people turned out rn masse to celebrate the event. So 
 zealously was the work pushed forward that in September, 
 1825, all was completed except where the canal cut through 
 the mountain ridge at the village of Lockport. 
 
 Anticipating the opening of the eanal on October 
 twenty-sixth, a grand celebration was resolved upon. Com- 
 mittees were appointed in every city and village along the 
 canal, and the State itself took an active part. In the even- 
 ing of October twenty-fourth the filling of the Lake Erie 
 level was begun, and in twenty-four hours the whole canal 
 was ready lor use. On the evening of October 25th, 182.5, 
 Governor Clinton and other distinguished gentleman arrived 
 in Buffalo, where everything was ready for the grand ovation 
 on the following day. The morning was ushered in by a 
 military salute. At nine o'clock the procession moved from 
 the park down Main Street, headed by a band of music and 
 Captain Rathbun's rifle company at its head, followed by a 
 body of canal diggers with spades, and sailors, soldiers, 
 mechanics, militia officers and men, with Governor Clinton 
 bringing up the rear. The procession marched to the canal 
 basin, where the distinguished gentlemen boarded the eanal 
 boat Seneca Chief. Jesse Hawley, the originator of the canal 
 plan, made a brief speech, which was replied to by Judge 
 Oliver Forward on the part of the Buffalo committee. 
 
 At ten o'clock the attached horsepower was put in 
 motion and the Seneca Chief set out on its journey to the 
 Hudson amid the cheers of the assembled people. Cannon were 
 stationed at convenient intervals along the canal, which, 
 one after another, repeated the shots, and thus the news 
 
36 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 of the departure of the Seneca Chief was carried to Albany, large majority. It was not until 1862, however, that the 
 The procession then returned to the courthouse, where an enlargement was completed. 
 
 eloquent oration on the benefits to be derived from the canal By cutting off some needless portions the length was 
 
 was delivered by Sheldon Smith, a prominent lawyer of that decreased to three hundred and fifty and one half miles. The 
 day. Then followed public dinners at Rathbun's Eagle width of the surface along most of its length was seventy 
 Hotel and Landon's Mansion House, the festivities of the feet and of the bottom fifty-six feet, and the depth of water 
 occasion closing with a grand hall at the former place. seven feet. The capacity of the boats increased in corre- 
 
 A committee of Buffalonians headed by Judge Samuel sponding ratio, the average burden becoming two hundred 
 
 and ten tons and the maximum burden two hundred and 
 forty tuns. The number of locks was also increased. The 
 enlargement had been far more expensive than the original 
 canal, so that down to 1866 the construction, enlargement, 
 accompanied by many prominent citizens. Then, after and improvement of the Erie and Champlain canals had cost 
 the inevitable speech-making, the water of the Atlantic was not less than $46,018,234. The maintenance had cost 
 
 Wilkeson went through by canal and river to New York, 
 where they obtained a keg of ocean water, which they brought 
 back to Buffalo. This was taken on board a vessel and 
 carried a short distance out on the lake bv the committee. 
 
 the longest artificial 
 
 $12,900,333, making the total expense of these canals 
 $58,918,567. ( )n the other hand, the receipts for tolls on the 
 
 mingled with that of Lake Erie. 
 
 At the time, the Erie Canal was 
 waterway in the world, except one in 
 China. As then constructed it was 
 three hundred and sixty-three miles 
 long, forty feet wide at the surface 
 and twenty-eight feet at the bottom, 
 with only four feet depth of water. 
 It had eighty-three locks and a total 
 amount of lockage of six hundred and 
 fifty-five feet. The water fell to the 
 east in all of the locks except for 
 twenty-seven miles in the vicinity of 
 Syracuse, where it fell forty-six feet to 
 the westward, leaving the actual descent 
 from Buffalo to Albany five hundred 
 and sixty-three feet. 
 
 The largest boats then used were 
 of seventy-six tons burden, and with 
 an average of seventy tons. The 
 original canal cost $7,600,000. 
 
 All know how largely the Erie 
 Canal aided in the development not 
 only of the Empire State but of the 
 whole Northwest, which found a better 
 outlet for its surplus of products 
 
 than offered by any other route. Buffalo, being at the trans- Erie and Champlain canals had amounted to $81,057,168, 
 
 fer point from lake to canal, increased in population and leaving a balance in favor of these canals of $22,138,601. 
 
 wealth with greater rapidity than any other community in But the canal system had reached its climax at that period, 
 
 the country at the time. Every city and village along the As early as 1867 the sale of all canals to private parties was 
 
 line benefited to a considerable degree as well. agitated. At that period the railroads steadily began to 
 
 In 1835 the traffic had become so great that the Leg- draw the business, and though canal tolls were made as low 
 
 islature authorized improvements that would treble the as possible, it at length became evident that this could no 
 
 capacity of the canal. The panic of 1837, however, seriously longer be done, and that the canals must be made free of 
 
 injured the financial ability of the State, and the work ceased tolls or give up entirely. 
 
 when the Democratic Party came into power in 1843. When In 1882. when the question was finally submitted to the 
 
 the Whigs returned to power, a little later, they sought to people, they voted by a large majority that the canals should 
 
 continue the enlargement, but a bill passed by the Legis- be relieved of all tolls and maintained at the expense of the 
 
 lature in 1846, forbidding the State to incur a single debt State. This measure has already resulted in a considerable 
 
 of more than a million dollars, prevented this. But the accession to the business of the canals, and for a time it was 
 
 people were as determined to have the canal enlarged as believed that they would be formidable competitors of the 
 
 they originally had been to have it constructed, and an railroads. With increased railroad facilities and lowering 
 
 amendment permitting an increase of debt was adopted by a of railroad carrying rates, due to competition, the canal 
 
 
 &>'-£& 
 
 SCENE OX ToWTATH, ERIE CANAL 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 37 
 
 greatly lost its prestige and it could readily be seen that unless 
 the waterway was still further enlarged its volume of business 
 would soon become insignificant. 
 
 This obvious fact lias prompted in the past few years 
 what is undoubtedly the greatest enterprise ever undertaken 
 in the State, the enlargement of the Erie (anal to what is 
 called the thousand-ton barge canal size. The plan, adopted 
 by the people after a struggle lasting from July, 1902, until 
 the election in November, 1903, is l<> spend not more than 
 $101,000,000 to enlarge the Erie Canal, the Champlain 
 (anal, and the Oswego Canal from the present depth of 
 seven feet to a depth of twelve feet, with width and locks 
 proportioned to that size of prism — that will carry a boat 
 capable of moving not less than one thousand tons of freight 
 in a single cargo. 
 
 In the session of the Legislature in April, 1902, a propo- 
 sition to spend $31,800,000 on canal enlargement was voted 
 down after prolonged debate, and that was supposed to have 
 ended the agitation, for a definite time, over canal enlarge- 
 ment. At the beginning of August the same year The 
 Buffalo Evening News took up the question, demanding 
 that the Republican State Convention put a thousand-ton 
 barge canal plank in their platform, warning the Republi- 
 can Partv that if that were not done the Democrats would 
 
 adopt such a plank and would have practically the solid 
 vote of Erie County, which is large enough when voted 
 unitedly to control the election in the State. 
 
 Following the- proposition of the News a bitter debate 
 sprang up, which was conducted by the News, on the affir- 
 mative, until the State convention- of l>olh parties met, 
 when, the Republican Party having adopted that plank, 
 the Democrats felt compelled to do so; and so the proposition 
 came before the people with tin' sanction of both party con- 
 ventions. The following winter there was a -till harder 
 struggle in the Legislature togeta bill through authorizing 
 the expenditure of the money at the rate proposed. 
 That was carried finally, and the bill made conditional 
 upon approval of the people at tin- polls iii November. 
 During the long discussion between the adjournment of 
 the Legislature and election day the News was foremost 
 in the discussion in favor of the canal and bore for 
 a long time the full brunt of the affirmative. It was 
 not until that summer that the New York newspapers 
 fell into line in favor of it, and the New York political organ- 
 izations, without respect to party, also adopted it. The 
 result was that the proposition was carried at the polls by 
 about two hundred and forty-five thousand majority in 
 November, 1903, and the new measure becamealaw. 
 
 A VIEW FROM THE WATEB FRONT 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Financial depression. — War with Spain. — Departure of the Fort Porter garrison. — Its part in the battle of San Juan. — Sixty-fifth 
 Regiment called out for war service. — Their departure. — Encamped in Virginia. — Losses. — Formation of the Two Hundred and Second 
 Regiment.— Return of the Thirteenth United States Regulars and the Sixty-fifth Regiment. — Their reception. — Departure of the 
 Thirteenth for service in the Philippine Islands. 
 
 IN the nineties Buffalo's attention was about evenly This regiment was organized in 1861, being recruited 
 
 divided between measures to relieve the financial from Iowa, Ohio, and Michigan. It had for its first corn- 
 depression which then overspread the whole country, mander Colonel, later General, W. T. Sherman, with Lieu- 
 and the possibility of war with Spain for the independence tenant-Colonel Sidney Burbank. General Sheridan was at 
 of Cuba. In the late nineties this latter completely over- one time a captain on its rolls. The regiment is on record 
 shadowed the former consideration, and, when William as having been "first at Vieksburg," and one of its priceless 
 McKinley, then President of the United States, following trophies commemorates that event. 
 
 the declaration of war with Spain, called for volunteers It came to Buffalo October 9th, 1894, from the West, 
 
 for service in Cuba he found no more ready response from Company E was stationed at Fort Niagara; Companies B, 
 any city in the nation than from the city of Buffalo. D, and F, at Governor's Island, New York Harbor, and 
 
 The patriotism that had made soldiers of the city's Companies A, C, G, and 11, comprising the first battalion, 
 fathers more than thirty years before surged through the at Fort Porter. At the outbreak of the Spanish War, it 
 breasts of the sons, and scarcely had the ink dried on Piesi- was in command of Colonel Alfred T. Smith, with Lieutenant- 
 dent McKinley 's call when the citizen soldiery of Buffalo Colonel William S. Worth second in command. 
 raised their colors and stood ready to march. Shortly after the beginning of hostilities, in April, 1898, 
 
 At Fort Porter, where a detachment of the Thirteenth the Thirteenth was ordered to report at Tampa, Florida, 
 1'nited States Regulars garrisoned the post, there was unusual to form part of the Third Brigade, together with the .Ninth 
 activity and the inevitable preparations for war. The pres- and Twenty - fourth regiments. Colonel Smith was or- 
 ence of this regi- 
 ment at Buffalo 
 at the outbreak 
 of the Spanish- 
 American W a r, 
 its stirring passage 
 through our streets 
 to the station, its 
 departure from 
 here, its glorious 
 record on the field 
 of battle, and its 
 many associations 
 and ties here cre- 
 ated a local in- 
 terest in the com- 
 mand that contin- 
 ues to this day : 
 and even now. no 
 matter what part of 
 the world sees the 
 regiment's service, 
 it is still known 
 as" Buffalo's ( )wn 
 
 Regiment." THE CASTLE AT FORT PORTER, THE FRONT 
 
 38 
 
 dered to remain 
 at Tain pa, on ac- 
 count of ill health 
 and disability, and 
 the regiment then 
 proceeded to Cuba 
 under command 
 of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Worth. 
 
 The regiments 
 c o in pos i ng the 
 Tli i r d Brigade 
 were in the fore 
 during the many 
 little skirmishes 
 that preceded the 
 heavy fighting of 
 the first week of 
 July, before San- 
 tiago, a n d the 
 Thirteenth took a 
 prominent part in 
 them. But it was 
 in the memorable 
 climb upSan Juan 
 Hill on July third 
 
THE (1TY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 39 
 
 CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL 
 
 that this command won its laurels. The Third Brigade 
 suffered heavily in this engagement, General Wikoff, com- 
 manding, being killed. Captain James Fornance, of Com- 
 pany F; Second Lieutenant William Sater, Company A; ami 
 a number of enlisted men were killed at the very outset. 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Worth. Major 1'. II. Ellis, Captain 
 John I?. Guthrie, Company A; Captain J. B. Goe, Company 
 G; Captain II. G. Cavanaugh, Company E; Lieutenant A. E. 
 Scott, Company C; and many men were wounded, some 
 seriously. Major Auinan commanded the Thirteenth during 
 the battle of San Juan, following the wounding of Colonel 
 Worth. As a result of the Thirteenth's part in that action 
 some of its officers were reported for gallantry, 
 including the following: Lieutenant, after- 
 wards Captain. A. B. Scott, Lieutenant X. 
 It. Sample, Lieutenant M. A. Saffold, Lieu- 
 tenant A. L. Threckeld, Lieutenant T. M. 
 Anderson. Lieutenant Anderson was said to 
 have been the first officer to reach the crest 
 of the hill, and he it was who led the squad 
 of men from the Thirteenth who took the 
 blockhouse, tore down the Spanish ting, and 
 made prisoners of the Spaniards defending it. 
 The Thirteenth suffered heavily in this engage 
 meiit. practically all of its officers being 
 either killed or wounded. 
 
 The regiment remained in cam]) near 
 Santiago until, about the first of September, 
 orders were received for the regiments com- 
 posing the Third Brigade to return home. 
 All of the wounded who were in a condition 
 to be removed had been sent home previously, 
 so that it was but a small remnant of the 
 regiment that had left here that returned 
 to Buffalo. 'The First Battalion only returned 
 
 lo this city, the other foui' companies of the 
 Second Battalion being senttotheir respective 
 posisat Governor's Island and Fort Niagara. 
 
 September l.">lh. 1898, was a great day 
 in Buffalo's history. Although the 'Thirteenth 
 was a regiment of the regular army, and as 
 such attached to no particular post for any 
 considerable length of time, the people of 
 Buffalo had come to think of it only as a 
 Buffalo regiment. When it left here for Cuba 
 there were a large number of Buffalonians in 
 its ranks, and this number was greatly aug- 
 mented later. 
 
 When the one hundred and seventy-seven 
 men, all who remained able to parade, de- 
 trained at tin' Exchange Street station of the 
 New ^ ork Central Railroad, upwards of one 
 hundred thousand people thronged the street-. 
 along which they were to march. The hotels 
 were filled with those who had come in from 
 the surrounding towns and cities. The 
 'Thirteenth was escorted through Main and 
 Chippewa streets. Delaware Avenue, North 
 Street, and Porter Avenue by General 1'. 
 C. Doyle, commanding the Fourth Brigade, N. (i. S. X. Y.. 
 with his staff, the Sixty-fifth and Seventy-fourth regiments, 
 of this city, and Colonel Green and staff of the Ninth 
 Regiment. U. S. A. 
 
 The line of march was through cheering thousands. 
 Every able-bodied man. woman, or child had turned out to 
 do homage to "our 'Thirteenth." The buildings all along 
 the line of march had been decorated. The bronzed, weather- 
 beaten soldiers, inarching solemnly along, looking neither 
 to right nor left save at the command of their officers, were 
 showered with flowers from balconies and window scats. 
 Old residents say that the ovation tendered the Thirteenth 
 
 LAFAYETTE HIGH SCHOOL 
 
40 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 paralleled that given to the returning Buffalo regiments after 
 the Civil War. A reviewing stand had been erected at 
 Lafayette Square, on which were the Mayor and all the public 
 officials of Buffalo. 
 
 Two flags were presented to the regiment by the citizens 
 of Buffalo, to say nothing of those given by individual organi- 
 zations, churches, and the like. A beautiful loving cup was 
 given by the Saturn Club, and a movement was set on foot 
 by the citizens of Buffalo towards the erection of some suitable 
 memorial to the men of this regiment who lost their lives at 
 Santiago. 
 
 Hardly had the regiment settled down to the old life 
 at the post when orders were received ordering them to pro- 
 ceed to Manila to help in suppressing the insurrection in the 
 Philippines. The battalion in this city had been reduced 
 to somewhat less than the peace footing, and it was found 
 that a great many recruits would lie needed. Immediately 
 
 
 MASTEN PARK HIGH SCHOOL 
 
 recruits began pouring in each day, and in a remarkably 
 short time the war footing had been established. When the 
 united regiment left Buffalo April 30th, 1899, there were in 
 its ranks thirteen hundred and forty-four men, with a band 
 of twenty-eight pieces, the largest regiment ever seen in this 
 city. And of this number it is said that over two thirds had 
 been recruited from Buffalo and immediate vicinity. Sev- 
 eral of the officers were Buffalo men, and during the time 
 that the Thirteenth had been stationed in this city — four years 
 — ithad become so identified with Buffalo that it was felt on 
 both sides that the regiment belonged to this city. But the 
 War Department discourages feeling of this sort, and when 
 the Thirteenth went to Manila on that day in April, following 
 the impressive unveiling of the memorial bowlder at the 
 Front, it left not to return up until this time. The regiment 
 received almost as great an ovation on its departure as when 
 it returned from Cuba. Although the regiment, as a whole, 
 
 never returned to this city, a number of the officers and men, 
 on their retirement, or when their enlistments expired, came 
 back to Buffalo, these including ( lolonel Alfred T. Smith, 
 who died here. 
 
 The part played in the war by Buffalo's citizen soldiery 
 was no small one, although thev were not engaged in active 
 battles. The outbreak of the war naturally brought the 
 question to the minds of the people of the city as to whether 
 either the Sixty-fifth or the Seventy-fourth would be called 
 upon for service. 
 
 On Friday, March twenty-fifth, the following message 
 was received from the Adjutant-General by General Peter 
 C. Doyle, commanding the Fourth Brigade of the national 
 guard: "Hold your officers within call. Allow none to 
 absent himself without leave from these headquarters." 
 On Monday. April eighteenth. General Doyle received an- 
 other message from the Adjutant-General, asking his opinion 
 as to the number of men who would volunteer 
 to go into the United States service, under 
 their own officers, for a period of two years, 
 to serve wherever the President might direct. 
 On April twenty-sixth. Colonel Welch assem- 
 bled his regiment, and it was found that 
 ninety-one per cent of the men would volun- 
 teer under this arrangement. 
 
 A similar canvas of the Seventy-fourth 
 brought out an average of about seventy-five 
 per cent of the men: but, as a whole, this reg- 
 iment was fully as anxious to go out as the 
 Sixty-fifth, and. when the general orders 
 were received a short time later, and the 
 Seventy-fourth was directed to stay at home, 
 there was much disappointment among the 
 members. An effort was made to have the 
 Seventy-fourth represented by the field and 
 staff officers and one battalion, in the pro- 
 visional regiment (composed of the separate 
 companies) in the Fourth Brigade. General 
 Roe would not consent to this arrange- 
 ment, but ordered the Seventy-fourth as a 
 regiment to stay at home. "The Governor especially 
 desires to leave complete organizations behind," he wrote. 
 "The duty of those remaining is honorable and important, 
 and organizations will keep their strength for immediate 
 duty, and to answer the second call, when made." 
 
 Enlisted men of organizations not going out could be 
 transferred to regiments ordered out, and, as a result, a 
 large number of members of the Seventy-fourth went over 
 to the Sixty-fifth Regiment in time to muster in. 
 
 The Sixty-fifth was ordered to report to Major-General 
 Roe at Camp Black, Hempstead Plains. Long Island. They 
 left Buffalo on the first of May, 1S!)S. and arrived at the 
 camp on the following day, being quartered there until 
 the nineteenth of the same month, when orders were received 
 commanding them to report at Cam]) Alger, Fairfax County, 
 Virginia, about seventeen miles from Washington. The 
 regiment had mustered on the seventeenth, and two days 
 
THE CITY ()F BUFFALO. 
 
 41 
 
 afterward left for the Southern camp. Arriving .'it Camp 
 Alger, the Sixty-fifth settled down to remain their until the 
 dose of the war. when they were mustered oul of the service 
 in the first week of September. 
 
 Early in June, soon after tli<' regiment had arrived at 
 Camp Alger, the order was issued to increase the strength 
 of the different regiments. A recruiting party, sen) to Buffalo, 
 added about three hundred men to the roster, some of whom 
 were members of the Seventy-fourth. This added about 
 twenty-five men to each company, and brought the full 
 strength of the regiment up to thirteen hundred and thirty 
 
 men, the war footing. The Thirteenth Separate C pany, 
 
 of Jamestown, had been added to the Sixty-fifth, under the 
 name of Company E, and three new companies had Keen 
 formed, previously known as lx, L, and M companies. At 
 the close of the service the three extra companies were dis- 
 banded, and the Thirteenth Separate Company resumed its 
 former standing. 
 
 While officially known, during 
 the war, as the One Hundred and 
 Sixty-fifth New York Volunteer In- 
 fantry, the regiment was generally 
 known under the name of the Sixty- 
 fifth Regiment, X. V. V. 1. When 
 formally mustered out. resuming the 
 title of Sixty-fifth Regiment, N. G. S. 
 X. Y., it also went hack to the national 
 guard standing in numbers. 
 
 The regiment returned to Buf- 
 falo on September 5th, lsiis, receiv- 
 ing a great welcome from the citizens 
 of Buffalo. Eleven hundred and two 
 out of the original number returned to 
 march through the streets of the 
 city. Although the regiment had seen 
 no active service, it hail suffered 
 heavily through sickness, disease, and 
 accident. In all. two officers and 
 twenty enlisted men were lost through 
 sickness at the camp itself or later at 
 their homes, where the maladies pursued them. 
 
 The officers were Captain Guilford Reed Wilson, regi- 
 mental quartermaster, and Second Lieutenant Samuel M. 
 Porter, of Jamestown. The other dead were: Corporal 
 Charles Rauche, Corporal Frank Kaznowski; Privates Karl 
 Carter, John A. Cantlin, William Elberfeld, Harrison C. 
 Farr, Fred V. Hack, Herbert Hodgson, William McLeod, 
 George Purucker, L. O. Taylor. Nathaniel H. Warner, 
 George Duncan, Harvey F. Dingley, Louis Ernst, Stephen 
 V. Heffner, John Hurley, Charles Oelz, Nicholas R. Raihl, 
 Henning D. Turnell. 
 
 Through the efforts of the officers and members of the 
 regiment, and the citizens of Buffalo, a memorial to the 
 deceased soldiers of the Sixty-fifth was placed in the drill 
 hall of the regimental arsenal, being unveiled by Governor 
 Theodore Roosevell on February 22d, 1900. 
 
 Efforts had been made from time to time to have the 
 
 Seventy-fourth Regiment called out for service, hut without 
 avail. It was deemed necessary for somebody to remain in 
 the Slate, and as the Seventy-fourth was the only one remain- 
 ing in the western portion, this unpleasant duty devolved 
 upon them. 
 
 Then orders came from the Adjutant-General's office 
 to form three regiments of volunteers in the State, and 
 
 Col -1 Fox, commanding the Seventy-fourth, was ordered 
 
 to name three captains, three first lieutenant-., three second 
 lieutenants, and one major for the J'wo Hundred and Second 
 Regiment, to he recruited in this city. Colonel Stephen Y. 
 Seyburn, captain of Company 1''.. Tenth United States 
 Infantrv. in flu' regular army, was placed in command of 
 the new regiment. Francis C. Ward, formerly lieutenant- 
 colonel in the Seventy-fourth Regiment, was named second 
 in command. Major frank E. Wood, a graduate of West 
 Point, and at different limes holding rank in the Sixty-fifth 
 
 SIXTY- FIFTH REGIMENT ARMORY, X. G. X. V. 
 
 and Seventy-Fourth, and at that time a major in the latter 
 regiment, together with Major Albert J. Myer, another West 
 Pointer, and at that time holding rank in the Sixty-fifth 
 Regiment, were placed in command of battalions in the 
 Two Hundred and Second. Captains W. G. Smith, Fred- 
 erick Smith, F. S. Sidway. and A. R Robertson; first lieu- 
 tenants Howard I.. Beck. Elmer E. Studley. and John R. 
 Robertson; and second lieutenants Frederick T. Peitch, 
 Thomas F. Boyd, and Bert C. Fox, all of the Seventy-fourth, 
 were assigned commissions in the new regiment. A few 
 of the officers of the Sixty-fifth who had been left behind 
 for various reasons also joined the Two I lundred and Second, 
 hut flic regiment was mostly recruited from the Seventy- 
 fourth and from individual volunteers in and about Buffalo. 
 Although the regiment was enrolled from this city, companies 
 were formed in Rochester, I tica, New Y>rk City, and towns 
 of western .New York. 
 
42 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 The Two Hundred and Second was mustered in on 
 July 19th, 1898, at the old Sixty-fifth Regiment arsenal, and 
 was immediately ordered to Camp Black at Hempstead 
 Plains, Long Island. After remaining there for a short time 
 was transferred to Camp Meade, in Pennsylvania. It 
 was ordered to Athens, Georgia, on November sixteenth, 
 and on December fifth left Savannah, Georgia, for Cuba, 
 together with the Fifteenth Pennsylvania and the Third 
 New York, to do garrison duty on the island. The Two 
 Hundred and Second landed at Havana, Cuba, on December 
 twelfth, and was the first body of United States soldiery 
 to enter that city. One thousand strong the regiment 
 marched through the streets and entrained for the province 
 
 of Pinar del Rio. Although there was no demonstration in 
 Havana, along the route to its post the Two Hundred and 
 Second met with flattering receptions on every hand. 
 
 The regiment took up guard duty in Guanajay, Pinar 
 del Rio, and remained there until March. The regiment 
 suffered comparatively little from the southern climate, and 
 when, in March of 1899, the order came to return to the 
 United States, the members of the regiment were in prime 
 condition. They were mustered out at Savannah, Georgia, 
 on April fifteenth, and returned to Buffalo in small parties, 
 thus precluding all possibilities of the warm reception which 
 their relatives and the people of Buffalo were arranging. 
 
 SEVENTY-FOURTH REGIMENT ARMORY N.G.N. Y. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Pan-American Exposition, [ta inception. Directorate. Mayor Diehl's appeal. — The people's hearty response. — The 
 exposition's cost and return. Its value to Buffalo from a commercial viewpoint. — Description. Special days at the exposition. 
 
 REPLETE as is the history of Buffalo with great 
 accomplishments in peace and war. the city's 
 crowning glory came in 1901, when the Pan- 
 American Exposition, the exposition of all the Americas, 
 was created through the genius and liberality of Buffalo 
 people and offered to the world. It was an offering 
 that has never, before or since, been equaled in grandeur 
 or surpassed in instructive features. In time to come, when 
 the projected Pan-American Railroad shall have united the 
 North and South Americas in a commercial way and we shall 
 have benefited by their trade and they by ours, when the 
 peoples of these two great extremities of the Western Hemi- 
 sphere shall be brought together by the mutual understanding 
 that in this union there shall be the strength of the greatest 
 coalition on earth, then only will the Pan-American Expo- 
 sition have completed its mission and its full value be ap- 
 praised. Meanwhile the city is still enjoying, and will 
 continue to enjoy, the minor benefits it brought to our doors, 
 the industries it attracted, the men of wealth who first saw 
 the glories of the city and its business possibilities through 
 the glory the exposition reflected. 
 
 The Pan-American Exposition, or exposition for all 
 the Americas, which opened its gates to the world May 1st, 
 1901, and closed on November first of the same year was, 
 the result of an idea that really had its birth in 1889, 
 simultaneous with the inception of the Bureau of American 
 Republics, which was the outgrowth of the International 
 American Conference held in Washington in that year. The 
 idea was only vague, however, and a committee, sent on a 
 tour of the United States to select a site for an industrial 
 and educational exposition, never made a favorable report, 
 and the idea was permitted to lapse. 
 
 We next hear the idea brought up at a " Buffalo Day'' 
 banquet held at the Cotton States and International Expo- 
 sition held in Atlanta, in 189.5, and attended by some of the 
 foremost business men of Buffalo, who, with the Atlanta 
 Exposition before their eyes to facilitate comparison and 
 suggest possibilities, came home thoroughly imbued witli 
 the idea that Buffalo's next public venture should be a great 
 exposition created solely for the Americas. 
 
 Here in the city the people generally favored some site 
 along the Niagara, in the belief that tin' proximity oftheriver 
 would greatly enhance the beauty of the general exposition 
 scheme. The Pan-American Exposition Company was 
 formed, and a site on Cayuga Island was selected, a site 
 
 subsequently abandoned for many good reasons. Then 
 followed a relaxation of interest in the project, only to be 
 renewed later with greater force than ever. Immediately 
 gnat interest was shown by the Latin American countries, 
 the great manufacturers throughout the United States, and 
 the Government. Conrad Diehl, then mayor of the city, 
 appealed to tin 1 city's public spirit, to rich and poor and the 
 young and old, with the result that every active person in 
 Buffalo suddenly became a committee of one impressed 
 with the sole idea that the success of the exposition depended 
 solely on his or her efforts. It is doubtful if ever a great 
 enterprise of its kind was so generally supported by all classes. 
 
 Mayor Diehl's appeal resulted in the popular subscrip- 
 tion of an enormous sum — $1,500,000, to be exact — and 
 represented eleven thousand individual stockholders. With 
 this sum on hand, tbe projectors were justified in going on 
 with the work, and accordingly a site was chosen, north of 
 Delaware Park, on land known as the Rumsey property, 
 and a part of Delaware Park itself was set aside by the city 
 for exposition uses. 
 
 By spring, 1900, the plans and work were well in hand 
 and the "Pan-American idea," as it was known locally, 
 was proceeding to a glorious finish. The exposition had an 
 authorized capital of $4,500,000, with a bond issue of the 
 same amount, a generous supply of funds for the great work 
 ahead. This amount did not include the amounts appro- 
 priated by the different States of the Union or by the repub- 
 lics of South America, all of which gave large sums for 
 their own buildings and the installation of their own 
 national exhibits. 
 
 The officers of the exposition were: director general, 
 William I. Buchanan: president, John G. Milburn ; secretary, 
 Edwin Fleming: treasurer, George L. Williams: directors. 
 Frank B. Baird, George K. Birge, Herbert P. Bissell, George 
 Bleistein, John M. Brinker, Conrad Diehl, W. Caryl Ely, 
 II. Montgomery Gerrans, Charles W. Goodyear, Harry 
 Hamlin, William Hengerer, Charles R. Huntley, William 
 II. Hotchkiss, Joseph T. Jones, F. C. M. Lautz, John G. 
 Milburn. E. G. S. Miller, Henry J. Pierce, John N. Scatch- 
 erd, Robert F. Schelling, Carleton Sprague, Major Thomas 
 W. Symons, George Urban, Junior, and George L. Wil- 
 liams. 
 
 The report and recapitulation of the director general, 
 William I. Buchanan, issued May 22d, 190-.'. shows that 
 the exposition had total resources of $1,7"24,770 in stock 
 
 43 
 
44 
 
 THE CITY OF HUFFALO. 
 
 subscriptions. There was an issue of $2,500,000 in first mort- 
 gage bonds and another issue of $500,000 in second mortgage 
 bonds. The expense of opening the exposition was .^o.^lS,- 
 363.23, the expense of its operation $1,. '383, 050.00 and the 
 expense of closing the doors $200,000, the entire expense 
 totaling $6,797,013.23. This left an approximate balance 
 of $400,000. 
 
 The value of the enterprise to Buffalo cannot be, and 
 it was never anticipated would be, reckoned in dollars and 
 cents, but it is estimated that it broughl $50,000,000 into the 
 city. Great expositions of its kind seldom return any real 
 money profit, and all the more credit is due the people of the 
 city for advancing the money with this knowledge at hand. 
 The real profit came in the increased industries, the greatly 
 augmented volume of products, the increase in the value of 
 
 encompassed the entire grounds save on the side bounded 
 by Park Lake, where beautiful water effects made one of 
 the show places of the exposition. 
 
 The general plan of the grounds has been compared 
 to an inverted "T," of which the cross line was the famous 
 Esplanade, with the stem extending to the Propvheum. the 
 massive and decorative structure built to screen the railroad 
 and trolley stations from the exposition proper. 
 
 Surrounding the Esplanade the principal buildings were 
 grouped with a special view to court settings. These courts 
 covered about thirty-five acres, thus allowing unusually large 
 space for the convenience and accommodation of the public 
 and also permitting of a most delightful arrangement of 
 fountain, cascade, and electrical effects, greater, probablv. 
 than had ever been attempted before that time. 
 
 The style of architecture through- 
 out the exposition plan was a fine treat- 
 ment of the Spanish Renaissance, a 
 distinct compliment to the Latin- 
 American countries which participa- 
 ted so liberally, and assisted so materi- 
 ally, in the success of the enterprise. 
 Column and entablature were used 
 tor decorative, rather than for architec- 
 tural, effect, and the exterior of every 
 building presented a richness of de- 
 sign by the generous use of colonnades, 
 balconies, loggias, towers, and min- 
 arets, all 
 grounds. 
 
 loggias, towers, 
 commanding fine views cf the 
 
 Photo by C. D. Arnold, 
 
 VIEW FROM THE ETHNOLOGY WILDING 
 
 real estate, and, greatest of all, the favorable impression the 
 hundreds of thousands of people gained of our city from seeing 
 it in its holiday attire. The press of the whole world united 
 in the one opinion that, in beauty, the exposition surpassed 
 all predecessors and in its educational and instructive fea- 
 tures was as great as the human mind could encompass in the 
 six months it continued. 
 
 The grounds selected were, of course, not large enough 
 to permit of any such extension as that of the World's Fair 
 in Chicago, which, by common consent, is the standard 
 by which all such enterprises are measured. Nevertheless, 
 with the space available, the results were far more satisfac- 
 tory, and most beautiful effects were attained. 
 
 The Rumsey site covered three hundred and fifty acres 
 of land, including the portion of Delaware Park given by 
 the city for the exposition's uses. A solid wall of foliage 
 
 All the finer details of the decora- 
 tive plan were worked out by Karl 
 Hitter, the eminent sculptor, who had 
 also supervised much of the work at 
 the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. 
 Heroic original sculptured groups, 
 created by the leading American 
 artists, guarded entrances to bridges 
 ami buildings, lacking only life to 
 complete the ideality of their purpose. 
 A distinct improvement on all 
 previous expositions was the grand 
 color scheme. Instead of the glaring white which made 
 sight-seeing so arduous at the World's Fair and suc- 
 ceeding expositions, there was color, and color on color, 
 used freely to charm the eye and make sight-seeing a genuine 
 pleasure, rather than a hardship. Both inside and outside 
 the mural painters worked wonders with the buildings. 
 Beginning with the faintest shades in the buildings at the 
 edge of the grounds, the color became stronger and stronger 
 as one approached the center of the exposition, the whole 
 culminating in a veritable riot of color spread over the 
 Electric Tower, which was the crowning architectural effect 
 of the entire group. The color was used under the super- 
 vision of Mr. C. Y. Turner, of New York, and Miss Adelaide 
 Thorpe, whose designs, historical, symbolical, or faithfully 
 descriptive of contemporary life, supplemented the other 
 glories. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 4.5 
 
 The largest architectural synthesis of the exposition 
 surrounded the Court of Fountains. There were grouped, 
 
 on the oast and west, the Manufactures and Liberal Arts, 
 and the Machinery and Transportation buildings, with the 
 Agriculture and Electricity buildings opposite, while between 
 the Court and the Plaza was the Electric Tower, rising to a 
 height ol' tour hundred and nine feet. 
 
 At the base of the tower two colonnades, seventy-five 
 feet high, swept to the southward and formed a semicircular 
 space opening toward the Court of Fountains, and on the 
 top of the whole structure, more than four hundred feel 
 above the crowds, was the Goddess of Light, poised, over- 
 looking and dominating the entire exposition. 
 
 In front of the tower was the Aquatic Basin, a stretch 
 of water two acres in area. This was especially treated by 
 the landscape workers, and beautiful designs were worked 
 out in the water jets; and at night, 
 with the electric rays playing upon 
 them, the effect was beautiful. Indeed, 
 many thought the exposition more 
 beautiful by night than by day. With 
 the great supply of electrical power 
 which Buffalo has for many years en- 
 joyed, the possibilities were greater 
 probably, than in any other city of 
 the world. Things never before at- 
 tempted with electrical power were 
 attained. One distinct feature was 
 the outlining of all the exposition 
 buildings in incandescent lights. With 
 the coming of dusk and the gradual 
 lighting of these hundreds of thousands 
 of lights the effect was most charming 
 and surpassed anything attempted 
 before or since. The Pan-American 
 will be best remembered by many 
 through their recollections of this won- 
 derful electrical display. 
 
 To the east of the Electric Tower 
 was the Stadium, a great open theater 
 seating twelve thousand people, where 
 throughout the exposition, the world's 
 
 be>t athletes competed for international honors and many 
 military organizations from all parts of the world per- 
 formed their maneuvers. 
 
 On the west of the grounds, and crossing the main 
 entrance to the grounds from Elmwood Avenue, was the 
 Midway, lined with a superior lot of amusement concessions 
 amusements of a higher grade, it is said, than any exposi- 
 tion had ever offered until that time. These included the 
 Streets of Mexico, House Upside Down. Old Nuremberg. 
 
 irld's greatest amusement 
 
 later to figure largely in the 
 
 pl'i ijects. 
 
 Music was a paramount feature of the Exposition, and 
 
 the world's best bands and orchestras won' employed through- 
 oil I the exposition season, often giving three open air concerts 
 a day. The Temple of Music was. of itself, a great attrac- 
 tion. It seated four thousand people and contained one 
 of the finest pipe organs in the world, ami it was per- 
 formed upon by the world's greatest organists. During that 
 period Buffalo received an education in music which has its 
 effect to this day; and it is noticeable that, when the finer 
 musical attractions are offered, our local public responds 
 liberally, and appreciates. Special engagements during the 
 exposition were of Sousa's Band, the Royal Mexican Artillery 
 Band, and many of the best choral and orchestral organi- 
 zations. 
 
 Plioto by C. D. Arnold. 
 
 THE GRAND COURT 
 
 The National Government showed its interest in the 
 exposition in other ways than by contributing money to its 
 construction. The Government Building was itself one of the 
 show's chief attractions. An appropriation of five hundred 
 thousand dollars was made, and many of the nation's most 
 interesting exhibits gathered there, especially those illustra- 
 ting the development of the postal, war, army, navv, agri- 
 cultural, and other important branches of the government. 
 'This was especially instructive in that it gave Americans their 
 Hawaiian Village and Volcano, Trip to the Moon, the Old first good knowledge of the habits, customs, and life of the 
 Plantation, Eskimo Village, Filipino Milage, Dreamland, new peoples who had, with the end of the Spanish-American 
 Venice in America, Bostock's Animal Show, the Indian War. conic under our protecting wings. 
 
 In tin - other buildings, of which there were too many 
 to describe minutely in this volume, efforts were made to 
 demonstrate the process of manufacture. Here, too, women's 
 work was given an adequate display, not in a special department 
 
 Congress, and many others, the total area covered being 
 upwards of thirty acres. The guiding genius on the Mid- 
 way, and the man who designed the most of the attrac- 
 tive features, was Frederic 'Thompson, a man who was 
 
 
46 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 given over exclusively to the exploitation of "women's 
 handiwork." but showed and judged upon its merits, beside 
 men's work, a distinction that in previous expositions had 
 not been accorded the women of the country. This acknowl- 
 edgment of equality of men and women in the fields of indus- 
 try and art was a fair treatment that interested the women 
 of the United States and the Latin countries, to the end that 
 no small part of the success of the enterprise was due directly 
 to the work and interest of women. 
 
 The six-months period of the exposition was marked 
 by many special days and elaborate celebrations. Every 
 State in the Union had its special day upon which, as a rule. 
 the city and the expositon were honored by that State's 
 governor and staff and as many visitors from that state as 
 could possibly be induced to come. 
 
 For the first two months the attendance was not all the 
 promoters and the city had hoped, but about that time the 
 railroads began making such liberal concessions in rates 
 that the influx became enormous and such as to tax the facili- 
 
 ties of the city and the railroads to handle. Thus the patron- 
 age continued until the unfortunate day when President 
 McKinley was shot by an assassin while holding a reception 
 in the Temple of Music. The gloom and sadness that per- 
 vaded the nation overshadowed all thoughts of the expo- 
 sition, the thousands who were here departed sadly for their 
 homes, and those who had in contemplation a visit to the 
 exposition made other plans, not wishing to visit the Pan- 
 American and be constantly reminded of the great national 
 tragedy. 
 
 This, of course, resulted in a decrease of revenue that 
 precluded all possibility of the exposition being a paying enter- 
 prise, in the sense that it would return principal and profit 
 to the investors. However, the benefits that the city derived 
 indirectly can never be computed, and it was the opinion of 
 the whole civilized world that Buffalo had proved herself 
 to be a delightful entertainer and a most progressive, thrifty, 
 and altogether creative city. 
 
 illli 
 
 Photo by C. D. Arnold. 
 
 THE ELECTRIC TOWER 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Assassination of President McKinley. — Blackest day in Buffalo's history. -The Chief Executive's visit to Niagara Falls. — Return 
 to the exposition. — Reception in the Temple of Music. -The assassination. — Removed to the Milburn house. — Exposition closed. 
 — The assassin narrowly escapes death at the hands of an enraged mob. President dies. — Funeral services. — Lying in state at the City 
 Hall. — Theodore Roosevelt takes oath as President of the United States. -Trial, conviction, and electrocution of Czolgosz, the Presi- 
 dent's assassin. 
 
 GRADUALLY Hie Pan - American Exposition ap- States and the Americas. The preceding day, September 
 proached its climax in beauty and grandeur. fifth, was the most important day of President's Week. It 
 Never before had the world seen a spot more was officially known in exposition annals as President's Day. 
 beautiful than the cluster of highly colored buildings with On that day Mr. McKinley addressed one hundred thousand 
 their beautiful lighting arrangement. Europe sent hundreds of people, delivering what was perhaps the most important 
 thousands to view it. In September the harvest of the North- address of his official life. Nearly all of the visiting expo- 
 west began to pay its returns, and the hardy harvesters turned sition sight-seers remained over until the following day, 
 to their playday. Thousands came daily to Buffalo, and when Mr. and Mrs. McKinley, together with the exposition 
 every home, hotel, and place of accommodation was filled party, were scheduled to visit Niagara Falls. 
 with enthusiastic and merry sight-seers. The daily attend- 
 ance was one hundred thousand or more, and it became 
 apparent that the exposition was to he the most profitable 
 attraction of its kind ever projected— -profitable not only 
 financially, but intellectually, combining, as it did, for the 
 instruction of the nation, the best in all the Americas. 
 
 It seemed that the exposition colors never glowed so 
 brightly as on that perfect day the sixth of September. The 
 pennants and flags unfurled to the kindliest breeze, and the 
 sun never kissed this fair city more tenderly. Everywhere 
 was the festal spirit, and the rejoicing of the thousands come 
 to bask in our golden autumn and view the most beautiful 
 array of architectural delights that the world has ever 
 offered. 
 
 Yet this day, this crowning, glorious day. was destined 
 to be, before the 
 
 history of our fair city. Before the evening came the assas- 
 sin's hand fell. A black pall overspread all. and gloom 
 pervaded not only our own nation but the entire civilized 
 world. That afternoon, at six minutes after four o'clock, 
 William McKinley, President of the United States, fell a 
 martyr, a victim of the black structure of anarchy. 
 
 Excursions were conducted to the Cataract City, and 
 for a few hours the exposition attendance was transferred 
 to the banks of the Niagara. Leaving the residence of the 
 Honorable John (I. Milburn, in Delaware Avenue, at half 
 pasl nine o'clock on the morning of the sixth of September. 
 the President's party entrained on special car,-,, reaching the 
 Falls City in a little more than half an hour. The morning 
 was spent in sight-seeing, during which the President and 
 his wife wandered over the rustic bridges and along the r)uiet 
 byways with entire freedom — little dreaming that the wicked 
 assassin was following close upon their path. 
 
 A special dinner was served by the citizens of Niagara 
 Falls, and after some hours rest from sight-seeing, the party 
 returned to Buffalo in order that the President might attend 
 a luncheon given in his honor at the Mission Building, and 
 night bells rang, the blackest day in the subsequently a public reception in the Temple of Music. 
 
 Upon reaching the city. Mrs. McKinley. who was much 
 fatigued by the day's sight-seeing, was taken at once 
 to the Milburn home, the President entering the expo- 
 sition grounds by way of the railroad gate. Some fifty 
 thousand people were waiting at the station to greet the 
 Chief Executive, who immediately entered his carriage and 
 
 There in the Temple of Music, the fairest of all the fair drove to the Mission Building, under escort of a small bodv 
 
 buildings at the exposition, the assassin came in the guise of cavalrymen. At the Mission Building he partook of a 
 
 of a friend, seized the extended hand of the Chief Magis- light luncheon tendered him by prominent citizens, and. 
 
 trate of the great American nation, and, with the President's shortly before four o'clock, departed for the Temple of Music 
 
 kind words of greeting ringing in his ears, fired a shot that to publicly receive and greet the thousands who were waiting 
 
 plunged our nation into mourning and elicited the sympathy there to honor the nation's head. 
 
 of the entire world. At that time the crowd had been augmented by those 
 
 The crowning period of the exposition was the Presi- who had returned from Niagara Falls, and upwards of 
 
 dent's week, when the President and Mrs. McKinley came seventy-five thousand people were crowded around the 
 
 to view the exposition and interchange friendly greetings Temple of Music, each in the hope of an opportunity to shake 
 
 with the thousands of visitors from every portion of the United the President's hand. Within, an aisle had been created, 
 
 47 
 
48 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 enabling the visitors to pass in through the east door and out 
 at the west door. The President had his station directly 
 under the dome of the building. Around him were sta- 
 tioned exposition officials, including Mr. John G. Milburn, 
 .lames Quackenbush, John N. Seatcherd, Harry Hamlin, 
 and others. The guard consisted of twelve enlisted men 
 from the Seventy-third Coast Artillery, and secret service 
 men Foster and Ireland, who constituted Mr. McKinley's 
 personal escort while he attended the exposition. 
 
 At four o'clock precisely, the doors wen- opened, and 
 under the guidance of exposition police the line was formed. 
 A more democratic crowd of people it would be difficult to 
 imagine. The first in line was a hardy, rough mechanic 
 whose face glowed at the kindly word of greeting the Presi- 
 dent whispered in his ear as he passed by. Millionaires 
 brushed elbows with workingmen, and little children followed 
 aged patriarchs who were the Pres- 
 ident's own comrades when the nation 
 was plunged in civil strife. 
 
 The line had been progressing in 
 this manner for about five minutes 
 when there appeared in the regular 
 order a young man, apparently still 
 in his teens, blue-eyed, with frank, 
 open countenance, such a man, indeed, 
 as the student of human nature would 
 conclude to be an apprentice of per- 
 haps two and a half years in his trade. 
 It was noticeable that his right hand 
 was bandaged as if that member were 
 injured. Slowly he advanced in the 
 line. When he took his position in 
 front of the Chief Executive, the good 
 President placed his left hand kindly 
 upon the youth's shoulder and exten- 
 ded his right in a hearty hand-clasp. 
 
 As quick as a flash of lightning 
 the harmless, blue-eyed youth was 
 transformed into a vicious assassin. 
 The hand which the President would 
 clasp was first drawn backward and Photo by c. d. Arnold, 
 then shot forward. There were two 
 
 quick reports, so close together as to sound nearly as one. 
 The good President reeled and placed his hand upon the 
 shoulder of Detective Geary with the exclamation,'" I believe I 
 have been shot !" 
 
 For an instant silence followed the reports of the weapon. 
 All present were too dazed to move. The first to recover 
 his senses was Private O'Brien, of the Coast Artillery, who 
 struck the hand of the assassin upwards, thus preventing 
 a third shot. Simultaneously O'Brien struck the assassin 
 behind the right ear. felling him to the floor. 
 
 Instantly the guards and exposition officials gathered 
 around the prostrate man. giving vent to their horror in a 
 concerted attack, which was observed by the President. 
 Raising his hand he said in a deprecatory tone, "See that no 
 one hurts him." 
 
 The President seemed to be possessed of all his facul- 
 ties. And, as usual, mindful of Mrs. McKinley, he turned 
 to Secretary Cortelyou, saying, "Mr. Cortelyou, lie careful 
 how you tell Mrs. McKinley about this." 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. James Quackenbush had comprehended 
 the situation, and gave orders closing all the doors of the 
 Temple of Music, and ordering out of the building that 
 portion of the line which was within its doors when the 
 tragedy took place. Almost instantly the building was 
 cleared of all save those who were required to remain. The 
 exposition hospital was communicated with and the electric 
 ambulance summoned. 
 
 Until this grim vehicle appeared the great crowd of 
 seventy-five thousand people without the doors had no 
 intimation of the tragedy which had been enacted within. 
 Even then they concluded that some one of the party had 
 
 TEMPLE OF MUSIC 
 
 fainted, and that the doors had been closed but temporarily. 
 Put when the litter-bearers appeared, and the face of the 
 good President could be seen by the crowd, an agonizing, 
 heart-rending sigh went up that will be ever remembered 
 by those who were present. 
 
 The President was immediately taken to the exposition 
 hospital. Doctor Matthew D. Mann. Doctor Roswell Park, 
 Doctor Herman Mynter, and others of the city's most promi- 
 nent physicians and surgeons were called at once. After 
 a conference it was concluded to probe for the bullet, and the 
 patient was anaesthetized. It soon became apparent, how- 
 ever, that he was not in physical condition for this treatment. 
 A superficial examination showed that the first bullet had 
 passed through the intestines, and that the second had struck 
 the sternum and glanced off, the bullet being found at 
 the hospital in the folds of his undergarments. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 40 
 
 At eight thirty o'clock tliat evening the patient was 
 removed to the Milburn home, where the sorrowing wife 
 had been told the true nature of the wounds and awaited 
 the sad home-coming. Mr. McKinley's family physician 
 and famous surgeons were summoned from New York, 
 Chicago, and Washington. Cabinet members were called 
 to Buffalo, and tin" seat of government came temporarily 
 to the Milburn home. 
 
 Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, then vice-president of the 
 I niled States, was among the first to arrive. 
 
 Meanwhile the city had Keen struck dumb with the new ■* 
 of the assassination of President McKinley. Business houses 
 were closed. The exposition gates were shut. For the 
 first time since the opening day. the magnificent electrical 
 display was abandoned. All the hatred of the nation was 
 centered on the helpless wretch who had directed the bullets 
 that were to prove fatal. lie was rescued from those who 
 were bent on quickly dispatching him in the Temple of Music. 
 
 The Removal of President McKinley's Body from the Milburn 
 Funeral Services Were Held, to the City Hall. Where it 
 
 and taken to the office of Superintendent Henshaw within the 
 building, and requests were sent for a carriage and a suffi- 
 cient police detail to take him safely through the crowd of 
 crazed people who demanded his life. The carriage reached 
 the Temple of Music by a devious route. The prisoner was 
 secreted within the carriage, and with armed men in the car- 
 riage and on the box, with the cavalry detailed around the 
 equipage, the prisoner was driven out through the triumphal 
 archway through Delaware Park and to police headquarters, 
 the exact route through the city never having been made 
 know n 
 
 At the police station the prisoner either refused 
 to talk or was incapable of talking. He was variously iden- 
 tified, at first as an anarchist from Chicago, again as a silk- 
 worker from Paterson, New Jersey. But eventually he 
 was found to he Leon Czolgosz, a wire-worker, of Cleveland, 
 Ohio, and a pupil of Emma Goldman, whose anarchistic 
 doctrines were being largely taught at the time. He was 
 
 taken at once to a cell in (he basement of police In adquarters 
 and placed under heavj guard. When it became known 
 that he had been transferred to police headquarters a hun- 
 dred thousand people gathered in the various streets and in 
 the vicinity around that building, clamoring for the assas- 
 sin's life. Ai ten o'clock it became apparent to Superin- 
 tendent William S. Bull that unless some extraordinary 
 precautions were taken the crowd would break in the doors, 
 overrun the building, and capture Czolgosz. Thereupon, 
 Superintendent Bull ordered in all the mounted police of 
 the city and established a patrol around the building. By 
 successively charging the crowd the mounted police frus- 
 trated their design; but it was not until after three o'clock 
 in the morning that th<' crowd dispersed and the prisoner 
 
 was safe. 
 
 When conditions justified intercourse with the prisoner 
 he was permitted to make a statement. That statement 
 embodied all the heroics of great anarchists, and he wished 
 that the President might die and that 
 the government would be overthrown. 
 The assassin reveled in his deed, and 
 believed that he had earned the 
 plaudits of the working people of the 
 whole country. He was taken back 
 to his cell, and later surreptitiously 
 taken to the Erie County jail (lending 
 his trial. 
 
 On the Milburn home the eyes 
 of the world were centered. At first 
 the President rallied and for several 
 days improved in a manner that war- 
 ranted a statement from the physicians 
 that the President would recover. So 
 strong was this belief that Vice-Presi- 
 dent Roosevelt left the city to par- 
 ticipate in a hunting trip in the wilds 
 of the Adirondacks. The government 
 was continued at the Milburn and 
 Wilcox homes. All the cabinet officers 
 were present. Secretary Elihu Root 
 was a daily visitor at the President's 
 bedside. Marcus A. Hanna, of Cleveland, was also a daily 
 caller, as well as most of the other prominent men asso- 
 ciated at that time with President McKinley's admin- 
 istration. 
 
 The bulletins continued favorable until about the tenth 
 of September, when it became apparent that there were to 
 be ill effects from the wounds. President Mckinley had 
 never been a particularly active man. His occupations had 
 Keen sedentary, and this militated against him. Gradually 
 he began to decline, and on the morning of the twelfth it 
 became apparent that his condition was extremely dangerous. 
 All dav on the thirteenth he hovered between life and death. 
 The famous physicians and surgeons were at once recalled, 
 and although they applied heroic treatment, the distinguished 
 patient failed in spite of them. 
 
 At nine o'clock on the night of the thirteenth he became 
 unconscious, and shortly after two o'clock on the morning 
 of September fourteenth Secretary Cortelyou came to 
 
 Home. Where the 
 Lay in State 
 
50 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 the front door of the Mflburn home and informed the few 
 watchers that the President was no more. 
 
 The funeral services were conducted by the Reverend 
 Doctor Charles Edward Locke from the Milhurn home. 
 They were simple services, consisting of the singing, by a 
 quartet, of the President's favorite hymns, " Nearer, My God, 
 to Thee," and "Lead, Kindly Light." The remains were 
 escorted from the Milburn home to the City Hall by the 
 regular and volunteer troops of the city, both the army and 
 navy being represented. At the City Hall the remains lay 
 in state for several hours, during which time one hundred 
 
 dacks on a shooting trip, having gone in the belief, and with 
 the physicians' assurance, that his chief was out of all danger. 
 After the dispatch of many couriers, Mr. Roosevelt was 
 found in the fastnesses of the Adirondack region and turned 
 at once to a long and arduous trip over the mountains to 
 the nearest railroad station, where a special was in waiting 
 for him. and he was brought to Buffalo in record time. On 
 the day of President McKinley 's death Theodore Roosevelt 
 was sworn in as President of the United States. 
 
 The ceremony took place in the parlors of the home of 
 Mr. Anslev Wilcox, on Delaware Avenue, in the presence of a 
 
 KKSIDEXCE OF ANSLEY WILCOX 
 
 thousand people filed through the building and looked upon 
 the peaceful face of the martyred President. 
 
 The remains were later placed aboard the funeral car 
 at the Exchange Street station, whence the funeral train 
 proceeded to Washington, where the remains lay i 1 1 state 
 in the Capitol building. After simple services in Washington, 
 the remains were taken to Canton, Ohio, the home of Presi- 
 dent McKinley, and the place of the final obsequies. The 
 body was interred in the Canton cemetery in the McKinley 
 mausoleum. 
 
 When it became apparent that Mr. McKinley could not 
 survive his wounds an immediate effort was made to locate 
 Vice-President Roosevelt, who was somewhere in the Adiron- 
 
 few of the city's most prominent men. a handful of newspaper 
 men, and the usual witnesses. The oath was administered 
 by Federal Judge John R. Hazel, of Buffalo. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt remained in Buffalo until after the 
 funeral, and then hastened to Washington to take up his 
 new duties. The unsettled condition of the nation was 
 soothed by his immediate announcement that he would 
 continue the policy of his predecessor. 
 
 Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of President McKinley, 
 was detained for a respectable period in the Erie County jail, 
 so that the proceedings should have all the legal formalities 
 of an ordinary criminal trial. He was arraigned and pleaded 
 not guilty, as is required bylaw in cases of those charged 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 51 
 
 with capital crimes. At the arraignment he seemed not 
 
 able to utter a sound himself, ami was several limes sharply 
 questioned by the Courl as to how he pleaded. This elic- 
 ited no response, and finally his counsel [(leaded for him. 
 To give the case becoming dignity, the Court assigned two 
 of Buffalo's best-known lawyers to defend his case former 
 judges Robert C. Titus and Loran I.. Lewis. District 
 Attorney Thomas Penney prosecuted the case for the people. 
 At the earliest possible moment Czolgosz was placed on trial. 
 The testimony of several witnesses was taken for the prose- 
 cution, and. no witnesses being available for the defense, 
 the case was given to the jury, who remained out a respectable 
 time and brought in a verdict of guilty of murder in the 
 first degree. Admission to the trial was by pass, signed 
 and countersigned by the Mayor and the Superintendent of 
 Police. The court room was comfortably filled, hut outside 
 of the building thousands of people gathered at each session 
 of the trial. No demonstration against the prisoner was 
 attempted, and all of the proceedings were carried out as if 
 the prisoner might have been an ordinary criminal. 
 
 After being found guilty Czolgosz was returned to the 
 jail and surreptitiously taken aboard a New York Central 
 train and taken to the State Prison at Auburn, where he was 
 placed at once in the death-cell, and at the earliest time per- 
 mitted under the law he was electrocuted. No one came to 
 claim his remains, ami the body was buried in quicklime 
 in the prison yard. 
 
 Subsequent investigation disclosed the fact that Czolgosz 
 had several times set out to kill President McKinley. He 
 went to Canton, Ohio, at one time and personally applied 
 to the President for work at his trade as a wire-worker. 
 Upon being refused employment he began a tirade against 
 the President, attributing all things evil to him and seemingly 
 
 holding him responsible for his own pitiful condition. With 
 the memory of this fresh in his mind, he attended a meeting 
 of anarchists addressed by Emma Goldman. His mind was 
 aroused to the pilch that bred murder. 
 
 lie timed his trip to Buffalo with the President's Week, 
 and went at once to a little hotel in the Polish section mi 
 Broadway, where he obtained accommodations. There he 
 was known as a quiet fellow, never talkative, and of whom 
 little was known by th«' other transients. Several times, 
 however, he engaged in conversations with strangers, ami 
 usually announced himself as an anarchist. He admitted 
 having followed the President to Niagara Falls on the morn- 
 ing of the sixth of September with the intention of shooting 
 him while there. His courage failed him. however, and 
 although the President and Mrs. McKinley went about the 
 Kails City with all personal freedom, affording many oppor- 
 tunities for the assassin, he could not bring himself to fire I In- 
 fatal shot. 
 
 It is believed that he returned to the exposition grounds 
 about the time the President's party reached the railroad gate. 
 He retired to some portion of the grounds and wrapped the 
 bandage around his hand, hiding tin' revolver beneath the 
 palm of his hand and within the bandage. 
 
 The reception at the Temple of Music proved to he the 
 opportunity. It was noticeable, however, that immediately 
 he had fired the shots. Czolgosz collapsed and seemed from 
 that time until the time of his death to he a pitiful nervous 
 wreck. It was believed for a time that he was the hired and 
 paid agent of some anarchist society, but it has been ascer- 
 tained beyond all reasonable doubt that he was acting merely 
 upon his own initiative, and had not been inspired to this 
 specific act of violence by either talk or contact with Emma 
 Goldman or any of her associates. 
 
 ALBRIGHT ART GALLKRY 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 The city's rapid strides since the exposition. — Its standing in the world of iron and steel. — Public spirit accomplishes great indus- 
 trial things for the city. — Buffalo's great record during the last financial depression. — Public institutions. — Public and private schools. — 
 University of Buffalo. — State Normal School. — Charities and homes for the old and indigent. — Conclusion. 
 
 IF the benefits of the Pan-American Exposition are 
 doubted, one has but to examine the city chronicles 
 of the past six years, which constitute the most pro- 
 gressive period in Buffalo's history — the transition of this 
 community from a large, unwieldy, cumbersome town to 
 the eighth city of the United States, foremost in many 
 classes of industry, and admittedly the most finely situated 
 city anywhere in the country. 
 
 Immediately after the close of the exposition these 
 benefits became manifest, first in inquiries from business 
 men throughout the country, concerning the availability 
 of factory sites, the price and supply of labor, the shipping 
 facilities, and the thousand and one things that contribute 
 to the success of the modern industrial plant. The Chamber 
 of Commerce had, of course, been in existence for many 
 years, and had performed much valuable service for the city. 
 But it was only then that the organization came into its full 
 strength as an agent for Buffalo. At the proper moment 
 statistics were gathered and compiled; live, active men took 
 the reins; and the heralds were spread broadcast, setting 
 Buffalo forth in her true colors. The return was immediate. 
 In the outlying sections factories sprang up, almost in a day- 
 great institutions, employing thousands of men. What 
 benefited Buffalo also benefited Niagara Falls, and there was 
 such a boom in that community as had never before been 
 witnessed. All this is contributory to Buffalo, and may be 
 properly considered a part of the general advance made 
 along the Niagara Frontier in the past six years. 
 
 Probably the greatest strides have been made in the 
 iron and steel industry, a class of trade for which Buffalo 
 is peculiarly well situated. Accessible from the coal dis- 
 tricts, it is equally so from the ore mining sections, and is 
 now generally considered as the natural center of the iron 
 and steel business of the United Stales. 
 
 The greatest single metal-working plant is The Lacka- 
 wanna Steel and Iron Company, at West Seneca, one of the 
 very largest plants of its kind in the world and capable of 
 employing upwards of eight thousand men. Of almost 
 equal importance, and full of promise of greater things, 
 is The Buffalo and Susquehanna Iron Company, projected 
 by the Goodyear brothers. Several minor industries of this 
 class have also located here, all promising a good, healthy 
 development that augurs well for Buffalo's future. 
 
 Some idea of the financial condition of Buffalo has been 
 gained during the financial depression which is affecting the 
 country at this writing. In the latter part of 1907 the depres- 
 sion came almost without warning. The country at large 
 had been enjoying the most prosperous times in the history 
 of the United States; there was an unprecedented demand for 
 labor, a great volume of money in circulation, and nothing on 
 the horizon to even indicate that business depression menaced 
 us. In early November the crash came: great banks went 
 to the wall; gigantic industries, that had been considered the 
 very strongest, closed their shops; and throughout the nation 
 people suffered from the stringency in the money market 
 and the lessening demand for labor. 
 
 This was particularly true in Pittsburg, Cleveland, New 
 York, and other large sister cities. Here in Buffalo it was 
 weeks before the depression was even felt, and then to but 
 a comparatively slight extent. In Pittsburg, and the other 
 cities mentioned, money was so scarce that pay checks were 
 issued to employees and trade was largely on that basis. This, 
 of course, required money to make the pay checks par. 
 Hence the banks of those cities sent out requests for currency ; 
 and it is a noteworthy fact, and a truth that gives pride and 
 pleasure to every Buffalonian, that this city should have 
 responded so liberally. "Millions of dollars were shipped to 
 Pittsburg, New York, Cleveland, Baltimore, Chicago, 
 and Philadelphia, and seemingly the supply was endless. 
 Buffalo's resources attracted attention throughout the finan- 
 cial world, and the leading bankers of Pittsburg gave the 
 city credit for being better prepared for the emergency 
 than any other city in the Union. The city's financial stand- 
 ing, though good before the depression, has been bettered 
 fourfold and may now properly be considered well up on the 
 list of the nation's money centers. 
 
 The year 1!)(I8 finds the city well supplied with great 
 public institutions designed for the people's pleasure and 
 profit. The park system is not surpassed by that of any city in 
 America and consists of nine hundred acres of greatly im- 
 proved property, fine drives, beautiful buildings, exquisite 
 landscape effects, and public playgrounds. The Albright 
 Art Gallery, built at a cost of more than a million dollars 
 by John J. Albright, is rated very high in art circles and 
 contains a priceless array of paintings and sculptures. 
 
 52 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 53 
 
 Buffalo ranks high as an educational tit y. At this 
 writing (1908) there are within the city corporation seventy- 
 one public schools, and tour high schools, and in addition to 
 these there arc a large number of parochial schools and many 
 private institutions of which it is not possible to give a correct 
 census of the scholarship. The total enrollment of the 
 public schools, according to figures furnished by Henry 1'. 
 Emerson, the present superintendent of the public schools 
 of Buffalo, is sixty thousand scholars and fourteen hundred 
 and twenty teachers. In all the schools there are libraries 
 in connection, to enlighten the youth upon almost every 
 topic. 
 
 The University of Buffalo, although handicapped by 
 lack of facilities and lack of room, is widely known as an 
 educational institution. Its present vice-chancellor, Charles 
 P. Norton, has been indefatigable in his efforts to bring about 
 a greater university. It is one of the great problems confront- 
 ing the city of Buffalo in this year. 1908. With the constantly 
 increasing demand for educational facilities, 
 it is highly probable that within the next 
 five years the University of Buffalo will be 
 increased in size and enlarged in scope, to 
 compare with the greatest educational insti- 
 tutions in the country. At present the Uni- 
 versity of Buffalo has a student enrollment of 
 four hundred and nine in the four departments 
 of Law, Medicine. Pharmacy, and Dentistry. 
 
 The State Normal School in Buffalo was 
 founded in 1870, the building being accepted on 
 the seventh of September of that year. The 
 local board, consisting of nine persons, was 
 appointed on the fourteenth of September, 
 and chose Henry B. Buckham as the first 
 principal. On the thirteenth of September, 
 1871, it was opened, the first report showing 
 an attendance, after three weeks, of sixty- 
 eight students. The members of the first 
 board were Nathan K. Hall. William H- 
 Greene, Joseph Warren, Thomas F. Roches- 
 ter, Francis H. Hoot, Henry Lapp, of Clarence, 
 Allen B. Potter, of Hamburg. Grover Cleve- 
 land, and Elbert H. Tracy. In 187 L 2 the State appropri- 
 ated six thousand dollars for the institution, and a little 
 over sixteen hundred dollars was expended for books and 
 apparatus. In 1875 the building was repaired and im- 
 proved at an expense of five thousand dollars. In 1880 the 
 attendance was reported as two hundred and fifty-nine, with 
 five academic students. In that year there were seventeen 
 graduates. The total number of graduates at that time was 
 one hundred and eighty-five, and seventeen academic. 
 
 In 1890 the number of graduates was four hundred and 
 seventy-seven, and forty-six academic, the salary list having 
 increased in that year to $14, 550. In 1885 about 
 fifteen hundred dollars was expended for improving the 
 grounds. In 1887 a gymnasium and natural science depart- 
 ment were erected at a cost of twenty-six thousand dollars. 
 The first president of the local board was J. B. Skinner, who 
 died about the time the school opened, he being succeeded 
 
 by Nathan K. Hall, who occupied the office until 1874, he 
 being succeeded by Oliver (i. Steele. In 1880 Francis II. 
 Hoot was chosen, and he was succeeded in 1881 by Thomas 
 F. Rochester, who died in 1887. when Stephen M. Clement 
 was chosen. In 1892 Mr. Clement was succeeded by David 
 F. Day. Henry B. Buckham resigned in 1880, and Doctor 
 James M. Cassety was appointed principal. In 1890 the 
 attendance was nine hundred. In 1902 Edward H. 
 Butler was chosen president of the local board, in which 
 capacity he still serves. In 1007 the total graduates numbered 
 one hundred and thirty, with an attendance of nine hundred 
 and eight. 
 
 The Buffalo Historical Society, located in a magnificent 
 building of its own, which was, during the Pan-American 
 Exposition, the New York State Building, is one of the best 
 equipped societies of its kind in the country, and is a source 
 of great pleasure and profitable instruction to the people 
 of the citv. The Buffalo Public Library, with it-, own 
 
 STATE NORMAL SCHOOL 
 
 imposing home at the corner of Broadway and Washington 
 streets, contains hundreds of thousands of volumes, covering 
 every subject, any one of which is available to the poorest 
 and most obscure person in Buffalo. Extending its benefits. 
 the Library Association has established branch libraries 
 throughout the city, principally in the poorer sections, 
 where people may call for and receive books on the same plan 
 employed at the central library. 
 
 Charities, dispensaries, homes for the aged and indigent, 
 havens for the feeble-minded and the maimed, schools for 
 the mentally deficient and the deaf and dumb, anil similar 
 institutions have been supplied from lime to time as they 
 were demanded, cither from public funds or private bene- 
 factions. In this respect Buffalo is better situated than most 
 cities, and the city has ever stood ready to answer the calls 
 of the distressed with some substantial response. 
 
54 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 The rest of the history of the city must be written in the 
 lives of its public and private citizens, its business men, and 
 its officers. Several hundred of these biographical sketches 
 comprise the remainder of this book. Many great indus- 
 
 trial features of the city are too extensive to include in this 
 general history of the city, and hence separate chapters have 
 been given to those subjects. 
 
 HISTORICAL SOCIETY BUILDING 
 
SOMETHING ABOUT BUFFALO 
 
 IT would take volumes to tell the history of Buffalo's 
 industrial and business concerns, and additional volumes 
 to recite the steady growth that has made her one of the 
 foremost business cities in America. The activities of her 
 business men reach in every direction, to every field, and not 
 a market in the world, however small, but that knows the city 
 through her products. At different times different lines have 
 been paramount — due, of course, to constantly changing con- 
 ditions. For instance, in the younger days of her industrial 
 growth the lake shipping was paramount and more than 
 anything else contributed to her supremacy. Later, when 
 lake shipping became unprofitable and old-fashioned, the 
 city met that condition, and, by reason of her admirable 
 location and many other favorable attributes, became one 
 of the world's greatest railroad centers, which she still remains. 
 Then came a time when the great steel operators of the world 
 recognized that Buffalo was the natural steel center of Amer- 
 ica. Closely following this recognition came the erection 
 of gigantic steel plants — one of them alone employing eight 
 thousand men. — and gradually the belief is growing that 
 Buffalo will eventually become the greatest steel-working 
 city in the world. 
 
 THE SHIPPING OF BUFFALO 
 
 The shipping of Buffalo began with the city's inception; 
 in fact, the admirable facilities for shipping and transferring 
 is what attracted the city's pioneers. In the early days 
 it was the center of all receipts of furs from the western lakes, 
 just as now it is the center for receiving the grain that the 
 now settled West sends to the densely populated East every 
 year. Resort to the figures of the port show a steady, natural, 
 normal, healthy growth from the beginning, culminating. 
 in the year just past, in a most remarkable record. 
 
 In 1907 we maintained our standing as one of the greatest 
 commercial ports in America. The customhouse received 
 more than a million dollars in duties alone, the total receipts 
 being $1,009,416.32, a gain of about $250,000 over the pre- 
 vious year. The total valuation on importations was $8,133,- 
 862, an increase of $1,500,000 over the sum for the previous 
 year. The value of exports was nearly four million dollars 
 greater than in l!)()(i. 
 
 In imports and exports, generally speaking, the increase 
 was great, though there was a falling oil' in some lines, due 
 chiefly to breaks in the canal at Syracuse. Eleven articles 
 listed in receipts by lake showed losses, while nine showed 
 great gains. The falling off was in the receipts of oats, bar- 
 ley, flaxseed, flour, pig iron, copper, spelter plates, and wool: 
 
 and the increases were in wheat, corn, rye, malt, lard, iron 
 ore, pork, tallow, and oil cake. This list also includes 
 practically all the principal commodities handled at the port 
 of Buffalo. 
 
 Some idea of the great bulk of wheat handled here is 
 gained from the fact that the increase alone in 1907 amounted 
 to more than eleven million bushels over the previous year, 
 while coin and rye increased, respectively, three million 
 five hundred thousand and two hundred thousand bushels. 
 In the receipts of lumber the decrease was alarming, amount- 
 ing to forty-three million feet, due largely to the forest restric- 
 tions and flic general disposition in the middle West to cut 
 only what timber was absolutely necessary. The low rates 
 paid by shippers at the close of navigation, and the eight- 
 weeks suspension of navigation on the Erie Canal while 
 repairing the locks al Syracuse, are also largely responsible 
 for the loss. 
 
 The Coal Shipped bylakefrom Buffalo is a considerable 
 item in the year's volume of business, amounting in 1907 
 to 3,458,695 tons, an increase of 770,887 tons over the total 
 of 1900. A decrease in the shipment of salt and sugar and 
 an increase in the shipment of cement is also shown in the 
 1907 report. 
 
 Now, at the opening of the season of navigation for 1908 
 the prospects are bright for a greater record than ever. 
 However great Buffalo is in industry and finance, there is 
 no doubt but that the future of the city is largely written in 
 the business of her port. With the completion of the thou- 
 sand-ton barge canal the city will become the point of entrance 
 to the canal from the Great Lakes, her yards will be the 
 building place of great ships, her dockage will shelter the 
 crafts of every flag the world over, and there is no doubt but 
 that Buffalo will become one of the greatest ports in the world. 
 
 BUFFALO'S LIVE STOCK MARKET 
 
 Buffalo has been no small factor in the development 
 of the West, for it was here that the Western stock growers 
 found a market for their product on the hoof, where a good 
 price has always prevailed and the treatment has been such 
 as to attract the dealer again and again. Indeed, there are 
 thousands of stock growers in the West who, when mentally 
 contemplating their stock and its marketing, see no market 
 between their own rolling ranges and this city. Trainloads 
 by scores pass Chicago upon which the growers are willing 
 to pay the additional freight that they may put their stock 
 on an Eastern market through Buffalo. Some idea of the 
 extent of this trade may be gained from the figures of 1907, 
 
56 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 which was only an average year, neither 
 inflated by the prosperous times thai 
 existed up until November, nor de- 
 pressed with the slump which came in 
 that month. 
 
 In that year there was an increase 
 in cattle receipts of 354 cars, which, 
 however, is only the average increase 
 the local trade has enjoyed for years; 
 an increase in the receipts of hogs of 
 1,219 cars; a decrease of 336 cars in 
 sheep and lambs; and a decrease in 
 horse receipts of 44*2 cars. 
 
 The record of 1!((I7 firmly estab- 
 lishes Buffalo in her position as the 
 second largest live stock market in the 
 work!, Chicago alone leading Buffalo 
 in gross receipts and shipments. 
 
 THE RAILROADS 
 
 Of recent years Buffalo's unsur- 
 passed railroad facilities have been one 
 of the greatest inducements for capital 
 
 to locate here and make this the distributing point for all its 
 products. The distinct lines entering the city number 
 sixteen, and are as follows: the New York Central & 
 Hudson River Railroad, a four-track line; the Erie Railroad, 
 a two-track line; the West Shore Railroad, a two-track line; 
 the Lehigh Valley Railroad; the Delaware, Lackawanna & 
 Western Railroad, a two-track line, with branches; the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad; the New York, Chicago & Saint 
 Louis Railroad; the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 
 Railroad, a two-track line, with branches; the Grand 
 Trunk Railroad of Canada, main line, via Niagara Falls, 
 
 JACKKNIFE BRIDGE, MICHIGAN STREET. OVER BUFFALO RIVER 
 
 ORE DOCKS, BLACKWELL CANAL 
 
 Suspension Bridge, and branches; the Michigan Central 
 Railroad and branches, the main line entering Buffalo from 
 Canada over the International and Cantilever bridges; the 
 Canadian Pacific Railroad; the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo 
 Railroad; the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railroad: the 
 Wabash Railroad; the Pere Marquette Railroad, and the 
 Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad. 
 
 The railroad yard facilities are admittedly the finest in 
 the world, and the railroads never hesitate to recommend 
 Buffalo as a desirable location for any industry that must 
 have superior transportation facilities close at hand. The 
 city has. within an area of forty-two 
 square miles (including the yards of the 
 Delaware. Lackawanna & Western 
 Railroad and the West Shore Rail- 
 road, which adjoin the city limits on 
 the east) four hundred and fifty miles 
 of railroad tracks, and improvements 
 in the terminals are now under way 
 which will bring this figure to upwards 
 of six hundred and sixty miles. With- 
 in the city the railroads own over 
 thirty-six hundred acres of land and 
 have even a greater area under their 
 control. 
 
 HARBOR AND BREAKWATER 
 
 Buffalo Creek was the original 
 harbor of the port of Buffalo, and, in 
 its original state, was shallow at the 
 mouth and frequently closed by a 
 gravel bar. In 18^26 the original reso- 
 lution calling for the improvement of 
 this condition was adopted, and pro- 
 vided, at first, for pier construction on 
 the north and south sides of Buffalo 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 57 
 
 Creek. Subsequently a masonry sen wall, 5,400 feel long, 
 was built along 1 1 1 * - lake shore south of the harbor entrance, 
 and a sand-catch pier of piles and stone 879 feel long was 
 built out from the shore. Between L868 and lN!>:i a detached 
 breakwater, ?.(J(i(i feet long, was built of timber cribs about 
 half a mile distant from the shore and parallel with it. A 
 shore arm, four thousand feet long, to extend to the south 
 end of this breakwater, was projected in 1874 but was 
 wrecked by storm while it was in process of construction, in 
 L89S. 
 
 In the years that have intervened since the first serious 
 effort to deepen and improve Buffalo's harbor, the Govern- 
 ment expenditure has totaled about $5,500,000, and an 
 excellent harbor has been obtained. A maximum draft 
 of twenty feet can be carried almost anywhere within the 
 harbor proper and this permits of the 
 free movement of the largest lake 
 boats. At Black Rock and in the Erie 
 Basin, neither one considered a part 
 of Buffalo harbor, extensive improve- 
 ment has also been made, the whole 
 giving Buffalo the very finest facilities 
 for shipment, or receipt of shipments. 
 by water. 
 
 The following compiled table will, 
 to some extent, give the stranger an 
 idea of the resources, public and 
 private institutions, and numerous 
 other features Buffalo has to offer 
 and upon which she rests her claim 
 as a business, industrial, and residence 
 city and a truly great community. 
 
 Population. — State census, 1905, 
 376.612. 
 
 Post Office Receipts. — For fis- 
 cal year ending June 30, 1906, $1,378,- 
 200.18. 
 
 Internal Revenue Receipts. — 
 In 1906, $1,282,189.71. 
 
 Vessels Arrivid. — In 1907, 4,159; tonnage, 7,287,830. 
 
 Vessels Cleared. — In 1907, 4,194; tonnage, 7,371,312. 
 
 Limber Receipts.— In 1907, 141,682,750 feet. 
 
 Ore and Pig Iron Receipts. — In 1907, 5,430,649 tons. 
 
 Grain Receipts.— In 1907, 181,237,760 bushels. 
 
 Ploub Receipts. — In 1907, 9.759,676 barrels. 
 
 Flour Manufactured. — 2,465,061 barrels. 
 
 Elevators. — Twenty-eight, with 22,290,000 bushels 
 capacity. 
 
 Greatest Coal Pocket in the World — the Lacka- 
 wanna, five thousand feet long. 
 
 Electric Power. — Niagara Falls tunnels within twenty 
 miles and power delivered in Buffalo one third less than cost 
 of horsepower from steam, with quantity unlimited. 
 
 Police Department. — Number of men, seven hundred 
 and eighty-four; stations, thirteen; one harbor steamer. 
 
 Fire Department. — Five hundred and eighty-eight 
 men, twenty - nine engine companies, ten truck com- 
 panies, six chemical companies, three fire boats, and two 
 
 water towers, with finest modern system of storage and signal 
 boxes. 
 
 Paved Streets. — Greater proportion and better than 
 any other city in the world; one hundred and five miles stone, 
 five miles macadam, fifteen and a half miles brick, three 
 hundred and thirty-five miles asphalt, giving Buffalo more 
 smooth pavements than Paris, Washington, New York, 
 London, of any other city on earth. 
 
 Parks. — Six parks, thirteen approaches, twenty-one 
 minor places, with a total of one thousand and twenty-six 
 acres. Park approches have a mileage of thirteen ami one 
 fifth miles. There are also twenty-three triangular places 
 belonging to the park system. Delaware Park is two miles 
 in circumference, has a large meadow with playgrounds, and 
 
 SCISSORS BRIDGE, BLACKWELL CANAL 
 
 Public Libraries. — Buffalo Library, two hundred and 
 thirty-five thousand volumes and twenty-six thousand pam- 
 phlets; Grosvenor, seventy-five thousand volumes and seven 
 thousand pamphlets (reference); Buffalo Historical Society, 
 twenty-six thousand six hundred volumes, five hundred 
 pamphlets (reference); John C. Lord Library (Historical 
 Building), ten thousand volumes; State Law Library, 
 seventeen thousand volumes. 
 
 Buffalo Historical Society. — Historical Building. 
 Delaware Park, two hundred thousand dollar marble struc- 
 ture, containing Historical and Lord libraries, portrait 
 gallery, and Julius Francis Lincoln collection, Indian and 
 Oriental Museums. 
 
 Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. — Museum 
 in the Library Building. Free to the public. 7, 186 geological 
 and mineralogical specimens; 50,364 zoological and botanical 
 specimens; 5,002 archaeological, etc. Total number of 
 specimens in the museum, 63,053; scientific reference library, 
 12,313 volumes. 
 
.> 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Buffalo Fine Arts Academy — Albright Art Gal- 
 lery. — Handsomest structure used exclusively for art pur- 
 poses in the world: important permanent collection of paint- 
 ings and sculptures and frequent special exhibitions. Admis- 
 sion is free on Saturdays from ten to five o'clock and on 
 Sundays from one to half past five. Other days, admission 
 is twenty-five cents, except to members and associate members 
 of the Academy. 
 
 THE CHURCHES OF BUFFALO 
 
 From the earliest day of her settlement Buffalo's churches 
 have been no small factor in her development. Wherever 
 a community is found, there, too, are to be found the places 
 of worship that invariably follow, and often lead, the van of 
 civilization. Buffalo has been no excep- 
 tion, and a careful study of her history 
 will show that, step by step, as the city 
 arrew in size. so. too, did the medium for 
 spiritual ministration, until now, at the 
 time of this writing, there are in this city 
 two hundred and thirty-eight churches, 
 as follows: Roman Catholic, forty-one 
 and eighteen chapels; Methodist Episco- 
 pal, twenty-eight; Baptist, twenty-seven 
 and two missions: Episcopal, eighteen 
 and eight chapels and missions; Lu- 
 theran, twenty - two ; German United 
 Evangelical, eighteen; Jewish, nine; Pres- 
 byterian, seventeen; German Evangelical 
 Reformed, seven; United Presbyterian, 
 four; Congregational, five; Evangelical 
 Association, five; Unitarian, two; Univer- 
 salist, two; German Methodist Episcopal, 
 two; Free Baptist, two; Free Methodist, 
 three; African Methodist, two; Church 
 of Christ, three churches and one mission 
 chapel; New Jerusalem (Swedenborgian), 
 one; also Salvation Army Corps, United 
 Brethren, Friends, Adventists, Spiritual- 
 ists, and others. 
 
 THE BUFFALO CITY CEMETERY 
 
 The Buffalo City Cemetery, better known by most 
 people as Forest Lawn, is famed for its beauty and perfect 
 appointments. It is located on that vast tract bounded by 
 Delaware Avenue, Delavan Avenue. Main Street, and Dela- 
 ware Park, in the very heart of the show places of Buffalo. 
 
 To some of Buffalo's best-known citizens of the sixties 
 is due the credit for the movement that has given Buffalo this 
 beautiful city of the dead. November 19th, 1S04. a meeting 
 was held at the office of Orsamus II. Marshall to form an 
 association that might acquire lands to be used for a cemetery. 
 The old records show those present at the meeting to have 
 been James P. White, Oliver G. Steele, Lewis F.Allen. 
 Orsamus H. Marshall, Elijah Ford, Everard Palmer, Chand- 
 ler J. Wells, Sidney Shepard. George Truscott, Charles W. 
 Evans, Dewitt C. Weed. Joseph Warren, John 1). Shepard, 
 Jabez B. Bull, George Newman. Gibson T. Williams, Walter 
 Cary, James M. Smith, Nelson K. Hopkins, and Henry 
 
 Martin. Lewis F. Allen was chairman of the meeting, and 
 ( )rsamus H. Marshall its secretary. 
 
 The first board of trustees, appointed at that meeting, 
 consisted of Dexter P. Rumsey, George Truscott, Lewis F. 
 Allen. Everard Palmer, Orsamus II. Marshall, Russell H. 
 Heywood. Dewitt C. Weed, Sidney Shepard, Oliver G. 
 Steele, Henry Martin, Francis H. Root, and George Howard. 
 The name Forest Lawn was chosen for the cemetery 
 grounds, and a set of by-laws adopted. 
 
 From this beginning has grown the beautiful spot in 
 which Buffalonians take so much pride. Access is gained 
 through highly artistic entrances, one at the corner of Dela- 
 ware and Delavan avenues, and the other at Main Street 
 and Delavan Avenue. The city traction company's lines 
 
 DELAWARE AVIATE ENTRANCE TO FOREST LAWN 
 
 lead directly to the entrances. Tickets of admission for 
 lot owners and visitors may be obtained for the asking at the 
 office of the association, room number twenty-seven, Erie 
 County Savings Bank Building. 
 
 Persons desiring to purchase lots have the advantage 
 of personal inspection, and arc furnished with maps of the 
 various sections. The price is uniform and includes the 
 perpetual care of the lot. A section is also set apart for 
 single graves, which are sodded and cared for at the expense 
 of the cemetery association. Application for these may also 
 be made at the office of the cemetery association. 
 
 Within the cemetery grounds the appointments are 
 well-nigh perfect. These include a fine modern receiving 
 vault and a commodious chapel where services may be held. 
 Certificates of commutation for the care of lots, originally 
 purchased without arrangements for perpetual care, are 
 issued by the secretary upon payment of fifteen cents per 
 square foot and an additional twenty-five cents per square 
 
 yard for sodding. 
 
 Further details may be obtained bv 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 59 
 
 communication with the officers in the Eric County Savings 
 Mank Building. 
 
 Trustees of the association arc elected annually, the 
 election taking place the second Monday in November. At 
 the first meeting of the trustees in regular session theyelect 
 a president and vice-president, and appoint a treasurer, 
 secretary, and attorney. Everard Palmer was the first 
 president. He was succeeded in 1868 by Oliver G. Steele, 
 and he, in turn, by Francis II. Hoot in 1K<>!>. Mr. Hoot held 
 office until 1892, when David H. Morse was elected president. 
 The present incumbent is Edward II. Hutchinson, who was 
 elected November 14th, 1!)()4, to succeed Mr. Morse. 
 
 The vice-presidents have been successively, Oliver G. 
 Steele, George Howard, Lewis F. Allen, David H.Morse, 
 Sherman S. Jewett, Jewetl M. Richmond, Bronson C. 
 Humsev. G. Barrett Rich; the treasurers. Dewitt ('. Weed, 
 Henry Martin. Pascal 1*. Pratt, and Robert S. Donaldson; 
 and the secretaries, Dewitt C. Weed, Charles E. Clark, 
 William Ketchum, Edward M. Atwater, Frederic Deming, 
 and Henry E. Perrine. The list of former trustees is a long 
 one, and includes many men who have been foremost in the 
 city's civic and industrial affairs. 
 
 The present officers are: President, E. H. Hutchinson; 
 vice-president, W. H. Glenny; secretary, E. P. Fish; treas- 
 urer, Raymond Bissell; attorney, Frank M. Loomis. The 
 trustees are Albert J. Wheeler, William H. Glenny, E. H. 
 Hutchinson, George 15. Mathews, Arthur I). Bissell, Frank 
 M. Loomis, Howard II. Baker, George L. Williams, Edward 
 W. Fames, William II. Gratwick, Henry R. How land, and 
 George R. Howard. The executive committee consists 
 of the president ex officio, Howard H. Baker. Edward W. 
 
 Eames, William II. Glenny, and George L. Williams; finance 
 committee, E. II. Hutchinson, Arthur 1). Bissell, George 
 L. Williams; the committee on cemetery grounds, Albert J. 
 Wheeler, William II. Glenny, William II. Gratwick, Henry 
 R. Howland, George B. Mathews; auditing committee, 
 Frank M. Loomis, Albert .1. Wheeler, George H. Howard; 
 superintendent, George Troup. 
 
 One of the fine features of the cemetery is the arch gate 
 at the corner of Main Street and Delavan Avenue, an impos- 
 ing structure of fine granite erected in the form of an arch. 
 It was completed in September, 1H04, its construction having 
 required one year. Humrill & Carter were the contractors, 
 and the arch was erected under the supervision of the Build- 
 ing Committee, which consisted of E. II. Hutchinson (chair- 
 man), D. W. Harrington, and G. Barrett Rich. The 
 cemetery trustees at the time were E. H. Hutchinson, Frank 
 M. Loomis, I). W. Harrington, Albert J. Wheeler, Arthur 
 1). Bissell, (Jeorge B. Mathews, William H. Glenny, G. 
 Barrett Rich, Howard H. Baker. David H. Morse, George 
 L. Williams, and Edward W. Fames. 
 
 In the new entrance at the corner of Delaware and 
 Delavan avenues another fine addition has been made to 
 the general artistic beauty of Forest Lawn. This new 
 entrance differs from the Main Street entrance in that it 
 comprises two massive columns instead of the arch. It, 
 also, is of fine granite. .Near it is the office of the superin- 
 tendent. The J. M. Tilden Company were the contractors 
 for the Delaware Avenue entrance, and the Building Com- 
 mittee, under whose supervision it was erected, consisted 
 of William H. Glenny chairman, Frank M. Loomis, Albert 
 J. Wheeler, and Howard H. Baker. 
 
FINANCIAL INTERESTS. 
 
 THE aggregate hank statement of a city is the true 
 barometer wherein one may read a city's greatness. 
 This is absolutely infallible; a community's financial 
 anil industrial status is truly reflected there, without color 
 or exaggeration, and a financial depression is as plainly 
 manifest there as it' Haunted from the housetops. 
 
 In this respect Buffalo has entered upon the year of 1908 
 with many reasons for thankfulness, notwithstanding the 
 fact that the first few months have witnessed one of the most 
 severe tests to which the banking institutions of a great city 
 have ever been put. Panic, or at least depression, that has 
 been widespread, reaching every nook and cranny of the 
 United States and making itself felt in the markets of the 
 whole world, marked the last few months of the dying year 
 and the first few months of the new one. Yet, through it all. 
 Buffalonians have maintained a calm, and a confidence in 
 its institutions, that not only inspired a feeling of security 
 here at home hut was contagious and spread to other cities, 
 lessening the sum total of panic by no small degree. Not 
 only have the banking conditions here at home remained 
 sound and stable, hut Buffalo hankers, in their liberality 
 and generpus spirit, have extended favors to flic hanks of 
 many other cities, notably Pittsburg, Philadelphia, New 
 York, and Boston. 
 
 In the cities mentioned there has been a woeful shortage 
 of currency since the beginning of the depression: to such 
 an extent that pay checks were issued by their industries, 
 and herculean efforts were necessary to get the actual money 
 necessary to protect these pay checks at the hanks. Not 
 only was a pay check unknown in the city of Buffalo, hut 
 hundreds of thousands of her dollars went to protect the 
 pay checks of the great railroads and the big industrial 
 institutions of other cities. Money was furnished local 
 concerns to tide them over the depressing period; and it is a 
 fact that Buffalo's volume of industry has continued, her 
 industrial wheels have been kept buzzing, and little incon- 
 venience has been felt in the city proper, though the shortage 
 of work at the Lackawanna Steel Plant placed main out of 
 employment who were supported by the city through their 
 period of idleness. 
 
 So apparent was Buffalo's strong financial condition, 
 even after the panic was months along, that it attracted 
 the attention of other cities. Before that time Buffalo had 
 not been considered seriously by other cities as a great finan- 
 cial center; hut when they saw the readiness with which all 
 requests for currency and gold were met, it made a marked 
 change in their altitude, and the great financial institutions 
 sent special agents here to curry favor with Buffalo institu- 
 
 tions which stood out on the horizon like lighthouses in a 
 tempest. It is probably better summarized by a Pittsburg 
 banker of international fame, in an interview granted a New 
 York newspaper when the panic was at its worst. 
 
 "I am amazed," he said, "at the stability exhibited 
 by the banking institutions of Buffalo. New York. Business 
 men generally have known for a long time that the Niagara 
 Frontier city was forging ahead in industries and finance, 
 but I do not believe the extent was generally known. At 
 least, in my own case, I confess gross ignorance. The minute 
 the depression struck us there came new lights on Buffalo. 
 Requests upon Buffalo for currency, from hanking corre- 
 spondents in the afflicted cities, have been promptly met with 
 cash, and the supply has been practically unlimited. A 
 reasonable exchange has been charged, and there has been 
 no disposition on the part of Buffalo bankers to take advan- 
 tage of a condition, an advantage which would be entirely 
 legitimate under the rules of banking. A fair rate has been 
 charged, and the Buffalo bankers have been tireless in their 
 efforts to carry even more than their share of the burden. 
 Pittsburg. Cleveland, New York, and Philadelphia all have 
 reason to he thankful to Buffalo, and no one will ever know- 
 how many country correspondents the Buffalo institutions 
 have helped to weather the gale. The city has covered 
 herself with glory, and will henceforth he looked upon as 
 one of the great financial centers of America." 
 
 This naturally gave a certain joy to Buffalonians that 
 found a vent in the New Year's celebration on the evening 
 of December 31st, 1907, when the streets were thronged 
 with jubilant people and bands of music, and a spirit of 
 general merrymaking and thanks was everywhere evident. 
 Buffalo was proud — proud as Lucifer — and her people's 
 spirit simply would not contain itself. This celebration 
 will go down into history as one of the most remarkable 
 spontaneous occasions within the memory of the city's 
 people. 
 
 On the night before, at a banquet of the Aldermen of the 
 city. Mr. Elliott C. McDougal, president of the Bank of 
 Buffalo, had said: 
 
 " I should say that Buffalo has fared better than any 
 other city I know of during this depression. I do not wish 
 to pat the bankers on the back, particularly, for the business 
 men are entitled to the lion's share of the praise. The banks 
 here have been making collections and charging the same 
 rates through it all. The city's firm position has been made 
 possible only by the soundness of her institutions. There 
 is no overbuilding here; there are no land booms; and all 
 
 o'O 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 61 
 
 the business houses I know of an- solvent and ready to con- 
 tinue doing business. Buffalo is to be congratulated." 
 
 However indisposed was President McDouga] to praise 
 his colleagues, the city realizes that, while its manufacturing 
 
 institutions were in a large way responsible for the manner 
 in which the city stood up under the whip of financial depres- 
 sion, its bankers were equally to he praised. Had not the 
 careful, conservative methods of banking prevailed for 
 years previous, the panic would have found Buffalo in a 
 condition as weakened and as susceptible as it found sister 
 cities throughout the United States. 
 
 In the past year. !!>()?, a great part of which year was 
 made abnormal by the panic, the hanks in the Buffalo Clear- 
 ing House Association increased their capital from $6,250,000 
 on January 1st, 1907, to $6,450,000 on January 1st. 11)08. 
 In the same period they increased their surplus and undivided 
 profits from $5,916,523 to $6,139,880, a gain of $243,397, 
 and that in one of the worst years in the city's history. Also 
 in the past year they increased their 
 clearances from $396,268,181.91 to 
 $434,689,975.34, a gain of $38,421,- 
 79.'?. 4.S. In November the clearance 
 increase had reached the enormous 
 total of $45,000,000, but was cut down 
 on the year's gain by the depression 
 and consequent slump which came in 
 that month. 
 
 Notwithstanding the alarm felt 
 in many quarters, the shrinkage of 
 deposits was only about seven million 
 dollars from all the local banks, being 
 only about nine and a half per cent of 
 the total deposits. The bulk of these 
 withdrawals, it was stated at the time, 
 was invested in low-priced stocks, and 
 much of the money was soon re- 
 deposited. 
 
 The history of banking in Buffalo 
 is naturally the history of the city. 
 Shortly after the burning of Buffalo 
 by the British, the first banking insti- 
 tution was established, and since that 
 time the city's growth has demanded 
 institutions of the very strongest charac- 
 ter, which have been supplied, as the 
 demand came, largely by our own 
 people and our own money. Never 
 has there been a time in the history 
 of the city when the condition of the 
 banks was such as to cause genuine 
 alarm among our people. Save here 
 and there the record of a failure, due 
 generally to mismanagement, the story 
 of Buffalo banking is an uninterrupted 
 tale of successes and steady, healthy, 
 normal growth, and their condition 
 today is such as to presage for 
 Buffalo a prompt return of pros- 
 
 perity and a wonderful future in the world of industry 
 and finance. 
 
 The Marine National Bank is the oldest bank of dis- 
 count in Buffalo. It was first organized as a State bank on 
 August 15th, I8.~><). Of the original incorporators of the 
 bank none arc now living. They were General James S. 
 Wadsworth, of Geneseo; John P. Beekman, of Kinderhook; 
 George Palmer and James M. Ganson, of Buffalo; John 
 Arnot, of Elmira; John Magee and Constant Cook, of Bath; 
 and William H. Gwinn, of Medina. 
 
 In its fifty-seven years of existence the bank has had four 
 different homes. Its first location was on the east side of 
 Main Street, near Perry; then on the west side of Main Street 
 adjoining the Erie Canal. In 188ft the bank was removed 
 to number 220 Main Street, and in IS!)(i the property at the 
 southwest corner of Main and Seneca streets was acquired 
 by the bank and added to the location at number 220 Main 
 
 MARINE NATIONAL BANK 
 
62 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Street. In 1901 the entire property was remodeled into the largely in excess of the capital, being over one million four 
 present building, now owned and occupied by the bank, hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 The banking offices were considered ample for the business Since 1850 tlie bank has distributed in dividends an 
 
 of the bank for many years to come, but in the spring of 1907 aggregate of .$.'5,490,000 and has paid in taxes $1,170,000. 
 the growth of the institution had become so great, reaching 
 total assets of over twenty million dollars, that it was again 
 found necessary to enlarge the public lobby of the bank, to 
 increase the number of tellers' cages, and to take an addi- 
 tional room on the second floor of the building for the use 
 of its clerks. 
 
 Beginning with a capital of $170,000 at its organization 
 on August 15th, 1850, this was later increased to $200,000. 
 In 1902 this capital was increased to $330,000. At that 
 time the bank had deposits of $10,000,000. In 1906 a large 
 accumulation of surplus, which had reached over $2,000,000 
 was capitalized by an increase of the capital stock to $1,500,- 
 000 through the declaration of a dividend to the stockholders 
 of 552 per cent from its surplus. 
 
 For fifty-two years the Marine Bank had existed as a 
 State institution. In 1902, shortly before it absorbed the 
 old Buffalo Commercial Bank, it applied to the Comptroller 
 of the Currency at Washington for a charter as a national 
 bank. Since its entry into the national banking system its 
 deposits have increased over five million dollars. Its last 
 financial statement to the Comptroller of the Currency shows 
 a capital stock of $1,500,000.00; surplus and profits of 
 $1,182,883.76, with deposits of $17,056,495.71. Its roster of 
 directors comprises the following names: John J. Albright, 
 Stephen M. Clement, Charles W. Goodyear, William H. 
 Gratwick, Edmund Hayes, William H. Hotchkiss, E. H. 
 Hutchinson, Charles H. Keep, John H. Lascelles, George 
 B. Mathews, Moses Taylor, Cornelius Vanderbilt. 
 
 The officers of the Marine National Bank are as follows: 
 Stephen M. Clement, president; John J. Albright, vice- 
 president; John H. Lascelles, vice-president; Clifford Hub- 
 bell, cashier; Henry J. Auer, assistant cashier. 
 
 The clerical force of the bank numbers over sixty. 
 Besides doing the regular business of a bank of deposit and 
 discount, it has a safe deposit department well adapted to 
 the needs of its patrons. 
 
 The Manufacturers' and Traders' National Bank. — 
 
 Early in the year 1856, Mr. Pascal P. Pratt and other 
 of Buffalo's distinguished citizens determined to organize 
 a bank to care for the wants of the manufacturers and trades- 
 men who were making Buffalo a city of note in America. 
 Capital stock to the amount of two hundred thousand dollars 
 was readily subscribed, and the new institution was called 
 the Manufacturers' and Traders' Bank. It is an interest- 
 ing fact that of the one hundred and sixty-eight original 
 subscribers, Mr. Pratt, the first to sign, survived all the 
 others. 
 
 In the autumn of 1856, the capital was increased to five 
 hundred thousand dollars and later to nine hundred thou- 
 sand dollars, at which figure it remained until its conversion 
 
 THE MANUFACTURERS' AND TRADERS' NATIONAL BANK 
 
 A dozen years ago the resources were less than five 
 million dollars: today they total sixteen million dollars. 
 
 The bank has had three presidents. Henry Martin, 
 the first president, was succeeded by Pascal P. Pratt, and the 
 
 latter was followed by Robert L. Fryer. The cashiers have 
 into a national bank in 1902, when it was made one million been D. F. Frazel, George Truscott, James H. Madison, and 
 dollars, the present capital. The surplus and profits are Harry T. Ramsdell. The officers of the bank at present 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 63 
 
 are: president, Robert L. Fryer; vice-president, Franklin 
 D. Locke; cashier, Harry T. Ramsdell; assistant cashiers, 
 Samuel Ellis, II. W. Hoot, and Walter Aspinwall. 
 
 The home of the Manufacturers ' and Traders' National 
 Hank is located in the very center of Buffalo's financial 
 
 district, having frontage on Main. Swan, 
 
 Pearl 
 
 streets. The building and its appointments were especially 
 designed with a view to the prompt transaction of the cus- 
 tomers' business, and from either the architect's or the 
 banker's standpoint the result is one of the finest banking 
 houses in the country. 
 
 The Third National Bank of buffalo. New York, was 
 organized under the act of the United States to provide 
 for the national currency, passed on the fourteenth day of 
 February, 1804. The first board of directors consisted of 
 Abel T. Blackmar, Abraham Altman, Robert G. Stewart, 
 Horace Utley, Henry Cone, Dightou II. Winans, Thomas 
 Chester, Nathan C. Simons, and Edson C. Shoemaker. 
 
 On the first day of March. 1865, Hugh McCulloch, 
 Comptroller of the Currency, issued a certificate authorizing 
 the bank to commence business. Abel T. Blackmar, a 
 maltster in buffalo, was elected president. Abraham 
 Altman. a wholesale manufacturer and dealer in clothing, 
 was elected vice-president, and Elisha T. Smith was appointed 
 cashier. 
 
 The capital stock was fixed at the sum of two hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars. ( )nc half of this amount was paid 
 in at the time the subscriptions were made. The balance 
 was soon thereafter paid in, and the bank opened for business 
 at 183 Main Street. On the twenty-eighth day of March 
 following, the bank was designated as a depository of public 
 moneys of the United States, by F. E. Spinner, United States 
 Treasurer. The assets of the bank on the first Monday of 
 October. 1867, were $906,736.68. 
 
 The bank, soon after this date, was removed to its present 
 quarters, the corner of Main and Swan streets. 
 
 Mr, Blackmar resigned as president of the bank on 
 June 10th. 1860, and Mr. Abraham Altman was elected 
 president. The board of directors then consisted of Abra- 
 ham Altman, Horace Utley, Henry Cone, James D. Warren. 
 Philip Becker, Jacob Altman, Emanuel Levi, Horace Still- 
 man, and Elisha T. Smith. 
 
 Mr. Altman continued as president of the bank until 
 August l.)th, 1881. On the following twenty-fourth day 
 of August, Mr. Charles A. Sweet was elected president. 
 At the following election, in January, 188 l <>, Jacob F. Schoell- 
 kopf, Pascal P. Pratt, Charles A. Sweet, Charles G. Curtiss, 
 Emanuel Levi, Jacob Dold, Horace Stillman, Henry Cone, 
 and Loran L. Lewis were elected directors of the bank. 
 
 Mr. Sweet continued to hold the position as president 
 of the bank until the first day of October. 1902, for a term of 
 twenty-one years, when, on account of impaired health, he 
 presented his resignation, which was accepted. Mr. Nathan- 
 iel Rochester was elected president; Mr. Loran L. Lewis, 
 vice-president; George A. Drummer was appointed cashier, 
 and Benjamin C. Ralph assistant cashier. 
 
 Mr. Rochester continued as president of the bank until 
 the time of his death, on the sixth day of March, 1000, after 
 which Mr. Loran L. Lewis was elected president to fill the 
 vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Rochester. 
 
 The directors of the bank at the present time are John 
 N. Scatcherd, Howard II. Baker, Robert Keating, William 
 B. Iloyt, Robert B. Adam, Daniel J. Kenefick, W. Emerson 
 Bargar, H. M. Rownd, Charles M. Clarke, M. F.Windsor, 
 
 THE THIRD NATIONAL BANK 
 
 George C. Greene. Thomas B. Lockwood, George A. Drum- 
 mer, Henry S. Madden, Loran L. Lewis, and George F. 
 Sowerby. 
 
 The officers of the bank at present are: president. Loran 
 L. Lewis, Senior; vice-presidents. Howard II. Baker, R. M. 
 Rownd, Robert B. Adam; vice-president and cashier; W. 
 Emerson Bargar, assistant cashiers, Benjamin ('. Ralph and 
 C. J. Bitter. 
 
 The assets of the bank at the present time are $3,800,000. 
 
 The Bank of Buffalo, in its thirty-four years of existence, 
 has become foremost among the great financial institutions 
 which make for Buffalo and her flattering commercial stand- 
 ing. The bank was incorporated in 1873, at a time when 
 
64 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 the country at large was stirred by a panicky undercurrent, 
 and great financial institutions were crumbling on every side. 
 The institution weathered its early vicissitudes nobly, and 
 emerged from these dark days with a most creditable standing. 
 Its first directorate included Sherman S. Jewett, George B. 
 Gates. Francis H. Root. Gibson T. Williams, Pascal P. 
 Pratt, E. L. Stevenson, and Albert L. Bennett, all men of 
 sterling worth and high financial standing, whose presence 
 was a pillar of confidence to the restless business spirit of 
 the city at that time. 
 
 in their regular order, have been William C. Cornwell, 
 Elliott C. McDougal, and John L. Daniels, the present 
 incumbent. 
 
 The Bank of Buffalo has always been located on its 
 present site, at the corner of Main and Seneca streets, although 
 additions from time to time, necessitated by a rapidly increas- 
 ing business, have considerably enlarged the property oyer 
 what it was at the time of the corporation's inception. 
 
 The bank's statements have always been a matter of 
 pride, not alone with the banking officials, but with the people 
 generally who look upon it as the un- 
 failing barometer of the city's pros- 
 perity. The one hundred and thirty- 
 sixth quarterly report, recently made, 
 shows a capital and surplus of one 
 million dollars and deposits totaling 
 $7,L'?(>,585.06. 
 
 The present officers of the bank 
 are: president, Elliott C. McDougal; 
 vice-president, Laurence D. Rumsey; 
 cashier, John L. Daniels; assistant 
 cashier, Ralph Croy. The board of 
 directors is made upas follows: Edwin 
 T. Evans, Henry ('. Howard. Elliott 
 C. McDougal. Charles W. Pardee, 
 Robert K. Root, Laurence D. Rumsey, 
 John N. Scatcherd, George LTrban, 
 Jr., and Charles H. Williams. 
 
 THE BANK OF BUFFALO 
 
 At the first meeting of the stockholders Sherman S. 
 Jewett was chosen president of the institution, George B. 
 Gates, vice-president: A. L. Bennett, cashier. Upon the retire- 
 ment of Mr. Jewett. John N. Scatcherd was appointed to fill 
 the vacancy, continuing in the office of president from Decem- 
 ber. 1892, until May, 18!)<>. At that time Elliott C. McDougal 
 the present incumbent, was chosen president to succeed Mr. 
 Scatcherd. During its life the vice-presidents of the Bank 
 of Buffalo have been George B. Gates, Josiah Jewett, Sher- 
 man S. Rogers, and Laurence D. Rumsey. The cashiers, 
 
 The People's Bank. — n May 
 20th, 1889. there was opened for busi- 
 ness in the city of Buffalo a bank 
 whose organizers adopted as the 
 cardinal points in the scheme of 
 management conservatism, s a f e t y, 
 courtesy, and progress. How 
 well the public at large regarded 
 this proposition, and how prosper- 
 ous the bank, which was aptly called 
 the People's Bank, has become, is 
 evidenced by the steady growth the 
 institution has enjoyed through the 
 years which have passed and the bright 
 prospects for future growth in size and 
 popularity. 
 
 For sixteen years the bank re- 
 mained in its original quarters, where 
 steady gains were made in deposits 
 and general strength, becoming better and better known in 
 the business community, until in 1905 it was realized that 
 the bank had outgrown its location. It was. therefore, 
 decided to move from its offices in the Coal and Iron 
 Exchange on Washington Street to the corner of Main and 
 Seneca streets, an almost ideal location, and ever since the 
 removal the wisdom of this change has been almost daily 
 seen in its continual and steady growth and popularity. 
 In its new quarters the exceptionally large public space, 
 splendid light, and numerous tellers unite in allowing this 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 65 
 
 popular institution to give its customers the best and most always obtainable, with uniform c -tesy on the part of all 
 
 effective service,— and in these days of busj business men connected with the institution, with ample security and 
 
 ' Miick service is appreciated. The offices are handsome, conservative management, the People's Hank becomes to 
 
 commodious, and convenient to its customers and to the business men an ideal depository. 
 
 T1IK PEOPLE'S BANK 
 
 public generally. With decorations all in white, with a At the time of its organization Air. Daniel O'Day was 
 
 pleasing combination of white marble and solid bronze for president, but the active duties of that office were performed 
 
 the partition, with all desks, tables, and counters of steel, by the vice-president, Mr. A. I). Bissell, who on January 
 
 a more up-to-date equipment and more attractive interior 1st, 1903, succeeded to the office of president. Mr. Bissell 
 
 cannot be found. With the personal service of its officers is one of Buffalo's prominent men. enjoying the confidence, 
 
66 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 respect, and high esteem of the community, and a man who 
 has taken an active interest in the affairs of Buffalo. 
 Not only has lie been honored with appointments as a member 
 of boards of various institutions in Buffalo, but he has been 
 recognized throughout the State,' lie being a past president 
 and at one time treasurer of the New York State Bankers' 
 Association, and also having been vice-president for New- 
 York State of the American Bankers' Association. 
 
 At the time Mr. Bissell was promoted from the office 
 of vice-president, that office became inactive, and Mr. 
 Charles R. Huntley, general manager of The Buffalo General 
 Electric ( Jompany, a man of ability and energy, and identified 
 with some of the largest enterprises in Buffalo, was elected 
 vice-president. 
 
 Mr. C. W. Hammond was cashier from the organization 
 of the bank until October, 1903, when his death, after an 
 illness more or less severe extending over quite a long period 
 of time, occurred, and Mr. E. J. Newell, who had been second 
 assistant and assistant cashier since 1HDK, was appointed 
 as cashier and now occupies that position, having been with 
 the bank for fourteen years in almost every capacity in the 
 senior positions. 
 
 Mr. Howard bissell and Mr. ('. G. Eeil are assistant 
 cashiers, the official roster being A. D. Bissell, president; 
 ('. H. Huntley, vice-president; E. J. Newell, cashier; Howard 
 bissell and ('. (i. Feil, assistant cashiers. 
 
 The active officers make a special effort to give to the 
 customers of the bank their personal service, and cover com- 
 pletely the entire work of the bank in personal administration. 
 This is an innovation greatly appreciated by the bank's 
 depositors, and it insures a more satisfactory handling of 
 their business than can otherwise be obtained. The man- 
 agement of the bank also takes a great interest in new enter- 
 prises locating in buffalo, and endeavors to extend to those 
 coming to the city every possible facility to further their 
 business. This is a feature of bank work to those estab- 
 lishing new or old enterprises in the city of Buffalo. 
 
 The deposits are now over $4, 000, 000, total resources 
 $4,600,000, capital $300,000, surplus and profits $250,000. 
 
 Upon its board of directors are some of the most prominent 
 and able citizens of Buffalo, and the bank refers with pride 
 to this body of representative men, who take a very active 
 interest in the bank and its affairs, and from whom a finance 
 committee is appointed, assisting the officers in many ways 
 in the administration of the affairs of the bank. The board 
 is as follows: Charles F. Bishop, John Hughes, .C. R. 
 Huntley, Daniel O'Day, Junior, J. T. Jones, Frank S. 
 McGraw, E.G. S. Miller, Elgood C. Lufkin, Walter P. 
 Cooke, William Richardson, and A. 1). Bissell. 
 
 Situated in the heart of the indus- 
 trial district, which contains more 
 than half of the city's population and 
 where are located the great live stock 
 markets, packing houses, tanneries, 
 breweries, foundries, lumber yards, 
 and various other industries, all by 
 
 their location tributary to it, the Citizens' Bank of Buffalo 
 enjoys an enviable reputation for sound banking methods 
 and success along conservative lines. 
 
 Founded in 1890 by such men as G. Fred Zeller, Chris- 
 tian Klinck, Devillo W. Harrington. J. Adam Lautz, Joseph 
 block, Jerome 1. Prentiss, William F. Wendt, and others, 
 when the need of banking facilities began to be felt in the 
 great industrial district, public confidence in the strength 
 and sagacity of the management, and the fact that the bank 
 had been a much-needed link in the business community, 
 insured its success from the start. Funds which had hitherto 
 lain dormant began to find their way into banking circu- 
 lation, and with the growth of banking facilities many new 
 mercantile enterprises also sprang into existence. 
 
 While enjoying a steady growth from its inception, the 
 most remarkable increase has been in the past three years, 
 dining which time the bank has gained approximately one 
 quarter of its total deposits. Noteworthy as this has been, 
 however, the earning power of the Citizens' Bank of Buffalo 
 has been an even greater source of pride to its directors and 
 stockholders, it having accumulated an earned surplus more 
 than two and one half times greater than its original capital, 
 in addition to which dividends at the rate of eight per cent 
 are paid to the stockholders. This large percentage of earned 
 surplus has given the bank an enviable position among the 
 State banks of the country, it being listed at present as first 
 in the city, twentieth in the State, and eighty-fifth in the 
 United States. 
 
 Perhaps it is this reputation for caring for the legitimate 
 requirements of its customers in and out of season, as much 
 as its well-known policy of refusing to engage either directly 
 or indirectly in any speculative venture, which has earned 
 for this bank the public confidence and respect which it 
 enjoys in so large a degree. Be that as it may, the fact 
 remains that each succeeding month is bringing to the Citi- 
 zens' Bank of buffalo an increasing business, and authorities 
 who are competent to judge consider its future prospects 
 as second to none in the city. 
 
 The capital and surplus at present amount to over 
 $365,000 and the deposits to more than $2,000,000. Total 
 resourses, $2,500,000. 
 
 This record of success has been rendered possible by 
 the untiring efforts of the officers and directors, whose names 
 appear below. As will be seen, the directorate is composed 
 of successful business men of long experience, whose names 
 are connected with buffalo's foremost business enterprises. 
 
 The officers of the bank are: president, Joseph Block; 
 vice-president, Jerome I. Prentiss; vice-president. Jacob 
 J. Siegrist; cashier, John Peters; assistant cashier, Norman 
 A. MacDonald. 
 
 The directors of the bank are William I - '. Wendt. presi- 
 dent of The buffalo Forge Company; Jerome I. Prentiss, of 
 Jerome I.Prentiss & ( lompany , wholesale grocers ; Edwin Sikes, 
 president of The Sikes Chair Company; Melvin Dunning, 
 of Dunning «.\; Stevens, live stock commission merchants; 
 Louis P. Klinck, vice-president of The ('. Klinck Packing 
 Company; William Simon, of the William Simon Brewery; 
 Jacob J. Siegrist, of Siegrist & Fraley, department stores; 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 67 
 
 George A. Lautz, president of the Niagara Machine and 
 Tool Works; John C. Schenk, secretary and general manager 
 of The East Buffalo Brewing Company; J. Fred Zeller, of 
 G. Fred Zeller & Sons, tanners; Joseph Block, president. 
 
 Ktlli, 1904, the new institution opened its doors for the trans- 
 action of business, and since has enjoyed a career of unin- 
 terrupted prosperity, not surpassed by any institution in this 
 city. The banking house, at the corner of William and 
 
 THE CITIZENS' BANK OF BEFFALO 
 
 The Union Stock Yards Bank of Buffalo. — The great 
 
 live stock yards, located in East Buffalo, were opened in 
 their present location on Christmas Day, 1863, forty-five 
 years ago. Instantly they were surrounded with new and 
 growing enterprises, that required the business facilities 
 essential to the healthy life of the modern business community. 
 Yet, for forty-one years, the live stock dealers, commission 
 merchants, wholesale butchers and meat packers, and a 
 large number of miscellaneous business institutions were 
 denied the common, ordinary financial facilities of business 
 and compelled to do their banking in the city. 
 
 It was this condition that gave birth to the Union Stock 
 Yards Bank, an institution organized in 1904, with a 
 capital of $1.30.006, which is, consequently, at this writing, 
 hut three and one half years old, yet one of the lustiest 
 youngsters in Buffalo's financial family. It was left to 
 Hiram Waltz, of the firm of Swope. Hughes, Waltz <\: 
 Benstead, and Irving E. Waters, a hanker of broad ex- 
 perience, to incorporate and organize this hank. November 
 
 Depot streets, is very accessible to the class of trade which 
 the hank particularly desires to serve, and the results have 
 long since justified its location. 
 
 A few comparisons best indicate the great prosperity 
 the concern has enjoyed since its inception. The records 
 show that in its third year it passed the enormous sum of fifty- 
 two million dollars and over through the clearings of Buffalo, 
 or nearly one eighth of all the clearings in this great city. 
 During this time their deposits have reached nearly one 
 million dollars and their undivided profits thirty-five thousand 
 dollars. In addition to this the hank has charged off a large 
 proportion of the cost of improvements and rearrangement 
 of their banking offices, the building of vaults, and instal- 
 lation of furniture and fixtures. 
 
 The present hanking house is one of the best equipped 
 and most commodious in the city. It has forty feet frontage 
 on William Street and a depth of thirty-six feet, allowing 
 ample room for hanking offices and the installation of their 
 large vaults and fixtures. A permanent invitation stands to 
 
08 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 patrons, friends, and visitors to call and inspect their banking 
 home. 
 
 In the process of building up the business of this insti- 
 tution lies a fine example of thrift, energy, ability, and reli- 
 ability. In three and one half years, perseverance, ability, 
 and good banking methods have brought a measure of busi- 
 ness surpassed by but a few institutions of the city. Its 
 success in handling the great volume of business is par- 
 ticularly gratifying to the directors and officers of the 
 institution — a "ratification that is shared by the depositors 
 and the business men who enjoy the benefits and accommo- 
 dations the bank has been able to afford them. Already 
 the Union Stock Yards Bank is classified as one of the most 
 
 Sulzberger Company: also Mr. Alonzo C. Mather, president 
 of The Mather Stock Car Company; James A. Hathaway, 
 the great cattle exporter of Boston; Charles R. Hannan, 
 Swift's representative, and capitalist, of Boston; and nu- 
 merous wholesale packers, live stock commission mer- 
 chants, manufacturers, and representative business men 
 of the eastern portion of our city. 
 
 From its past record no other than a brilliant future can 
 be predicted for this institution, located as it is in the heart 
 of a constantly growing community and surrounded with 
 vast business enterprises. 
 
 Hiram Waltz, one of the city 's best-known live stock 
 
 INTERIOR VIEW OF THE UNION STOCK YARDS BANK 
 
 successful and responsible of Buffalo's financial institutions. 
 
 The officers who have so well administered the affairs 
 of the bank since its inception are: president, Hiram Waltz; 
 vice-president, Alonzo C. Mather; vice-president and cashier, 
 Irving E. Waters. The directors are Alonzo C. Mather. 
 V. E. Bailey, T. C. Meadows, Harry J. Davis, JosiahMeeks, 
 William A. Williamson, Hiram Waltz. Stanislaus Lipowicz, 
 John H. Eckhardt, William Lansill, Charles ('.Mansfield, 
 Lancelot (i. Burrus, Charles A. Klocke, Adelbert 1). Cronk, 
 Timothy McCarthy, Elbert E. Johnston, Irving E. Waters, 
 and John II. Meahl. 
 
 Among the incorporators and stockholders of this bank 
 arc found representatives of Swift & Company, Armour & 
 Company, Nelson Morris & Company, Schwarzschild & 
 
 commission men, and president of the Union Stock Yards 
 Bank, is a native of Ohio, having been born in Xew Phila- 
 delphia. May 15th, 1850, the son of William Waltz. He 
 received a common school education at that place, which 
 he supplemented with further school training at Blutfton, 
 Ohio, whither the family had removed while he was yet a 
 boy. He lived in Bluffton for a number of years, and at 
 the age of fifteen years entered into business life. For a 
 period of ten years he was engaged in the dry goods and 
 grocery business in Hlutfton, following which he engaged 
 in the live stock and grain business, in which he continued 
 until 1881. In that year he came to Buffalo, where he has 
 since made his home. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 69 
 
 His first business association in Buffalo was as a member 
 
 of the live stock commission firm of Swope, Hughes, Waltz, 
 & Benstead, one of the largest and most extensive firms 
 in that line in the Buffalo Live Stock Exchange. This 
 connection he has maintained until the present time. The 
 firm also carries on a business in Cleveland, Ohio, where 
 
 HIRAM WALTZ 
 
 its business standing is well known. Its local offices are 
 at number 4 Live Stock Exchange Building, East Buffalo. 
 
 Since its organization, four years ago, Mr. Waltz has 
 been the president of the Union Stock Yards Bank of this 
 city, one of the strongest financial institutions of the East 
 Side. He is a member of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce, 
 and of a number of other organizations which have as their 
 purpose the furtherance of the welfare of the city of Buffalo. 
 
 The Erie County Savings Bank was organized in 1854 
 under a special act passed in April of that year. The first 
 board of trustees was composed of William A. Bird. William 
 Wilkeson, Henry Roop, Gibson T. Williams, Stephen V. H. 
 Watson, Xoali P. Sprague, and James C. Harrison, all of 
 whom are now dead. Cyrus P. Lee was the first secretary 
 and treasurer, and he, also, is deceased. Originally located 
 at the corner of Main and North Division streets, the bank 
 was. a number of years later, removed to the corner of Main 
 and Court streets. 
 
 The first president of the bank was the Honorable 
 William A. Bird. At his death, in 1878, the vacancy was 
 filled by the selection of James C. Harrison, who died during 
 the sixth year of his incumbency, and was followed by Gibson 
 T. Williams. Mr. Williams died in 1891, and David R. 
 Morse was named to fill the vacancy. At the death of the 
 first secretary. Cyrus P. Lee, in 188(1. Robert S. Donaldson, 
 
 who hail been connected with the institution since 1868, was 
 promoted to fill the vacancy, fulfilling the duties of that 
 office until, during the early part of 1908, the death of the 
 president, David K. Morse, brought to him the election to 
 I lie president's chair. 
 
 In 188!) the need for greater facilities and a larger home 
 became plainly apparent, and accordingly the trustees secured 
 an option on the old First Presbyterian Church property, 
 which was then for sale. The property was purchased, and, 
 
 as s as the church was razed, work was started on the 
 
 new building. It required the greater pari of three years 
 to construct the new building;, which is acknowledged to he 
 
 IS fs 
 
 one of the finest hanking buildings in the world. On June 
 'J8th, 18!);}, the doors of the new home, opposite Shelton 
 Square, were opened for business. 
 
 The Erie County Savings Bank Building is nine stones 
 high on Main Street and ten stories high on Pearl Street, 
 and is constructed of granite. The liberal use of Port- 
 land cement and steel has made it as proof against fire as a 
 building can possibly he made. The second story of the 
 structure is a mezzanine story, and above it are seven more 
 stories, the upper two heing built under the roof. Alto- 
 gether the building covers a ground space of about seventeen 
 thousand square feet. 
 
 There are one hundred and forty-five offices in the build- 
 ing, inclusive of those in the basement on the Pearl Street 
 side. None of these are what are commonly called "hack" 
 offices, hut all are very accessible, well lighted, and connected 
 with other parts of the building by broad staircases and ample 
 corridors. All the floors in the corridors are of marble, 
 and those in the offices of polished Georgia pine. The 
 building is heated by steam and lighted by fourteen hundred 
 electric lights and otherwise supplied with every modern 
 convenience. The woodwork of the interior is of Mexican 
 mahogany, and the stair treads are of marble with iron 
 balustrades. 
 
 The quarters of the hank proper are of the very best. 
 The public room is on the Pearl Street side, and is very 
 accessible from the street. The Directors' Room adjoins 
 it on the Church Street side. The banking chamber has a 
 floor tiled with Lake Champlain marble of a mottled red 
 color, with a border of black (ileus Falls marble. The 
 wainscoting is of yellow Saint Baume marble, capped with 
 Tennessee marble. The remainder of the chamber is fitted 
 in dignified harmony. A semicircular counter separates 
 the working force of the hank from the public. It is pierced 
 at intervals by windows, where a fore*' of eighteen clerks 
 serves the depositors. The secretary's room is off the 
 general room and is very accessible. 
 
 The present officers of the hank are: president, Robert 
 S. Donaldson; vice-president, (1. Barrett Rich; second 
 vice-president. Henry M. Watson; secretary and treasurer, 
 Robert D. Young; assistant secretary and treasurer. Stephen 
 B. Lee; attorney, Henry Ware Sprague. 
 
 The trustees of the hank at the present time are James 
 Sweeney, William A. Rogers, George R. Howard. Carlton 
 M. Smith, Henry M. Watson, George L. Williams, G. 
 Barrett Rich, Laurence I). Rumsev. Thomas 'P. Ramsdell. 
 
70 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Robert S. Donaldson, John J. McWilliams, Ogden P. 
 Letchworth, John W. Robinson, Henry W. Sprague. 
 
 The assets of the bank up to January 1st, 1908, includ- 
 ing bonds and mortgages; state, city, and county bonds in 
 this and other States: railroad mortgage bonds; banking 
 house and other real estate; with cash in hand and on deposit, 
 and interest accrued, totaled $4.V2.'5.>. 166.47. The number 
 
 finishing his early training in the Central High School. As 
 was customary for the young men of the time, he left school 
 at an early age, and found employment as a clerk in the 
 Erie County Savings Bank. His connection with that 
 institution began March 11th, 1868, and continues at the 
 present time. Working up through the various steps 
 in the banking business, his service was so creditable 
 
 THE ERIE COUNTY SAVINGS HANK 
 
 of open accounts up to that same dale numbered 79,583, that he came to the notice of the officers of the bank. 
 
 and the bank shows a surplus of $2,818,630.20. He displayed good business discretion, sound judgment. 
 
 and capability rarely found in so young a man. This 
 
 Robert S. Donaldson, president of the Erie County was rewarded in 18S6. when, upon the death of Cyrus P. 
 
 Savings Bank, has achieved his business success in the city Lee, Mr. Donaldson succeeded him as secretary and 
 
 of his nativity. Mr. Donaldson was born here September treasurer. Mr. Donaldson took np the duties of that office 
 
 20th, 18.51, and educated in the public schools of the city, in November of lNSd. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 71 
 
 Mr. Donaldson's incumbency of the position of secre- 
 tary and treasurer continued from 1886 until H)08, a period 
 of time during which the Erie County Savings Hank be- 
 came the very first banking institution of the city, no small 
 part of the credit for which was directly due to the subject 
 
 ROBERT S. DONALDSON 
 
 of this sketch. In 1908, upon the death of David R. Morse, 
 Mr. Donaldson was elevated to the position of president, 
 the highest office within the gift of its directorate. 
 
 Mr. Donaldson has been scarcely less active in the social 
 life of the city than he has been in its business life. He is a 
 member of the Buffalo, Ellicott, and Park clubs, the Buffalo 
 Chamber of Commerce, and other organizations upon which 
 the social and business life of the city depends. 
 
 In 18T(i Mr. Donaldson married Carrie Dodsworth, 
 of this city. 
 
 The Buffalo Savings Bank, oneof the State's foremost 
 financial institutions, was incorporated by an act of the 
 State Legislature May 9th, 184(i. its incorporators being 
 Albert H. Tracy. Millard Fillmore, John L. Kimberly, 
 Noah H. Gardner, Francis J. Handel, Frederick Dellen- 
 baugh, Jacob Seibold, Elijah J. Efner, Russell II. Heywood, 
 Warren Bryant, Daniel Bowen, Isaac Sherman, William 
 Tweedy, Hiram P. Thayer, Benjamin Caryl, Charles Town- 
 send, Francis C. Brunck, and Ernest G. Grey. All were 
 prominent men of the time, and their association with the 
 infant institution inspired the early confidence which has 
 since grown to be absolute. 
 
 The first by-laws of the bank were adopted at a meeting 
 of the trustees held at the office of Townsend & Coit June 2d, 
 184(i. At this time its far-seeing directors anticipated a 
 
 system that has recently been agitated by modern bankers — ■ 
 that of dividing the depositors into two classes, those having 
 less than four hundred dollars on deposit to receive five per 
 cent per annum and those having in excess of four hundred 
 dollars to receive four per cent per annum. This system 
 has recently been urged by State Superintendent of Bank- 
 ing Kilburn. in itself a tribute to the liberal business quali- 
 ties of the early directors of the Buffalo Savings Rank. 
 
 Charles Townsend was chosen the first president of the 
 bank. On January 19th, 1848, Russell H. Heywood was 
 chosen to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Town- 
 send. On February 7th, 1859, Albert II. Tracy was elected 
 president, his death occurring the following September. 
 Elijah D. Efner, one of the original board, was chosen to 
 succeed Mr. Tracy. Mr. Efner resigned in September of 
 18(i.'i, being succeeded by Edward I.. Stevenson, whose 
 resignation was tendered in May of the following year. 
 Warren Bryant was elected president in June of that year, and 
 continued in office for a long term of years, his death 
 occurring in 1893, when Edward Bennett was elected to the 
 position, filling it until January 2d, 1898, when he 
 resigned. Jewett M. Richmond was then chosen, but his 
 death occurred in 189!) and his tenure of office was but one 
 year. In April, 1899, Spencer Clinton, the present incum- 
 bent, was chosen to the presidency. 
 
 May 1st, 1852, the bank moved into quarters in a build- 
 ing it had purchased on the west side of Main Street, just 
 south of Court Street; the lot, twenty-three feet front, costing 
 four thousand six hundred dollars and a four-story brick 
 building costing twelve thousand dollars. On January 
 25th, 1805, the building was destroyed by fire, and soon 
 afterwards the property on the northeast corner of Wash- 
 ington and Batavia (now Broadway) streets was purchased, 
 and a brick building, which stood on the premises, was occu- 
 pied. This building was later torn down and a handsome 
 new brownstone structure erected, the bank occupying its 
 new home May 1st, 18(!7. There the bank remained until 
 it was removed to its present palatial home at the junction of 
 Main, Genesee, and Huron streets, one of the finest banking 
 
 o 
 
 homes in the world. 
 
 Architecturally the present home of the bank typifies 
 the great strength of the institution and its general solidity. 
 It is of the dignified style of architecture that unfortunately 
 is far too rare with American builders and contributes greatly 
 to the architectural beauty of Buffalo. The building is 
 fitted throughout in a most luxurious manner and every 
 convenience is offered to patrons of the bank. The cost of 
 the land, building, and its appointments was six hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 The present officers of the bank are: president, Spencer 
 Clinton; first vice-president, Robert Keating; second vice- 
 president, E. Corning Townsend; secretary, Edward G. 
 Becker; assistant secretary. Julius Ehrlich; attorney, 
 DeWitt Clinton; trustees. Spencer Clinton, Robert Keating, 
 William II. Glenny, E. Corning Townsend, George Bleistein, 
 Edwin G. S. Miller, Edward G. Becker, Seymour P. White, 
 Seth S. Spencer, Charles E. Walbridge, John L. Clawson, 
 C. Breckenridge Porter. In the statement issued January 
 
7-2 
 
 '/'///•; CITY OF HUFF A I J) 
 
 1st, 1!>08. the bank showed assets of $2,869,784.24 and a 
 surplus of $1,789, 104. 38. The number of open accounts 
 aggregates 49,012. 
 
 Spencer Clinton, one of the most distinguished legal 
 men of the State, president of the Buffalo Savings Hank, and 
 prominently identified with every movement thai has had 
 as its motive the welfare of the city, is a native of Buffalo. 
 
 THE BUFFALO SAVINGS BANK 
 
 He was horn June 29th, IS.'!!), of most illustrious parentage. 
 He is a grandson, on the paternal side, of De Witt Clinton, 
 mayor of New York City, Governor of the State of New York. 
 United States Senator, and the "father of the great Erie 
 Canal." His grandfather on the maternal side was John 
 C. Spencer, Secretary of War under President Tyler, and a 
 very prominent jurist of his time. The father of the subject 
 of this sketch was also a most distinguished man, one of 
 the ablest lawyers of his time and for more than a quarter 
 
 of a century judge and chief judge of the Superior Court. 
 Mr. Spencer Clinton received his education in public 
 and private schools in the place of his nativity, Brockport, 
 and Albany. lie determined to study law, and entered the 
 offices of Solomon G. Haven and later studied under William 
 Dorsheimer, being admitted to the bar in the October term, 
 1860, he being at that time twenty-one years of age. 
 
 Shortly after the beginning of his career as a lawyer he 
 was appointed Assistant United States 
 District Attorney under his former pre- 
 ceptor, William Dorsheimer. He 
 performed the services of this posi- 
 tion very creditably for several years, 
 at the conclusion of which he formed 
 a partnership, in 18(!8, with Charles 
 I). Marshall for the general practice 
 of law. Others were admitted to the 
 firm from time to time, but the orie- 
 inal partnership was continued until 
 the time of its dissolution, January 
 1st, IS!)!). In March of that year 
 Mr. Clinton was elected to, and ac- 
 cepted, the presidency of the Buffalo 
 Savings Bank, one of the State's 
 foremost financial institutions. 
 
 Mr. Clinton was one of the 
 organizers of the Buffalo Law School, 
 and has always taken a most active 
 interest in its welfare. He served 
 with commendable zeal as attorney 
 for the Grade Crossings Commis- 
 sion, to which he was appointed in 
 1887. He is a trustee of the Buffalo 
 Savings Bank in addition to his duties 
 as president, was formerly a director 
 of the Third National Bank, and is, 
 at the time of this writing, a director 
 of the Market Bank. He has been the 
 managing director of three large 
 estates — those of H. A. Bennett, S. S. 
 Jewett. and Chandler J. Wells, — and 
 has been the representative of the C. 
 J. Wells and Bennett elevators in the 
 Western Elevating Association. 
 Mr. Clinton has never entered much into public life. 
 Once he was induced to take the Democratic nomination for 
 State Senator, and. though the opposition press frankly 
 conceded his superior fitness for the place, he was defeated 
 by the extraordinary activity of the opposition in a campaign 
 in which he carried on his canvass quietly and solely on his 
 merits. In IS!)(i the Democratic Convention nominated 
 him bv acclamation for the position of Associate Judge of 
 the Court of Appeals. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 73 
 
 istration and also on the Union Station Commission in 1906. 
 He is a member of the Buffalo Club, the Chamber of Com- 
 merce, a life member of the ( )rpheus, a member of the Buffalo 
 Automobile Club and the American Automobile Association, 
 and is very prominent in Freemasonry, being a Free and 
 Accepted Mason <>t' the thirty-second degree. 
 
 SPENCER CLINTON 
 
 Mr. Clinton is a prominent member of the Buffalo 
 Club, having been its president in 1SiS,>. His religious 
 affiliation is with the Episcopal Church, and he is an active 
 member of Saint Paul's Chinch. 
 
 Edward G. Becker, secretary of the Buffalo Savings 
 
 Bank and prominent in the city's industrial development, 
 has won his laurels in the city of his nativity. He was born in 
 this city October 22d, 1852. He received his education in 
 the schools of the city, graduating from the old Central High 
 School with the class of l«(i!). 
 
 Soon after his" graduation he became associated with the 
 German Bank, entering its employ September 1st, 1871, 
 six months after the institution had been incorporated. He 
 held all the positions of trust in the rank and file of the German 
 Bank, and on the first of January. 1878, his faithfulness and 
 integrity were rewarded, he being made cashier of the insti- 
 tution. He remained at that post until January 1st, 1881, 
 when he was retained as receiving teller of the Buffalo Sav- 
 ings Bank and cast his lot with an institution destined to be 
 one of the greatest in the State. In 18!);} he was appointed 
 assistant secretary, which position he held until 1902, when 
 he was named secretary of the bank at a meeting of the board 
 of directors. He began his tenure of office October 22d, 
 1902, the fiftieth anniversary of his birth. He still retains 
 that position. He was elected a trustee of the bank October 
 5th, 1903. 
 
 Aside from his banking associations, Mr. Becker is 
 president of The Buffalo Co-Operative Brewing Company, 
 one of the largest brewing enterprises in the Eastern States. 
 His public service has been most creditable, he having served 
 on the Civil Service Commission during the Diehl admin- 
 
 EDWARD (I. BECKEB 
 
 His religious associations are with the Lutheran Evan- 
 gelical Church, and he served as chairman of the building 
 committee when the beautiful new church of the Evangelical 
 Holy Trinity Lutheran congregation was creeled on Main 
 Street, above North. 
 
 On May 20th, 187:., Mr. Becker was married to Bertha 
 Hettrich of this city. 
 
 The Fidelity Trust Company. — Buffalo has always 
 prided herself on her strong financial institutions. At the 
 beginning of the fianancial stringency which is even now, 
 at this writing, hampering the world of industry, the 
 manner in which Buffalo's banks came to the fore with 
 encouragement and assistance was the marvel of the business 
 world. The richest cities in America, including Pittsburg 
 and New York, found our city's financial strength a strong 
 arm to lean upon. 
 
 Among the principal contributors to this strength and 
 soundness has been The Fidelity Trust Company, an insti- 
 tution in which every loyal Buffalonian takes pride. Today 
 it occupies a beautiful business home, and its beneficial 
 influence is felt in every branch of the city's trade and industry. 
 
 Sixteen years ago there were few trust companies in 
 western New York — a fact which, in 1892, led some of the 
 city's foremost men to project one. In that year Mr. George 
 V. Forman, Mr. John Satterfield, Mr. John J. Albright, 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Mr. Franklin D. Locke, and some other prominent citizens 
 applied for and received a charter to do a trust company 
 business in this city. 
 
 On the morning of May 11th, 1893, The Fidelity Trust 
 and Guaranty Company of Buffalo, New York, opened its 
 doors for business; and it is interesting to note that within 
 the following few months four hundred and ninety-nine 
 new accounts were opened. The first business home of the 
 trust company was on the ground floor of the Erie County 
 Savings Hank Building, at the corner of Main and Niagara 
 streets. The officers for the first year were: president, 
 George Y. Foinian; vice-president, George S. Field; second 
 vice-president, .lames Et. Smith; secretary, T. S. McFarland. 
 
 THE FIDELITY TRUST COMPANY 
 
 In January, 1001, Mr. McFarland resigned on account 
 of ill health, and Mr. E. I). Wheeler was elected to fill that 
 vacancy. This position Mr. Wheeler occupied until his death, 
 October 27th, 1904, when the present secretary, Mr. Edgar 
 A. Taylor, was elected to the office. 
 
 During the fifteen years of its existence the company's 
 growth has been steady, healthful, and remarkably consistent, 
 and today it is recognized as one of the strongest financial 
 institutions in New York State. 
 
 That it enjoys the confidence of the public is quite 
 evident from the fact that it has been appointed executor 
 and administrator of many very large estates. In the manage- 
 
 ment and administration of the many trusts committed to 
 its care the company has always been very successful, and has 
 proven the advantages of having a trust company rather 
 than an individual act in this capacity. 
 
 In 1901, finding that its banking offices were too small 
 to accommodate its increasing business, the company pur- 
 chased the property at the northwest corner of Main and 
 Swan streets and erected thereon a magnificent bank and 
 office building, so beautiful in design and of such size that 
 it immediately became one of the show places of Buffalo. 
 The whole of the ground floor is occupied by the banking 
 offices, and the remaining structure is occupied by the business 
 homes of some of the city's most prominent professional men. 
 That it was budded well is evidenced by the fact that though 
 many office buildings have since been constructed, the Fidelity 
 Building is still the most modern office building in Buffalo. 
 
 On April 1.5th, 1901, for the sake of brevity, the company 
 changed its name to The Fidelity Trust Company of Buffalo, 
 New York, and as such it is now known in the banking 
 world. The officers of the company have always shown 
 themselves to be liberal, broad-minded men, ready at all 
 times to consider the best interests of its patrons and the city. 
 Special mention should be made of the public-spirited atti- 
 tude taken by them when approached by the trustees of the 
 defunct Fhripire State Savings Bank and requested to act 
 as receiver for that institution. The company's magnifi- 
 cent offer to liquidate the affairs of that concern without 
 compensation stands as a striking contrast to the exorbitant 
 charges of politically appointed receivers, causing so much 
 discussion at this time. 
 
 The earning power of the company is well shown by the 
 fact that it has paid to its stockholders $48.5,000 in dividends 
 and to its depositors over $2,400,000 in interest, besides 
 earning a substantial surplus. Ten years ago the total 
 assets of the company were $4,690,534.56; today they are 
 •tw.947,.514.48. 
 
 The officers of the company at this writing are : president, 
 George Y. Forman; vice-president, Robert L. Fryer; second 
 vice-president, John M. Satterfield; secretary, Edgar A. 
 Taylor; assistant secretary, Myron S. Hall; assistant secre- 
 tary. Walter L. Curtiss; trust officer, G. D. Sears. 
 
 A. J. Wright & Company, Bankers. — This firm is 
 largely contributory to Buffalo's growing fame as a financial 
 center, and has from 180.5 been closely identified with trans- 
 portation and financial interests covering the entire State. 
 
 The firm was originally established at the corner of 
 Whitehall and Pearl streets in New York, and on Central 
 Wharf, in this city, in 1805, under the firm name of Preston 
 & Wright, the junior member being Mr. Alfred P. Wright, 
 the father of Albert J.Wright, the present head of the business. 
 Since that time the firm has been continuously identified 
 with the Empire State's transportation and banking interests, 
 and three generations of the Wright family have been partners 
 in the business— Mr. Alfred P. Wright, Mr. Albert J. Wright, 
 and Mr. A. B. Wright. 
 
 Albert J. Wright, the senior partner, was born August 
 24th, 1858, in Oswego, New York, the son of Alfred P. 
 
'/'///■: CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 75 
 
 Wright, the descendant <>f .-in old English family that 
 came to America in colonial (lavs. One of the illustrious 
 members of the elder family, and a contemporary of Webster, 
 
 ALBERT .1. WRIGHT 
 
 Calhoun, and Clay, was the Honorable Silas Wright, a 
 United States Senator, once Governor of New York State, 
 and, throughout his life, a distinguished public man and 
 statesman. 
 
 At the age of eight years Mr. Wright came to Buffalo 
 with his parents and received his early education in the city's 
 public schools. Later he received a course of training at 
 Professor Horace Briggs's Classical School, preparatory 
 to a course in Wesleyan University at Middletown, Con- 
 necticut. Returning to Buffalo in 1878, he entered the 
 offices of Preston & Wright, then engaged in the banking 
 business and the handling and transferring of grain. 
 
 In 1880, upon the retirement of Mr. Preston, Mr. Wright 
 became the junior member of the firm, and the title under 
 which the business was carried on became A. P. Wright & 
 Son. For ten years this partnership continued, being dis- 
 solved in 1890, when the elder Wright retired, leaving con- 
 trol of the business to his son. Since that time it has been 
 carried on under its present title, — Albert P. Wright, the 
 son of the senior member: John J. Dixon, of Toronto, 
 Canada, and George L. Baldwin, of Syracuse, New York, 
 being associated. 
 
 The firm has for many years maintained branches at 
 Toronto, Canada, and Syracuse, New York, where they are 
 foremost in those respective financial fields. A general 
 brokerage and commission business has been done upon the 
 New York Stock Exchange, the New York Cotton Exchange, 
 the New York Coffee Exchange, and the Chicago Board of 
 
 Trade, in all of which institutions the firm has membership. 
 Investment securities of all classes arc also extensively dealt 
 in. Mr. A. J. Wright has been for the last twenty-five years 
 the only resident of Buffalo holding a seal ill the New York 
 Stock Exchange. The local offices of the firm arc at 35 
 Erie County Savings Bank Building and in the Ellicott 
 Square. 
 
 In 1884. at the age of twenty-six. Mr. Albert .1. Wright 
 was elected president of the Buffalo Merchants' Exchange, 
 being the youngest man ever chosen for that position. He 
 subsequently served upon its board of trustees for several 
 years, and for a number of terms was president of the Buffalo 
 Board of Trade. His interest in the Buffalo Public Library 
 lias always been a strength to that institution, and he served 
 for some time as a member of its board of trustees. Mr. 
 Wright was one of the founders and incorporators of The 
 Commonwealth Trust Company, and he is now one of its 
 directorate. He has always been prominent in Buffalo 
 club life, and was one of the incorporators of the Country 
 Club, of which he is still a member. His club memberships 
 extend also to the Buffalo, Saturn. Ellicott, and Buffalo 
 Yacht clubs, the most exclusive organizations of their kind 
 in the city. 
 
 On September 25th, 1878, Mr. Wright married Gertrude 
 Bent, of Middletown, Connecticut, a daughter of the Hon- 
 orable Bartlett Bent, for many years a distinguished Repub- 
 lican leader in his State. Mr. and Mrs. Wright have four 
 children — A. B. Wright, Parke Wright, and Anne Louise 
 Wright, of Buffalo, and Mrs. Augustus (t. Porter, of Niagara 
 Falls, New York. 
 
 Meadows, Williams & Company. — This company 
 
 was formed in 1903, being established to conduct a 
 banking and brokerage business, with memberships in 
 
 HAROLD (i. MKADOWS 
 
 the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Board 
 of Trade. It has firmly established itself as being one 
 
;<; 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 of Buffalo's leading and most reliable concerns. Its member- 
 ship consists of Harold G. Meadows and Gibson T. Williams, 
 of Buffalo, and Clarence DeWitt, of New York City. In 
 1 905 the bond and local securities business established by 
 John T. Steele was consolidated with this firm, Mr. Steele 
 having entire charge. In the same year they established 
 an office at Hamilton, Ontario, for the purpose of looking 
 after their Canadian clientage. The business has rapidly 
 developed, and their offices on the second floor of the 
 new Fidelity Trust Building occupy nearly the entire 
 second floor, with a statistical department on the sixth floor. 
 Their equipment for furnishing complete information 
 regarding investments and giving the best of service to their 
 customers i> equal to any of the large banking houses in 
 New York City and second to none in the country. Their 
 well-known conservatism in the selection of securities has 
 given them a clientele of the most representative and careful 
 investors. They have acquired an enviable reputation 
 for straightforwardness and businesslike methods in the 
 conduct of their business and in their dealings with the 
 investing public of which they may well be proud. Their 
 business, accordingly, has grown, and they undoubtedly 
 deserve the success they have achieved through the conserv- 
 ative methods they have adopted. 
 
 John T. Steele, who is one of the best-known bond men 
 in this vicinity, was born in the city of Buffalo about forty 
 years ago. and has resided here almost continuously ever 
 
 JOHN T. STEELE 
 
 since His education in the banking business, as well as 
 in the investment line, is very thorough. Twenty-five years 
 ago he entered one of the Buffalo banks; and by energy and 
 application successfully occupied about every position 
 
 therein. He also conducted for some vears the banking 
 department of a large bond concern, which added in no 
 small measure to his thorough knowledge of banking and 
 bond affairs in general. 
 
 Of late years he has been engaged entirely in the invest- 
 ment business, for some time handling for his own account 
 government, municipal, and high-grade corporation bonds. 
 It was only after the most careful investigation into the 
 worth of a security that it was offered to the investing public, 
 and his excellent judgment enabled his clients at all times to 
 secure the most desirable investments in the market at 
 lowest prices. 
 
 In 1906 he associated himself with the well-known and 
 highly esteemed firm of Meadows, Williams & Company, 
 bankers and brokers, in this city, also members of the New 
 York Stock Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade. He 
 has full charge of the bond and local securities department, 
 which cannot fail to be anything but a success under one 
 who brings to it the benefit of a thorough understanding of 
 the needs of the investing public, especially those who 
 desire to put their money into securities for permanent 
 investment. Mr. Steele is always pleased to give informa- 
 tion to intending investors, and his good judgment can be 
 relied upon to the fullest extent. 
 
 John H. Baker, one of the leading factors in Buffalo's 
 business life, particularly in the city's real estate and in- 
 dustrial development, is a native of New York State, having 
 been born in East Springfield, Otsego County, April 9th, 
 187,'i. His father is the Reverend E. Folsoin Baker, of 
 Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, who, on leaving college, 
 was for four years secretary of legation at the Nether- 
 lands, and on returning to this country entered the General 
 Theological Seminary in New York City. He graduated in 
 1858, anil has since been in active service in the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 The younger Mr. Baker received his education in Saint 
 Paul \s School, Garden City, Long Island, and immediately 
 after graduation entered into business life with The Atlantic 
 Mutual Marine Insurance Company, of number ol Wall 
 Street, New York City. His association with that firm 
 continued until February 4th, 18!);5, when he came to Buf- 
 falo, which city has since been his home. 
 
 Mr. Baker first entered into the real estate business 
 with Mr. William B. Cutter, a business firm that launched 
 some great real estate prospects that have since developed 
 into Buffalo's greatest industrial and residential sections. 
 Six vears ago this business association was discontinued, 
 and Mr. Baker embarked for himself in the investment 
 security business, which has been marked by a singular 
 growth and flattering success. His business home is in 
 extensive offices at number 014 Ellicott Square, where he 
 represents the large firm of Spencer Trask & Company, 
 of New York, and directs his personal business, which con- 
 sists of large real estate and industrial holdings. His services 
 to the city, first as a member of the Chamber of Commerce 
 and later as one of its trustees and chairman of the member- 
 ship committee, have been particularly valuable. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 77 
 
 He is also well known as a clubman, being a member the foreign countries, including Japan. In the year 1904 
 
 of the Saturn Club, the Wanakah Golf Club, the Idlewood he became president of the Buffalo General Hospital, his 
 
 Club, and Saint Paul's Club. As a trustee of the Church services being such that he was reelected in October, l!»07. 
 
 He still continues in that position and can be seen daily 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ at that institution. About two thirds of his time at present 
 
 , is given up to hospital management, work, and study, but 
 
 •it lie lias t'ou ml much time for foreign observation, and it is 
 
 eriven up to hospital managemei 
 
 found much time for foreign observation, and 
 
 bll'ul if Buffalo contains a more traveled person than 
 
 JOHN H. BAKER 
 
 Home on Seventh Street, and of Saint Margaret's School 
 he has given unselfishly of his time to the furtherance of 
 the city's church and educational interests. 
 
 October 24th, 1900, Mr. Baker married Miss Blanche 
 Hutchinson, a daughter of E. H. Hutchinson, of this city. 
 The Baker family home is at number 976 Delaware Avenue. 
 
 Charles W. Pardee is a son of Myron Pardee, of 
 Oswego, New York. He received his college training in 
 the Pennsylvania Military College at Chester, Pennsylvania, 
 graduating from that institution in 187^2. 
 
 After leaving college he entered into business life, 
 engaging in an extensive malting business in Oswego. 
 
 In 1S77 he married a daughter of George B. dates, 
 and in 1S88 came to Buffalo, where he engaged in the 
 lumber and banking businesses. Since that time he has 
 been prominently identified with the city 's greatest financial 
 institutions. 
 
 He has been chairman of the finance committee of 
 the Bank of Buffalo since 1888, and was one of the founders 
 of The Commonwealth Trust Company and the Market 
 Bank of this city. He is still a member of the Board of 
 Managers of the former, and, at the present time, is vice- 
 president of the latter company. 
 
 Of late years Mr. Pardee's activities in business have 
 lessened in favor of increased activity in hospital work. 
 In the pursuit of hospital study he has visited nearly all of 
 
 he has 
 doul 
 
 the subject of this sketch. 
 
 CHARLES W. PARDEE 
 
 Though not a clubman in a general sense, Mr. Pardee 
 is a member of tin 1 Buffalo, Country, and Park clubs and 
 other associations in Buffalo. 
 
 The Buffalo German Insurance Company. While 
 other communities have been wrestling with their insurance 
 problems. Buffalo has for many years been most favorably 
 situated in this respect, in having several sound insurance 
 organizations within her own confines, whose officers are 
 widely known and whose methods are exemplary. Foremost 
 among these is The Buffalo German Insurance Company, 
 one of the oldest organizations in the city. 
 
 The company was established in 18(i7, and its career 
 has been, from the very first, one of uninterrupted prosperity. 
 At the present time it is rated high among the country's 
 great insurance organizations and the very mention of its 
 name suggests a standard of merit. 
 
 On the first day of January, 18(i8, just a year after its 
 organization, the statement of the company showed assets 
 of $118,738.88; net surplll- $1 . r >9.'5.94; losses paid during 
 the previous year, $25,705.96. The statement of the com- 
 pany on January 1st, 1908, showed a capital and surplus of 
 
78 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 THE GERMAN INSURANCE BUILDING 
 
 brokers and experts in the city. The 
 conclusion must be lie fills all the 
 qualifications. 
 
 Mr. Greinwas a young man when 
 he entered the real estate field. That 
 was in 1892, when speculation was 
 rife and land prices were booming. 
 Although only twenty-two years old, 
 Mr. Grein had spent six years in the 
 employ of commercial houses, and a 
 natural business aptitude had been well 
 trained. His modest venture in real 
 estate prospered, and his foresight 
 kept him from becoming involved in 
 the wild ventures that three or four 
 years later swamped so many older 
 men. (irein & Company came out 
 of the depression stronger than they 
 went in. Since then the firm has 
 risen steadily. In 1896 it moved from 
 its first home at 50 West Eagle Street 
 to larger offices at 192 Pearl Street; 
 thence in 1903 to still larger quarters 
 at 218 Pearl Street. In L907 Mr. 
 (irein leased for a term of years the 
 entire building 211(1 Pearl Street and had 
 it remodeled into as modern a real 
 estate office as can be found anywhere. 
 Phis building the firm now occupies. 
 
 The establishment is complete 
 in every detail. On the ground floor 
 are the general office and renting 
 bureau, the offices of the salesmen. 
 
 $1,707,466.63; cash capital of $200,000; reserve for reinsur- 
 ance, $602,237.59; reserve for unpaid losses, $29,474.48; 
 net surplus over all liabilities, $1,507,466.63; thus making 
 assets of $2,339,178.63. The company is operating under 
 the safety fund law of the State of New York, issues safety 
 fund policies, has a special reserve fund of $20(1. 000 deposited 
 with the State Insurance Department, and a guarantee sur- 
 plus fund of the same amount ($200,000), as required by 
 law. 
 
 The present officers of the company are: president, 
 John (i. Wiekser; vice-president, Edwin I?. Eggert; second 
 vice-president, Frank Noell; secretary, Charles A, Georger; 
 assistant secretary, Fred C. Haupt; general agent, Charles 
 .1. Hcrbold; special agents, John S. Beer, Edward F. 
 Clark, and Henry M. Miller. 
 
 Charles C. Grein.- -To rise high in the real estate 
 business a man must have a keen sense of values, ever- 
 lasting energy, and sterling integrity. Charles C. Grein, 
 of (irein & Company, 200 Pearl Street, entered the real 
 estate business in the boom times of the early nineties and 
 has weathered every storm, his business steadily increasing, 
 until now he is numbered one of the foremost real estate 
 
 CHARLES C. GREIN 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 79 
 
 and Mr. Groin's large private office. On llie second floor 
 are the farm department, library, map room, and filing rooms. 
 Grein & Company are reported to have the best follow-up 
 system in the country. Their house selling department is 
 noted for producing immediate results. 
 
 Mr. Grein was horn in Buffalo July 16th, 1870. His 
 education was obtained in the public schools of thi^ city. 
 Naturally Mr. Grein's circle of friends is large, and he is 
 identified with a number of social and business organizations. 
 He is a member of the Ellicott Club; of the Chamber of 
 Commerce; of Buffalo Lodge, Number 23, B. 1'. O. E.; 
 of William McKinley Lodge. Knights of Pythias; and 
 of the First Congregational Church. He is interested in 
 music and is a member of the Guido Chorus and other 
 musical organizations. In politics Mr. Grein is an active 
 Republican, and he has held office in the party organization. 
 
 Mr. Grein married Marion Ingrain Ferguson, daughter 
 of the late John I. Ferguson, of this city. 
 
 Knoll & Turgeon. Buffalo takes pride in her great 
 factories and manufacturing industries scarcely more than 
 she does in her strictly business partnerships, most of 
 which are in a good, sound, prosperous condition at all 
 times. No one firm is a source of more pride than that 
 of Knoll & Turgeon. engaged in the general insurance 
 and adjusting business, the largest of its kind in western 
 New York, if not in the State. The firm's directorate 
 includes two of the city's younger business men, the type 
 of men upon whom the future of the city depends en- 
 tirely. The business of the concern covers twenty-two 
 counties, with headquarters in Buffalo and a large branch 
 office in Rochester, and embraces the accident, health, 
 liability, automobile, and fire branches of insurance. 
 
 As an example of almost unprecedented growth, one has 
 but to consider its humble start and make comparisons with 
 its status today. At its inception in 18!)? by Augustus H. 
 Knoll, it employed but one person and covered only accident 
 insurance in one (Erie) county. Now there are in the pay 
 of the Buffalo and Rochester offices twenty-six employees. 
 Two hundred and sixty agents are scattered throughout 
 twenty-two counties, and the firm's scope includes accident, 
 health, employers', public, vehicle, automobile liability, 
 and floater fire anil theft, also property damage insurance. 
 The main offices of the concern are located in the Brisbane 
 Building, one of the best-equipped and most conveniently 
 appointed suites to be found in western New York. Its 
 close association with The .Etna Life Insurance Company, 
 an institution that stands preeminent among the large insur- 
 ance companies of the world, gives Knoll & Turgeon special 
 prestige in business circles. 
 
 The firm is in an especially prosperous condition at 
 the beginning of the present year, and is one of the few insti- 
 tutions in the city that have apparently not felt the general 
 depression now extant. During the past year not only 
 has it not been found necessary to dispense with a single 
 employee's services, but the firm has added several to its 
 staff. The business throughout all the financial stringency 
 has shown the same steady normal growth, and during the 
 
 year 1(1(17 showed an increase of forty-seven per cent over 
 its business of the previous year. 
 
 Augustus H. Knoll, the senior member of the linn, was 
 born al Montrose, Pennsylvania, July l.'ilh, 1871, and 
 received his early training in the schools of that place. In 
 IS!).'! Mr. Knoll came lo Buffalo, where lie became asso- 
 ciated with the firm of Sweet & Johonnot, then agents for 
 Spalding's athletic goods and Victor bicycles. He con- 
 tinued with thai firm until 1895. During 1894 he was presi- 
 dent of the Press Cycling Club. In 1895 he was appointed 
 manager for the local agency of The Indiana Bicycle Com- 
 pany, handling the Waverly bicycle in this city and sur- 
 rounding country. In October, 18!)7, he resigned From that 
 
 ^fc^Ea, 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 J| >£* «\ \ f 
 
 
 J^^ W i 
 
 
 A ^v\ H 
 
 
 l^H 
 
 
 AUGUSTUS H. KNOLL 
 
 position to become the manager and adjuster for The .Etna 
 Life Insurance Company, in the accident and health depart- 
 ments. Continuing for two years in that capacity, he formed 
 the partnership with Mr. Turgeon which continues at the 
 present time. In addition to this connection, he was at one 
 time president of The Buffalo Hardware Manufacturing 
 Company, president of Dopp & Son, and also sole owner 
 of The Buffalo Cab Company. 
 
 He is a prominent member of the Buffalo Automobile 
 Club, and served during the year 1905 as its president, he 
 being the second to hold that office. He was for two years 
 president of the Buffalo Automobile Racing Association, and 
 a director in the New York State Automobile Association 
 for five years. He was chairman of the Buffalo Automobile 
 Show for two years. His fraternal affiliation is with Wash- 
 ington Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is 
 junior master of ceremonies, and Cibola Council of the 
 National Union, of which he is an ex-president, also 
 
80 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Keystone Chapter, Keystone Council, Hugh de Parens N. G. N. Y., promoted to first lieutenant December 28th, 
 Commandery, the Grotto, and the Shrine. 1S!I7; elected captain, December 10th, IS98; and on July 
 
 Majob Newton E.Tukgeon, junior member of the firm 13th, 1903, was elevated to major, being assigned to the 
 of Knoll & Turgeon, was born in Shrewsbury, Vermont, Second Battalion. 
 
 Major Turgeon's interest in bicycle sports has always 
 been keen. He was connected, for many years, with the 
 National Cycling Association, at first as a member of its 
 board of control and later as a member of i t > hoard of ap- 
 peals. During his service on these respective hoards he was 
 closely identified with many of the world's greatest bicycle 
 race meets. 
 
 His fraternal affiliation is with Queen City Lodge, Free 
 and Accepted Masons. 
 
 R. G. Dun & Company, The Mercantile Agency, with 
 its principal offices in New York City and branch offices 
 all over the world, is, without doubt, the most comprehensive 
 enterprise of its kind in the whole world. America's suprem- 
 acy in trading is, of course. largely due to her superior resources 
 
 MAJOR NEW TON E. TURGEON 
 
 July 3d, 18(11). He received what training the schools of 
 hi> native town afforded, supplementing that with a course 
 of study in Black River Academy, at Ludlow. Vermont, 
 and in Bryant & Stratton's Business College in Boston. 
 Massachusetts. In 188!) he entered the employ of The 
 Pope Manufacturing Company, then the premier bicycle 
 manufacturers of America. He remained in the Boston 
 office of this concern hut six months, where his capabilities 
 became so plainly apparent that he was sent into the impor- 
 tant Chicago market as special agent. Five years later he 
 came to Buffalo as resident manager of the Buffalo branch 
 of The Pope Manufacturing Company. This agency he 
 conducted until 1897, when he became associated with The 
 George X. Pierce Company as manager of their extensive 
 bicycle business. In 18!)!), as before described, he entered 
 into partnership with Mr. Augustus H. Knoll. 
 
 Major Turgeon is very prominent in local military 
 circles and is vice-president of the National Guard Asso- 
 ciation of the State of New York. It has been partly due 
 to his efforts that the local branches of the National Guard 
 have attained such a high degree of efficiency. He enlisted 
 in Company F. First Illinois Regiment, as a private soldier, 
 December 30th, 1889; was promoted to corporal two years 
 later, and then served as quartermaster sergeant without 
 rank for some time. In ISO.'! hi' took his honorable dis- 
 charge from that organization, and. changing his business 
 location to Buffalo, was, on December 22d, 1896, elected natural possibilities, 
 second lieutenant of Company H. Seventy-fourth Regiment, greatness is due to 
 
 THE DUX BUILDING 
 
 ki 
 
 at mining 
 However 
 his marvel 
 
 fields, and h< 
 . no small 
 ous system, 
 
 -r extraordinary 
 degree of her 
 introduced and 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 81 
 
 perfected by R. G. Dim & Company, which makes legitimate 
 trade safe, and minimizes its loss. 
 
 The company started in 1841, in a very small way. ami 
 was instituted as a means of gathering credit information 
 and pooling the expense, a phase that became essential with 
 our rapidly growing commerce. From its humble start it 
 lias grown until it now has under salary several thousands 
 of managers, clerks, and traveling reporters, and maintains 
 two hundred and four offices throughout the world. It 
 has as its patrons, under yearly subscription, the leading 
 manufacturers, wholesale and jobbing houses, and hankers 
 in the United States and Canada, and controls a great volume 
 of business in its European adjuncts, which is confined to 
 furnishing reports upon the standing of American importers. 
 
 The company maintains a great chain of offices that 
 includes all the principal cities of the United States, and at an 
 expense of three million dollars yearly the company is enabled 
 to keep under constant revision the standing of some fifteen 
 hundred thousand traders of the continent, embracing every 
 branch of commerce and industry. 
 
 This immense fund of information is at the finger tips 
 of all the company's patrons, ami this is supplemented by 
 the advice of the hundreds of managers, most of whom have 
 been in the employ of the company for many years, and whose 
 advice in the matter of credits is invaluable. The company 
 is directly in touch with upwards of one hundred thousand 
 correspondents, who, together with the host of traveling 
 reporters attached to each branch office, keep the parent 
 office informed of all business changes, revising the financial 
 responsibility of existing firms, and reporting all new ones 
 as soon as formed. Thus complete information on the sol- 
 vency of traders is available for R. G. Dun & Company's 
 patrons at all times. 
 
 In its original formation the concern was intended to 
 serve only a few of the country's largest traders, in New York 
 City. But gradually the exigencies of trade forced its enlarge- 
 ment until its scope extended to other cities. In IS/iS the 
 number of offices was eighteen. I )uring the war w as a period 
 of business stagnation, and no new offices were opened until 
 lSfiti. when the company again became active, and in the inter- 
 val between 18(H) and 188(1 sixty-two new offices were opened 
 for trade. Since that time the number has gradually 
 increased to two hundred and four, its present number. 
 The number of names in its reference book has increased 
 accordingly, with the growth of the company and its improved 
 facilities. Since 1880 the number of names has trebled; 
 hence its patrons are given threefold better service todav than 
 in that comparatively short time ago. The company has 
 so extended its scope that now its information is available 
 to patrons in all communities of any size in the United States. 
 Canada, Europe, Cuba, Mexico, South America, Australia, 
 and South Africa. 
 
 The Buffalo office, one of the company's most model 
 adjuncts, is located on the ground floor of the beautiful 
 Dun Building, one of the most exclusive office buildings in 
 the city, and situated at the corner of Pearl and Swan streets. 
 John H. Smith is the local manager, which position he has 
 held since he opened the Buffalo office forty-one years ago, 
 and under him a large corps of clerks and traveling reporters 
 is constantly engaged in revising the business standing of 
 western New York houses. 
 
 The principal offices of the concern are located in the 
 New York City Dun Building at number 290 Broadway, 
 New York City, with suboffices at 103 East One Hundred 
 and Twenty-fifth Street and printing house at 57, 59, and 
 61 Park Street, in that city. 
 
MANUFACTURING INTERESTS. 
 
 THE Lackawanna Steel Company. — It should be of 
 interest to all who are interested in Buffalo and her 
 industrial progress to know something of the his- 
 tory of The Lackawanna Steel Company, located at West 
 Seneca, New York, something of the achievements and the 
 general upbuilding influence of the gigantic institution. 
 
 Elsewhere in this volume, combined with a history of 
 The Buffalo and Susquehanna Iron Company, will be found 
 some additional points relative to the beginning of The 
 Lackawanna Steel Company that should prove educative 
 to any desirous of information beyond that of the neces- 
 sarily limited scope of this article. The operations of this 
 company, all, in antecedent history, were conducted at 
 Scranton, Pennsylvania. The first of the forebears to be 
 mentioned are The Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, 
 and The Scranton Steel Company, the former in 1840 be- 
 ginning to roll iron rails of the sections incident to that 
 period, and changing to more modern ideas of rail manu- 
 facture as time and trial developed their efficiency, a Bessemer 
 plant being installed in 187.5 in deference to the demand 
 for steel rails as an improvement over iron rails. 
 
 The Scranton Steel Company began operations in 188.'i 
 and was consolidated with The Lackawanna Iron and 
 Coal Company in 1801, the two firms being conducted 
 thereafter under the name of The Lackawanna Iron ami 
 Steel Company. 
 
 The business having outgrown the facilities at Scranton, 
 and the enlargement of the plant being unavoidable if they 
 would keep pace with their competitors, the stockholders, 
 realizing the magnificent manufacturing and product- 
 distributing advantages of Buffalo and the Niagara Frontier, 
 were very quick to decide on this as the ideal location for 
 their extended requirements, and so in 1899 began what 
 was to be the greatest individual steel plant in the world, 
 an institution whose tremendous influence on the commercial 
 welfare and advancement of Buffalo was never so profoundly 
 realized as during the extreme business and financial de- 
 pression which began in November, 1007, and extended 
 over the whole country. 
 
 This, the new company, was organized in 1902 and 
 acquired the property of The Lackawanna Iron and Steel 
 Company and purchased or obtained suitable working 
 interests in the following properties in Lebanon, Pennsyl- 
 vania: The Cornwall Ore Bank Company, the North 
 Cornwall furnace and two Bird Coleman furnaces; the 
 Cornwall & Lebanon Railroad, and also the Cornwall 
 Railroad. Additional to its ore holdings in Pennsylvania, 
 The Lackawanna Steel Company has a very heavy interesl 
 in extensive ore mines at Port Henry, New York, and is 
 also assured of a practically inexhaustible supply of Besse- 
 
 mer ores for its Buffalo plant by direct and partial control 
 of very important ore properties in the Lake Superior dis- 
 trict. 
 
 Two other indispensable materials employed in the 
 manufacture of steel, an assured supply of which cannot 
 be left to chance, are coal and coke; and to safeguard its 
 interests in this connection The Lackawanna Coal and 
 Coke Company was organized to acquire twenty-two thousand 
 acres of coal lands in Indiana and Cambria counties, Penn- 
 sylvania, and The Ellsworth Coal Company's properties 
 at Ellsworth. Pennsylvania, were acquired last year, the 
 latter having a producing capacity of several million tons 
 yearly. Extensive coking plants are owned and operated 
 by The Lackawanna Steel Company and constituent com- 
 panies at Lebanon, Ellsworth, and Buffalo. 
 
 The Lackawanna Steel Company's authorized capital 
 stock is sixty million dollars; issued, thirty-five million; par 
 value, one hundred dollars per share. First mortgage five 
 per cent convertible gold bonds, dated April 1st, 1903: 
 authorized, twenty million dollars; issued, fifteen million 
 dollars. Thirty-year first consolidated fives, dated March 
 1st, 100.5: authorized issue, thirty million dollars. Of these 
 
 THE BESSEMER STEEL WORKS IX OPERATION 
 
 82 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 83 
 
 bonds twelve and a half million dollars has been pledged 
 for present needs to secure ten million dollars of five-year five- 
 percent <;<>ld notes, dated March 1st, 1905, subject to call on 
 any interest day at par; two and a half million dollars has 
 Keen pledged for present needs to partially secure five million 
 dollars two-year five-per-cent gold notes, dated March 1st. 
 1!M>7. subject to call on any interest day at par; and fifteen 
 million dollars is reserved to retire the fifteen million dollars 
 first mortgage fives. 
 
 The officers at New York are E. A. S. Clarke, president 
 and chairman of the board of directors; Moses Taylor, 
 vice-president; Arthur J. Singer, assistant to the president; 
 James 1'. Higginson, treasurer: F. F. Graham, secretary; 
 Herbert Melvin, assistant treasurer and assistant secretary; 
 H.Sanborn Smith, general sales agent; George F. McKay. 
 traffic manager. 
 
 naces is largely used for power purpose?. All active in 1907. 
 
 Bessemer Department. Built in 1903. four len-gross- 
 ton acid Bessemer converters and eighl iron and spiegel 
 cupolas. Product, ingots and castings, the latter for the 
 use of the company only. Annual capacity, eight hundred 
 and forty-five thousand tons. 
 
 Rail Mill Number One. Built in 1902 03. first steel 
 rails rolled October 20th, 1903. Annual capacity, six hun- 
 dred thousand tons. 
 
 Rail Mill Number Two. Kails are made on one side iif 
 the building and structural iron on the other. Built in 
 1902-04. First rails rolled July 5th, 1904; first structural 
 shapes rolled September 1.5th, 1004. Annual capacity, 
 one hundred and forty thousand tons of structural shapes, 
 forty thousand tons of splice bars, and seventy thousand 
 tons of twelve-pound to sixty-five-pound rails. 
 
 THK LACKAWANNA STEEL COMPANY 
 
 The officers at Buffalo are C. H. McCullough, Junior, 
 vice-president and general manager; Marshall Lapham, 
 comptroller; S. B. Sheldon, general superintendent; George 
 F. Downs, assistant general superintendent; and John X. 
 Allen, general purchasing agent. 
 
 Following is a descriptive list of departments: 
 Blast Furnaces: Seven. Numbers one and two, each 
 eighty-seven by seventeen feet, were built in 1901-02: num- 
 bers three and four, ninety-four by twenty-four feet, were 
 built in 1902-04; numbers four and five, ninety-four by 
 twenty-four feet, were built in 1002-0.5: number six. ninety- 
 four I iv twenty-two feet, was built in 1002-00: and number 
 seven, eightv-five by twenty-two feet, was built in 1006-07. 
 Product. Bessemer pig iron. Total annual capacity. 
 one million eighty thousand tons. Molten metal from these 
 furnaces is used in the Bessemer converters and open- 
 hearth furnaces of the company. Gas from the blast fur- 
 
 Slabbing Mill. Built in 1903-04. Products: s| a lis. 
 blooms, and billets. Annual capacity, two hundred and forty 
 thousand tons. 
 
 Blooming Mill. Built in 1904-05. Product, billets. 
 Annual capacity, three hundred thousand tons. 
 
 Universal Mill- Built in 1902-03. Product, univer- 
 sal plates up to forty-eight inches wide and shear plates up 
 to seventy-two inches wide. Annual capacity, one hundred 
 and fifty thousand tons. 
 
 Merchant Mill. Built in 1903-05. One eight-inch, 
 twelve-inch, and sixteen-inch combination merchant mill. 
 Product, all sizes and shapes of bars for car builders and 
 agricultural implement and bolt manufacturers. Annual 
 capacity, seventy-five thousand tons. 
 
 Continuous Sheet Bar and Billet Mill. Completed and 
 put in operation in October. 1007. Product, sheet bars and 
 
84 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 small billets. Annual capacity, one hundred and seventy- 
 five thousand tons. 
 
 Open Hearth Steel Department. Eleven sixty-gross- 
 ton Siemens basic open-hearth furnaces; first six built in 
 1903-04, with an annual capacity of two hundred and 
 fifty thousand tons, and last five furnaces built in 1905-06, 
 with an annual capacity of two hundred and fifty thousand 
 tons. First basic open-hearth steel made September 26th,] 904. 
 
 The present producing capacity of all the rolling mills 
 and steel works is 3,135,000 gross tons, divided as follows: 
 1,345,000 tons of steel ingots and castings; .54(1, 000 tons of 
 slabs, blooms, and billets, including forging blooms and 
 forging billets; 175,000 tons of sheet bars and small billets; 
 H70.000 tons of standard and light rails, and 40.5,000 tons 
 of other finished products. 
 
 Iron, Steel, and Brass Foundries. The company owns 
 and operates foundries at West Seneca for the manufacture 
 of iron, steel, ami brass castings. Annual capactiy: six 
 thousand tons of iron castings, thirty thousand tons of 
 molds and stools, one thousand five hundred tons of open- 
 hearth and Bessemer steel castings for its own use, and 
 three hundred tons of brass castings; total annual capacity, 
 thirty-seven thousand eight hundred tons. 
 
 Soufli Buffalo Railway Com pan;/. The Lackawanna 
 Steel Company owns The South Buffalo Railway ( 'ompany, 
 which operates thirty-five and one half miles of track, twenty- 
 four locomotives, twenty passenger cars, and two hundred 
 and seventeen freight and other cars. 
 
 Coke Ovens. The company also owns four hundred 
 and seventy completed by-product coke ovens (one hun- 
 dred and eighty-eight Otto-Hoffman and two hundred and 
 eighty-two Rothberg) at West Seneca. In addition it 
 controls two hundred and thirty-seven completed Otto-Hoff- 
 man and Rothberg by-products ovens owned by The Lack- 
 awanna Iron and Steel Company at Lebanon, Pennsvlvania. 
 These ovens have a total annual capacity of one million 
 sixty-four thousand net tons of coke. 
 
 The Seneca Transportation Company. The company 
 also has its own marine department in order to insure ade- 
 quate and prompt delivery of such shipments as may be 
 shipped via the Great Lakes or via canal. The post-office 
 address of this boat company is West Seneca, New York. 
 
 The Franklin Iron Com pan//. All of the stock of this 
 company is owned by The Lackawanna Steel Company, 
 the plant being located at Franklin Furnace, New Jersev, 
 and the company owning six hundred and fifty acres of 
 farm lands and about seven thousand acres of mountain 
 lands. 
 
 Gas Engines. Among the noteworthy features of the 
 prodigious young plant at West Seneca is its blast furnace 
 gas engine department, the Lackawanna concern being the 
 first in the United States to use the larger gas engines in 
 considerable number in blast furnace operation and for gen- 
 erating electric power, these engines being operated with 
 gas from the blast furnaces, and in return furnishing the 
 necessary blast for the operation of the blast furnaces, 
 sufficient additional gas being also available for the opera- 
 tion of an electrical plant of several thousand horsepower. 
 
 Rapid Blast Furnace Construction. Another important 
 item of interest as exemplifying the ability of this plant to 
 help itself along is that of the very rapid manner in which 
 its last blast furnace, number seven, was constructed. From 
 the time the digging began (September 1.5th, 1906), prelimi- 
 nary to laying the foundation of this blast furnace, only 
 five months elapsed before its completion, the fires being 
 lighted in the new stack on Tuesday, February 12th, 1907, 
 an achievement probably not equaled heretofore in this 
 country's history of such construction. 
 
 The Buffalo and Susquehanna Iron Company. — 
 
 It is interesting, sometimes, to know what were the 
 determining causes of, and what were the circumstances 
 surrounding, the beginnings of enterprises which have grown 
 into large institutions. Probably few are conversant with 
 the facts which led up to the establishment in Buffalo of 
 two great works which have become large factors in the indus- 
 trial life of this city; and as both are associated more or less 
 with a group of men who have done much for the Niagara 
 Frontier, it is appropriate, perhaps, to mention some of the 
 circumstances of the beginning of The Lackawanna Steel 
 Company, as well as of The Buffalo and Susquehanna Iron 
 Company, in this article, which relates more especially to 
 the latter. 
 
 The founding of The Lackawanna Steel Company's 
 plant at Buffalo preceded that of the Buffalo and Susque- 
 hanna Iron Company by three years, and came about as 
 follows: 
 
 On March 23d, IK!)!), Mr. Walter Scranton and Mr. 
 Henry Wehrum came to Buffalo with a letter of introduction 
 from Mr. Cadwaladcr. the attorney for The Lackawanna 
 Iron and Steel Company, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, ad- 
 dressed to Mr. John G. Milburn. 
 
 Hearing the nature of their business. Mr. Milburn tele- 
 phoned to Mr. J. J. Albright, requesting him to come to his 
 office to meet them. At that time they stated their thought 
 of moving the Lackawanna plant from Scranton to Buffalo, 
 and a general discussion of the plan there took place. 
 
 As Mr. Albright and Mr. William A. Rogers had recently 
 been discussing the subject of organizing a steel plant to 
 be built in Buffalo, the former asked that the latter be 
 brought into the negotiations. 
 
 Mr. Rogers, happening to be in Cleveland on that day. 
 was reached by telephone and requested to come back that 
 night, so as to meet the party on the following morning. 
 Meanwhile the question of a proper location was considered 
 and the supposition reached that the best spot would be at 
 some point down the Niagara River. This being submitted 
 to Mr. Rogers, he pointed out to them that it would be many 
 years before the improvement of that waterway would make 
 it possible to float the large ore carriers to docks so situated, 
 and, going to a map, pointed to the only available spot 
 near Buffalo for a plant of that character and magnitude. 
 
 The same afternoon the party took carriages and drove 
 to South Buffalo, where they walked over several miles of 
 territory atid selected the site. The purchasing of the prop- 
 erty was put into the hands of Mr. Albright, and on 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 85 
 
 April first the first payment of one thousand dollars was 
 made, to obtain an option on one of the pieces of property 
 desired. During the month of April $1,095,430.98 
 was paid for real estate, so that the whole transaction was 
 practically closed in about a month from the time Mr. Scran- 
 ton and Mr. Wehrum first came. At the time these nego- 
 tiations were started General Edmund Hayes was at Jekyl 
 Island, but returned about the first of April and gave val- 
 uable assistance in putting the project through. Mr. Milburn 
 attended to the legal part of these negotiations, and as he 
 was the president of the Pan-American Exposition, which was 
 then being projected, the opinion generally prevailed that a site 
 for the exposition was under consideration. This fact 
 facilitated the getting of options at rates satisfactory to the 
 steel company. During the month of April over two million 
 
 cal visits. Mr. F. H. Goodyear, hearing of the proposed 
 trip, tendered the use of his private car for the occasion, 
 which being accepted, an invitation was extended to Messrs. 
 F. 11. and ('. W. Goodyear to join the party. Mr. F. H. 
 Goodyear accepted, and was so impressed with the capacity 
 of such a plant to produce tonnage for a railroad that he 
 wished one established on the line of the Buffalo & Sus- 
 quehanna Railroad. 
 
 'The result of negotiations opened by Mr. Goodyear 
 was that Mr. Rogers and the (Joodyear brothers joined forces 
 to create the institution, which, out of compliment to his 
 associates. Mr. Rogers called The Buffalo and Susquehanna 
 Iron Company. Mr. Hugh Kennedy, of Pittsburg, a person 
 of large experience in the iron business, and a friend of 
 President Rogers, was invited to become interested and 
 
 TIIK BUFFALO AND SUSQUEHANNA IRON COMPANY 
 
 dollars of the stock of the steel company was subscribed for 
 by Buffalo interests, and that was largely increased when the 
 capital was increased later. 
 
 Three years later the Buffalo and Susquehanna Iron 
 Company came into existence as the fruit of a private car 
 trip to Chicago, taken by some of these same men of Buffalo. 
 
 Rogers, Brown & Company's iron manufacturing 
 interests include a plant of two blast furnaces located 
 at South Chicago, Illinois, — a corporation known as 
 The Iroquois Iron Company, in which Messrs. J. J. 
 Albright, Edmund Hayes, and S. M. Clement, citizens of 
 Buffalo, had been interested for several years, though they 
 had never seen the property. Mr. William A. Rogers, 
 vice-president of the Chicago company, accordingly invited 
 these stockholders to accompany him on one of his periodi- 
 
 assume the office of general manager. This combination 
 of large experience and abundant capital bore the natural 
 fruit, an iron manufacturing industry which has been a 
 credit to Buffalo. 
 
 Because of its having the most modern and perfectly 
 equipped pair of blast furnaces at present in existence, this 
 institution has attracted interested attention from iron- 
 masters in this and other countries. 
 
 Technically speaking, the plant consists of two blast 
 furnaces, each eighty feet high bv twenty feet in diameter at the 
 bosh, which dimensions have been found to be the best for the 
 production of foundry iron from Lake Superior ores. These 
 furnaces are located alongside a canal, built jointly by the 
 Buffalo & Susquehanna and Pennsylvania Railroad inter- 
 ests and the iron company, which is two hundred feet in 
 
s<; 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 width, and nearly three thousand feet long, with twenty- 
 three feet depth of water, and which connects the furnaces 
 with the outer harbor, so that ships of the largest size float 
 their cargoes of ore underneath the unloading bridges. Of 
 these unloading machines there are five, which are sufficient 
 to unload a cargo of ten thousand tons in a few hours, each 
 bucket grabbing and carrying back five tons at a single lift. 
 
 The particular claim of this institution to distinction 
 lies in the ingenuity of the machinery employed to handle, 
 without muscular effort, the thousands of tons of material 
 which are daily handled at such a plant. Steam and 
 electricity are the forces used, controlled by skilled men, who 
 pull lexers and touch buttons, so that from the time the iron ore 
 leaves the mines of Minnesota and Michigan, the coke the 
 ovens of Pennsylvania, and the limestone the near-by quar- 
 ries, until the iron itself is unloaded in the distant customer's 
 yard, the hand of man is not required to lift a pound of 
 material. 
 
 These furnaces are each equipped with four stoves, 
 which heat the air before it is blown into the furnaces, each 
 stove being one hundred and two feet high by twenty-two 
 feet in diameter, a network of fire-brick flues within. 
 
 The Susquehanna brand jumped into popularity from 
 the start, and has found its place in foundries and mills from 
 Maine to Minnesota. 
 
 The company has practically inexhaustible mines of 
 iron ore in Minnesota and northern Michigan and large 
 deposits of coking coal in Pennsylvania, attached to which 
 is a modern outfit of coke ovens, built under its own super- 
 vision, supplying it in full with these important raw materials 
 necessary to the manufacture of pig iron. 
 
 The present officers are William A. Rogers, president: 
 Hugh Kennedy, general manager; S. M. Clement, first 
 vice-president; ('. \V. (ioodyear, second vice-president; and 
 H. D. Carson, secretary and treasurer. 
 
 William A. Rogers. -Although not a native of Buffalo, 
 
 there has been no more conspicuously active figure in Buf- 
 falo's business, social, and financial life since 1890 than 
 William Arthur Rogers, the senior member of the firm of 
 Rogers, Brown & Company. Mr. Rogers was born in 
 Berkshire, Tioga County, New York, September 8th, 1851, 
 the son of Doctor Melanchthon Rogers and Mary Elizabeth 
 Leonard Rogers. He was graduated from the Scientific 
 Department of Yale University with the degree of Ph. B. in 
 1874. 
 
 For the first thirty-nine years of his life he resided 
 principally in Cincinnati, Ohio, and after his graduation 
 from college he engaged in the iron business in that city. 
 In May, 1890, he came to Buffalo, and since that time he has 
 been an important factor in the community. He has been 
 exceedingly active in his great business concerns in working 
 for thi' improvement of Buffalo's harbor, the Niagara River, 
 and the Erie Canal, also in the management of the associa- 
 tions lor young men. Aside from his association as the 
 senior member of the firm of Rogers, Brown & Company, 
 he is at the present time president of The Buffalo and Sus- 
 quehanna Iron Company, The Tonawanda Iron and Steel 
 
 Company, The Punxsutawney Iron Company, The Rogers 
 Iron Mining Company, The Niagara Iron Mining 
 Company, and The Monro Iron Mining Company; 
 vice-president of The Iroquois Iron Company, of 
 Chicago, The Cascade Coal and Coke Company, and 
 The Buffalo and Susquehanna Steamship Company. 
 He is also director in The Cleveland Furnace Company, 
 The Rogers-Brown Ore Company, the Marine National 
 Rank, the Erie County Savings Bank, and a trustee in the 
 Young Men's Christian Association. He is also a director 
 of the Fine Arts Academy, in which he is much interested; 
 is a charter member and director of the newly organized 
 
 WILLIAM A. ROGERS 
 
 American Iron and Steel Institute; and is active in many 
 church and philanthropic organizations. His club asso- 
 ciations are many, and he stands very high in the social life 
 of Buffalo. He is a member of the Buffalo, Universitv, 
 Country, and Ellicott clubs, of Buffalo, and the exclusive 
 Century Club, of New York City. 
 
 In 1884 Mr. Rogers married Eleanor Silliman, of New 
 Haven, a daughter of Professor Benjamin Silliman, of Yale 
 University. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers have three children — 
 William Silliman, Alice Leonard, and Alden Rogers. 
 
 Hugh Kennedy, the subject of this sketch, is 
 familiar to many of our readers as among the first of the 
 ironmasters to recognize the geographical advantages of 
 Buffalo for the establishment of industries devoted to the 
 manufacture of iron and steel. 
 
 Belonging to a family of ''iron men," it is but natural 
 that he should find his place in the group of prominent 
 furnace men of the present generation. Thomas Walker 
 Kennedy, his father, who died June 4th. 1890, was a furnace 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 87 
 
 man, and in his day was probably the greatest mechanical in industrial channels. It will, no doubt, he interesting to 
 engineer and furnace builder in this country. He intro- many of bis friends to learn that he is privileged to attach 
 duced many improvements in the construction and operation the title of LL. 1). to his signature, that degree having Keen 
 
 of blast furnaces, and was said to be the first to produce one 
 hundred tons of pig iron from a single furnace in twentv- 
 
 Hl"(!H KENNEDY 
 
 four hours. His mother. Margaret Kennedy, nee Truesdale, 
 died in August of the past year at the old homestead, Lowell- 
 ville, Ohio, enjoying the esteem and respect of the entire 
 community and the devotion of her children and grand- 
 children. 
 
 Hugh Kennedy's early experience was with his brother, 
 Julian Kennedy, as assistant at the furnaces of The Carnegie 
 Steel Company, Braddock, Pennsylvania. In 1881 he was 
 appointed superintendent and afterward general manager 
 of Isabella Furnaces, Etna, Pennsylvania, where he remained 
 until they were taken over by The American Steel Hoop 
 Company in 1809, when he was elected to be manager of 
 its furnace department and a director of the company. At 
 present he is general manager and a director of The Buffalo 
 and Susquehanna Iron Company, whose furnaces are 
 acknowledged to be models of construction in adaptability 
 and concentration. He is president of The Cascade Coal 
 and Coke Company, a subsidiary corporation, and vice- 
 president and director of The Seneca Iron and Steel Com- 
 pany, that is now constructing its new plant at Blasdell, 
 New York. He is a member of the American Institute 
 of Mining Engineers. 
 
 Mr. Kennedy has served on boards of many institutions, 
 and his recent election to the office of president of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association of Buffalo and as a member 
 of the board of managers of the Buffalo Historical Societv 
 would indicate that his activities are not wholly concentrated 
 
 conferred on him by Cooper College, Sterling, Kansas. 
 
 He is the third of seven brothers, the history of six of 
 whom in connection with blast furnaces in this country is 
 probably without a parallel. In the order named they are 
 Julian, the eminent engineer of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; 
 James, an attorney and member of Congress, now serving 
 his second term as Representative from the late President 
 McKinlev's district in Ohio; Hugh, our present subject; 
 Walter, now a mechanical engineer of Pittsburg, Penn- 
 sylvania: John H., general manager of Punxsutawney 
 Furnaces, Pennsylvania; Samuel A., general manager 
 Iroquois Furnaces. ( 'hicago, Illinois; and Thomas \\ '., Junior, 
 president and general manager of Adrian Furnaces, Dubois, 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 A man of engaging personality ami highest integrity, 
 he has risen to the top of his profession. While not assum- 
 ing to be an expert, he is an enthusiast at golf, and finds 
 diversion in its pleasures at the Country Club on every 
 favorable opportunity. His favorite recreation is to be in 
 the company of his family, where he and Mrs. Kennedy 
 find greatest enjoyment in directing the destinies of nine 
 interesting children — four sons and five daughters. 
 
 William Tuttle Shepard, of Rogers, Brown & Company, 
 one of the most prominent men in the iron and steel circles 
 
 m^^m^ 
 
 
 
 
 \W- 
 
 ■H 
 
 
 It* 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 %/* 
 
 I 
 
 WILLIAM TITTLE SHEPARD 
 
 of Buffalo, was born in Bristol, Connecticut, January 1st, 
 1865, the son of Andrew Shepard, who was the principal 
 dry goods merchant of that town. He received his early 
 training in the schools of Bristol and later in the Sheffield 
 Scientific School of Yale University, graduating with the 
 
88 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 class of 1884. After graduating from that institution lie 
 became connected with the city engineer's office at New- 
 Haven. Subsequently lie was engaged as one of the civil 
 engineers on the staff of the Utah & Northern division of 
 the Union Pacific Railroad. Returning to New Haven, 
 he engaged in the engineering and contracting business in 
 that place. One of his contracts at that time was the con- 
 struction of a large section of the foundation for the Boule- 
 vard sewer of New Haven and the supervision of the con- 
 struction of the sewerage system of Danbury, Connecticut. 
 In 1888 Mr. Shepard formed a connection with the 
 firm of Rogers. Brown & Company, one of the largest iron 
 companies in the country. He was at first connected with 
 the Cincinnati office, but later, in the following year. 1889, 
 when an office was opened at Buffalo, Mr. Shepard came here 
 to assume the management of the local business. Rogers, 
 Brown & Company had purchased the Niagara Furnaces 
 at Tonawanda, and Mr. Shepard was put in charge of the 
 sales department of that concern, with offices in the Coal 
 and Iron Exchange Building in this city. 
 
 In December, 1887, Mr. Shepard was married to 
 Julia Carrington, a daughter of Doctor Henry A. 
 Carrington, of New Haven, Connecticut. 
 
 The Pratt & Letchworth Company. — Buffalo 
 prides herself more, possibly, on her manufacturing 
 enterprises than on any other one of her many attrac- 
 tive features. Model manufacturing plants and model 
 business houses are to be found in the Electric City in great 
 number, and their presence contributes largely to the city's 
 industrial supremacy. One of the firms that contributes 
 largely to this point of excellence and makes this pride 
 possible is The Pratt & Letchworth Company, at Black 
 Rock, one of the largest manufacturers of malleable steel 
 and iron castings in the world. 
 
 The company was organized as a private partnership 
 in 1848, and thus is one of the oldest concerns in the city. 
 The original firm was composed of Samuel F. Pratt, Pascal 
 P. Pratt, and William P. Letchworth. Josiah Letchworth 
 was later admitted to the firm, and in 187(i George J. Letch- 
 
 PRATT & LETCHWOKTH COMPANY 
 
 In February, 1895, Mr. Shepard returned to his old 
 home in Bristol, Connecticut, to become secretary of the 
 Sessions Foundry Company, of that place. He remained 
 there for three years, but found Buffalo more to his liking 
 and returned to this city in August of 1898, assuming the 
 secretaryship of The Tonawanda Iron and Steel Company, 
 which position he still retains. In September, 1994, he 
 became associated with William A. Rogers, in this city, as a 
 partner in the firm of Rogers, Brown & Company, which 
 association he still maintains, with offices in the Erie County 
 Bank Building. In July, 1907, his capabilities were further 
 recognized by his election to the directorate of The Buffalo 
 and Susquehanna Iron Company. In 190G he was elected 
 a life member and trustee of the Buffalo Orphan Asylum. 
 
 Locally he has never entered much into public life, but 
 during the three years he lived in Bristol, Connecticut, 
 from 189,5 to 1898, he was one of the burgesses of that place 
 and also served as a member of its school board. He is a 
 member of the University and Park clubs. 
 
 worth purchased an interest from Josiah and William P. 
 Letchworth. The firm retained its original name, however, 
 as it does to this day. 
 
 In 188(i, at the death of his father, Ogden P. Letchworth 
 acquired an interest in the firm. It continued thus until 
 1896, when the firm was incorporated as a stock company, 
 Ogden P. Letchworth being elected its president, which 
 position he still retains. 
 
 In 1909 an immense plant was constructed at Brant- 
 ford, Ontario, to care for the firm's fast increasing Canadian 
 trade. It has grown with rapid strides until it employs 
 about a thousand men, while its original working force was 
 but two hundred. In like measure has the Buffalo plant 
 increased, its business employing at the time of this writing 
 about eighteen hundred men. 
 
 The original business of the company was the manu- 
 facture and jobbing of saddlery and carriage hardware. Of 
 late years this scope has expanded until the firm has become 
 one of the greatest manufacturers of malleable steel and iron 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 89 
 
 castings ami material for locomotive and car builders. The 
 plant in Brantford now furnishes nearly all the sundries 
 for all cars built in the Dominion, while the Buffalo plant 
 supplies complete fittings for many of the greatest railroad 
 systems in the United States. Electric power from Niagara 
 Falls is used extensively in the Buffalo plant. 
 
 The Pratt & Letchworth Company plants are known 
 far beyond their home confines as model institutions, where 
 labor troubles are unknown and where employers and em- 
 ployees enjoy a mutual bond that tends to the betterment 
 of both. Nothing is left undone that will contribute 
 to the comfort, health, and general welfare of the hundreds 
 working beneath their roof. Frequent excursions and outing 
 parties are afforded the employees, and the Pratt & 
 Letchworth field day has come* to be known as one of the 
 merriest of the Niagara River holidays. 
 
 The plant on Tonawanda Street covers an area of 
 twenty acres, twelve of which are under roof. Far from 
 the average grimy shop, suggestive of all that is repulsive 
 to the toiler. The Pratt & Letchworth Company shops 
 always present a pleasing prospect, with well-kept lawns, 
 flower beds, and landscape effects. In all respects the plant 
 is a model one, the lines of which are being copied by great 
 manufacturing concerns all over the industrial world. 
 
 The present officers of the company arc: president, 
 Ogden P. Letchworth; vice-president, Franklin D. Locke; 
 treasurer, Josiah Letchworth; secretary, W. C. Houck. 
 
 Ogden Pearl Letchworth and his present high position 
 in the field of industry constitute an excellent example of 
 what may be gained by hard work and business integrity. 
 From an obscure position in a saddlery manufacturing 
 establishment to the top of the industrial ladder is a long way. 
 and reached only by short, infrequent steps, yet such is the 
 history of Mr. Letchworth's business life. 
 
 Mr. Letchworth is the son of George J. and Charlotte 
 (Pearl) Letchworth, and was born in Auburn, New York, 
 August 23d, 1851. Both his paternal and maternal ances- 
 tors were of English extraction, and were among the pio- 
 neers in central New York. 
 
 He received his education in the grammar and high 
 schools of the city of his nativity, later graduating from 
 Williston Seminary, at Easthampton, Massachusetts. After 
 graduation he entered his father's saddlery manufacturing 
 establishment in Auburn, starting at the very bottom of the 
 ladder, and by degrees advanced until he became a member 
 of the firm then known as Hayden, Letchworth i\: Smith. 
 In 187(i he removed to Buffalo and became connected with 
 Pratt & Letchworth, manufacturers of steel and malle- 
 able castings. His father was the junior partner in the 
 firm, which was established in its present location in 
 Black Hock in 1848. 
 
 Mr. Letchworth continued with the company, occupying 
 successively the positions of salesman, stockkeeper, cor- 
 responding clerk, purchasing agent, and general manager 
 until 1886, when the elder Letchworth died and the sub- 
 ject of this sketch became a partner in the business. This 
 partnership expired by limitation January 1st, 1890, when 
 
 it was incorporated with a capital of three hundred thousand 
 dollars under the name of Pratt & Letchworth Company. 
 ( ). P. Letchworth was made president, and Josiah Fetch- 
 worth became its secretary and treasurer. This official 
 designation continues. 
 
 Although the welfare of this concern occupies the greater 
 part of Mr. Letchworth's attention he has many other 
 interests. He was for a number of years president of the 
 National Founders' Association and is al present president 
 of The United States Hame Company; vice-president of 
 The Frazer & Jones Company, of Syracuse; vice-president 
 of The Solvav Foundrv Ciimniiiiv. of Svracuse; director 
 the Great 1 
 
 in 
 
 Foundry Company, of Syracuse 
 
 ,akes Engineering Works, of Detroit; the 
 
 OGDEN PEARL LETCHWORTH 
 
 Manufacturers' and Traders' Hank of Buffalo; Erie County 
 Savings Hank, of Buffalo; The Lumber Insurance Company, 
 of New York; and The Adirondack Fire Insurance Company, 
 of New York. He is a trustee of the Society for the Preven- 
 tion of Cruelty to Children; of the Buffalo Historical Society, 
 and a member of the Buffalo. Country, Park, Yacht, and 
 Motor Boat clubs, of Buffalo; the Hoval Canadian Yacht 
 Club, of Toronto; the Hamilton Club, of Hamilton, Ontario; 
 the Transportation Club, of New York City; and the Ancient 
 Landmarks Lodge, F. and A. M., of this city. 
 
 Mr. Letchworth was married June 18th. 1S7S, to Miss 
 Laura C. Strong, of this city. 
 
 Josiah Letchworth, the subject of this brief sketch, was 
 born in the lake district of central New York. He 
 is the youngest son of the late Josiah Letchworth, one of the 
 most prominent residents of that section. He is the youngest 
 of a family of eight children, of whom he and his brother, the 
 Honorable William Prvor Letchworth, are the only survivors. 
 
90 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 He received his education in the schools and academy 
 of that vicinity and somewhat early in life entered into the 
 
 JOSIAH LETCHWORTH 
 
 employ of a manufacturing and mercantile house at Auburn, 
 New York, where he remained until his removal to Buffalo 
 in 18:50, when lie soon after became a member of the firm 
 of Pratt & Letchworth, in connection with his brother 
 William, and with which business he has ever since been 
 prominently connected. 
 
 The Buffalo Union Fur- r 
 nace Company, at ,51 Hamburg 
 Street, was originally the plant 
 of the Union Iron Works, which 
 owned and operated blast fur- 
 naces and ship yards and was 
 engaged in bridge work and 
 other business of that classifica- 
 tion. Thirty years ago business 
 was discontinued by the Union 
 Iron Works, and the property 
 remained idle until 1890, when 
 Frank B. Baird formed a com- 
 pany and erected on the site of 
 that plant, under the name of 
 The Buffalo Furnace Company, 
 a large blast furnace. 
 
 Another furnace was com- 
 pleted in 1898 on the same 
 property, and operated by the 
 Union Iron Works of Buffalo, New 
 
 York, and in the same year was formed a third company, 
 The Buffalo Charcoal Iron Company, which started the con- 
 
 struction of the third furnace for the manufacture of 
 charcoal iron. 
 
 The furnace of The Buffalo Charcoal Iron Com- 
 pany was not completed, and on November 2d, 1900, the 
 three companies were merged, and the associated companies 
 became known as The Buffalo Union Furnace Company, 
 one of the largest iron-working concerns in Buffalo. The 
 company was engaged in the manufacture of coke and 
 charcoal pig iron of all kinds. Three years ago the furnace 
 of The Buffalo Charcoal Company, or what was known by 
 that name, was changed from its former use, and has since 
 manufactured coke iron. 
 
 The Buffalo Union Furnace Company is now chiefly 
 engaged in the manufacture of foundry, Bessemer, Basic, 
 and malleable pig iron, which product has attained wide 
 fame as the "Buffalo brand." Since its organization the 
 entire product of the company has been sold through the 
 well-known medium of M. A. Hanna & Company, of Cleve- 
 land, Ohio, and the furnaces have been under their imme- 
 diate direction. A large part of the product turned out by 
 the company is sold in eastern Pennsylvania, the State of 
 New York, and the New England States, where their pro- 
 duct is widely and favorably known. The offices of the 
 company are at 51 Hamburg Street, the plant itself occupy- 
 ing a large tract of land east and south of that street along 
 the Buffalo River. It is a particularly desirable location, 
 including, as it does, facilities for shipping both by land and 
 water, and it lies well within the railroad district and within 
 convenient distance of lake dockage. 
 
 The present officers of The Buffalo Union Furnace 
 Company are: president, D. R. Hanna; first vice-president, 
 F. B. Richards; second vice-president, F. B. Baird; treasurer, 
 R. L. Ireland; secretary, C. A. Collins; general manager, 
 M. McMurray; general superintendent, B. Marron. 
 
 BUFFALO UNION FURNACE COMPANY 
 
 The Buffalo Pitts Company is without doubt, one of the 
 largest and most successful manufacturers of steam traction 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 91 
 
 engines and threshing machinery in the world. Its business 
 was established here in the city of Buffalo in the year 1837, 
 where from a small, conservative beginning the plant has 
 grown to be one of the largest in existence, and attracts 
 a trade unequaled by any similar industry in the history of 
 our commerce. 
 
 The main offices of the company are located here, 
 while important branches will be found at Fargo, 
 North Dakota; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon; 
 Spokane, Washington; Houston, Texas; Wichita, Kansas; 
 Madison, Wisconsin; Toledo, Ohio; Omaha, Nebraska; 
 
 engines will be found in every country where grain grows 
 or highways run. From the small farm lands of the East 
 to the Pacific Coast, in South America, Australia, the Phil- 
 ippine Islands, Russia, Austria, and Germany the products 
 of the Buffalo Pitts Company are known for their excellent 
 construction and durability. 
 
 The plant of the company is not only the largest, but 
 is the only one of its kind operated by electric power from 
 the great falls of Niagara. It is equipped with the latest 
 and most complete system of electric and pneumatic ma- 
 chinery. A large force of first-class mechanics is regularly 
 
 
 BUFFALO 1'ITTS AGRICULTURAL WORKS 
 
 San Francisco, California; Peoria, Illinois; and Saint Louis, employed, and the shops are run throughout the entire year. 
 Missouri. The products of the Buffalo Pitts Company consist 
 
 The main plant of the company is located at Fourth of large machinery, and include traction and portable engines 
 
 and Carolina streets. Here, over fifty years ago, was invented that burn wood, coal, straw, or oil for fuel: machinery for 
 
 the first threshing machine with proper devices for threshing threshing, separating, and cleaning all kinds of grain, flax, 
 
 and cleaning the grain in one operation. Prior to these rice, beans, and so forth; special steam traction engines for 
 
 inventions by the Pitts brothers there existed only such plowing, hauling, and grading; road locomotives and 
 
 machines as would thresh the grain from the head, the road freight cars for hauling ore, timber, logs, or coke; and 
 
 straw, chaff, and grain falling in a mass behind the ma- special cars for carrying and spreading crushed stone. These 
 
 chine, to be separated by hand. products are shipped to all parts of the globe. 
 
 The development of the steam traction engine for motive The officers of the company are C. M. Greiner, presi- 
 
 power for threshing, hauling, grading, and plowing is due dent and treasurer; William G. Gomez, vice-president; 
 
 to the never-failing energy of this company. Buffalo Pitts John M. Olmsted, secretary. 
 
92 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 The Lake Erie Engineering Works. — Heavy engines accepted on honor, and in Cuba and the United States 
 
 of every sort, general eastings, and large machinery are possessions products of the Lake Erie Engineering Works 
 
 the products of the Lake Erie Engineering Works, are in great demand. 
 
 located at Perry and Chicago streets, directly opposite Here in the city of the firm's nativity some of its largest 
 
 the Lake Erie Boiler Works. While under the same contracts have been fulfilled. Principal among these are 
 
 THE LAKE ERIE ENGINEERING WORKS 
 
 control as the other company, the Lake Erie Engineering 
 Works is an entirely different and independent concern. 
 The affairs of the two companies are directed from the same 
 set of offices, located at the corner of Perry and Chicago 
 streets, and Mr. Richard Hammond acts as president to 
 both companies. Mr. Martin Carey is secretary of the Lake 
 Erie Engineering Works. 
 
 The Lake Erie Engineering Works was organized in 
 this city, and located on the present site, nineteen years ago 
 and enjoyed a phenomenal growth. The manufacturing 
 plant of the Lake Erie Engineering Works occupies a space 
 of five hundred by three hundred feet on Chicago and Ferry 
 streets. This includes a machine shop one hundred feet 
 wide by three hundred feet long, completely equipped with 
 the most improved types of overhead traveling cranes and 
 fitted with the most modern machinery. Other buildings 
 are the foundry, one hundred by three hundred feet; the 
 forge shop, thirty by eighty feet; and the pattern shop, 
 sixty by one hundred and fifty feet. All the buildings are 
 of brick and steel construction, as nearly fireproof as it is 
 possible to build, and thoroughly equipped with every modern 
 convenience. 
 
 Throughout the engine world the very name of the works 
 is a guarantee of thorough and good workmanship. In 
 all its markets, which arc international, its product is always 
 
 RICHARD HAMMOND 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 93 
 
 the immense pumping engines used in the pumping Motions many large individual contracts, in a manner that eom- 
 
 of the city of Buffalo. The fame of their engines is widely pletely established the stamina and strength of t lie Lake 
 
 known. They are used in the city of Chicago and a number Erie Boiler Works, 
 of other large cities in the United States and Canada. Of 
 
 recent years the company has tilled several large Government The Buffalo Forge Company. In IS77. with surround- 
 
 contracts in a manner that elicited the admiration of the ings of the most humble nature, an industry started life on 
 
 Government. the fifth floor of the building located at the junction of Wash 
 
 ington and Perry streets, that in a few years was to class itself 
 
 The Lake Erie Boiler Works, an industrial institution with the foremost of Buffalo's manufacturing plants. This 
 
 in which Buffalo takes pardonable pride, is engaged in the location, however, was short-lived, the business moving, in the 
 
 production of marine boilers exclusively, and en joys a national early part of 1880, to the frame building on Broadway, near 
 
 THK LAKE ERIE BOILER WORKS 
 
 reputation for products of that character. It has been located 
 at the corner of Chicago and Perry streets since lHS'i, when 
 it was organized by Richard Hammond, under whose control 
 it still continues. Its specialty is heavy boiler plate work 
 and marine boilers. The company enjoys a unique distinc- 
 tion, in that it was the first manufacturing institution in 
 America to be completely equipped with hydraulic machinery. 
 Everything used in the production of its various products 
 is of the most improved and best make. The plant is a 
 commodious building, facing on Chicago Street and flanking 
 on Perry Street, which has a total area of about fifty thousand 
 square feet. The company has an international market, 
 and its products may be found all over the world. Its busi- 
 ness methods and superior class of work are known to the 
 Canadian and Cuban trade, with which trade a large volume 
 of business is transacted yearly. San Francisco and Seattle- 
 are also great distributing points for the Lake Erie Boiler 
 Works. 
 
 The company has attained its present degree of success 
 under the supervision of one man — Mr. Richard Hammond, 
 — and the successful manner in which the business has been 
 carried on since the organization of the firm redounds almost 
 wholly to his credit, as he has had charge of its affairs during 
 its entire career. The firm has successfully fulfilled several 
 large Government contracts at different times, as well as 
 
 Mortimer, which building today is hut one among many greater 
 ones to house this great industry. 
 
 The business had been established only a few months, 
 and had met with little success, when Mr. William E. Wendt. 
 at that time a young man in his early twenties, was 
 able to purchase, for a small sum, a half interest in the 
 concern. Thus with new blood and rejuvenated spirits 
 at its helm, this little company took a renewed hold on life. 
 It was soon evident that the keen business foresight and 
 remarkable intuition for matters financial possessed by the 
 new member were being rapidly developed as company 
 assets. 
 
 In 1S8.S the affairs of the company passed into the con- 
 trol of Mr. Wendt when he purchased the interests of his 
 partner, Mr. Charles Hammelman. Three years later the 
 executive force of the company was augmented by the 
 entrance to the firm of Mr. Henry W. Wendt. and it is under 
 the guiding hands of these two men that the company is 
 operating today. 
 
 The variety of products turned out at first by this com- 
 pany consisted entirely of two sizes of forges; and, indeed, 
 quite a reputation was gained because of the many and 
 advanced ideas of construction which these forges offered. 
 Later, however, as the demands and requirements of the 
 blacksmith trade for portable forges increased, the line was 
 
94 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 greatly increased with new and varied styles of forges, blowers, Company of two large and well-known manufacturing 
 tire benders, tire upsetters — in fact, every tool known to concerns. The first of these was The George L. Squier 
 the blacksmith trade was soon being manufactured by Manufacturing Company — a name known in the South 
 this company. American countries perhaps better than in the United States. 
 
 The excellence of its products, together with extensive For nearly fifty years the Squier company had manufactured 
 advertising, soon acquired for The Buffalo Forge Company and sold sugar, rice, coffee, and plantation machinery, and 
 the distinction of having its name a shop byword wherever its position in this field is second to none, 
 forges and blowers find employment. It is added, merely The other event of this year was the acquisition of The 
 
 as a matter of interest, that upon several occasions where Buffalo Steam Pump Company, which, as its name implies, 
 orders have been received from distant cities, later investi- manufactures steam and centrifugal pumps. The large 
 gation would prove that these goods were intended to assist plant of this company, located at North Tonawanda, is one 
 in the construction of some railroad pushing out its lines of the finest equipped of its kind and is numbered as one of 
 into new lands. North Tonawanda's chief points of interest. 
 
 In connection with having the distinction of being the The operation of the three plants affords employment 
 
 largest makers and sellers of forges and blowers in this to about twelve hundred factory hands, the greater portion 
 country, this company also caters to extensive foreign of whom are, through the nature of the work involved, 
 
 necessarily skilled mechanics. The 
 executive, sales, engineering, and 
 office forces number close on to two 
 hundred. Branch offices in all the 
 principal cities of the United States 
 look after the interests of this com- 
 pany in this country, as does The 
 Canadian Buffalo Forge Company, of 
 Montreal, take care of the Canadian 
 business. 
 
 Active agents are located, witli 
 offices, in all European and South 
 American countries. In addition to 
 the efforts of this great sales organiza- 
 tion, the company also pursues a most 
 aggressive advertising policy — thou- 
 sands of dollars being expended each 
 year for printing ink. 
 
 From these facts can readily be 
 surmised the great field covered and 
 the consequent large volume of busi- 
 ness necessitated in order to keep all 
 hands busy. 
 
 Farrar & Trefts. — For forty 
 years the firm of Farrar & Trefts, at numbers 54 to fiti 
 Perry Street, has been looked upon as one of Buffalo's 
 greatest metal-working institutions. The company is en- 
 lian markets; and the consequent sales from this source have gaged in the manufacture of stationary boilers, locomotive 
 been quite as marked, in proportion, as in this country, boilers, vertical boilers, metal tanks of all kinds, stacks, 
 Today Buffalo Forge Company products can be found and stills, and lias facilities for producing anything in the 
 wherever civilized man has set foot — a distinction of no little metal plate line. They also make iron castings, brass and 
 
 THK BUFFALO FORCE COMPANY 
 
 demands. Twenty-seven years ago The Buffalo Forge 
 Company, together with three other present-day prominent 
 concerns, were the first American houses to enter the Austra- 
 
 significance. 
 
 In 1884 the company undertook the manufacture of 
 heating and ventilating apparatus and with such success 
 that a new field was opened thai proved no less lucrative 
 than the making of blacksmith tools. Later, in 1893, the 
 company took up the manufacture of high-speed automatic 
 engines, which now constitutes a large part of the output 
 of the factory. 
 
 The year 1903 was a memorable one, inasmuch as it 
 
 aluminum castings, pattern work, gas engines, steam engines, 
 grate bars, and propeller wheels. 
 
 The firm was founded twoscore years ago by Chilion 
 M. Farrar and John Trefts, by whom the business was carried 
 on for a number of years, attaining great popularity in the 
 metal-working world. Mr. Trefts died in 1 !)()(). and George 
 M. Trefts was admitted to the firm. Through the death 
 of Mr. Farrar in the early part of 1007, the entire control 
 of the plant passed into the hands of George M. Trefts, under 
 
 marked the passing into the control of The Buffalo Forge whose supervision it continues a steady growth. A special 
 
THE CITY OF Bl'FFALO. 
 
 95 
 
 EAST BUFFALO IRON WORKS, FARRAR & TREFTS 
 
 feature of the business of the Farrar & Trefts plan! is the The Buffalo Structural Steel Company.- At Dart 
 
 construction of marine boilers For lake and ocean service, ami I ,etcliw orlli streets is one of Buffalo's foremost 
 and the impress of " Farrar & Trefts" on products of thai industries, especially valuable to the city in that it 
 sort has come to be accepted as a guarantee of superiority, spreads the lame of Buffalo throughout the structural 
 Another special line of work in which the firm is engaged is building world. It is engaged in the designing and manu- 
 facture of even kind of steel work, 
 from bridgesand large buildings down 
 to the smallest detail in construction 
 of structures of this nature. The busi- 
 ness was first established by Casper 
 Teiper in 1894. The following year 
 the plant was completed, and the 
 company engaged in putting out its 
 products, for which there was im- 
 mediate demand. 
 
 The business was carried on by 
 Casper Teiper, in partnership with 
 Henry J. Teiper, and in 1S!M> the com- 
 pany was incorporated, with Casper 
 Teiper as president. Avery ('.Wolfe 
 vice-president, and William G. Houck 
 secretary - treasurer Henry Teiper 
 retired from the business at this time, 
 selling out his interest. The founder 
 of the firm died in March, 1906, and was 
 succeeded as president by William G. 
 Houck, who has held the office ever si nee. 
 The other officers are Carl A. Houck, 
 the manufacture of boilers and engines for use in the oil vice-president, and Charles H. Teiper, secretary- treasurer. 
 field. It is estimated that since the inception of the firm The varied nature of the business carried on by the 
 
 fifteen thousand boilers, and as many engines, have been plant of The Buffalo Structural Steel Company may be 
 built for use in connection with the drilling and operation classified under the general head of the manufacture and 
 of oil wells. 
 
 In recent years the company 
 has given much of its attention to 
 the building of gas engines up to two 
 hundred and fifty horsepower and 
 has several large installations in the 
 Pittsburg district. It is claimed for 
 the Farrar & Trefts gas engine that it 
 is more economical and reliable in 
 operation than any of its competitors. 
 A specialty is also made at this 
 plant of iron eastings, and for this 
 particular work two foundries are 
 operated — one at the Perry Street plant 
 and the other at the East Buffalo Iron 
 Works, the latter having a daily ca- 
 pacity of one hundred anil twenty-five 
 tons. A general line of blaeksmith- 
 ing, forging, repair work, ami pattern 
 work is also carried on at this es- 
 tablishment. About six hundred men are employed erection of steel for buildings, bridges, trestles, ami so forth, 
 by the company, and some idea of the extent of the plant Their business has long since reached beyond the local 
 will be gained from the knowledge that its Perry Street territory, and a great portion of their trade is now in the 
 concern takes up two hundred thousand square feet of cities of Rochester, I'tiea, Syracuse, Niagara Falls, and in 
 floor space. other more remote parts of the State. 
 
 FERRY STREET PLANT, FARRAR & TREFTS 
 
96 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 This company lias furnished practically all the steel 
 work used in the mammoth plant of The Larkin Soap Com- 
 pany, the Buffalo Pottery, The Buffalo Leather Company, 
 the United States Government Building at the Pan-American 
 Exposition, The Pratt & Letchworth Company, The Buffalo 
 Smelting Works, and The International Railway Company, 
 in Buffalo; and in Niagara Falls The Niagara Electro-Chemi- 
 cal Company, a large amount of steel for the plant of The 
 Union Carbide Company, The Niagara Falls Hydraulic 
 Power and Manufacturing Gompany, The International 
 Acheson Graphite Company, and The Niagara Falls Power 
 Company. They have furnished the steel work for the 
 Statler Hotel, Lafayette Hotel, and Touraine Hotel in Buf- 
 falo; the National Hotel in Rochester; and the Imperial 
 Hotel, Niagara Falls, New York. Among the State work 
 they have furnished and erected the steel work for the Na- 
 
 construetion. The concern also carries a large and very 
 complete stock of the different parts used in steel construc- 
 tion, even to the smallest detail. 
 
 One thousand tons of steel is produced by the company 
 every month, and it is the company's pride that it turns out 
 its work and fills its contracts with the greatest possible 
 despatch. An evidence of this one fact is in the last contract 
 filled for The Larkin Company, the erection of a building 
 on Exchange Street. Two thousand tons of steel were used 
 in its construction, and this vast quantity was turned out and 
 placed in position in the remarkably short space of eight 
 weeks. 
 
 The Seneca Iron and Steel Company of New York was 
 organized October 23d, 1906, and in little less than one year 
 from the date of its organization its mills were constructed 
 
 THE BUFFALO STRUCTURAL STEEL COMPANY 
 
 tional Guard Armory at Rochester, New York, and Highway 
 Bridge over the Alleghany River near Onoville, New York. 
 At Lockport they number among their customers the Far- 
 mers' and Mechanics' Savings Bank, the Electric Smelting 
 and Aluminum Company, and several others; at Utica, 
 The Hudson River Electric Power Company, and The 
 Utica & Mohawk Valley Railroad Company; at Olean they 
 furnished and erected the steel work for the new plant of 
 The United Wood Alcohol Company. They furnished 
 and shipped a complete skeleton frame for a building to lie 
 erected in South Africa. 
 
 The plant of The Buffalo Structural Steel Company 
 at Dart and Letchworth streets covers a site of about two 
 and one half acres, the buildings being well laid out, well 
 lighted, and commodious. A large force of skilled workers 
 is kept constantly at work turning out the material used in 
 
 and put in successful operation to manufacture its products 
 of black and galvanized steel sheets, and black, galvanized, 
 and painted corrugated sheets. 
 
 Its line of business is one of the many branches of the 
 steel industry that had not previously located in this vicinity, 
 and therefore is an interesting addition to the varied indus- 
 trial plants in and around Buffalo that are giving it prestige 
 as a city for the manufacture and fabrication of iron and 
 steel. 
 
 Its plant is located on a tract of land comprising eighteen 
 acres at Blasdell, New York, about seven miles from 
 Buffalo, and is contiguous to the Pennsylvania, Buffalo 
 & Susquehanna, Lake Shore, Erie, and South Buffalo 
 railroads, thereby giving it unexcelled facilities for the dis- 
 tribution of its products to all parts of the country. The 
 main, or rolling mill, department is what is known in 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 97 
 
 manufacturing parlance as a seven-mill plant, — five of which 
 are now installed. It is a building one hundred and 
 twelve by four hundred and forty feet, of steel and cor- 
 rugated iron construction. The galvanizing department 
 is a brick structure sixty-two by two hundred and twenty-six 
 feet, and is a three-pot plant. All the buildings are sub- 
 stantially constructed for permanency, and are equipped 
 throughout with the most modern appliances for the 
 manufacture of their products. In fact, the plant stands 
 today in the unique position of being the only sheet mill in 
 the country that is run entirely by electricity, no steam being 
 used for power in any of the operations. The present 
 capacity is about twenty-five thousand tons of finished 
 material per annum. 
 
 machine, the first Thomas car ever manufactured, finally 
 made its appearance upon the streets, and while a great 
 number wen' not manufactured, yet it was a success. At 
 this time, ('. T. Paxson, of the Thomas company, achieved 
 the remarkable record of climbing Delaware Avenue hill 
 on the high gear, this being the first car ever to have had 
 this distinction. 
 
 This having been a success, the next year extensive 
 preparations were made to enlarge the production facilities, 
 and models seventeen and eighteen, as they were called by 
 the Thomas Company, were manufactured in considerable 
 quantities. The success of these machines was instanta- 
 neous and paved the way for the success which has attended 
 the Thomas automobiles ever since. 
 
 THE SENECA IRON AND STEEL COMPANY 
 
 The business offices of the company are located in the 
 Erie County Savings Bank Building, Buffalo, and its offi- 
 cers, all of whom are experienced in various branches of 
 the iron and steel business, include the following named 
 gentlemen: James S. Paterson, president; Hugh Kennedy, 
 vice-president; Alexander Paterson, treasurer and general 
 manager; H. M. Van Horn, secretary; and S. B. E. 
 McVay, sales manager. 
 
 The E.R.Thomas Motor Company had its beginning 
 when Edwin Ross Thomas, having sold his automobile and 
 bicycle interests in The H. A. Lozier Company, of Toronto, 
 leased a small building at the corner of Elm Street and 
 Broadway and commenced the manufacture of motor cycles. 
 This was in 1898. The motor cycles were built well; they 
 did the work which they were intended to do; the company 
 treated the buyers with every possible courtesy and atten- 
 tion, and the business prospered. More machinerv was 
 ordered, more men were employed, and within a short 
 time the industry outgrew their quarters on Broadway and 
 the property at number 1409 Niagara Street was obtained. 
 Here the business continued until in 1902 it was decided 
 to make a four-wheeled motor vehicle. 
 
 Already Mr. Thomas had obtained sufficient experience 
 in motor vehicle construction to outline a successful auto- 
 mobile, and his engineers went to work on the new product 
 with the promise of success already before them. The 
 
 The following year, model twenty-two. the first "Thomas 
 Flyer" made its appearance. Model twenty-two was a car 
 quite unlike any previous American car, being of the type 
 extensively used abroad, but was adapted to American 
 road conditions. It was light, powerful, and speedy, and 
 marked a new era in American automobile construction. 
 It was equipped with the tulip style body which was char- 
 acteristic of the Thomas cars for that and the following 
 three years. At the show where it was first shown the 
 entire year's production was sold, and even after the pro- 
 duction facilities had been doubled the company was un- 
 able to supply the demand for these vehicles. This un- 
 precedented activity of the market laid the foundation for 
 a mammoth business, and Mr. Thomas immediately made 
 preparations to manufacture on a greatly increased scale 
 of production. He acquired the factory at 1417 Niagara 
 Street, and the two factories were soon busily engaged in 
 the production of motor vehicles. 
 
 The model for the following vear. 1905, embodied more 
 of the standard Thomas Flyer construction, having four 
 cylinders in place of the three-cylinder motor of the pre- 
 vious year. The popularity of the Thomas ears steadily 
 increased, and when, in the fall, a six-cylinder Thomas 
 Flyer, which was the first six-cylinder ever built in America, 
 acquitted itself with great credit in the Vanderbilt cup race, 
 its popularity was unbounded. A mammoth concrete fac- 
 torv, which was destined to be followed by several others, 
 
08 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 was added to the plant of the Thomas company. The six- 
 cylinder cars which were manufactured that year were the 
 most powerful cars manufactured in the country, but at 
 that time there was not sufficient demand for that type of 
 car to warrant further production, and for the seasons of 
 1006 and 1007 production was again restricted to four- 
 cylinder vehicles. 
 
 The year 1006 saw a further addition to the now enor- 
 mous plant of the Thomas company and also saw their 
 withdrawal from the property at 1417 Niagara Street to 
 center their Buffalo manufacturing at 1200 Niagara Street. 
 The same year. The E. R. Thomas Detroit Company, a 
 separate organization, hut part of the Thomas motor car 
 industry, was established at Detroit for the manufacture 
 of a forty-horsepower shaft-driven vehicle. 
 
 The 1006 car was so successful that few changes were 
 made for the 1007 vehicle, the success of the 1006 Yanderbilt 
 
 THE E. R. THOMAS MOTOR COMPANY 
 
 racing car in the Yanderbilt cup race having proven the 
 correctness of Thomas design. 
 
 For the 1007 season plans were made for the manu- 
 facture of more than twice the number of cars which have 
 previously been turned out in a single season. More big 
 concrete factories were built, more machinery installed, 
 and more men employed, and even after production had 
 been further increased to meet the demand, the factory 
 facilities found difficulty in taking care of the overload. 
 
 Having built up the biggest business in the country 
 for the manufacture of a single type of vehicle, for 1008 
 the Thomas company entered the market with four different 
 vehicles, ranging from a little sixteen-horsepower town car to a 
 big six-cylinder car rated at seventy and capable of develop- 
 ing over one hundred horsepower. The other vehicles of 
 the line were a forty-horsepower car, manufactured in the 
 Detroit factory, and the regular four-cylinder '"Flyer" of 
 Buffalo make. 
 
 The town car, which was a new venture for American 
 manufacturers, made such a sensational entrance into 
 the New York show that immediate preparations were 
 made to increase the manufacturing facilities and double 
 the number manufactured for 1008. The Detroit factory 
 had outgrown its quarters and entered a new concrete factory 
 building of its own for the 1008 production. The neat six- 
 cylinder, being made by the first manufacturers of the six- 
 cylinder in America, entered the field under most propitious 
 circumstances. Its success was assured from the outset, 
 and it immediately became the standard for this type of car. 
 Having a reputation of many years successful opera- 
 tion at its back, the Thomas Flyer has become as standard 
 a vehicle as can be found on the American market. Since 
 the early days, the industry had changed until machines were 
 bought on their reputations, rather than upon their demon- 
 stration or performance. Appreciating this fact, Mr. 
 E. R. Thomas announced his retire- 
 ment from the racing field and said 
 that hereafter the Thomas car would 
 be seen only in the more prominent 
 contests, unless entered by private 
 owners. 
 
 Retirement of the Thomas car 
 from motor contests was, however, to 
 be short-lived. Soon after Mr. 
 Thomas's announcement of his future 
 entry in nothing but the more prom- 
 inent events, the New York to Paris 
 race around the world was announced, 
 and created considerable comment, it 
 being generally believed that the race 
 would never be run. Many entries 
 were made, but Mr. Thomas refused 
 to enter a Thomas car in any race 
 which was generally considered to be a 
 mere press story, and it was not until 
 the foreign cars had been shipped 
 for the contest that the Thomas com- 
 pany decided to enter the race. Then 
 a stock car was taken from the floor of the Buffalo fac- 
 tory and hastily prepared for the race. In fact, the time 
 was so short that complete preparations could not be made 
 at that time, and it was necessary to wait until the car 
 passed through Buffalo on its way from New York to 
 Paris to make some final preparations, such as a large 
 auxiliary gasoline tank and proper preparations for meeting 
 the unusually cold temperatures of arctic travel. 
 
 With no more preparations than this, the stock Thomas 
 entered the race pitted against some of the best cars in the 
 world, and from the outset led the cars forty of the forty- 
 two days which it took it to cross the American continent. 
 At San Francisco it was considerably over a week ahead 
 of its nearest competitor, having demonstrated to the world 
 finally and conclusively that American automobiles are best 
 suited to travel on American roads. 
 
 Some of the other notable events which the Thomas 
 cars have won in the past are as follows: 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 99 
 
 September, 1903. Two-mile event, Toronto fair 
 grounds: Cal Paxson in stock Thomas won event, defeating 
 three American and two foreign cars. Three-mile event, 
 Toronto fair grounds: Cal Paxson, in stock Thomas, 
 defeated all entries except special high-powered racing car, 
 driven by Harney Oldfield. 
 
 World 's non-stop record: five hundred and seven hours, 
 twenty-nine minutes. 
 
 Perfect score in the (Hidden tour and return to Buf- 
 falo — a trip of over two thousand miles without a mechanical 
 adjustment — 1906. 
 
 Three perfect scores (all the Thomas cars entered) in 
 the Chieago-Elgin-Aurora endurance contest. 1906. 
 
 Two perfect scores (all the Thomas cars entered) in 
 the San Francisco - Del Monte reliability run. 1906. 
 
 Road record, Buffalo to Rochester, sixty-eight miles. 
 
 M 
 
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 ^ 
 
 ll, 
 
 ' 
 
 ' .. - '■': ■■'.'-' 
 
 
 z 
 
 E. R. THOMAS 
 
 in one hour, thirty-two minutes, and forty-five seconds, 
 1906. 
 
 Hill climbing record of the California Pasadena-Altadena 
 course, 1906. 
 
 Stock touring car record for five miles, standing start, in 
 four minutes, fifty-five seconds (one mile in fifty-seven and 
 two-fifths seconds), at Atlantic Beach, 1906. 
 
 One mile in fifty-five and four-fifths seconds, Atlantic 
 City. 1906. 
 
 First and second in one-minute class, Atlantic City, 
 1906. 
 
 Twenty-five mile record for stock touring cars, Saint 
 Louis, 1906 — thirty-four minutes, thirty-six seconds. 
 
 First, fifty miles for touring cars at Pimlico track, 
 Baltimore, 1906. One hour, six minutes, thirty-six seconds. 
 
 Lowered fifty-mile stock touring car record, Haw- 
 
 thorne track, Chicago, to one hour, six minutes, and nine- 
 teen seconds, 1906. 
 
 Again lowered fifty-mile world's record for stock tour- 
 ing cars, Point Bree/c track, Philadelphia, to one hour, 
 four minutes, nineteen and one-fourth seconds in 1906. 
 
 One-mile prize handicap, Atlantic City, one minute, 
 twenty-one and two-fifths seconds, Thomas from scratch, 
 1906. 
 
 First in free-for-all event in annual hill of the Granite 
 State Automobile Club, at Manchester. New Hampshire, 
 1906. 
 
 First in five mile novelty race, planned to show facilities 
 for control of cars entered, Kansas City, 1906. 
 
 June 1st, 1907, E. L. Mathewson broke fifty-mile record 
 at Overland Park. Colorado, track in Thomas; time, fifty- 
 five minutes, forty-three and four-fifths seconds more than 
 seven miles previous records, — a world 's record for circular 
 track. 
 
 July 4th, 1907, Wildwood, New Jersey. Free-for-all- 
 Thomas first. 
 
 Open to cars listing thirty-five hundred dollars and 
 under, — Thomas first. 
 
 Special mile, one hundred and twenty horsepower 
 Thomas first; time, forty-four seconds. November 16th, 
 1907. 
 
 Thomas one of the seven to finish with perfect score 
 in twenty-four hour run of the New Jersey Auto and Motor 
 Club. Twenty-two entries. 
 
 Thomas one of sixteen with perfect scores at Sealed 
 Bonnet contest held by the Auto Club of Washington. 
 Thomas first. May ,5th, 1907. 
 
 Thomas first in Cupid race held at Agricultural Park, 
 May 30th, 1907. 
 
 Hood lowered record two hours and thirteen minutes 
 in winning the one-hundred-mile national championship 
 on circular track at Bennings Race Course, in a Thomas 
 sixty-horsepower. 
 
 May 30th, 1907, at Washington, W. C. Hood won one- 
 hundred-mile race at Bennings Track in Thomas car. 
 
 June 29th, 1907, Brinker and Ralph Baird in Thomas 
 runabout broke record from Denver to Colorado Springs 
 in one hour and fifty-nine minutes. 
 
 July 13th, 1907. Won Chicago twenty-four-hour endur- 
 ance race on the Harlem track, C. A. Coey driving. Distance, 
 eight hundred and forty-six miles. Eighteen cars entered. 
 
 July 4th, 1907, Peoria, Illinois. Six-hour race. Coev, 
 in Thomas ear, first. Ran two hundred and sixty-nine miles. 
 
 August 6th, 1907, Atlantic City. Montague Roberts, 
 driving one hundred and twenty horsepower Thomas, won 
 free-for-all race. One mile in forty and one fifth seconds. 
 Event number fourteen won by forty-horsepower Thomas 
 owned and driven by Mr. William Mclllried. Twelve 
 starters. 
 
 August 9th, 1908. Twenty-four-hour race on Brighton 
 Beach track. Winner, Thomas, driven alternately by Roberts 
 and B. Mclllried. Distance traveled, nine hundred and ninety- 
 seven miles. 
 
 Two perfect scores in the Glidden Tour. 
 
TOO 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 August 25th, 1907. Olympic Club, five miles, free- 
 for-all: first, Thomas seventy runabout driven by Bert 
 Dingley; and third, Thomas seventy runabout driven by 
 Roy Rehm. Time, five minutes, twenty-five and four 
 fifths seconds. 
 
 September 14th, 1907, Sacramento, California: Ten- 
 mile race won by Bert Dingley in Thomas Speedway Flyer. 
 Time, eleven minutes and fifteen seconds. 
 
 September 15th, 1907, Cincinnati. Ohio: Six-hour 
 endurance race won by J. Sharp in Thomas car. 
 
 November 9th, 1907. Thomas broke record of run of 
 one hundred and thirty-five miles from Los Angeles to San 
 Diego in four hours and thirty-nine minutes. 
 
 May 7th, 1907. Thomas one of four to make perfect 
 score in run of the Motor Club of Harrisburg and return. 
 
 favorite where rough going and severe road conditions are 
 encountered. 
 
 The George N. Pierce Company.- In all the auto- 
 mobile world, which, in the past ten years, has become so 
 crowded, there is no better known firm name than that of 
 The George N. Pierce Company. For the general ex- 
 cellence of its products, its firm, liberal methods of dealing, 
 and its indefatigable efforts to please, it enjoys a reputa- 
 tion second to none. 
 
 The George \. Pierce Company was organized in 
 December, 189(i, succeeding the firm of George X. Pierce 
 & Company, a firm which was the outgrowth of Heintz, 
 Pierce & Maunschauer, which was organized in 1872 for 
 the manufacture of bird cages, refrigerators, and similar 
 
 ft***"* *■* '. a* *^ftyy.a*flB 
 
 THE GEORGE N. I'IKKCE COMPANY 
 
 February 12th, 1908. Started in Xew York to Paris 
 race. 
 
 March 19th, 1908. World's record at Savannah for 
 one hundred and eighty miles — one hundred and eighty- 
 two minutes and twenty-five seconds — made by George 
 Salsman. 
 
 February 22d, 1908. Bay State endurance run. Perfect 
 score in model "F" and four-cylinder forty-horsepower, 
 driven by A. H. Dorsey and Mr. Whitten respectively. 
 
 A large proportion of the business of The E. R. Thomas 
 Motor Company is in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific 
 Coast States, where the roads are rough and take an ex- 
 ceptionally strong and reliable car for service. Ever since 
 the Thomas Flyer has been on the market it has been 
 especially featured as a reliable car; and for this reason, as 
 much as for its great reserve power and efficiency, it is a 
 
 products, developing from this to the manufacture of tri- 
 cycles, juvenile bicycles, and bicycles. George X. Pierce 
 & Company took over only the bicycle business, in which it 
 continued, with a high degree of success, until the fall of 
 L906, at which time it disposed of its interests therein to The 
 Pierce Cycle Company. During the period of the manu- 
 facture of bicycles the same careful methods and superior 
 work that has since made the Pierce automobile famous 
 the world over placed the Pierce bicycle in the very front 
 rank of the trade. 
 
 It was in 1898 that the experiments with automobiles 
 began, and they continued until 1901, at which time the 
 celebrated Motorette was produced and placed on the 
 market. In October of that year the first two machines 
 made were entered in the endurance test from Xew \ ork 
 to Buffalo, and both cars came through with flying colors, 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 101 
 
 thoroughly tested by most inclement weather and road con- 
 ditions. From that time the development of the automobile 
 business has been pursued with every success, each year 
 adding to the quality and efficiency and the success of this 
 business undertaking, and making the Pierce car one of the 
 best known in the automobile world. In that time eleven 
 different models have been produced, ranging in class from 
 two and three quarters horsepower single-cylinder to sixty- 
 horsepower six-cylinder, all of which are in operation at the 
 present time and giving excellent satisfaction. 
 
 The Pierce factory, located at Elmwood Avenue and the 
 New York Central Belt Line, is considered a model in the 
 factory world, and the firm has also attained a fine reputation 
 
 The Imperial Motor Company.— The roster of the 
 large automobile dealers of Buffalo would not be complete 
 without the name of The Imperial Motor Company. This 
 firm, while numbered among the important automobile 
 concerns of the city for several years, is one of the younger 
 establishments, and since its organization has made rapid 
 strides towards the goal of business success and the approval 
 of a large patronage. Thelmperial Motor Company was at 
 first located at number 889 Main Street, but with the 
 rapid growth of the business it was found that larger 
 quarters were needed. Accordingly, the site on the old 
 Sheldon homestead at numbers 10!)4 to 1 100 Main Street, 
 between North and Summer streets, was secured. 
 
 s 
 
 THE IMPKRIAL MOTOR COMPANY 
 
 for its methods of dealing with its workmen. The home of 
 the Pierce car is of reinforced concrete construction, abso- 
 lutely fireproof, an architectural delight, and a credit to the 
 city in every way. It is said, indeed, that it will compare 
 favorably with any factory building in the world. It affords 
 approximately four hundred thousand square feet of floor 
 space. The firm has in its employ upwards of sixteen 
 hundred persons, and its pay roll aggregates in excess of 
 a million dollars annually. 
 
 At the reorganization of The George X. Pierce Company 
 in January, 1908, Mr. George X. Pierce resigned as president, 
 Mr. George K. Birge succeeding him in that office. The 
 place on the board of directors formerly held by George X. 
 Pierce, was given to the company's attorney, William B. 
 Hovt, bv reason of Mr. Pierce's retirement. 
 
 The Imperial Motor Company took possession of its 
 new home on May 1st, 1907, the new building having been 
 erected in a remarkably short time. The lot on which the 
 establishment was located is one hundred feet on Main 
 Street and four hundred and thirty-six feet deep, running 
 through from Main Street to Linwood Avenue. The build- 
 ing itself is eighty by one hundred and fifty feet, is two stories 
 high, and is constructed of brick throughout. 
 
 On the first floor of the building is the salesroom and 
 showroom, fifty-six and one half by eighty feet, one of the 
 finest rooms of its kind in the city today. It is fitted through- 
 out in the most handsome manner. The floor is of quartered 
 oak, and the woodwork of the best weathered oak, the color 
 scheme of the entire room being a beautiful shade of green. 
 
 At the rear of the salesroom, and connected with it 
 
102 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 by means of large doors is the garage, eighty by ninety- 
 three and one half feet, completely equipped with every 
 necessity. A three-ton electric elevator connects this depart- 
 ment with the repair room above. This latter room takes 
 up the entire second floor. In dimensions it is eighty by 
 ninety-three and one half feet, and in equipment is unique 
 in that it contains a stock room in which is carried a com- 
 plete line of the different parts and sundries needed in 
 repairing autos or motors of any kind. All the repairing 
 machinery in this department is of the latest and most im- 
 proved type, and is capable of doing the most extensive 
 repair and overhauling work. 
 
 In the front part of the second floor is located what 
 is called the secondhand department, fifty-six and one half 
 by eighty feet. This department is one of the unique fea- 
 tures of the establishment, containing, as it does at all times, 
 a complete line of used motor cars, which have been over- 
 hauled and repaired until they are as good as new. They 
 are then guaranteed by The Imperial Motor Company, 
 
 The Pope-Hartford, one of the most popular cars among 
 automobile lovers in this section of the country, is another 
 car handled at this establishment. Then there is the Buick, 
 manufactured by The Buick Motor Company, of Flint, 
 Michigan, and which is today recognized as a car of ster- 
 ling worth and durability, which has made some remark- 
 able records in races. The other car handled here is the 
 Babcock electric automobile, which is widely used in Buf- 
 falo and western New York, and is, without doubt, the best 
 electric carriage on the market today. 
 
 The Otis Elevator Company. — One of Buffalo 's 
 largest and most promising industries, of recent acquisition, 
 is The Otis Elevator Company. Its product is known 
 throughout the building world and adds much to the 
 industrial supremacy of Buffalo. The main office and 
 headquarters of the company are in New York City, 
 and forty branch offices and a large number of factories 
 are required in the principal cities to conduct the firm's 
 
 THE OTIS ELEVATOR COMPANY 
 
 and sold. Until this company attempted this venture with 
 a great deal of success it had not been tried outside of the 
 large automobile houses in New York and Chicago. These 
 secondhand cars are disposed of throughout the country, 
 and an additional means of carrying on this branch of the 
 business is found in the connection with The Starin Company, 
 of New York, one of the largest secondhand clearing houses 
 in the United States. 
 
 When the building was erected, an immense electric 
 sign, perhaps the largest of its kind in the city, was placed 
 across the front, eighty feet wide and displaying the names 
 of the cars sold by this company. Another large electric- 
 sign with the name of the company is suspended over the 
 sidewalk. 
 
 During the time it lias been doing business in this city 
 The Imperial Motor Company has forged to the front in 
 the automobile world. Some part of the credit for this 
 can be found in the makes of cars handled here. The prin- 
 cipal one of these cars is the Packard, a high-grade auto- 
 mobile built by The Packard Company of Detroit, Michigan. 
 
 fast increasing business. The Buffalo plant, which is one 
 of the largest and best-equipped, is located on Grider Street 
 at the Belt Line tracks. 
 
 The original property holding on Grider Street consisted 
 of a tract of thirty-five acres, on which the first building 
 was constructed and made ready for occupancy the early 
 part of 1907. Other buildings will be added in the future 
 as justified by the increase of business. As it stands now 
 it is one of the busiest industries in Buffalo and distributes 
 a large sum in wages every week. 
 
 The local plant was designed especially for the con- 
 struction of the plunger elevator, in addition to various 
 parts of other types, one of the products of great importance 
 in the local factory being the guide rails for the thousands 
 of elevators turned out in the firm's various factories. It 
 is difficult to comprehend the extent of this product, but a 
 resort to several months' statistics shows that a year's prod- 
 uct, placed end to end, would reach for one hundred and 
 forty-four miles. They are constructed of the best steel, 
 are light and durable, and can withstand a great deal of wear. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 103 
 
 It is the ambition of the company to make the local 
 plant the model elevator factory of the world: and, to that end, 
 no expense has been spared, everything being of the latest and 
 most approved pattern, the plant being well lighted and all 
 details having been carried out with a special view to the 
 comfort ami health of the employees — in short, nothing has 
 been left undone that could contribute to I he welfare of 
 the employees and economical production. 
 
 For the tremendous amount of elevator business through- 
 out the country, the Buffalo plant contributes a very large 
 percentage of the apparatus, and with the constantly in- 
 creasing Otis business the size and output of this plant will 
 be continually increased. The structure is four hundred 
 by three hundred feet in dimensions and at present houses 
 three hundred and fifty workmen. It is constructed of brick, 
 is well designed architecturally, and is absolutely fireproof. 
 
 Among the most important contracts filled by the com- 
 pany in the local field is the elevator system in the magnifi- 
 cent new Chamber of Commerce Building and, more 
 recently, the system in Statler's Hotel. Both of these are 
 models in every way. 
 
 The three buildings claiming the greatest attention 
 today in the whole architectural and engineering world — 
 namely, the Singer Building, the Metropolitan Life Tower, 
 and the Hudson Terminal, all located in New York City — 
 are, at the present time, being equipped with Otis apparatus, 
 all three of them being supplied with the new Otis electric 
 traction elevators. These elevators are unique in design, 
 having practically no limitation as to the number of stories 
 which one elevator can serve and being equipped with all 
 of the standard safety appliances, in addition to several 
 new positive safety features of most excellent design. 
 
 The Singer and Metropolitan buildings are the tallest 
 commercial structures in the world, while the Hudson 
 Terminal is equipped with the largest elevator plant ever 
 installed at one time in a single building. 
 
 One of the most interesting of the recent installations 
 is an electric passenger elevator, which has just been com- 
 pleted in the Statue of Liberty, New York harbor, for the 
 use of visitors to the statue. 
 
 The Otis elevator system for office buildings is con- 
 ceded to be the perfect system. In the Singer Building, 
 for example, colored lights displayed simultaneously in the 
 main hallway and the chief engineer's office show at all 
 times the position of every car. An ingenious electrical 
 device further enables the starter to communicate with 
 any car at any point, so that speed, position, and direction 
 are always under control. Where desired, each car is also 
 equipped with a telephone, enabling the operator, in case 
 of an emergency, to communicate with the chief engineer. 
 Another feature is the pneumatic operation of all the doors. 
 
 In the construction of all these elevators the Buffalo 
 plant has had no small part, and that fact is a source of 
 pride to all Buffalonians. 
 
 Aside from supplying the demand in the "plunger" 
 branch of the trade and the manufacture of guide rails, the 
 local plant produces the safety parts and the oil buffers 
 which form such an important part of the Otis system. 
 
 The oil buffers above mentioned are most ingeniously 
 constructed, numerous tests having proven them capable 
 of bringing a loaded elevator car safely to rest from a speed 
 of five hundred to six hundred feel per minute, even though 
 the operating mechanism be left in the full speed position 
 and all other limitation devices be kepi nut of action. 
 
 The buffer effect is obtained by allowing oil in the 
 internal chambers to escape to outer spaces through care- 
 fully calculated channels, thereby permitting the mechanism 
 to collapse or telescope within itself at a graduated rate 
 of speed. 
 
 The L. & I. J. White Company, makers of fine edge 
 tools, is one of the industries to which Buffalo owes its 
 present distinction as a leading manufacturing city. The 
 company 's success is due to the policy inaugurated years 
 ago, to make goods of the highest quality only and to succeed 
 or fail in competition with the most famous manufacturers. 
 The aim was high, but the company hit the mark, as is 
 evidenced by the commanding position its products hold 
 in the great markets of the world. 
 
 If any firm in Buffalo has worldwide tradings, it is this 
 one. Their order book at this writing shows recent ship- 
 ments to England (in competition with the famous Shef- 
 field makers), South America, Australia, South Africa, all 
 over Europe, and other of the world 's markets, a sufficient 
 proof of the volume of its foreign trade. This foreign 
 trade is rapidly increasing, keeping step with the home trade, 
 which constantly makes fresh demands upon the capacity 
 and facilities of the factory. 
 
 The factory is located at Perry and Columbia streets, 
 enjoying exceptional shipping facilities, as it is in the verv 
 heart of the railroad district. The plant was erected espe- 
 cially for the purpose to which it has been put, and the interior 
 arrangement is such as will insure the best results in the 
 best way. In the past two years there have been erected 
 three property additions to the plant — one of the forging 
 department, one hundred and thirty-five by ninety feet; 
 another an addition to the tempering department, which, 
 after completion, was found to be inadequate for their in- 
 creasing output; and a new building, now nearly finished, 
 sufficient in size to care for that branch of the work. A 
 large steel and iron warehouse has also been erected, in 
 which is kept a large stock of raw material. The entire 
 plant has been equipped with new and up-to-date machinery, 
 thus doubling and vastly improving its capacity. 
 
 The line of goods manufactured by this company 
 includes coopers ', carpenters \ ship carpenters ', butchers ', 
 and ice handlers' tools; shear blades for cutting metal; 
 chisels, gouges, drawknives, broadaxes, hatchets, adzes, 
 plane and calking irons, and cleavers. The perfection of 
 the goods is secured in the symmetry of each tool and the 
 handsome finish put upon each product. Such goods, the 
 company believes, sell themselves. Another important 
 specialty is the manufacture of machine knives of all kinds, 
 including planing, moulding, stave, veneer, hoop, paper- 
 cutting, and leather-splitting knives. The facilities the 
 company has for manufacturing these knives places it in 
 
104 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 a position to fill all orders promptly, as knives of all stand- 
 ard machines are kept in stock. These knives require great 
 skill in making, and the company 's success bears out its claim 
 to be the leader in the manufacture of these goods. Only 
 the very best material is used; every employee understands 
 his work thoroughly; and every article is closely inspected 
 before leaving the factory. 
 
 Some time ago the company added a new branch to their 
 work — that of making dies of odd shapes for cutting envelopes, 
 paper collars, novelties, leather work, boot and shoe lasts, etc. 
 
 The factory, a model of economy in time and labor, 
 is equipped with ingenious labor-saving machinery. The 
 welding and forging is done by trains of rolls, punched by 
 machinery, polished and ground in the same way, and 
 
 Besides agencies in all the principal cities in the United 
 States and abroad, the company maintains a branch in New 
 York City, with J. H. Dillon in charge, and one at Chicago, 
 with Jay Goldthwaite in charge, to which orders may be 
 forwarded with the assurance that they will receive immediate 
 attention. 
 
 The company was founded in 1837 by Leonard and 
 I. J. White, both of whom are now deceased. In 1892 it 
 was incorporated. Its present officers are: president and 
 general manager, John G. H. Marvin; vice-president, M. 
 White; general superintendent, J. W. White. 
 
 The John R. Keim Mills was incorporated in December, 
 1906, to take over the established business of John R. Keim. 
 
 THE L. & I. .1. W'HITF. COMPANY 
 
 treated by mechanical contrivances in almost every state 
 of manufacture. The large grindstones, weighing a ton 
 each, are placed in position by machinery, and even the harm- 
 ful stone-dust is sucked away from the whirling stones and 
 carried off by machinery. The comfort of the employees 
 is further secured by a plentiful supply of steam heat, ami 
 the building is very well lighted. 
 
 The stamp of The L. & I. J. White Company on any 
 tool is a guarantee of superior quality. This is proved by 
 the fact that wherever their goods have been placed in 
 competition with the goods of other manufacturers, they 
 have received the highest honors. This includes medal 
 awards from the Paris Exposition in 1889; the Pan-American 
 Exposition, 1901; and the Saint Louis Exposition of 1904. 
 
 an individual resident of New York City, who, for a number 
 of years, operated a growing and successful business in this 
 city, and established himself as a pioneer in the seamless 
 forming of a variety of shapes new in metal drawing and 
 forming. 
 
 The mills are located on the Erie and Lackawanna 
 railroads, in the North Buffalo section of the city, with a 
 frontage on Kensington Avenue. The natural advantages 
 of this district for manufacturing could hardly be improved 
 upon. 
 
 The buildings were erected and operations started 
 about twenty years ago. The initial product was steel 
 balls and small metal parts exclusively for the manufacture 
 of bicycles. Mr. Keim became interested in the company 
 
THE CITY OF BVFFALO. 
 
 105 
 
 a few years after it was launched, and bought it outright. 
 He put new life into its management and enlarged the scope 
 of its products, going into markets heretofere exclusively 
 supplied by castings or forgings and introducing a cold- 
 pressed construction which has proven eminently superior 
 from almost every standpoint. This line of activity has been 
 gradually developed until, at the present time, the extent 
 of work in this direction is practically without limit. 
 
 This plant was the first to produce by the cold-drawn 
 process metal forms and shapes of maximum strength and 
 minimum weight, displanting the older-established process 
 of molding and forging metal while in a heated state. The 
 experience gained in working thin metals and small con- 
 tours has made it possible, through the years, to evolve 
 intricate shapes of much greater thickness and corre- 
 spondingly larger proportions. 
 
 In the development of cold forming and pressing of 
 metal, machinery has had to be worked out especially 
 adapted for the purpose. This work, together with the 
 operation of its facilities, has enabled the company to 
 
 to the Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks, Switches from these 
 tracks run directly into the shops, and thus give the best 
 possible facilities for the shipment of its goods. 
 
 For many years this company has made a gnat 
 majority of the hull forgings for all the big vessels built in 
 America, which of itself is sufficient proof of the firm's 
 superior products. 
 
 The firm was originally started in 1850 by Mr. Charles 
 I). De Laney, and suffered the usual hardships and trials of a 
 newly established buiness which had hut a limited amount of 
 capital. The company struggled along, gaining such strength 
 and such an enviable reputation that in 1804 Mr. Thaddeus 
 I). Patchin, a prominent and generous hanker of his day, 
 was induced to take a half interest in the companv. Under 
 the title of The Niagara Forge Works, the partnership of 
 Patchin & De Laney continued to grow and to gain strength 
 until, in 18C8, the firm began to assume its present cosmopoli- 
 tan character. 
 
 During this latter year Mr. Charles D. De Laney bought 
 Mr. Patchin's interest in the company, and then took into part- 
 
 THE JOHN R. KEIM MILLS 
 
 secure and school a working force now representing a very 
 high class of labor. 
 
 Products of the company at the present time go almost 
 exclusively to manufacturers, and include the makers of 
 agricultural implements, dairy machinery, electrical devices, 
 automobiles, and, in fact, every industry that requires drawn- 
 metal work of maximum strength and minimum weight. 
 
 The officers of the company are John U. Lee, president; 
 S. S. Spaulding, vice-president; H. 15. Spaulding. treas- 
 urer; E. G. Spaulding, secretary. 
 
 The De Laney Forge and Iron Company, at number 
 300 Perry Street, has been engaged in the manufacture of 
 iron and steel forgings in this city for more than half a century. 
 It is one of the largest institutions of its kind in the 
 United States, catering especially to the marine trade, and 
 numbers its customers along both coasts, the Great Lakes, 
 the interior waterways, and throughout Canada. The 
 plant of the company has a frontage of about five hundred 
 feet on Perry Street, extending back about the same distance 
 
 nership with him his son, Charles A. De Laney, Mr. John 
 Slote. and Mr. Joseph Howard. Under the direction and 
 guidance of these gentlemen the firm branched out and grew 
 rapidly. This organization continued until the death of Mr. 
 Charles D. De Laney, in September, 1883, when his share of the 
 companv was bought by the surviving members. They con- 
 tinued to manage the company successfully until the death of 
 Charles A. De Laney, in April, 1902. At his death his share 
 of the company pas purchased by the two surviving members, 
 and the form of organization was changed from a copartnership 
 to a stock companv. and they still continue to own a k*ast ma- 
 jority of the stock. 
 
 It will thus be seen that during the fifty-seven years that 
 this establishment has been a part of industrial Buff alo very few 
 changes have taken place in its management, the company hav- 
 ing been owned, operated, managed, and controlled by the 
 same interests for the past forty years. The officers of the 
 company today are Joseph Howard, president and treasurer, 
 and David C. Howard, vice-president and secretary. 
 
lOfi 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 THE DE LANEY FORGE AND IRON COMPANY 
 
 The products of the De Laney company are so complex 
 and so difficult of description, especially to the layman, that 
 the camera has been called into play, and on an inserted page, 
 adjacent to this sketch, will be found several illustrations of 
 the great forgings the company has produced, pieces of 
 work that are more or less notable in the industrial world. 
 
 Joseph Howard was born April 27th, 1828, at Bury, 
 Lancashire, England. He came to this country with his 
 father and mother and the others of a large family when 
 fourteen years of age. The family settled in Fall River, 
 Massachusetts, and it was there, at a blacksmith's forge, 
 that he laid the foundation of his practical knowledge in 
 the working of iron and steel, which made him in after years 
 the foremost smith of his time. This ability on his part was 
 so generally recognized by the forge trade in America that, 
 when an organization of the trade was made a few years 
 ago and needed as chairman of its executive committee a 
 thoroughly practical forgeman, Mr. Howard was unani- 
 mously elected to this position, and he directed the prac- 
 tical workings of this organization for years. 
 
 He came to Buffalo in 1868 to take an interest in The 
 De Laney Forge and Iron Company. Since then he has contin- 
 ued actively to direct the practical workings of this institu- 
 tion. The complete supremacy of this company today, in 
 complicated work, is a monument to Mr. Howard's ability 
 and teachings. 
 
 JOSEPH HOWARD 
 
Some Great Forgings by The De Laney Forge and Iron Company. 
 
 TWIN SCREW STERN FRAME FOR THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT. FINISHED DOUBLE THROW CRANK SHAFT 
 
 STERN FRAMES FOR A XEW YORK FERRY BOAT. JUDDER FRAME FOR AN OCEAN LINER. 
 
 STERN FRAMES FOR A LAKE FR FIGHTER. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 107 
 
 While he is well and favorably known in Buffalo, Mr. 
 Howard has never entered into public- or political life, 
 though often requested to do so. Nor has he been con- 
 spicuous in social clubs or organizations, though he is a 
 member of a number of Masonic bodies. His activities 
 all his life have been in trade organizations, and it is 
 there that his greatest influence has been felt. 
 
 David C. Howard was born in Bridgewater, Massachu- 
 setts, August 13th. 18«0. He came to Buffalo with the family 
 in 1868, and received his early education in the public schools 
 of this city. At the age of sixteen he started to work in the 
 shops of the \)f Laney company, and has continued 
 to work for them ever since. For twenty-five years of his 
 life he has stood before the hammers in the shops of the com- 
 pany making the intricate forgings for which this company 
 i> so celebrated. 
 
 
 
 
 
 \JH * 
 
 
 
 fS <M 
 
 
 . ' 1 
 
 
 
 ■ 1 
 ■ 39 I 
 
 k >3H 
 
 
 IBP 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 DAVID C. HOWARD 
 
 His duties have made such demands upon his time that 
 he has never participated to any great extent in either social 
 or political affairs. He is a member, however, of all the 
 Masonic bodies, of the Acacia Club, and of the Engineers' 
 Club of New York City. 
 
 Three years ago he was elected vice-president and sec- 
 retary of the company, and it will thus be seen that the 
 management of the company today, as it always has been in 
 the past, is in the hands of thoroughly practical men who are 
 conversant with every detail of the business. 
 
 Pratt & Lambert. — Among Buffalonians finding a 
 dual field of usefulness in business pursuits and civic affairs, 
 a prominent place belongs to William H. Andrews. Though 
 a resident of Buffalo only within a comparatively recent 
 
 period, Mr. Andrews is closely identified with the institutions 
 and interests of our city. He is well known in the industrial 
 world, being president of the extensive varnish works of 
 Pratt & Lambert. 
 
 Without laying claim to the title, Mr. Andrews is, in 
 point of fact, a publicist. A believer in organized effort, 
 he is an important factor in movements having in view 
 the commercial and industrial advancement of our city, 
 and is in equal degree identified with measures in further- 
 ance of good government, sound administrative methods, 
 and the application of the business requisites of competence 
 ami integrity to the fulfillment of civic duties. 
 
 William H. Andrews is a native of New England, 
 having been born in Thomaston, Maine, November 17th, 
 18(H). His education was obtained in the local schools and 
 supplemented by a business college course. Hi' began 
 his active career in the employment of Wadsworth, Howland 
 & Company, paint and varnish manufacturers, of Boston. 
 Massachusetts, and has ever since been engaged in the varnish 
 business, being recognized as one of the country's most 
 prominent men in this branch of industrial enterprise. 
 
 At the time of coming to Buffalo, Mr. Andrews was 
 connected with the firm of Pratt & Lambert as general 
 manager and treasurer, and has since become its president. 
 The varnish works of which he has thus the executive super- 
 vision are among the largest in the world. An idea of the 
 cosmopolitan scope of the business may be gained from 
 the fact that besides its large Buffalo factory at Black 
 Rock, the concern maintains plants in New York, Chicago, 
 London, Paris, and Hamburg. Mr. Andrews makes an 
 annual trip abroad to the associate houses. 
 
 Mr. Andrews purchased an interest in the firm of Pratt 
 & Lambert in 1890, and built the company's plant in 
 Chicago, remaining there as resident manager. In 1894 
 he rose to the position of general manager of the entire 
 business, with headquarters in New York. As the business 
 grew under his capable management, it seemed wise to 
 concentrate the organization and centralize the manufacturing 
 department, and, after carefully considering the matter, Buffalo 
 was chosen as the most advantageous location, and in 19(1.'! 
 Mr. Andrews came to Buffalo and built the varnish works here. 
 The Buffalo establishment covers five acres and in- 
 cludes thirty-six different buildings. The raw materials 
 used in manufacture come from both near and remote parts 
 of the globe, many countries being drawn upon to ensure 
 the superiority of product on which the firm has built its 
 high reputation. The output of the Pratt & Lambert 
 factories today is the result of fifty years of experience, 
 coupled with unremitting attention in supplying the plant 
 with every improvement which modern mechanical inven- 
 tion and chemical discovery can devise. The equipment 
 is unsurpassed and in the manufacturing processes tech- 
 nical methods have been carried to perfection. The Buffalo 
 works employ a force of one hundred and fifty skilled hands 
 and assistants. 
 
 Besides his responsibility as president of one of the 
 leading manufacturing concerns of the country, Mr. Andrews 
 is a director of the Central National Bank, also The Frontier 
 
108 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Telephone Company, and is interested in various other 
 loeal enterprises. He is a sterling business man, possess- 
 ing executive talents of a high order and an unimpeachable 
 reputation for lifelong integrity. 
 
 He is a trustee of the Charity Organization Society, 
 a director of the Country Club, a member of the Ellicott, 
 
 Mr. Andrews has held the high offices of president 
 of the National Paint, Oil, and Varnish Association and 
 of the National Varnish Makers' Association. 
 
 Mr. Andrews takes an especially keen interest in the 
 causes of municipal reform and of purification of the ballot. 
 He was a member of the conference which in 1900 convened 
 
 . 
 
 PRATT & LAMBERT 
 
 Buffalo, Saturn, and Park clubs of Buffalo, and a member 
 of the New York Chamber of Commerce, the Lawyers' 
 
 WILLIAM H. ANDREWS 
 
 Club, the Drug Club, and various other organizations of 
 New York City. 
 
 at Washington, District of Columbia, for consideration of 
 means of improvement in our consular service and in the 
 relations between this and foreign countries. 
 
 In 1888 Mr. Andrews married Miss Kate Gresham, a 
 daughter of the late Judge Walter Q. Gresham, of Chicago. 
 Mrs. Andrews died in 1905, leaving one son, Walter Gresham, 
 who is now a student at Lawrenceville Preparatory School, 
 and a daughter, Harriet Carleton, who is attending Miss 
 Porter's School at Farmington, Connecticut. 
 
 The character and career of Mr. Andrews are illustra- 
 tive of the qualities and pursuits of an able man, energetic 
 and enthusiastic in everything he undertakes, and making 
 manifold activities center upon sound ideas of duty and 
 citizenship. 
 
 The Spencer Kellogg Company presents one of the rare 
 instances in this country of a hereditary business. In 1824 
 Supplina Kellogg commenced to manufacture linseed oil at 
 West Galway, New York, in an old-fashioned water-power 
 mill which is still standing, and at the start his modest 
 output was one barrel per day. At a later period L. & J. 
 Kellogg, his sons, erected a mill at Amsterdam, New York, 
 which was on a more ambitious scale, as it had a capacity 
 of a number of barrels per day. The original mill was 
 equipped with primitive apparatus, by which all linseed 
 oil was at that time extracted from the flaxseed, but the 
 new mill witnessed the introduction of the earlier type of 
 hydraulic press. 
 
 Supplina Kellogg died in 1845, having previously asso- 
 ciated with his two sons. The industrv at Amsterdam is 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 KtO 
 
 still continued, but upon the death of Lauren Kellogg (son of the question arose. How will th<- flaxseed be brought to the 
 
 Supphna), in 1853, Ins half interest was inherited by his daugh- Eastern mills? and putting his finger on the map where 
 
 ter, and his son, Spencer Kellogg. The gradual westward Buffalo was marked, he said to his partner, "That will be 
 
 movement of the flax crop, however, —a phenomenon which the great distributing point, and that is the place for our mill." 
 
 KELLOGG ELEVATORS A ANT) B 
 
 has greatly influenced the development of this business, — had 
 left Amsterdam high and dry as a center for the manufacture 
 of products derived from flax, so that the Kellogg mill was 
 languishing. Mr. Spencer Kellogg, perceiving that this 
 must be a permanent condition, sold out his share in that 
 business, and, equipped with an already large experience 
 acquired through familiarity with the matter since child- 
 hood, went west to study the prospects. Meanwhile he 
 engaged in the banking business in Des Moines, Iowa. 
 
 Finally he entered into a partnership to erect a linseed 
 oil mill in that town, which was to compete with one already 
 established there. One day Air. Kellogg was struck with 
 the idea that the flax crop, which (as already stated) had 
 progressed steadily in a northwesterly direction, and from 
 having originally been chiefly grown in the vicinity of Phila- 
 delphia, had moved through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, 
 and was now largely located in Iowa, must almost of neces- 
 sity proceed farther westward, and would, therefore, even- 
 tually leave Des Moines out of its radius, as it had already 
 left Amsterdam. 
 
 Further investigation convinced him that the flaxseed 
 which was the raw material of his proposed mill, would in 
 the end be grown principally in the Dakotas. But the 
 principal markets for linseed oil were in the East. Hence 
 
 SPENCER KELLOGG 
 
110 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Acting on this theory, the Des Moines project was 
 abandoned, and in 1870 they erected a mill at Buffalo, 
 with three hydraulic presses. Events justified this wise 
 foresight; today the flax is grown in the Dakotas, and the 
 products arc distributed at Buffalo. From three presses, 
 The Spencer Kellogg Company has increased to one hundred 
 and eighty-six, while the mill at Des Moines which they 
 first proposed to riyal is no larger today than it was then. 
 
 Fostered by good management and its excellent loca- 
 tion, the Kellogg industry at Buffalo grew steadily. In 
 1800 the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Kellogg alone 
 built in that year what was up to that time the largest lin- 
 seed oil mill yet erected in the United States. His new mill 
 hail thirty-six presses, just twelve times the number installed 
 in 1879. Ever since then the business has rapidly expanded, 
 and additions made at various times have brought the total 
 number of presses at Buffalo up to one hundred and sixty- 
 two. Besides this, in 1907 another plant was erected by 
 tlve company at Minneapolis, Minnesota, which has a 
 capacity of twenty-four presses, and which is in every way 
 the latest and most scientific oil mill in the country. 
 
 As Mr. Kellogg 's sons grew to manhood they entered 
 his employ, and when in 1904 the business was incorporated 
 under the name of Spencer Kellogg Company, his eldest 
 son, Spencer Kellogg, Junior, became yice-president, and 
 his second son, Howard Kellogg, secretary and treasurer, 
 thus bringing the fourth generation into the family occupa- 
 tion. 
 
 The Spencer Kellogg Company plant at Buffalo is the 
 largest individual linseed oil mills in the world, haying al- 
 most twice the capacity of the next one in size. It is situated 
 at Ganson and Michigan streets. Besides the oil mills 
 there are also two large elevators, which are engaged in 
 the general business of transshipping grain. A considerable 
 portion of the grain receipts of the port of Buffalo pass 
 through these two elevators. The mills have an annual 
 capacity of thirteen million gallons of linseed oil and one 
 hundred thousand tons of oil cake. Agencies are main- 
 
 THE SCHOELLKOPF, HARTFOllD & HANNA COMPANY 
 
 tained in thirty-five of the leading cities of the United States 
 and also in Antwerp and Rotterdam in Europe. 
 
 Mr. Spencer Kellogg has been interested in banking, 
 elevating of grain, and manufacturing for thirty-five years, 
 the manufacturing lines being varnish, paints, white lead, 
 brooms (the most extensive in western New York), and 
 steel. He is also interested in electric street railroad lines 
 in this country and Holland. 
 
 The Schoellkopf, Hartford & Hanna Company, at 
 
 351 Abbott Road, is one of the most extensive plants in 
 the world for the manufacture of aniline dyes. It was 
 established about 1880 by Jacob F. Schoellkopf and was for 
 some time known as the Schoellkopf Aniline and Chemical 
 Works. It has a capitalization of three million dollars and 
 employs three hundred and fifty men, distributing two hun- 
 dred and fifteen thousand dollars yearly in wages, and the 
 plant embraces about thirty-six acres of land, on which are 
 located twenty-two buildings, the entire group being necessary 
 for the company's productions. The company possesses 
 superb shipping facilities, and the entire plant is fitted out 
 with every modern convenience and special equipment 
 that Mr. Schoellkopf 's thorough knowledge of this industry 
 directs. Mr. J. F. Schoellkopf is president of the company, 
 and Mr. C. P. Hugo Schoellkopf is treasurer. 
 
 Jacob F. Schoellkopf was born in this city February 
 27th, 1858, and since that time no name has been more 
 closely associated with the industrial growth and progress 
 of Buffalo than his. He was the son of the late Jacob F. 
 Schoellkopf, who was himself the founder of many of the 
 leading industries of Buffalo and Niagara Falls. The 
 younger Schoellkopf received his education in the local 
 public schools and subsequently attended Saint Joseph's 
 College. He then went to Germany to pursue his studies, 
 attending schools at Munich and Stuttgart, where he made 
 a special study of chemistry, graduating from the Poly- 
 technic College at Stuttgart in 1880. 
 
 Reinforced with all this know- 
 ledge, Mr. Schoellkopf returned to 
 Buffalo to engage in business. The 
 study of chemistry had turned his 
 attention to coal tar dyes, and he 
 decided to enter that field. From this 
 decision has grown the Schoellkopf 
 Aniline and Chemical Works, now 
 operated by The Schoellkopf, Hartford 
 & Hanna Company. 
 
 Mr. Schoellkopf 's business ac- 
 tivities are not confined exclusively to 
 the business which he has created. 
 He is vice-president of The Common- 
 wealth Trust Company and of the 
 Central National Bank; director of 
 the Columbia National Bank and of 
 The Security Safe Deposit Company; 
 director of The Niagara Falls Hydraul- 
 ic Power and Manufacturing Company; 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Ill 
 
 director of The National Aniline and Chemical Company, 
 of New York; director in The Cliff Paper Company, of 
 Niagara Palls, and of The International Hotel Company, 
 of the same place. He is a member of the Buffalo His- 
 
 JACOB F. SCHOELLKOPF 
 
 torical Society; of the National Geographical Society, of 
 Washington; and of the National Economic Society. He 
 is also a trustee of the Buffalo General Hospital. 
 
 Mr. Sehoellkopf married Wilma Spring, of Stuttgart. 
 
 THE .NIAGARA FALLS HYDRAULIC POWER AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY 
 
 ( rermany, and they have three children — Jacob F. (a graduate 
 of Cornell University and of the University of Strassburg, 
 Germany, who is now engaged in research work at the 
 above plant ), Ruth Wilma. and Esther Spring Sehoellkopf 
 of this city. 
 
 The Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufac- 
 turing Company was organized in Niagara Falls in 
 1S78, being incorporated under the laws of New York Stair 
 at that time. The scope of its work is generally outlined 
 in its title, it being an institution for the generating of 
 power for manufacturing purposes. Mr. Jacob F. Sehoellkopf 
 took the most important part in the formation of the coni- 
 panv.and associated with him were Arthur Sehoellkopf , Louis 
 Sehoellkopf, George B. Mathews, and William 1). Olmsted. 
 
 The water which passes over Niagara Falls drains 
 two hundred and fifty thousand square miles. The volume 
 of water in the Creat Lakes is computed to be six thousand 
 cubic miles, and it is further reckoned that the volume of water 
 which passes over the falls is two hundred and sixty- 
 five thousand cubic feet per second. The expert calcu- 
 lator, rising these figures as a basis, concludes that this water 
 passing over the brink represents five million horsepower. 
 Thus it can be readily seen how great an advantage is 
 placed before manufacturers who locate in the vicinity of 
 Niagara Falls and what a mighty force for industrial de- 
 velopment is found at their elbow. 
 
 In 1853 a grant was obtained from the owners of 
 a strip of land one hundred feet wide, extending from a 
 point above the upper rapids to the high bank below the 
 falls. Even at this early date, the chance for power de- 
 velopment by excavating a canal and diverting some of 
 the immense volume of water passing through the rapids 
 to fall to a level of the lower river, and in its fall to gen- 
 erate power, was discerned. The canal 
 excavation had been completed in 
 18.57, with the exception of a narrow 
 extension at the south end of the basin, 
 which was built in 1881. After com- 
 pleting the canal project, it was. how- 
 ever, idle until 187.5, when it was 
 purchased by the incorporators of The 
 Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and 
 Manufacturing ( Company. 
 
 After the transfer of the prop- 
 erty to the incorporators of the com- 
 pany, the new owners finished the ex- 
 cavating, but the canal remained idle 
 for a few years. Then the work on 
 the power plant was begun and the 
 canal enlarged in 1892, and in the 
 year 18!)(i the present power plant, 
 number two, had been completed and 
 was supplying power to different fac- 
 tories about Niagara Falls. Many 
 additions and extensions have been 
 made to the original plant from time 
 to time, and work is now being done on 
 
112 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 a new plant, to be called plant number three. This has been and. with power so near and so cheap, no better sites for 
 completed, sufficient for its operation. The new plant is en- manufacturing purposes can be found, 
 tirely separate from the original plant, being located some The present officers of the company are George B 
 
 six or eight hundred feet to the north. The workings of Mathews, president; W. D. Olmsted, vice-president; Arthur 
 the Hydraulic company are entirely below the first steel Schoellkopf, secretary and treasurer; Paul A. Schoellkopf, 
 arch bridge. assistant secretary and treasurer; John L. Harper, chief 
 
 The company now furnishes power to many of the engineer. The three first-mentioned officers, together with 
 largest factories and industrial establishments in Niagara J. F. Schoellkopf and J. L. Romer, are the present board 
 Falls, to say nothing of the small concerns, stores, and like of directors, 
 enterprises. Power is abundant in Niagara Falls if any- 
 where, and there is little excuse for being without it. Among The Ontario Power Company of Niagara Falls, was 
 the company's larger contracts for power is that for the incorporated June 27th, 1887, under the laws of the Domin- 
 Xiagara Gorge Railroad, the Aluminum company. The ion of Canada, "to supply manufacturers, corporations. 
 National Electrolytic Company, and many other of the and persons with water, hydraulic, electric, or other power," 
 larger manufacturing interests in Niagara Falls. and is authorized to export such power into the United States. 
 Plant number two, which is one hundred by one hundred Its officers are: president, John J. Albright; vice-president, 
 and seventy-six feet in dimensions, generates on an average Francis V. Greene; secretary and treasurer, Robert C. 
 
 Board. Its executive offices are loca- 
 ted in Buffalo, while its works are at 
 Niagara Falls South, Ontario. 
 
 The works of this company are 
 situated in Queen Victoria Niagara 
 Falls Park, and under the agreement 
 with the commissioners of this park 
 the company is allowed to develop not 
 less than one hundred and eighty thou- 
 sand horsepower. Designs for all 
 buildings situated within the park limits 
 were approved by the park commis- 
 sioners in order to conform to the 
 scenic requirements. 
 
 The plant of this company differs 
 considerably from the standard design 
 adopted for the majority of plants at 
 Niagara Falls in that it does away 
 entirely with the deep wheel pit, in- 
 volving long vertical shafts, and also 
 the long and expensive tailrace tun- 
 nels for carrying off the discharge 
 water. The general scheme is as 
 follows: 
 A forel>ay is constructed at a point on the Canadian 
 shore known as the Dufferin Islands, where the water is 
 taken from the river above the first line of rapids through a 
 very ingenious series of curtain walls of concrete designed to 
 The power canal, which taps the river at a point above prevent floating ice from entering the pipe. The water is 
 
 THE NIAGARA FALLS HYDRAULIC POWER AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY 
 
 of thirty-four thousand continuous horsepower, and when 
 the new plant is completed this figure will be far exceeded. 
 The entire fall of the water in the canal, from the forebay 
 to the tailrace, is two hundred and ten feet. 
 
 Port Day, and runs throughout the city to a point below the 
 steel arch bridge, furnishes a steady supply of water the 
 year around, there being not even a diminution of the current 
 during the winter months. Just below Port Day is the 
 beginning of the rapids, with a fall of more than fifty feet 
 in three quarters of a mile. By cutting across a bend in 
 the river the canal comes out at the cliff below the bridge, 
 the entire distance being about four thousand four hundred 
 feet, and there is an extended level tract of land where fac- 
 tories can be erected without interfering with streets or 
 
 build 
 
 conveyed from this point through the park by means of a 
 pipe sixty-one hundred feet long to a point immediately above 
 the power house, which is situated in the gorge at the foot 
 of the falls. This pipe is made of steel surrounded by 
 concrete and is eighteen feet in internal diameter. The power 
 house is designed on classical lines, and made of concrete 
 in order to be as inconspicuous as possible. Its ultimate 
 dimensions will be approximately one thousand feet long by 
 seventy-six feet wide, which will be sufficient for twenty-two 
 units. Each of these units consists of a pair of twin horizon- 
 
 ings. Railroad tracks are convenient to the property, tal Francis type turbines on the same shaft with an electric 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 113 
 
 generator, each unit being of twelve thousand horsepower 
 nominal capacity. The generators run at a speed of one 
 hundred and eighty seven and a half revolutions per minute 
 under an effective head of one hundred and seventy-five 
 feet. The completed power house will be composed of three 
 groups of units, each having its own exciter plant consisting 
 of two horizontal turbines of five hundred horsepower each, 
 driving a direct current generator of three hundred and 
 seventy-five kilowatts at two hundred and fifty volts running 
 at three hundred revolutions per minute. These exciters 
 are used for supplying current for the fields of the main 
 alternators, as well as arc lamps, motors, and various other 
 pieces of apparatus throughout the plant. 
 
 The current generated in the main units is conducted 
 through cables imbedded in the walls of one of three cable 
 
 feel wide and thirty-two thousand feel long, running gener- 
 ally in a northerly direction to a point down the river known 
 as the Devil's Hole, where they jump across in a span thir- 
 teen hundred feel long to the other side of the river in New 
 York Slate. In addition to these high-tension feeders there 
 are approximately thirty miles of lines serving Canadian 
 customers at generator voltage. 
 
 The power transmitted to New York State is sold in 
 bulk to The Niagara. Lockporl i\: Ontario Power Company, 
 incorporated under the laws of New York Stale, which dis- 
 tributes it to individual customers. This company has at 
 present approximately four hundred miles of transmission 
 lines running from Devil's Hole through Lockporl and 
 Rochester to Syracuse, a total distance of one hundred and 
 sixty-seven miles from the distributing station, with branch 
 
 THE ONTARIO POWER COMPANY 
 
 tunnels which rise from the rear wall of the generating 
 station to the distributing station, located on the hill some 
 six hundred feet back of the power house and two hundred 
 and sixty feet above it. In the distributing station are all 
 of the switchboards, transformers, and other electrical appa- 
 ratus, and the entire control of all of the electrical features 
 of the plant is concentrated in one room, known as the 
 control room, where one man will have practically the abso- 
 lute control of the entire one hundred and eighty thousand 
 horsepower. This feature, it is believed, is unique in that 
 the man having actual control of the apparatus is isolated, 
 and will therefore be subject to no noise or disturbances 
 interfering with his work. From the distributing station, 
 the transmission lines start out, two carrying power at 
 sixty thousand volts, each having a capacity of forty thousand 
 kilowatts, running over a private right of way three hundred 
 
 lines running to West Seneca, Batavia. Caledonia, Avon. 
 Auburn, and Baldwinsville, near Syracuse. The right of 
 way for these lines is three hundred feet in width from the 
 river to Lockport, two hundred feet from this point to Roches- 
 ter, and then seventy-five feet the remainder of the way to 
 Syracuse, and is owned by the company in fee. In addition 
 the company leases a right of way on the West Shore Railroad 
 from near Akron to Syracuse. 
 
 Among the largest individual consumers of power from 
 these lines might be mentioned The Lackawanna Steel 
 Company, The Shenandoah Steel Wire Company, The 
 Syracuse Rapid Transit Railway Company. The Lockport 
 Gas and Electric Light Company, The Auburn Light, 
 Heat, and Power Company, the Erie Railroad Company, 
 and The Genesee County Electric Light, Power, and Gas 
 Company. 
 
114 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 The Buffalo General Electric Company. — The 
 
 history of The Buffalo General Electric Company is largely 
 the history of the electrical development of Buffalo in the 
 past twenty-five years. In 1882. James Adams, A. P. 
 Wright, J. F. Moulton, and H. G. Knowlton formed an 
 organization for the purpose of distributing electric light 
 in the city. 
 
 CHARLES R. HUNTLEY 
 
 The earliest application was for lights generated through 
 what was then known as a Brush arc dynamo. The first 
 demonstration was across Buffalo Creek, on what is known 
 as the Island. The business spread rapidly and another 
 establishment was started near the freight house of the New 
 York Central Railroad. Later a plant was built in Wilke- 
 son Street and another in Prenatt Street, near Buffalo Creek. 
 
 The franchise was granted by the Common Conned 
 to The Brush Electric Light Company and to The United 
 States Electric Company, but the progress of the electric 
 companies was exceedingly slow, and they met with all 
 sorts of difficulties in establishing their business, ignorance 
 and prejudice being always potential factors. 
 
 The early efforts of the company were confined to what 
 was then known as the First Ward and the outlying dis- 
 tricts, for the reason that it was not an easy matter for the 
 existing lighting organization to address themselves to the 
 illumination of streets in other quarters. Much criticism 
 was made by individuals and a hostile press because such 
 
 streets as Abbott Road and Elk Street were lighted by Cice- 
 ro , 
 
 tricity, alleging that it was farm land and not recognizing 
 that the lighting was essential to these great highways for 
 those who came into the city with their goods in the early 
 hours of the morning. But the criticism was upon so flimsy 
 
 a basis that it could not stand long in the light of use and 
 appreciation. 
 
 In 1886 an organization was formed known as The 
 Thomson-Houston Electric Light Company, which, in the 
 main, purposed to do electric lighting on the west side. 
 The results of the business of both companies was not entirely 
 satisfactory, and a combination of interests, by the purchase 
 of stocks and bonds of the respective companies by a common 
 holder, was entered into in 1892 under the name of The 
 Buffalo General Electric Company. The active elements 
 of all the companies were associated in the new organization, 
 with Mr. Daniel O'Day as president, Mr. George Urban, 
 Junior, vice-president, and Mr. Charles R. Huntley general 
 manager. 
 
 From that time on there has been a steady increase 
 in the use and appreciation of electricity. In 1807 the steam 
 plants of the various companies were gradually dismantled 
 and the power was taken from Niagara Falls through The 
 Cataract Power and Conduit Company. Today Niagara Falls 
 power is distributed through The Buffalo General Electric 
 Company and is probably the most potent factor in Buffalo's 
 industrial life. At the present time there are different dis- 
 tributing stations in different parts of the city — in Wilkeson 
 Street. Court and Main streets, Ohio Street, Babcock Street, 
 and Ferry Street. 
 
 In Buffalo the use of electricity is becoming general, 
 and the community is living up to its name — the Electric 
 City. Particularly is the applica'ion of this force to all 
 domestic requirements becoming popular; such as for house 
 lights, heat for cooking and laundry purposes, for operating 
 sewing machines, mechanical elevators, and so forth. The 
 Buffalo General Electric Company has been the leading 
 educator in this respect. 
 
 The offices of this concern are located in the new Fidelity 
 Building, and the present officers are: president and gen- 
 eral manager, Charles R. Huntley; vice-presidents, George 
 Urban, Junior, and Andrew Langdon; assistant manager, 
 William R. Huntley; treasurer, I). T. Nash. 
 
 The L. M. Ericsson Telephone Manufacturing Com- 
 pany. — Among the larger industries recently located in Buf- 
 falo is that of The L. M. Ericsson Telephone Manufacturing 
 Company. The plant is situated on Military Road near 
 the city line. 
 
 After careful research and investigation Buffalo was 
 found to be the most desirable location for this plant. Unsur- 
 passed facilities for transportation by lake, canal, and rail. 
 unlimited electric power, and a large population of diver- 
 sified classes from which to employ labor were the practical 
 inducements in selecting this city. A site was purchased 
 covering thirteen acres of ground and situated between 
 the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad tracks 
 and Military Road. The city is within easy reach by trolley. 
 
 The two buildings, which constitute the plant at present, 
 were commenced in the fall of 1905. The factory is con- 
 structed of shale brick and Portland cement mortar, avoiding 
 the use of lime entirely. It is of the modern one-story 
 design, eliminating elevators and stairs. The roof is of 
 
•/'///•: CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 115 
 
 sawtooth ((instruction, with windows toward the north, 
 affording a steady light and no shadows. All vibration is 
 prevented by firm, independent, well-braced trusses. The 
 floor is composed of expanded metal and concrete with 
 maple covering. The posts in this building are placed on 
 twenty-five foot centers one way and ten and a half foot 
 centers the other way. 
 
 Figure "2 shows the lavatories. The hall has steel roof 
 construction with skylights, white enamel walls, and mosaic 
 floor. The partitions between the toilets arc marble. Solid 
 porcelain washbowls, with hot and cold water and individual 
 steel lockers, have been provided. Steel seats are placed 
 along the wall, and everything possible for the health and 
 comfort of the employees has been furnished. 
 
 The receiving room and shipping department are at 
 
 fourteen thousand feet of steam pipe, is at the side of the 
 boiler room. Space is reserved for another fan and heater. 
 
 In the rear of the boiler room are the ovens and fur- 
 naces for hardening and annealing. A large forge and 
 grinding shop is also in this section of the building. 
 
 Power is received for lighting and motors from 
 Niagara Falls by a private underground conduit. A cable 
 with six hundred horsepower capacity transmits the current 
 from the power company's twenty-two hundred volt mains. 
 From this voltage the current is transformed to four 
 hundred and forty volts for power and to two hundred 
 and twenty volts for lighting. 
 
 'Fhe plant is equipped with two W. K. Westinghouse 
 transformers of two hundred horsepower each. Room for 
 an additional one is provided, which when installed will 
 
 THE L. M. ERICSSON TELEPHONE MANUFACTURING COMPANY 
 
 the south side of the building, where a private switch from 
 the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad tracks 
 brings the cars to the doors, affording convenience in loading 
 and unloading. A large fireproof safe is built in the stock 
 room in which to keep valuable tools and dies. The 
 equipment of the tool room is superior in every detail. The 
 machines used in all departments are of the latest manufacture 
 and the most approved types. In the power house are two 
 one hundred horsepower boilers for heating, also a twenty- 
 horsepower boiler for use during the summer. 
 
 Sturtevant's system is installed for heating the plant. 
 The heated air, forced by a fourteen-foot seven-inch fan. 
 enters the building through registers in the east and west 
 walls. The fan is run by a fifty-horsepower motor. The 
 heated air is driven one hundred and twenty-five feet each 
 way and the used air drawn out by suction through registers 
 in the floor. The fan apparatus, with heater containing 
 
 make a total of six hundred horsepower. In this room are 
 also placed the smaller transformers for light, the main 
 high-tension primary and secondary panels with oil switches, 
 time relays, recording ammeters, and main switches for the 
 different groups of motors. 
 
 The gas plant, a large oil pump, and air compressor 
 supply the twenty-horsepower boiler, furnaces, brazing 
 burners, and ovens with heat. A ten thousand two hundred 
 gallon oil tank furnishes the fuel for the plant. The oil 
 tank is outside of the building and underground. It is 
 automatically arranged and can produce any amount of 
 gas required. 
 
 The plant is protected by sprinklers having a supply 
 from a hundred and fifty pound water main reenforced by 
 a fifty-thousand gallon tank placed on a seventy-five foot 
 steel tower. 
 
 The large grounds surrounding the buildings will be 
 
116 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 the site of the additional factories soon to be constructed. 
 All power, water, heating and lighting apparatus, boilers, 
 and sprinklers were installed with the intention of erecting 
 three more buildings, and no alterations will be necessary 
 to supply them. 
 
 Schoellkopf & Company. — The business of tan- 
 ning slice]) leathers, now carried on more extensively 
 by Schoellkopf <!s: Company than by any other firm 
 in the United States, was originally established by 
 
 Since its organization Schoellkopf & Company's busi- 
 ness has increased in every line of its trade, and the tan- 
 neries now controlled by the company turn out a complete 
 line of sheep leathers. They furnish every shade in bead- 
 ing and facing skins, together with four distinct tannages 
 and finishes of glazed black for the manufacture of shoes. 
 They also turn out a large line of calf-finished colored stock 
 for men's shoes in the different shades and qualities, all 
 of which are distinguished by being perspiration proof. 
 Thev manufacture a large amount of glazed black stock, 
 
 LAVATORIES— THE L. M. ERICSSON TELEPHONE MANUFACTURING COMPANY 
 
 Lymburner & Torrey, who started a pullery and 
 sheepskin tannery in 1S(I'2, their chief products being- 
 white and colored toppings, russet linings, russet aprons, and 
 a small amount of pulled wool. In the year 1877 the late 
 Jacob Schoellkopf, one of the most prominent manufactur- 
 ers on the Niagara Frontier, and one of the chief stock- 
 holders and organizers of The United States Leather Com- 
 pany, purchased their business and reorganized it under 
 the name of Schoellkopf & Company, manufacturing the 
 " Esco brand" of sheep leathers. The daily output of the 
 factory at that time was about two thousand skins. Some 
 idea of the phenomenal growth will be gained when it is 
 known that in 1904 the product exceeded twelve thou- 
 sand skins daily. 
 
 of which the glazed excelsior blacks are the best known 
 and of the best quality. Special attention is given to colored 
 skins and sole stocks for soft sole and infants' shoes; also 
 to alligator-finished roans for slippers and specialties. 
 
 In the glove line the company has been very success- 
 ful with the well-known colored Napa glove, which is claimed 
 to be the same in every respect as Dent's celebrated Beving- 
 ton leather. Provision is made for the medium and lower 
 grades of gloves, gauntlets, and mittens and an exclusive 
 variety of colored mittens and glove leathers, soft pliable 
 tannages, fireproof and waterproof stocks, together with 
 specially finished leathers for cuffs and wrists. Dealers in 
 leathers and findings, harness manufacturers, and others 
 can find a complete line of sheep leathers, including uniform 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 117 
 
 size large-spread aprons; russets; pads and linings for 
 saddle and harness manufacturers, bellows-makers, black- 
 smiths; and so forth. The firm also producesan extensive 
 line of black and colored skivers and hag roans for the man- 
 ufacture of dress-suit eases and traveling bags. 
 
 Of late years the firm has produced great quantities 
 of hand-scoured, bark-tanned, strictly Chicago packer 
 take-off shearlings for duck coal manufacturers, and also 
 many black and brown shearlings, in fast, crock-proof 
 colors, to be sold to manufacturers of fur gauntlets, robes, 
 and coats. Among the specialties manufactured are skins 
 for mills of different sorts; for meter, cap, and toy manufac- 
 urers; for bookbinders; ami for belt, suspenders, purse, 
 and leather goods manufacturers. A complete line of sam- 
 
 Dallas, Texas, 225 Commerce Street, II. F. Speer, manager; 
 London, England, Hi Saint Thomas Street, 1'. C. Hanisch 
 & Company. 
 
 The plant of Schoellkopf & Company, al the corner 
 of Perry and Mississippi streets, is considered the finest 
 of its kind in the world. From the very firs) il occupied 
 a large space and several years ago it was still further en- 
 larged, giving a total floor space of a little more than three 
 hundred and thirty-one thousand square feel. Since then 
 additional property has been acquired, and large, commo- 
 dious, six-story buildings of the most improved and modern 
 type will be erected, giving a total floor space of five hundred 
 and eighty-eight thousand four hundred and thirty-two 
 square feet, still leaving room for further extension. The 
 
 SCHOELLKOPF & COMPANY 
 
 pies of all this trade product is carried at the different branch 
 houses and selling agencies. 
 
 It needs but a glance at the list of selling agencies to 
 show how extensive and far-reaching the business of the 
 Schoellkopf company is. 
 
 Such agencies are maintained in the following cities; 
 Boston, !).'? South Street, A. F. Gordon, manager; New York 
 City, 32 Spruce Street, S. R. Safford, manager; (ilovers- 
 ville, 55 South Main Street, P. F. Langley, manager; Chicago, 
 190 Lake Street, A. Buerger, manager; Saint Louis. 811 
 Lucas Avenue, W. G. C. Kimball, Junior, manager; Phila- 
 delphia, 411 Arch Street, W. A. Lippincott, manager; Cincin- 
 nati, 810 Sycamore Street, Griess, Pfleger & Company, 
 Rochester, 26 Andrews Street, R. P. Martin, manager; 
 
 offices and workrooms in the plant are well laid out, with 
 an eye to the comfort and health of the seven hundred work- 
 men employed there. 
 
 Buffalo Gasolene Motor Company. The plant of 
 this company is located at 1280 to 1290 Niagara Street at 
 the corner of Auburn Avenue. It is a thoroughly modern 
 plant, being constructed especially for the manufacture of 
 their production. It is equipped with all the latest and 
 I list machinery and tools. 
 
 The Buffalo Gasolene Motor Company are manufac- 
 turers of the celebrated "Buffalo" marine engines, devoting 
 their entire time and attention to this one particular line. 
 They build two distinct lines for marine work — their regular 
 
118 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 type for the ordinary launches, semi-speed boats, etc., this world. They have worked up a very enviable foreign busi- 
 size being made from two to one hundred horsepower; and ness, and have important connections abroad, 
 their special slow-speed heavy-duty type for fishing boats, 
 work boats, small tugs, heavy cruisers, etc., where ability 
 
 the 
 
 
 The company was organized in 1899, being one of 
 pioneers in the marine engine field. The present 
 officers are L. A. Fischer, president; 
 A. F. Dohn, vice-president; A. Snyder, 
 secretary and treasurer and general 
 manager: W. E. Blair, general super- 
 intendent. 
 
 Interested visitors are always wel- 
 come at the factory and a visit to their 
 plant is very instructive, as well as inter- 
 esting. 
 
 R 
 
 Louis A. Fischer, the president of 
 the above concern, was born in the pro- 
 vince of Alsace, France, in the year 1854, 
 coming to America in the year 1872. 
 In his native country he received the 
 common school education, and after com- 
 ing to Buffalo received further education 
 at Saint Joseph's College. 
 
 Mr. Fischer started in business in 
 Bradford, Pennsylvania, in 187ti, start- 
 ing a wholesale grocery and feed store, 
 which is still in existence. He remained 
 
 in charge of this business until 1882, at 
 THF. BUFFALO GASOLENE MOTOR COMPANY w , m . h ^ hp f . ame tQ Buffak) ^ ;„ 
 
 to stand up under the most severe conditions is the prime company with John Walkam and the late Philip Dohn 
 
 requisite. opened a lumber and planing mill business under the name 
 
 Their product is well and favorably known all over the ,,f Walkam. Dohn & Fischer, and the name was afterward 
 
 L01 IS A. FISCHER 
 
 ALBERT F. DOHN 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 119 
 
 changed to Dolin & Fischer, and still later to Dohn, Fischer 
 & Beyer, under which title the business is at the present 
 time being run. Mr. Fischer is also president of this 
 company. 
 
 In 1899 Mr. Fischer with several others organized 
 The Buffalo Gasolene Motor Company and lias been presi- 
 dent of same since its incorporation. Mr. Fischer is also a 
 director of the German-American Bank, as well as being 
 interested in several other lines of business. 
 
 Albert F. Dohn was born in South Cayuga, Ontario, 
 Canada, August 3d, 187.5. He received the ordinary com- 
 mon school and high school education and also a regular bus- 
 iness college course. He came with the concern shortly 
 after incorporation, and became vice-president upon the 
 death of his uncle, the late Philip Dohn, in June, 1905. 
 
 Mr. Dohn pays special attention to the sales department, 
 and is considerably out of town. He is a member of several 
 clubs and associations, and has an extensive acquaintance. 
 
 Abraham Snyder was born of German parents in the 
 township of Rainham, county of Haldinand. Ontario, 
 Canada, in the year 184.5. When sixteen years old he 
 started to work in the largest hardware and general store 
 in Dunville, Ontario, where he continued and was em- 
 ployed until 1808, working himself up to head clerk. 
 
 Feeling that there was greater opportunity on this side 
 of the border, Mr. Snyder came to Buffalo in 18(i8, enterinu; 
 
 for five years, when he sold out to his partner and associated 
 with W. H. Garbe in the same lit i< ■ of business on the same 
 street, where he continued for another live years, again selling 
 out to his partner and entering into the boot ami shoe busi- 
 ness, in which he continued until 18!)8, when he retired from 
 active business. He helped to incorporate The Buffalo 
 Gasolene Motor Company in 180!) and has been secretary 
 and treasurer since its inception, and a year after was also 
 made manager, which position lie still holds. 
 
 Mr. Snyder is a very conservative and careful business 
 man, and his prudent management, together with able assist 
 ancc from fellow -directors, is responsible for the present 
 enviable standing of The Buffalo Gasolene Motor Company. 
 
 WILLIAM E. BLAIR 
 
 William E. Blair, general superintendent of the above 
 concern, was born in November, 18(i.'S, at Thornberry. 
 Ontario, of Scotch parents, coming to the United States with 
 his parents early in 1864. He received a common anil 
 high school education in this city. 
 
 Mr. Blair started to work in the employ of W. W. 
 Oliver of this city, where he received his mechanical educa- 
 tion and learned the trade of fine tool-making. He remained 
 in that employ until seven years ago, when he entered the 
 gasolene engine field as foreman for The Conrad Motor 
 Carriage Company, automobile manufacturers, from which 
 position he retired to accept the position of foreman of the 
 machine shop of The Buffalo Gasolene Motor Company, 
 entering their employ on April 4th, 1903, being soon after 
 
 the employ of , at that time, a prominent dry goods merchant promoted to his present position of general superintendent. 
 
 on Genesee Street, where he was employed until 1872, when Mr. Blair is a capable mechanic, has a large aequaint- 
 
 he entered into partnership with Philip Ansteth, opening a ance, and is a member of various clubs and associations, 
 
 dry goods store in Elk Street. He continued in this business also a prominent Mason. 
 
 ABRAHAM SNYDER 
 
120 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 The Crosby Company. -The real beginning of the 
 business of The Crosby Company, which is the stamping, 
 
 drawing, and forming of sheet metal, was hack in W.H, 
 when Mr. W. II. Crosby, then a junior officer in a small 
 concern engaged in the manufacture of steel halls for bicy- 
 cles, worked out in a practical manner a stamped steel lug 
 for a bicycle frame. The idea did not appeal particularly 
 to the other members of the company, and nothing 
 was done beyond making a few experiments. 
 
 A little later, in the fall of IND.'S. a new company. 
 The Spaulding Machine Screw Company, was organized, 
 of which Mr. Crosby was made the manager. This 
 gave him the opportunity he desired to develop sheet steel 
 stamped parts for bicycle construction, and almost imme- 
 diately he began to manufacture such parts for certain of 
 the bicycle manufacturers. Up to this time bicycle frame 
 
 Machine Screw Company became in three years one of the 
 largest concerns engaged in the manufacture of bicycle 
 parts. In 1896, Mr. Spaulding, the senior partner, became 
 involved in personal financial difficulties, with the result 
 that Mr. Crosby withdrew from the management and 
 organized a company of his own. He took with him his 
 brother, Mr. A. G. Crosby, Mr. William H. Hill, and Mr. 
 Edward Ehler, all of whom had been employed in The 
 Spaulding Machine Screw Company during the years of 
 Mr. Crosby's management. The new company was organ- 
 ized in June of 1896, with Mr. W. H. Crosby as president 
 and manager, Mr. A. G. Crosby vice-president, Mr. Wil- 
 liam H. Hill secretary and treasurer, and Mr. Edward Elder 
 superintendent, with office anil works at 506 to ,508 Genesee 
 Street. The untimely death of Mr. A. G. Crosby in the 
 summer of 1000 was a hard blow to the company, as he was 
 
 THK CROSBY COMPANY 
 
 connections or joints had been made exclusively from solid 
 drop forgings which had to be bored out and machined 
 to a very considerable extent. The fact that the sheet 
 steel stamped parts could be produced for much less money 
 led many manufacturers to consider them "'cheap,'' and, 
 therefore, undesirable for a "high-grade" bicycle. Bicy- 
 cles at that time were retailing for a hundred and fifty dollars. 
 It did not take long, however, for the more progressive of 
 the manufacturers to discover that the sheet steel stamped 
 parts were exactly as strong and as desirable in every 
 way, and they began to use them largely, although at first 
 without advertising the fact. They were able not only to 
 reduce the cost of their product very considerably but 
 also increase it largely, owing to their relief from the 
 long process of machining drop forgings, and the fact that 
 these stamped parts could be delivered in large quan- 
 tities in short time. The result was that The Spaulding 
 
 accounted one of the very best salesmen in the whole trade. 
 In other respects the personnel of the company has remained 
 unchanged. In 1896, when The Crosby Company was 
 organized, its sole business was the manufacture of 
 bicycle frame parts from sheet metal. It had its serious 
 " ups and downs" during the bad years of the bicycle trade 
 in 1807, '08, and '00, and was forced during that time to 
 develop new fields for the use of stamped work. In this 
 it was very successful, and many special parts for a great 
 variety of different trades were added to its list of products. 
 These include, to mention only a few, parts for wagons and 
 carriages, harnesses, sewing machines, scales, ice skates, 
 agricultural implements, trolley wheels, telephone instru- 
 ments, power transmission lines, and many others. In 
 addition to this there came the rapid development of 
 automobiles and motor vehicles generally, which gave 
 the company a special field for stamped parts. Such vehicles 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 121 
 
 require great strength with light weight, and nothing will 
 give these qualities at a reasonable price better than sheet 
 steel ami brass stampings. During the past five <>r six 
 years of rapid development in the automobile ndustry the 
 company's business has grown tremendously. Its quar- 
 ters on Genesee Street became inadequate in 1908, and in 
 that year the company purchased and moved into the 
 large four-story brick factory building on Pratt Street which 
 it now occupies. Even this building did not prove large 
 enough for any length of time, and in 1905 a four-story 
 fireproof wing was added on the north side. Again, in 
 l!)l)(i, came further need for increased capacity, and the 
 adjoining property was purchased and a large two-story 
 brick building erected thereon. 
 
 William H. Crosby, president of The Crosby Company, 
 at 171 and IS!) Pratt Street, is one of the best-known busi- 
 ness and club men in Buffalo. He was born at Markham. 
 Ontario. August 3d, lS(i-2. and received his early education 
 in the public schools of that place, and later in the schools 
 of Toronto. In 1877 Mr. Crosby qualified as a school- 
 teacher, in which service he continued for about four years, 
 coming to Buffalo in 1881. With the exception of five 
 years (1883 to 1888) spent in Boston. Massachusetts, as the 
 New England representative of a Buffalo oil refining concern, 
 this city has been Mr. Crosby's home since that time. 
 
 In the year 189(i lie organized his present successful 
 business, now carried on under the name of The Crosby 
 Company, of which lie is the head. The business engaged 
 
 WILLIAM H. CROSBY 
 
 Mr. Crosby's business activities arc by no means 
 confined to the company which bears his name. He is 
 president of The Charles E. H;ill Company, of Buffalo, 
 manufacturers of hardware specialties; president of The 
 National Cycle Parts and Accessories Association; vice- 
 president of The National Motor ami Accessories Associa- 
 tion; and a director of The Central National Bank, of this 
 city. 
 
 In all movements for the uplifting of young men. Mr. 
 Crosby has always taken an active part, and he is at the 
 present time chairman of the board of managers of the 
 Central Young Men's Christian Association. He is also 
 president of the board of trustees of the new Buffalo Hahne- 
 mann I lospital. In club life he is especially prominent, 
 being a member of the Buffalo, Ellicott, and Park clubs, 
 the Buffalo Canoe Club, and a number of other social or- 
 ganizations. 
 
 Mr. Crosby was married in I8!)(l to Emma C. Newton, 
 of Boston, Massachusetts. 
 
 William H. Hill, treasurer of The Crosby Company, 
 was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 18(!(i, and was edu- 
 
 in by the firm is sheet metal stamping and the manufacture 
 of parts and fittings for bicycles and automobiles. 
 
 WILLIAM H. HILL 
 
 cated in the public schools of Passaic, New Jersey, and at 
 New York University, New York City. In 1885 he entered 
 business life in New York City, continuing there for the 
 following six years, except for one interval of a year, when 
 he represented his firm in Boston, Massachusetts. 
 
 In 1801 Mr. Hill first came to Buffalo, having accepted 
 a position with The Niagara Machine Company of this 
 city. lb- was sent by that company to England as their 
 European agent, with headquarters at Birmingham, and 
 
122 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 continued there two years. Returning to Buffalo in 1893, eeived the munificient sum of six dollars a month. In 1831 
 he joined forces with Mr. William H. Crosby, who was then he went to school at Fort Plain, New York, and in Xovem- 
 organizing the sheet metal stamping business now known her of that year entered the firm of Chapman, Peek & 
 
 as The Crosby Company, becoming successively secretary, 
 and, later, treasurer of that corporation, which office he now 
 holds. Mr. Hill is also vice-president of The Charles E. Hall 
 Company, of Buffalo, manufacturers of hardware specialties. 
 
 In club and fraternity life Mr. Hill has 
 taken his part, being a member of the Buffalo. 
 Ellicott, and Park clubs and of the Delta Upsi- 
 lon Fraternity. 
 
 Mr. Hill was married in 1902 to Emeleen 
 H. Carlisle, of Passaic, New Jersey. 
 
 Lewis J. Bennett, president of The Buf- 
 falo Cement Company, prominent citizen, and 
 well-known business man, was born in the 
 town of Duanesburg, Schenectady County, New 
 York. July 7th. 1833. He was the son of a 
 farmer, William Bennett, who, three years 
 after the birth of the subject of this sketch, 
 removed to the town of Glen, Montgomery 
 County, New York. 
 
 The early life of Mr. Bennett was much 
 like the lives of all farmers' sons during those 
 early times — hard work, not a few hardships, 
 and slow advancement. He worked on the 
 farm in summer and attended the district 
 school in winter until the age of sixteen 
 \cars, when he entered the employ of Chap- 
 man & Smith, grocers in a small way, in the village of 
 Fultonville, New York, For his services Mr. Bennett re- 
 
 Company, at Fultonville. When Lorenzo Y. Peek with- 
 drew from the firm three years later it became known as 
 Chapman & Bennett. 
 
 In the spring of 18.56 Mr. Bennett sold his interests 
 
 LEWIS J. BENNETT 
 
 THE BUFFALO CEMENT COMPANY 
 
 to William W. Kline and went to California during the 
 troublesome times of the "Vigilantes," and is one of the 
 few men who remember those stirring times on the " Gold 
 Frontier." He returned to his native State in 1856, and 
 in November purchased a one-third interest in the firm of 
 Chapman & Kline, which for the next ten years was known 
 as L. J. Bennett & Company. October 6th, 1857, Mr. 
 Bennett was married to Mary F. Spalding, the daughter 
 of Andrew Spalding, of Johnstown, New York. In 1861 
 he was appointed by the Canal Hoard collector of tolls at 
 Fultonville, and reappointed the following year. In 1865 he 
 was elected supervisor of the town of Glen, and during 
 that service raised forty-three volunteers for the Federal 
 Army in the Civil War, thus protecting his constituency 
 from a draft. 
 
 In the spring of 1866 Mr. Bennett sold out his interests 
 in the mercantile business to Chapman & Kline and moved 
 to Buffalo, immediately assuming the canal repair contract 
 in that territory, embracing all the basins and slips in Buf- 
 falo and for seventeen miles east of this city. In the spring 
 of 1868, with Andrew Spalding and John Hand, he formed 
 a contracting business for city, State, and Government work, 
 covering all of western New York. It was during this work 
 that the first iron bridges in western New York were con- 
 structed, under Mr. Bennett's supervision. 
 
 It was in 1874 that Mr. Bennett first became interested 
 in the manufacture of hydraulic cement, and in 1875. in 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 123 
 
 anticipation of a fast-growing business, be purchased up- 
 wards of two hundred acres of land in the northern section 
 of the city along Main Street. In March, 1X77, lie organ- 
 ized The Buffalo Cement Company, Limited, and was 
 elected its first president, which post lie has held continu- 
 ously ever since. The company was capitalized al one 
 hundred thousand dollars from the beginning, and still 
 controls the great area of land on the east side of Main 
 Street extending hack to Bailey Avenue. Its value bas greatly 
 enhanced, and today its assessed valuation is nearly a million 
 dollars. On it are located the quarries and factories where 
 the cement is produced. With Mr. Bennett is associated, 
 as vice-president, his son, Leslie J. Bennett. Mr. James 
 P. Wood, formerly vice-president and treasurer, died June 
 7th, 190(5. The former vice-presidents of the concern are 
 Ambrose Clark, George Talbot, \Y. W. Pierce, and Andrew- 
 
 Spalding. The firm today employs about 
 and fifty men. 
 
 wo hundred 
 
 In Fultonville, the village of his early life, he is best 
 remembered as one of the founders of the local free school 
 system. Iii 1861 he was one of three to present the village 
 with an educational system that has stood the test of the 
 many intervening year-, and grown to be a model for other 
 villages. 
 
 The Buffalo Cereal Company, of Buffalo, New York, 
 whose plant is herein shown, was organized in 1901, and 
 the erection of their plant was commenced the same year 
 and finished in L902. 
 
 The plant is located at the intersection of Elk Street 
 and the Abbott Road and has direct rail connections with 
 the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern and Erie railroads. 
 The plant consists of two groups of buildings conveniently 
 arranged and divided into eight sections, consisting of 
 elevator, cereal mill, feed mill, drying and cleaning house, 
 transformer house, and three warehouses. 
 
 till BUFFALO CEREAL COMPANY 
 
 In 188!) Mr. Bennett laid out a section of land which 
 was destined to become one of Buffalo's finest residential 
 sections — Central Park. Its improvement cost nearly three 
 hundred thousand dollars, and its projector has always 
 been energetic in maintaining its beauty and exclusiveness, 
 oft times at great cost. 
 
 Mr. Bennett has traveled extensively over a great part 
 of the world. He spent some time in India, Japan, China. 
 and other countries of the Orient, as well as in Europe and 
 in countries lying south of the United States. He is a charter 
 member and first treasurer of Fultonville Lodge, Number 
 531, Free and Accepted Masons; member of Johnstown 
 Chapter, Number 78, Royal Arch Masons; a life member of 
 Apollo Commandery, of Troy, New York, the Buffalo Public 
 Library, the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, the Buffalo 
 Historical Society, the Chamber of Commerce, and Buffalo 
 Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution. 
 
 The buildings occupy a space of about seventy-five 
 by three hundred and ninety feet, and are substantially 
 built of brick and stone, with the exception of the elevator, 
 which is of the usual crib construction and covered with 
 corrugated iron. The plant is operated by electrical power 
 from Niagara Falls, of which it has an installation of about 
 seven hundred horsepower. 
 
 The elevator is equipped with the latest machinery 
 for handling grain, and has an excellent system of dust 
 collecting, which makes this part of the plant remarkably 
 clean. 
 
 The cereal mill turns out a line of yellow corn and 
 white corn goods and rolled oats, which arc generally packed 
 in barrels or sacks, and sold principally to large users. 
 
 The feed mill is equipped to manufacture a special 
 line of horse, cattle, and poultry feeds, and yellow corn 
 feed products. In addition to this, this mill is equipped 
 
124 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 with automatic weighing machinery for sacking grain, 
 such as corn, oats, wheat, buckwheat, and kaffir corn. 
 
 The warehouses of the company at this end of the plant 
 are large, which permits the carrying of a large line of con- 
 centrated feed products, the result of this being that the 
 company is in a position to give their customers among 
 the feed dealers mixed or assorted cars containing a varied 
 assortment. In some cases as many as forty different 
 articles are loaded into one car. 
 
 The cleaning and drying house is a six-story fireproof 
 building constructed entirely of brick and steel, with the 
 exception that the floors and l>in work are constructed of 
 reinforced concrete. One end of this building contains 
 two large Hess driers, which have a capacity of several 
 
 The H-O Company.— Wherever English is read the 
 fame of "H-O" has penetrated, for this company is one 
 of the most extensive advertisers in the world. Not only 
 are they now among the heaviest advertisers, but are 
 looked upon by the business world as the pioneer company 
 in the field of extensive advertising. They were the first 
 to see their business grow from judicious advertising rein- 
 forced by representative goods. 
 
 The company was incorporated for the manufacture of 
 Hornby's Oats in 1893. Alexander Hornby, the originator 
 of the cereal food, sold his rights to Edward Elsworth, who 
 immediately embarked in the extensive manufacture of the 
 product. The business was attracted to Buffalo by the 
 city 's superior shipping facilities, coming here from New York 
 
 THE H-d COMPANY 
 
 thousand bushels of corn and oats per day. These driers 
 are operated by separate motors, and the drying is done 
 entirely by steam, the operation thus being made practically 
 free from all danger of fire. The steam for the driers is 
 furnished by what is known as the gunboat type of marine 
 boiler, and the buildings are heated from the same plant. 
 The cleaning machinery is of the latest design, and it is 
 in this building that the oats are prepared for the final mill- 
 ing in the cereal mill. 
 
 The company has shown steady growth since its organ- 
 ization, the mi lling plant alone giving employment to over 
 one hundred men. 
 
 The president of the company is Mr. L. E. Harmon, 
 ami the secretary and treasurer is Mr. G. F. Booth. 
 
 in 1895, and now ranks among the city's leading industries. 
 Its strides have been well-nigh phenomenal. 
 
 This city is now the headquarters of the concern, from 
 which all its extensive advertising and sample business is 
 also carried on. The largest of its several local mills are 
 on Pulton Street, extending through the block to Perry 
 Street and accessible on both sides by the lines of the New- 
 York Central Railroad, giving unsurpassed shipping facil- 
 ities. There is also an H-O annex at Scott and Chicago 
 streets, the aggregate Buffalo mills having a capacity of 
 one thousand barrels of Hornby's Oats each day. 
 
 The company also has large mills in Hamilton, Ontario, 
 and has recently erected at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, another 
 immense plant for the exclusive manufacture of "Paw-Nee' 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 h: 
 
 cereal. This new mill is located on three trunk lines, and 
 has a daily capacity of two thousand barrels of oats products, 
 three thousand barrels of corn products, five thousand cases 
 of cereal products, and five hundred tons of feed. This 
 latter is an example of the economy of the different plants. 
 Nothing of the nutritious commodity is allowed to go to 
 waste, the refuse from the manufactured food products 
 being sold as feed and being in great demand. The com- 
 pany's latest departure in the cereal food line is " Korn- 
 Kinks, " a highly nutritious food, tin- sales of which have 
 attaitied an astounding figure in a remarkably short time. 
 
 The feature of these great plants which impresses 
 the layman more than anything else, and is, indeed, of the 
 utmost importance to tin' great army who use cereal food 
 at their breakfast table, is the cleanly and wholesome pro- 
 cess of preparation. The finest laws are strictly adhered 
 to, and the person whose crisp morning cereal is placed 
 before him may eat it with a relish in the knowledge that 
 it has been prepared after formulas that absolutely pro- 
 hibit handling by the human hands. 
 
 The II-() Company is capitalized at half a million dol- 
 lars. The Force Company at the same figure, and The 
 Paw-Nee Company at one million dollars. The present 
 officers of The H-O Company are: president, Edward 
 Elsworth; treasurer, Giraud Elsworth: secretary, William 
 G. Heimlich. Mr. Elsworth controls the various companies, 
 and the under officers are practically the same for each. 
 The offices of the allied concerns, under the name of The 
 H-() Company, occupy the entire tenth floor, half of the fifth 
 floor, and half of the basement of the Mututal Life Build- 
 ing, one of the city's finest office buildings. It requires an 
 office force of two hundred persons, and in the local mills 
 seven hundred persons are engaged in the preparation of 
 the company's products and by-products. 
 
 Through the Passburg system the manufacturers of 
 rubber, chemicals, starch, sugar, electrical coils and cables, 
 smokeless powder and other explosives, grain, lumber, and 
 various other commodities arc able to extract every particle 
 of moisture or Solvents from these materials in a few hours, 
 an operation that was formerly the work of weeks and when 
 completed was very imperfect ami unsatisfactory. The value 
 of this to the commercial world, where despatch in filling 
 orders is a most important factor, cannot be overestimated. 
 
 JOSEPH P. DEVINE 
 
 The J. P. Devine Company is a distinctive institution 
 unique alike to the city of Buffalo and the United States. 
 This company controls, in America, the patents and pro- 
 cess of Emil Passburg, of Berlin, the eminent German 
 scientist, for vacuum drying and impregnating apparatus, 
 and is engaged in the manufacture of all this apparatus 
 and its accessories. This includes high-class vacuum 
 pumps and condensers, designed especially for this class 
 of work. 
 
 The business was established in Buffalo five years ago 
 by Mr. Joseph P. Devine, and was incorporated under the 
 laws of the State of New York in 190.5 with the following 
 officers: Joseph P. Devine, president: W. Strohn, vice- 
 president; William P. Kamps, treasurer: and S. A. Benedict, 
 secretary. Before locating the business in this city, Mr. 
 Devine spent considerable time in the Passburg factories 
 and laboratories in Germany, thoroughly familiarizing 
 himself with all the intricacies of the Passburg system. 
 Mr. Strohn, who is associated with him as a member of the 
 parent firm of Passburg, has for many years been prominent 
 in this line of commercial activity, having introduced the 
 Passburg system into all parts of Europe. 
 
 The company maintains a plant at .'5-1.5 Seventh Street, 
 with a large suite of offices on the fourth floor of the Bris- 
 bane Building on Main Street. In the factory, apparatus 
 designed for vacuum and impregnating is constructed, and 
 scarcely any two are similar, their construction and use 
 always depending upon conditions that are themselves so 
 intricate and delicate that the particular machine designed 
 to meet the requirements is determined upon only after 
 exhaustive scientific experiments and research. The local 
 experimental station of the company on Seventh Street 
 is in charge of trained specialists ever willing to demon- 
 strate the system to investigators or prospective purchasers 
 of apparatus used in the application of the Passburg system. 
 The company invites inspection at all times. 
 
 The relations of The J. P. Devine Company and the 
 parent plant of Emil Passburg in Germany are of the closest, 
 and each gives the other full advantage of any discoveries 
 or principles worked out at their respective plants. Asso- 
 ciated with Mr. Devine are a number of experts in chemistry 
 and engineering, who are ever prepared to grapple with any 
 problem that may arise in their particular lines. 
 
 This company also controls the Strohn patents and 
 
] 26 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 systems for extracting rosins, and so forth, and for the and equipment for the manufacture of its apparatus. The 
 
 recovery of highly volatile solvents in vacuum; also the Calor various systems and processes are protected by patents in 
 
 system and patents for sterilization, which were so highly this country and abroad, and the clients of the company 
 
 commended after their trial in France. The company include the largest manufacturers and most exclusive 
 
 now has installed in its plant the most modern machinery trade, and their custom is growing daily. 
 
 THE WILLIAM P. TAYLOR COMPANY 
 
THE BREWING INTERESTS OF BUFFALO. 
 
 IT IS true, indeed, that a city is known by its in- a capacity of upwards of one hundred thousand barrels a 
 dustries. The superiority or inferiority of its prod- year, 
 ucts, in a large measure, establishes a city's standing In 1840 Messrs. J. F. Schanzlin and Hoffman- established 
 away from home. However beautiful and healthful a a brewery at the corner of Main and Saint 1'aul streets, local- 
 community may be, and however desirable it is for residence ing a stone building and brewhouse at that point. Part of 
 purposes, it is the quality of its products that makes its the stone building was used as a restaurant and up until a 
 reputation abroad as a place for the modern, up-to-date few years ago was still standing and used as a tenement 
 business house to establish its quarters. house. In 1842 the firm was dissolved, Mr. Hoffman con- 
 In this respect the city of Buffalo is ever willing to stand tinuing the business, and Mr. Schanzlin purchasing a tract 
 on its merits and succeed or fail as the quality of its products of land at the corner of Main Street, Delavan Avenue, and 
 and the standing of its business interests may warrant. Of Scajaquada Creek, part of what is now known as Luna Park, 
 late years the name Buffalo imprinted upon a finished article He erected there a brewhouse, a fine dwelling, and a restau- 
 rs of itself a guarantee of good faith and superior work- rant, then patronized by many of the best people in Buffalo, 
 manship. The brewhouse was razed many years ago, but the dwelling 
 It is doubtful if any business has contributed more to and restaurant may still be seen, and are used as tenement 
 this supremacy than the city's brewing interests, which, houses. 
 
 combined, form one of the most important items in the aggre- The third brewery in this city was established by Joseph 
 gate trade of the city. For many years it has contributed Friedman, on Oak Street near Tupper, where Saint Marcus 
 as much as any line of industry to the wonderful growth and Church now stands. He erected there a dwelling house, 
 prosperity of the city, and, indeed, in the past few years, brewhouse, and restaurant, and gained much local fame 
 which have witnessed wonderful strides in this direction, at the time by flying in the face of competition and selling 
 probably more than any other line save that of metal work- his product for sixpence while the ruling price was five 
 ing. This refers both to the quantity and quality of the cents a quart in the other breweries and restaurants. His 
 brewing product, which have been of such high order as product, which was locally known as the " sixpencler" beer, 
 to make Buffalo the rival of any city in the l.'nion. both in so advertised him that he for years did a most lucrative 
 the home and export trade. business. The plant in later years passed into the hands 
 The business was inaugurated synchronously with of Beck & Baumgartner, and it was here that Magnus 
 the incorporation of the city, and consequently is the city's Beck laid the foundation of the present Magnus Beck Brew- 
 oldest industry. With the rapid growth of Buffalo the ing Company's extensive trade, now enjoying a product of 
 brewing business kept pace, and some comprehension of one hundred thousand barrels a year. Mr. Baumgartner 
 this is gained when it is known that previous to 1840 there later started in the brewing business for himself and erected 
 were, in the city, but five breweries with a capacity of but a plant at the corner of Exchange and Van Rensselaer 
 from one to nine barrel kettles each. Today there are sev- streets, but he died soon after its completion, 
 eral with a yearly capacity each of more than one hundred The next brewery in succession was the establish- 
 thousand barrels of fine product. ment of Philip Born at the corner of Genesee and Jefferson 
 The pioneer in this important industry in Buffalo was streets, and it was then rated the most modern institution 
 Jacob Boos, whose plant was located in what was then of its kind of that time. Mr. Born died in 1848, and for 
 called "Sandy Town," between Church and York streets several years the business was continued by his widow and 
 and beyond the Erie Canal near the Old Stone House. Jacob Weppner, under the old firm name. In 1862 Ger- 
 Farly in the forties he purchased the land lying between hard Lang was married to the oldest daughter of Mrs. Born 
 Hickory and Pratt streets, below Batavia Street (now Broad- and took the place of Mr. Weppner in the management of 
 way), where the fine buildings of The Iroquois Brewing the plant. The firm became Born & Lang and it was here 
 Company now stand, one of the several plants now having that Mr. Lang began the career in the brewing business 
 
 127 
 
128 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 that eventually brought him great wealth and prominence 
 in this field of industrial enterprise. He subsequently 
 purchased the Cobb property at the corner of Best and 
 Jefferson streets, where the imposing plant of The Gerhard 
 Lang Brewing Company was constructed and has grown 
 to an enormous capacity, comparing favorably with the 
 greatest breweries in the world. 
 
 Godfrey Heiser was the next to engage in the business, 
 and carried on his trade in Seneca Street, below Chicago 
 Street. In 1804 this business passed into the hands of God- 
 frey Heiser, Junior, and Jacob Holzer, both of whom died 
 in a few years, the business being then discontinued. 
 
 In 186.'5 there were thirty-five breweries in successful 
 operation in Buffalo, conducted by the following men: 
 Albert Ziegele, corner of Main and Virginia streets; Born 
 & Lang, corner of Genesee and Jefferson streets; Magnus 
 Heck, corner of North Division and Spring streets; Jacob 
 Scheu, corner of Genesee and Spring streets; J. F. Schanzlin, 
 corner of Main Street and Delavan Avenue; Charles Gcrber, 
 corner of Main Street and Burton Alley: Mushall & Appert, 
 Main Street near Goodell; John Schuesler, corner of Emslie 
 and Clinton streets; George Etoos, Roos Street; F. X. Kalten- 
 bach, Lutheran Street; Fritz Albrecht, 815 Broadway: 
 George Weber, 652 Broadway: Nicholas Hiemenz, Broad- 
 way, opposite Saint Mary's Church; Fritz Loerseh, Genesee 
 Street, near Hickory; David I lass, southwest corner of 
 Cherry and Spring streets; George Rochevot, southeast 
 cornei- of Cherry and Spring streets; Christ Becker, corner 
 of Genesee and Jefferson streets; Franz Welde, Main Street, 
 opposite Summer; Joseph L. Haberstro, corner of Main and 
 High streets; Michael Hoefncr. corner of High and Mich- 
 igan streets; Jacob Baumgartner, corner of Exchange and 
 Van Rensselaer streets; Fritz Lang, corner of Genesee and 
 Grey streets; Gottlieb Bodemer, Genesee Street nearWalden 
 Avenue; Chris Loos, 18 West Bennett Street; Heiser & 
 Holzer, Seneca Street, below Chicago Street; F. J. Jost, 
 corner of Broadway and Pratt Street; Gareis &: Knobloch, 
 Oak near Tupper Street; Baldus & Schleucher, corner of 
 Cedar and Clinton streets: John G. Roehrer, corner of 
 Jefferson and Best streets; William Moffatt, ale brewery, 
 Morgan Street; Hugh Boyle, ale brewery. Saint Paul Street; 
 William W. Sloan, corner of Exchange and Van Rensselaer 
 streets. 
 
 A resort to actual figures gives some idea of the phe- 
 nomenal growth of the brewing trade in Buffalo in the last 
 half century. The statistics, which, fortunately, have been 
 preserved through the efforts of the Buffalo Brewers' Associa- 
 tion, show that in 1863 the manufacture of beer in this city 
 totaled the creditable number of 152, 000 barrels, which, 
 for that period, was high on the list of cities of the United 
 States. In 1896, thirty-three years afterward, the pro- 
 duction had reached the respectable total of 652,1540 barrels, 
 in spite of the fact that the number of breweries had decreased 
 from thirty-five in 186:5 to nineteen in 1896, an illustration 
 not only of the survival of the fittest but of the steady, normal 
 growth of the trade. It is noticeable, too, that this growth 
 had not come in spurts — a condition which indicates an un- 
 healthy condition of industry — but bv steady increase due 
 
 entirely to two things, the growth in population and the 
 marketing of a superior product. In the past twelve years, 
 from 1896 to the time of this writing, the growth has also 
 been satisfactory, with a still further decrease in number 
 of the breweries, the inevitable result of the process of 
 elimination. The last figures available, for the year 1907, 
 shows that a total production of upwards of one million 
 barrels was marketed. 
 
 A gradual increase in the price of raw material and 
 certain restrictions that were being inaugurated by dependent 
 trades caused in 187:5 tin- formation of a local organization 
 which resulted in the powerful Buffalo Brewers' Association, 
 which has figured so largely in Buffalo's industrial life in 
 the past quarter of a century. The first regular meeting was 
 held the second Tuesday of January, 187:5. though a previous 
 meeting was held in the latter part of 1872 for the purpose of 
 organization. At the first regular meeting, held over Donald 
 Bain's brewers' supply store, at number 557 Main Street, the 
 following officers were elected: president, Gerhard Lang; 
 vice-president, Magnus Beck; treasurer, F. J. Jost; secretary, 
 Jacob F. Kuhn. A resolution was adopted at that meet- 
 ing extending the membership privileges to maltsters, hop 
 dealers, and the kindred trades. At the regular meeting 
 held in January. 1875, Mr. Jacob Scheu was elected vice- 
 president in place of Magnus Beck, resigned. 
 
 In January, 1878, the following official board was 
 elected: president, Albert Ziegele; vice-president, Joseph L. 
 Haberstro: treasurer, John Schuesler; secretary, Jacob F. 
 Kuhn. 
 
 During the first week in June, 1880, the Buffalo Associa- 
 tion entertained the United States Brewers' Convention, 
 then the dominating association in the brewery industry 
 of the United States. The convention was one of pleasure 
 and profit to the various organizations here represented, 
 and will long be remembered as one of importance and 
 benefit to the national trade. 
 
 From January 1st, 1882, to January 1st, 1886, the asso- 
 ciation locally had only a nominal existence, and in May, 
 1887, a reorganization was effected and officers were elected 
 as follows: president, Joseph Timmerman; vice-president, 
 August Beck; treasurer, George Rochevot; secretary, Jacob 
 F. Kuhn. A new constitution and by-laws were also adopted 
 on that occasion. 
 
 This marked the beginning of real activity on the part 
 of the Association, and since that time its influence has been 
 felt in many lines of trade in Buffalo and always in any 
 movement that has the welfare of the whole city as its ob- 
 jective. At the meeting in May. 1890. Charles G. Pankow 
 was elected president and John A. Weyand vice-president, 
 the secretary and treasurer being reelected. Mr. Rochevot 
 resigned the office of treasurer in 1891, and Mr. Julius 
 Bin/, was elected to fill the vacancy. In September, 1893, 
 the following were elected: president, Charles G. Pankow; 
 vice-president, J. W. Niederpruem; and the secretary and 
 treasurer were reelected. 
 
 During the years that have intervened, which have 
 marked the greatest achievements of the Buffalo Brewers' 
 Association, there have been many changes in the directorate, 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 129 
 
 hut always the hoard has been in accord and working with State Brewers' and Maltsters' Association, in which capacity 
 the slogan "Buffalo first!" The present directorate of the he served until 1901. 
 association is: president, Charles G. Pankow; vice-president, 
 Colonel John L. Schwartz; treasurer, Robert F. Sehelling; 
 
 secretary. Christian Trap]). 
 
 CHARLES GEORGE PANKOW 
 
 Charles George Pankow was born in Germany, Janu- 
 ary '27th, 185.1. At the age of thirteen years he came to this 
 country, two of his brothers having preceded him here. He 
 became an apprentice at the baking and confectionery 
 trade, following that employment, under various concerns, 
 for a number of years. The young man. however, im- 
 proved his opportunity and attended night school, which 
 enabled him, in a few years, to acquire a good education. 
 
 In 1HS0, Mr. Pankow, then twenty-nine years of age, 
 entered the grocery and liquor business and became the head 
 of an establishment in tins city. Five years later lie removed 
 his store to William and Pratt streets, and there he main- 
 tained his business until 1901, when he retired. 
 
 Since then Mr. Pankow has been engaged in other 
 business fields. He has been connected with the Harmonia 
 Mutual Fire Insurance Company since its organization in 
 1S77, having been president of that organization since Jan- 
 uary. 1880. Iij 1882 he acquired an interest in The Clinton 
 Cooperative Brewing Company, and from January, 1883, 
 until 1901 creditably filled the office of president of that 
 business organization. In May. 1800, he was elected pres- 
 ident of the Buffalo Brewers' Exchange, in which capacity 
 he still serves. He has served as one of the trustees of the 
 United States Brewers' Association, having been elected to 
 that office at Philadelphia, in 1895, for a term of three years. 
 In 1899 he was elected to the presidency of the New York 
 
 In local politics, Mr. Pankow has ever been very promi- 
 nent, his affiliation being with the Republican Party. In 
 
 188.'! he was elected Alderman from the old Fifth Ward, and 
 served for a term of two years. In the fall of 1804 he was elect- 
 ed to the position of ( Commissioner of Public Works, probably 
 tin' most important civil office in Buffalo's administration. 
 
 In the fall of 1908 he was elected Councilman for a 
 term of four years. In all of these municipal capacities, 
 Mr. Pankow acquitted himself very creditably. 
 
 Mr. Pankow is a member of the Masonic fraternity, 
 and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His reli- 
 gious affiliation is with the Evangelical Lutheran Saint John's 
 Church. 
 
 Christian Trapp, one of the city 's best-known German- 
 American citizens, and secretary of the Buffalo Brewers' 
 Exchange, was born September l.'lth, 180(1. in Giessen, 
 in Hesse, Germany. Mr. Trapp received his education in 
 the Buffalo public schools, later attending a business college 
 in this city. 
 
 His debut in business life was in the fire insurance 
 business, first being connected with The Harmonia Mutual 
 Fire Insurance Company, and later representing 'Flic Sun 
 Fire Insurance Company in local territory. Subsequently 
 he entered the insurance business on his own account and 
 for a time was the representative of The Northwestern 
 National Fire Insurance Company of Milwaukee. 
 
 CHRISTIAN" TRAPP 
 
 In 1895 he became associated with the Buffalo Brewers' 
 Exchange in the capacity of assistant secretary. He held 
 this position for two years, performing his duties in a most 
 
ISO 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 creditable manner, until, in 1807, he had so won the esteem 
 and confidence of the members of the Exchange that he 
 was elected to the office of secretary, in which capacity he 
 has since continued. 
 
 Mr. Trapp has always been prominent in German 
 social and fraternal organizations. He is a member of the 
 Buffalo Orpheus and the Buffalo Zither Club and many 
 business associations of Buffalo. His religious affiliation is 
 with the Saint Marcus German Evangelical Church, of the 
 board of trustees of which he is now president. 
 
 October 18th, 1889, Mr. Trapp married Amelia Stetten- 
 benz, daughter of former Street Commissioner Stettenbenz 
 of this city. 
 
 The Gerhard Lang Brewery, located on the entire 
 block bounded by Jefferson, Best. Berlin, and Dodge streets, 
 is said to be the largest brewery in the State outside of New 
 
 in the city of Buffalo. Only the very highest grade of 
 selected barley malt is used in the brewery product. The 
 word " Lang" stands for itself, and Lang's beer is known 
 all over the country for its excellence in quality, purity, 
 and wholesomeness. This could but be the inevitable result 
 when produced from a plant that is as perfect as skill, science, 
 and money can make it. 
 
 The death of Gerhard Lang occurred in I8!) L 2, the 
 rather premature ending of a most successful mercantile 
 and public career. After the death of Mr. Lang, Edwin 
 G. S. Miller, who had since 1884 acted as manager of the 
 brewery, succeeded to the position of president, which he 
 has filled to the present time, with the greatest of success 
 and good management. The active direction of the affairs 
 of the brewery is shared with Mr. Miller by Jacob Gerhard 
 Lang, son of Gerhard Lang. Mr. Lang holds the position 
 of vice-president and treasurer. He is a graduate of Doctor 
 
 THE GERHARD LANG BREWERY 
 
 York City. Its immense buildings, occupying a commanding 
 position, far from the business center, and in the immediate 
 vicinity of two of Buffalo's finest public buildings — the new 
 Sixty-Fifth Regiment Armory and Mastcn Park High School 
 — tend to make this plant one of the show spots of Buffalo. 
 
 The Gerhard Lang Brewery was founded in this city 
 in 1875 by Gerhard Lang, who had come to Buffalo in 1848, 
 and had fourteen years later assumed control of the old 
 Born brewery at the corner of Genesee and Jefferson streets. 
 Finding in the course of a few years that more room and 
 increased facilities were needed for the large business which 
 he was developing, Mr. Lang, in 1875, purchased the site 
 of the present brewery, and erected thereon the nucleus 
 around which the large group of buildings of the present 
 day have been built. These buildings have been extended 
 and improved from time to time, and they now cover an 
 area equaled by few plants of a like nature in the country. 
 And there is plenty of room for further extension. 
 
 The annual capacity of tin- Gerhard Lang Brewery 
 is over three hundred thousand barrels, and is the greatest 
 
 Wyatt's School of Technical Brewing, of New York City. 
 in 18!I4, and returned to Buffalo after an extensive tour of 
 inspection of the huge breweries of the world, thus bringing 
 to the business much valuable knowledge, which has since 
 helped to bring this brewery and its products to their present 
 high standard. 
 
 Edwin G. S. Miller, president of the Gerhard Lang 
 Brewery, and one of Buffalo's prominent citizens, was born 
 in this city March 9th, 1S54, the son of the late John Miller, 
 who came to Buffalo from Bavaria in 18154, and was for 
 many years prominent in the hardware business in this 
 city, and died here in 1878. The younger Miller, the second 
 of four sons, received a common school education, and at 
 the age of sixteen years entered business life in the capacity 
 of bookkeeper for S. D. Colic & Son. Two years later 
 be became bookkeeper for George Urban & Son, proprietors 
 of the roller Hour mills. Earnest application to business 
 and unusual capability soon brought him to a position of 
 trust, and in 1874 he was admitted to partnership in the firm. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 131 
 
 EDWIN G. S. MILLER 
 
 In the year 1884 Mr. Miller he- 
 came manager for Gerhard Lang's 
 brewery, to which business he has 
 devoted the greater portion of his time 
 ever since. When he took charge of 
 the business the output of the brewery 
 was forty thousand barrels. In ten 
 years he hat! more than trebled that 
 amount, and during succeeding years 
 he brought the Gerhard Lang Brew- 
 ery to its present high position among 
 the breweries of the country. At the 
 death of Gerhard Lang in 18!)3, Mr. 
 Miller succeeded to the position of 
 president of the brewery, which post he 
 has held up to the present day. 
 
 Mr. Miller has ever been promi- 
 nent in financial and public affairs in 
 the city of Buffalo. He is president 
 of the German-American Bank, and 
 a director in various other financial 
 institutions. When the movement for 
 increased street car facilities was be- 
 gun, Mr. Miller was very active in its 
 furtherance, and when a company was 
 organized to build the lines of The 
 Buffalo Traction Company, he was 
 chosen as the first president. 
 
 Although he has never sought 
 public office, Mr. Miller has been 
 prominently identified with affairs of 
 the Democratic Party. His interest in 
 his party was recognized when he was 
 
 chosen by the Democratic State Convention of lSDvJ to be 
 one of the Presidential Electors. But Mr. Miller's time 
 is taken up with business affairs, so that he can spare but 
 little time for political work. 
 
 The Iroquois Brewing Company.- In the short space 
 of twelve years the plant of The Iroquois Brewing Company 
 
 has grown to lie the second brewery of its size in the 
 city and has attained a high rank among the first-class 
 breweries of the country. The Iroquois Brewing Company 
 was incorporated under the laws of the State of New 
 York in 189.'!. Leonard Burgwcger, who had previously 
 established breweries in Chicago and Kansas City, came to 
 Buffalo ami purchased the site of the old Roos Brewery 
 on Pratt Street, which is said to have been the first brewery 
 in Buffalo, having been established in 18.30. Under Mr. 
 Burgwcger 's direction the Roos plant was torn down and 
 newer and more modern buildings were erected on the site 
 of the old ones. Associated with Mr. Burgwcger at the 
 time of the incorporation of the company were William and 
 Phillip Bartholomay, of Rochester, two of the most promi- 
 nent brewers in the I'nited States. 
 
 THE IROQUOIS BREWING COMPANY 
 
132 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 The company's plant on Pratt Street, between William 
 Street and Broadway, has, at the present time, a yearly 
 capacity of one hundred and eighty thousand barrels. Two 
 of their best -known brands are the '"Bohemian" and the 
 " Salvator. " A special brand called the " Indian Head 
 Special Brew*' is also well known throughout Buffalo and 
 the entire country for its wholesome quality. A further 
 distinction this brewery enjoys is the fact that it is the only 
 brewery in Buffalo selling to the export trade. It main- 
 tains branch offices in New York City. Baltimore, Philadel- 
 phia, and New Orleans, and has agencies as far away as 
 Porto Rico. 
 
 The company's beers an' especially well known through- 
 out the United States and the newly acquired possessions 
 and the neighboring countries of ( 'anada and Mexico. Recent 
 statistics show that the brewery has the largest percentage 
 of increase of any brewery in New York State. 
 
 Modern appliances and the use of electricity mark the 
 performance of all the work in the Pratt Street brewery. 
 Electricity is used in operating the ice machine and in the 
 bottling department. The bottling department is a model 
 that has been patterned after by many other breweries. 
 It was the first bottling department established in connection 
 with any brewery in this city. 
 
 THE MAGNUS BECK BREWING COMPANY 
 
 The industry at the present time shows an expenditure 
 of about one million dollars, and its worth to the city of 
 Buffalo will be better appreciated when it is learned that 
 the Iroquois Brewery is the competitor, throughout the 
 country, of the big western corporations. The buildings of 
 the brewery, which are handsomely constructed of brick, face 
 Pratt Street and occupy almost an entire block, running hack 
 to Iroquois Alley, halfway between Pratt and Hickory streets. 
 Notwithstanding the vast area covered, the plant is compact 
 and there is no waste space. The original building, erected 
 at the time the brewery was established, has been extended 
 several times, and other buildings and departments have 
 been added. The Iroquois Brewing Company invites public 
 inspection, and takes pleasure in showing visitors through 
 its plant. 
 
 The present officers of the Iroquois Brewery, are: 
 president and general manager. Leonard Burgweger; vice- 
 president and treasurer, Philip Bartholomay; secretary and 
 general superintendent, Henry Burgweger. 
 
 The Magnus Beck Brewing Company.- During the 
 
 early sixties. Magnus Beck, a pioneer in the brewing industry 
 of the United States, established a small brewery on Oak 
 Street near Genesee Street, ami from that modest beginning 
 has sprung the immense plant of to- 
 day. The Magnus Beck Brewing Com- 
 pany, one of the city 's greatest brew- 
 ing interests. For a number of years 
 Mr. Beck carried on a business in a 
 small way, and about 1865 moved to 
 the present site at North Division and 
 Spring streets. 
 
 Under his supervision the busi- 
 ness continued to grow to mammoth 
 proportions, until, at the time of his 
 death, in 1883, it had attained a front 
 rank in the brewing interests in the 
 East. After the death of Mr. Beck, a 
 stock company was formed, with the 
 result that The Magnus Beck Brewing 
 Company was incorporated under the 
 laws of the State of New York with 
 a capital of two hundred and sixty- 
 five thousand dollars. 
 
 It was in April, 1886, that the 
 concern first began business under that 
 name, under which it has been con- 
 tinued, although changes have been 
 made in the management from time to 
 time. The present officers of the 
 company are: Edward Beck, presi- 
 dent: Adam J. Benzing, vice-president: 
 Robert Schelling, treasurer; Frank M. 
 Beck, secretary: Simon Seibert, man- 
 ager. 
 
 In 1870, the product of the con- 
 cern first assumed the proportions of 
 a national brewery. In that year 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 133 
 
 15,320 barrels of beer were produced, and 14,5'2(i were sold. 
 Since that time its growth has been very rapid, and at the 
 time of this writing it has a total capacity of 110,000 barrels. 
 The excellent brews of '"Salvator" and " Wurtzburger " 
 beer are among the principal products of the brewery, 
 while the *' Magnus Heck Select Lager" is known throughout 
 the eastern end of the State for its purity and general quality. 
 A large trade is carried on with the hotels, saloons, and 
 restaurants of the city, and, in fact, throughout western New 
 York. No inconsiderable part of the product of the brewery 
 is consumed in private homes, where the purity of The 
 
 and the name Ziegele is still associated to a great extent 
 with its interests. The succession was in KSS7, when the 
 plant, located on Main Street at the corner of Virginia 
 Street was destroyed by fire. It was then that the present 
 location, at the corner of Washington and Virginia street-., 
 was selected, and the new buildings erected. " Pilsener" 
 and "Wurtzburger," are the two brands of beer for which 
 the Phoenix Brewery is famous. The brewery also makes 
 a malt extract, and for all finds a ready market in Buffalo, 
 for its purity and excellence are generally appreciated. 
 
 The bottling department of this brewing institution 
 
 THE PHtKXIX HHKWKRY 
 
 Magnus Beck Brewing Company "s beer is common knowl- 
 edge and its best recommendation. 
 
 The plant of the brewing company occupies both the 
 southwest and the northwest corners of North Division 
 and Spring streets. On one side is a frontage of two 
 hundred by one hundred and fifty feet, and on the other a 
 frontage of four hundred by one hundred and fifty feet. The 
 bottling works conducted in connection with the brewery, and 
 under the same management, are located on North Division 
 Street, and adjoining are the offices of the company. At the 
 time of this writing, about one hundred men are constantly 
 in the employ of the concern. 
 
 The Phoenix Brewery succeeded The Ziegele Brewing 
 Company, one of the pioneer brewing concerns of Buffalo. 
 
 is one of its noteworthy features, and throughout the city 
 and in the surrounding cities and towns of western New 
 York, the Phoenix beer enjoys a large trade in bottled goods. 
 The bottling department is managed in a neat and sanitary 
 manner, even to a remarkable degree, and all work possible is 
 performed through the medium of electricity. It is the boast 
 of the brewery management, that from the time the beer is 
 brewed until the bottle is opened, it is not touched by air. 
 This is a precaution that immediately appeals, and insures 
 the delivery of the bottle in the most sanitary way possible. 
 The brewery home is in a handsome building on the 
 corner of Virginia and Washington streets, occupying the 
 entire block and extending along Washington Street to 
 Burton Alley and thence along Virginia Street to Roch- 
 ford Allev. 
 
134 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 The boiler house faces the latter thoroughfare, and the 
 large stables, used for housing the many wagons and horses 
 used for delivery purposes, are located at the northeast cor- 
 ner of Washington and Virginia streets in a separate building, 
 the horses above and the wagons below. 
 
 The increasing business of the brewery necessitates 
 constant additions to the delivery service and transportation 
 facilities. 
 
 The output of the brewery, under the supervision of 
 George C. Ginther, its treasurer and general manager, is 
 approximately one hundred thousand barrels of beer a year, 
 figures that are constantly increased by a growing demand. 
 
 The William Simon Brewery, one of Buffalo's larg- 
 est brewing institutions, located on Emslie Street between 
 
 barley malt and hops are used. For this particular product 
 the brewery has widespread fame. Among its other well-known 
 products are the "Simon Pure Pale," the " Simon Pure 
 Dark," and the '"Simon Pure Export," all of which bear 
 the seal of approval of the medical profession. Indeed, the 
 best proof of their fine quality is found in their great pop- 
 ularity. 
 
 The William Simon brewing plant has long been con- 
 sidered by brewers to be one of the model plants of the 
 country. The great kettle has a capacity of four hundred 
 barrels, and the bottled beers are thoroughly sterilized and 
 pasteurized and absolutely free from all adulterations. 
 Long ago the medical profession observed this, until now 
 they are widely known as health tonics. All water used 
 in the brewery is thoroughly filtered. Connected with 
 
 THK WILLIAM Sl.VIOX BRKWKRY 
 
 Eagle and Clinton streets, was established in the city in 1856, 
 the original buildings having been constructed on the same 
 site. John Schuesler was the builder of the institution, which, 
 in 1888, became known as The John Schuesler Brewing 
 Company. Under this name the business was continued 
 until 1900, when it became known by its present title. 
 
 This brewery, always foremost in the brewing interests 
 of western New York, became, however, better known 
 when Mr. William Simon purchased the property in 1894. 
 Mr. Simon had been interested in it since 1888, but did not 
 give it his name until 1900. Since that time extensive 
 improvements have been made in the property, until now 
 it occupies a large area bounded by Emslie, Clinton, and 
 Eagle streets. During the past year the cold storage facilities 
 have been greatly improved, new features have been in- 
 troduced, and the brewery is now conducted along the most 
 improved lines. 
 
 In the manufacture of the Simon beer, only the best 
 
 the plant are two ice machines of the De La Vergne and 
 Case makes. The entire brewery is kept remarkably clean, 
 and every known facility for handling beer in the most 
 approved and sanitary manner is found there. 
 
 The attitude of the concern toward beer adulteration 
 was made manifest during the pure food agitation, when the 
 officers of the company gave their best efforts to insure the 
 passage of the pure food laws. 
 
 The owner and president of the brewery, Mr. William 
 Simon, is one of Buffalo's most prominent German-American 
 citizens. He was born in Germany in 1853, and early be- 
 came an adept in the brewing business, his father being 
 a brewer of great reputation around about the place of his 
 nativity. In 1871 Mr. Simon came to the United States 
 and for a number of years was connected with large breweries 
 throughout the country. From 1880 until 1888 he was 
 brewmaster for Gerhard Lang, and subsequently formed 
 his connection with the Schuesler brewery. He is a man 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 135 
 
 of much public spirit, and from 1888 until 1002 was most 
 creditably associated with the Democratic Committee. His 
 business capacities extend beyond his brewing interests, 
 and he is a director in the Citizens' Bank and the Western 
 Savings Bank. 
 
 Mr. Simon's fine capabilities may be readily discerned 
 in the phenomenal growth of his brewing business. When 
 he entered the brewery in 1888 the sales were approxi- 
 mately eighteen thousand barrels a year. In 100? the sales 
 had grown to seventy-three thousand barrels a year. Asso- 
 
 The company was organized in 1885, succeeding the 
 Joseph L. Ilaberstro Company. Its original capitalization 
 was one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, a figure that 
 has been adequate and still stands. Meanwhile the product 
 of the company has grown in quantity and quality until 
 today it has a stupendous output of the finest brews to be 
 found on the market. 
 
 The company's brewery is rather remarkably situated, 
 being in the heart of one of the finest residence sections of 
 Buffalo. In keeping with its location, artistic and highly- 
 
 THE GERMAN-AMERICAN BRKWKRY 
 
 ciated with Mr. William Simon is Joseph Scheff, general 
 manager: William J. Simon, assistant manager; and Charles 
 Mayer, brewmaster. 
 
 The German-American Brewery.— Scarcely less than 
 Milwaukee is Buffalo famous for her beers and malt products. 
 This mark of superiority is in no small measure due to 
 the excellent brews of the German-American Brewery, 
 located at the corner of Main and High streets. In the 
 past few years German-American brews have come to be 
 almost a household commodity. The mere mention of the 
 word "Maltosia" suggests the German-American, and the 
 word is. in truth, a synonym for purity itself. 
 
 decorated buildings have been constructed, and in connec- 
 tion therewith, one of the highest-class restaurants in Buffalo 
 is operated. In the German-American annex several of 
 Buffalo's exclusive social and singing societies have their 
 permanent home. 
 
 The present officers of the German-American Brewing 
 Company are: president, C. A. Strangmann; secretary, 
 John F. Xagel; treasurer, Carl J. Weideman. 
 
 The Lake View Brewing Company. — Buffalo has 
 long been famed for her superior malt products, which fame 
 for supremacy she owes largely to The Lake View Brewing 
 Company, whose large plant is located at the corner of 
 
13G 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Lake View and Porter Avenues, a model institution in 
 every respect. 
 
 The company was organized in 1885, beginning business 
 in its present quarters. Its record since then has been one of 
 steady increase and surpassing products. It was originally 
 capitalized at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and 
 as such the capitalization remains at the present time. 
 
 The company manufactures exclusively high-grade 
 beer and porter, with largely a local market. The supe- 
 riority of the Lake View products is so generally recognized 
 here at home that almost the entire output of fifty thousand 
 barrels of beer, ale, and porter is included in the local 
 
 The present officers of the company are: president, 
 and general manager, Philip G. Schaefer; secretary and 
 treasurer, Henry W. Brendel. 
 
 Philip G. Schaefer, one of the best known of the 
 younger business men of the city and president of The Lake 
 View Brewing Company, is a native of Buffalo. He was 
 born here May 29th, ISGi, the son of Alois Schaefer, a 
 native of Germany and one of Buffalo's well-known 
 German-Americans. 
 
 The younger Schaefer received his early training in 
 the parochial schools and graduated from Canisius College 
 
 THE LAKE VIEW BREWIXC COMPANY 
 
 consumption. The constantly increasing business has 
 created the necessity for better and greater facilities, 
 with the result that extensive improvements were made 
 during the past year, the brewhouse was remodeled and 
 enlarged, and the capacity otherwise increased. 
 
 The plant is ideally located at the corner of Porter and 
 Lake View avenues, facing the Front, one of Buffalo's 
 prettiest parks. In keeping with its location, its pro- 
 moters have improved their surroundings until the 
 brewing plant has become one of the city's industrial show 
 spots. It has a frontage of four hundred and twenty-eight 
 feet on both Lake View and Porter avenues extending back 
 from the former to old Fourth Street. All the brewing, 
 curing, bottling, and storing is done on the grounds and in 
 buildings planned after the most approved methods. 
 
 in 1874, where he received a good classical education. In 
 preparation for a business life, after his graduation from 
 Canisius College he entered the Brvant & Stratton Business 
 College. 
 
 Mastering the rudiments of business, he entered into 
 commercial life with his father, at that time in the brew- 
 ing business. This affiliation he has maintained ever since, 
 until now he is recognized throughout the country as an 
 expert on matters pertaining to the trade, a truth which 
 his model plant plainly attests. His business capabilities, 
 too, are recognized far beyond his trade, and he is frequently 
 called in councils that have bearing upon Buffalo's indus- 
 trial and commercial welfare. 
 
 Mr. Schaefer gives the greater part of his time to his 
 individual business, and hence has appeared but little in 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 137 
 
 public life. He is, however, :i n active member of the But'- lent Legion. On November ;5th, 1895, Mr. Schaefer was 
 t'alo Chamber of Commerce, the Manufacturers 1 Club, and married to Miss Hattie C. Ritt, of this city, 
 other commercial organizations. His fraternal affiliations 
 
 The A. Schreiber Brewing Company, 662 to 686 Fill- 
 more Avenue and ^27 to *24!t Wilson Street, is another one of 
 the concerns that contributes largely t<> Buffalo's supremacy 
 as a brewing center. It was incorporated under the laws 
 of New York State in 1899, witli a fully paid capital of 
 one hundred thousand dollars. May 15th, 1899, ground 
 was broken for the new plant, and within a year the big 
 brewery had been completed and the brewing of Schreiber 
 celebrated beer began. 
 
 At the beginning the brewery occupied a frontage of 
 one hundred and forty feet on Fillmore Avenue, extending 
 back to Wilson Street. At the present time there is a front- 
 age of four hundred and seventy-seven feet on Fillmore 
 Avenue, and with its additions and improvements the 
 Schreiber plant is one of the finest in the country. It occu- 
 pies a vast area, and its buildings are all well laid out, and 
 are constructed of brick, cement, and steel, and absolutely 
 fireproof. 
 
 The product of the brewery is fine lager beer, its standard 
 beer being "Schreiber" beer, and its special brew " Manru " 
 These brands are well and favorably known throughout 
 Buffalo for their fine quality and wholesomeness. Among 
 the hotels and high-class saloons of the city, the brewery 
 enjoys a large patronage and in a vast number of private 
 homes the Schreiber beers are always to be found. In 
 capacity, the Schreiber plant compares favorably with the 
 larger breweries of the country. Originally the plant had 
 a capacity of twenty-five thousand barrels a year, but with the 
 
 PHILIP <;. SCHAEFER 
 
 are with Branch Number Seven, Catholic Mutual Benefit 
 Association, and Father Clemens Council, Catholic Benevo- 
 
 THE A. SCHREIBER BREWERY 
 
138 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 improvements and additions of late years, it lias been in- 
 n-rased to approximately one hundred thousand barrels 
 and is rapidly being extended. 
 
 One feature of the Schreiber brewery is its great reserve 
 machine force. In this respect the brewery has established 
 a precedent, which has since been followed by many of the 
 country's largest breweries. All of the machinery used in 
 the manufacture of the beer is duplicated, so that, in case 
 of accident of any kind, the work goes on uninterrupted. 
 All of the large tanks and vats are of steel enamel, and every- 
 thing else in the plant of modern design. New features 
 are being constantly added, thus constantly increasing the 
 efficiency. 
 
 The light and power for use in the plant is generated 
 
 institutions of Buffalo. In 1884 The International Brewing 
 Company was incorporated, with a capital stock of two 
 hundred thousand dollars, and occupied its present location 
 at 1088 Niagara Street, where it has a frontage of two hundred 
 and fifty feet, and three hundred and fifty feet on Albany 
 Street, adjoining the tracks of the New York Central Hail- 
 road at the rear. The concern 's shipping and transporta- 
 tion facilities are such as are enjoyed by no other brewery 
 in Buffalo. The spur of the New York Central Railroad 
 leads directly to the brewery yards, where the consignments 
 are loaded directly from the brewery and with great facility 
 and despatch. 
 
 The International Brewing Company has two brands 
 of beer that have attained widespread fame, its "Stock 
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL BREW INC COMPANY 
 
 on the property by a plant of two hundred horsepower. 
 This innovation, too, established a precedent, which has 
 since been followed by many large manufacturing and 
 industrial concerns in Buffalo, with great profit. 
 
 Another improvement which is being contemplated 
 at this writing, is a new bottling plant, which will, no doubt, 
 be built on Fillmore Avenue, and, like the others, extend 
 back to Wilson Street. 
 
 Mr. Anthony Schreiber, the president of the com- 
 pany, is a man of many years' experience in the brewing 
 business, and by his executive ability has brought his 
 brewery to its present high position in the Buffalo field. 
 Under him is a large force of city salesmen and skilled 
 brewers. 
 
 The International Brewing Company succeeded the 
 old Jacob Scheu Brewery, which was one of the pioneer 
 
 Lager" and its "Hof-Brau." The popularity of these two 
 brands is general throughout the cities of western New 
 York, and even in the Pennsylvania and Ohio trade, where 
 pure beer of a high standard of quality is appreciated. They 
 also brew excellent ale and porter. 
 
 The main building of the brewery is a handsomely 
 constructed brick building of three stories, ami is an archi- 
 tectural ornament to the city. The office has its frontage 
 at 1088 Niagara Street, and the entrance to the bottling 
 department is at 1076 Niagara Street. A general invita- 
 tion to visitors and home people is always extended by the 
 company, to visit and inspect their plant. The utmost 
 care is used in the selection of malt and hops, and nothing 
 that might contribute to the purity and excellence of the 
 beer, is overlooked. The present president of the brewery 
 is John A. Miller, who is surrounded by a large staff fo able 
 assistants. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 139 
 
 The Broadway Brewing and Malting Company. — 
 
 Since 1852, when Buffalo was comparatively a small 
 business center. The Broadway Brewing and Malting Com- 
 pany has been looked upon as one of the city's greatest 
 institutions. In all these years it has passed through different 
 stages of prosperity under different managements, until, 
 in 1X80, it came to the ownership and management of the 
 late Julius Binz. In 1884 Mr. Binz added his malting 
 business to the concern, and this branch has now grown to 
 be the paramount feature of the brewery. The plant, at 
 815 Broadway, has recently been remodeled, until at the 
 present time it is both an architectural and industrial credit 
 to the city. 
 
 In 1887 the stock company was formed, with a capitaliza- 
 
 now it is one of the finest in the city, with an annual output 
 of from two to three hundred thousand bushels. 
 
 Colonel John L. Schwartz. — Buffalo boasts of many 
 self-made and progressive business men, and no individual 
 stands higher in that select class than Colonel John L. 
 Schwartz, the president and general manager of the Clinton- 
 Star Brewery, situated on West Bennett Street. The rise 
 and progress of this great industrial institution is a matter 
 of record, and the credit of its success is largely due to 
 Colonel Schwartz, who has entire control of its affairs and 
 has personally overlooked every detail of its construction, 
 equipment, and operation. 
 
 Colonel John L. Schwartz was born in Buffalo, April 
 
 THE BROADWAY BREWING AND MALTING COMPANY 
 
 tion of one hundred thousand dollars. The premises occu- 
 pied at that time comprised the entire block bounded by 
 Broadway, Smith Street, and Shumway Street, the location 
 which, with the annexes and additions, it still occupies. 
 
 The beer manufactured by The Broadway Brewing 
 and Malting Company, is of a high standard and pro- 
 duced under the most sanitary and improved conditions. 
 The refrigerating machines, with an aggregate capacity of 
 one hundred tons, are of the most dependable type. The 
 buildings of the plant are constructed of brick, stone, and 
 iron, and are considered absolutely fireproof. In 1890 
 natural gas was discovered on the property, and it has since 
 been utilized for lighting and power purposes in the plant. 
 
 The malting department of The Broadway Brewing 
 and Malting Company was started as a private enterprise 
 by Mr. Binz. Its growth has been rapid and regular, until 
 
 13th, 1859, and received his early education in the parochial 
 schools of the city. He has the honor of having been one 
 of the first students of Canisius College on its opening in 
 the year 1870. He is thoroughly a self-made man, is a 
 close and shrewd observer of the times, and a good judge 
 of men, and combines all the requisites for success in life, 
 and the directing agency for a large institution. 
 
 Mr. Schwartz entered the brewing business in 1893, 
 when he bought out the old Queen City Brewing Company, 
 at sheriff's sale, from the late John B. Manning, the plant 
 being then located at Spring and Cherry streets. He formed 
 a copartnership with John S. Kellner, Joseph Phillips, and 
 Edward A. Diebolt, under the name of The Star Brewing 
 Company. They conducted this business .successfully for 
 ten years, at the end of which time Colonel Schwartz pur- 
 chased the interests of his partners, also the controlling 
 
141) 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 fa fa 
 
 
 THE CLINTON-STAR BREWERY 
 
 interest in the Clinton Cooperative Brewing 
 Company, and meregd the two under the name 
 of the Clinton-Star Brewery. Mr. Schwartz 
 has rebuilt the plant complete, and equipped 
 it with all the modern mechanical devices and 
 arrangements known in the business, and to- 
 day it stands among many as a model of its 
 kind, perfect and complete, and the business 
 system which he has put into operation is not 
 one particle less perfect than the plant is 
 physically complete. Colonel Schwartz is 
 naturally a leader among men and is the man 
 to take the initiative in all things. 
 
 He has been president of the New York 
 State Brewers' Association for three years, the 
 
 organizer and vice-president of the Buffalo 
 
 Brewers' Exchange, and has been instrumental 
 
 in a movement to elevate the saloon business. 
 
 Colonel Schwartz has been colonel of the 
 
 Knights of Saint John for eighteen years, and 
 
 grand treasurer of the Catholic Mutual Benefit 
 
 Association for a like number of years. He 
 
 is also a member of the Buffalo Orpheus, 
 
 Saengerbund, German - American Alliance, 
 
 Amiens Club, Royal Arcanum, and many other 
 
 fraternal organizations. 
 
 Mr. Schwartz was married to Miss Eliza- 
 beth J. Zegawitz, of Rochester, and with his 
 
 wife and seven children enjoys the comforts 
 
 and luxury of a beautiful home at 12 North 
 
 Pearl Street. 
 
 The Germania Brewing Company.^ 
 
 One of the younger brewing establishments of 
 
 THE GERMANIA BREWERY 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 141 
 
 the city, and one of its most promising, is The Germania 
 Brewing Company, located at 1615 Broadway. It was 
 established by Conrad Hammer, in 1893, in its present 
 location. In the following year. 1S!)4, the business was 
 incorporated, with a capitalization of ten thousand dollars, 
 which was later increased to fifty thousand dollars, the in- 
 crease being justified by its rapidly growing business. 
 
 At the beginning this brewery had a capacity of hut 
 fifteen thousand barrels. In three years' time its capacity 
 had doubled, and in the years that have intervened, the growth 
 has been correspondingly great. More than fifty thousand 
 dollars has been expended from time to time in adding to 
 the original buildings, in new and improved machinery, and 
 the remodeling of the different departments, until nowthe Ger- 
 mania Brewery is one of the finest brewing plants in the city. 
 
 The wisdom of its promoters in selecting a location far 
 out Broadway is now apparent, and room for extensions is 
 
 available. The entire plant now occupies an area of fifty 
 thousand square feet. The buildings are of brick, hand- 
 somely constructed and very commodious. The bottling 
 department, which is a model of convenience and sanitation, 
 is located in a building apart from the others. 
 
 The care which is exercised in the manufacture of beer 
 at the Germania Brewery is generally known in Buffalo 
 and accounts in no small measure for the demand for Ger- 
 mania beer in the homes. The beverage is of excellent qual- 
 itv. and the label alone insures purity and general excellence, 
 as well as careful, sanitary handling. 
 
 Conrad Hammer, the original promoter of the Ger- 
 mania Brewery, is its president at this time. Mr. Hammer 
 is one of the oldest and most experienced brewmasters in the 
 country, and has surrounded himself with able and skilled 
 men to an extent which insures a profitable future for the 
 Germania Brewery. 
 
LUMBER INTERESTS 
 
 THE Goodyear Lumber Company.— Probably the 
 greatest factors, in the past twenty years, in the in- 
 dustrial upbuilding of Buffalo, have been the Good- 
 years — Charles YYaterhouse and the late Frank Henry Good- 
 year. Prominently identified with every great movement that 
 
 this merger. The road, which contributes greatly to Buffalo "s 
 industrial supremacy and the city's standing as a railroad 
 center, has been previously described in this sketch. 
 
 For many years Frank H. Goodyear was popularly 
 known as the head of the hemlock lumber business of the 
 
 made for Buffalo's development, with keen business foresight, world. The entire holdings of the brothers produced an- 
 
 they have given to Buffalo an influence that will be felt for 
 
 many generations to come. Their activities have been known 
 
 in practically every field — the world of railroads, timber 
 
 production, and finance. Long ago their interests reached 
 
 beyond their home city, and today the name of Good- 
 
 year is known in practically every market of the world. 
 Frank Henry Goodyear, who died May l.'tth. 1!)()7. 
 
 was, like his brother, prominently identified with railroad and 
 
 lumber interests throughout the country. He was born at 
 
 Grotoh, New York, March 17th, 1849, and received his 
 
 education in the public schools, the academy at East Aurora, 
 
 New York, and from private tutors. For some time he 
 
 taught in the district schools, and later became bookkeeper 
 
 for Robert Looney, who operated a timber tract at Looney- 
 
 ville. New York. In 1871 Mr. Goodyear came to Buffalo 
 
 and engaged, in a small way, in the lumber and coal business. 
 
 His operations soon became extensive, and he rapidly acquired 
 
 large tracts of timber in McKean, Potter, Elk. and Cam- 
 eron counties in Pennsylvania, and completely disproved 
 
 what was then a popular belief, that the available lumber 
 
 supply of northern Pennsylvania was exhausted. 
 
 Once the possessor of all this land in fee, he was con- 
 fronted with a serious problem — that of getting out the timber 
 
 and carrying it to market. He overcame the obstacle by 
 
 entering into railroad construction and built permanent 
 
 lines to carry his own product. He supplemented this with 
 
 greal sawmills, erected on the tracts, where the timber 
 
 was sawed and made ready for use. 
 
 In 1SS7 Mr. Goodyear became associated with his 
 
 brother in the firm of F. H. & C. W. Goodyear, and the 
 
 firm was so known until 1902, when it was organized into 
 
 The Goodyear Lumber Company, and as such it still remains. 
 In 1885 Mr. F. H. Goodyear had built a small railroad 
 
 in the Sinnemahoning Valley, and, after this copartnership 
 
 with his brother was formed, this line and the several other 
 
 lines that had been constructed were merged, and the 
 
 FRANK HENRY GOODYEAR 
 
 nually two hundred million feet of hemlock, and nearly as 
 much more in hard woods, all of which was shipped over the 
 Buffalo & Susquehanna lines. In 1!>0 L 2, the time of the 
 firm's reorganization, the field of activities was extended 
 to the South, where large tracts of timber lands were secured 
 in Mississippi and Louisiana by The Great Southern Lum- 
 ber Company, of which Mr. Frank H. Goodyear was 
 president. 
 
 Mr. Goodyear also extended his operations to the coal 
 fields and became the owner of great bituminous interests 
 
 Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad was the outgrowth of in the vicinity of Dubois, Pennsylvania. Yet, with all his 
 
 142 
 
THE CITY ()!■' BUFFALO. 
 
 143 
 
 interstate associations, he found time to give his wisdom 
 and counsel on the directorate of many of Buffalo's greatest 
 industrial and financial institutions. He was president 
 of The Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad Company and The 
 Buffalo <iv- Susquehanna Steamship Company and vice- 
 president of The Buffalo & Susquehanna Iron Company. 
 He was president of The New Orleans Great Northern Rail- 
 road Company, a director of The United States Leather 
 Company, a director of the Marine Rank and numerous 
 other institutions. 
 
 During his active business life he was one of the city's 
 most public-spirited citizens. He had many times Keen 
 tendered high office by the people, hut as often declined in 
 favor of his own interests, that required all his attention. 
 He did, however, serve as Park Commissioner, principally 
 for the reason that Buffalo's park system was always his 
 chief delight and many of the parks' finest attractions today 
 came as a result of his suggestions and plans. His only 
 other public service was as a commissioner to examine the 
 railroad extending across lands belonging to the United 
 States Government along the line of the Northern Pacific 
 Railroad, to which commissionership he was appointed by 
 President Cleveland. 
 
 Buffalo will long have reason to remember Mr. Good- 
 year's generosity and philanthropy; many of the city's 
 charitable institutions benefited by his munificence during 
 life and after his death. He was a leading member of the 
 Chamber of Commerce and was long a member of the city's 
 most exclusive clubs, including the Buffalo, Ellicott, and 
 Country clubs. 
 
 His interest in Buffalo's park system led him at one time to 
 offer a hundred thousand dollars for the creation of a model 
 zoological garden. When the matter came before the Leg- 
 islature so many amendments and changes were made in the 
 original plans that it was withdrawn and the city lost her 
 chance to procure what would probably have been the finest 
 zoological garden in the world. 
 
 September 13th, 1871, Mr. Goodyear married Josephine 
 Loonev, daughter of Robert and Josephine Loonev, of 
 Looneyville, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Goodyear had four 
 children — Mrs. Grace (ioodyear Depew, wife of Ganson 
 Depew; Mrs. Florence Goodyear Wagner, wife of George O. 
 Wagner; and Frank (Ioodyear, Junior — all of this city. 
 The fourth child. Mrs. Josephine (ioodyear Sicard, wife 
 of George M. Sicard, died in 1!>04. 
 
 Charles Waterhoxjse Goodyeab was born in Cort- 
 land, Cortland County. New York, October 15th. 184(>, the 
 son of Doctor Bradley (ioodyear and Esther P. Kinne. He 
 received his school training in the academies of Cortland. 
 Wyoming, and Fast Aurora, New York, finishing his school 
 days in 18(i7. In 18(iH he came to Buffalo to study law in 
 the offices of Fanning & Miller, later continuing his profes- 
 sional preparation with John C. Strong. He was admitted 
 to the bar in 1871, and immediately began his practice in 
 this city. 
 
 This individual practice continued until 1875 and was 
 marked by much .success. In that year Mr. Goodyear formed 
 a partnership with Major John Tyler, which continued for 
 
 two years. From !S77 until 188'.* Mr. G hear again 
 
 practiced alone, and in February of that year formed a 
 partnership with Henry I-'. Allen under the firm name of 
 (ioodyear \ Allen. In 188:5 Mr. Goodyear became asso- 
 ciated with others and formed the well-know n firm of Bissell, 
 Sicard & (ioodyear. which continued for four years as one 
 of the most distingushed legal firms in western New York. 
 From January 1st, 187."). until October 1st. IS77. Mr. 
 (ioodyear served as Assistant District Attorney under District 
 Attorney Daniel N. Lockwood, who was elected to Congress 
 
 in 187(i and who resigned ll dice of District Attorney in 
 
 the autumn of 1877, whereupon Mr. (ioodyear was 
 appointed by Governor Robinson to fill the unexpired term. 
 
 CHARLES WATERHOUSE GOODYEAR 
 
 In January, 1887, Mr. (ioodyear gave up the practice 
 of law to form, with his brother. Frank II. Goodyear, the 
 lumber company and kindred organizations that have since 
 become so prominent in the business world. The firm name 
 became F. H. & C. \\ . (ioodyear. and almost immediately 
 their operations became so extensive that it was necessarj 
 for both to give their whole undivided attention to them. 
 They were pioneers in the construction of standard built and 
 equipped railroads for logging operations, penetrating the 
 timber tracts of Pennsylvania, which had. up until that 
 time, been considered well-nigh inaccessible to railroads. 
 From this beginning grew the Buffalo & Susquehanna 
 Railroad, a line that has opened up, and given complete 
 transportation facilities to. a section that heretofore has 
 suffered keenly from the lack of them. Now the line has 
 become a permanent freight and passenger carrying line, 
 with three hundred and fifty miles of first-class standard- 
 gauge track and roadbed, and will, in the near future, increase 
 this mileage one hundred miles. Mr. Goodyear is one of 
 
144 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 the principal stockholders, and, since the death of his brother, 
 president of the company. 
 
 Mr. Goodyear is president of the Great Southern Lum- 
 ber Company, whose principal plant and operations are in 
 Louisiana and Mississippi, with large holdings of long-leaf 
 yellow pine in those States. The company recently com- 
 pleted what is undoubtedly the largest sawmill plant in the 
 world. All of the buildings, including the dockage, are 
 
 r> l-\ 15 
 
 constructed of concrete and steel, and the capacity is one 
 hundred and fifty million feet of lumber a year. 
 
 Mr. Goodyear is also president of the New Orleans 
 Great Northern Railroad Company, which concern took 
 over the old East Louisiana Railroad. This company had 
 constructed and now has under construction a line of tracks 
 from Slidell, a point on the New Orleans Northeastern 
 Railroad, to Jackson, Mississippi, that traverses the long- 
 leaf yellow pine districts of Louisiana and Mississippi through 
 the valley of the Pearl River. The company has trackage 
 from Slidell to New Orleans — with terminal facilities at the 
 latter place — through a contract with the New Orleans North- 
 eastern Railroad, thus affording an excellent outlet to tide 
 water for the products of the great forests of those States, 
 and enabling the company to market the lumber in all parts 
 of the world with great facility and despatch. 
 
 During the tariff controversy of a few years ago, Mr. 
 Goodyear, as chairman of the convention of lumbermen 
 which urged the imposition of a tariff on Canadian lumber, 
 appeared before the Ways and Means ( lommittee of ( longress, 
 in behalf of that measure. It was largely through his efforts 
 that the present tariff laws levy a protective duty of one dollar 
 a thousand feet on Canadian lumber. 
 
 Since his retirement from the law Mr. Goodyear has 
 never entered much into public life nor held office, although 
 he has repeatedly been solicited by both parties to do so. 
 In 1904 great pressure was brought to bear to induce him to 
 accept the Democratic nomination for the governorship, 
 but he declined, explaining that his business interests were 
 too extensive to permit of his entrance into politics. 
 
 Mr. Goodyear's business affiliations are by no means 
 limited to his railroad and timber associations. He is 
 identified as are few others with the financial and industrial 
 world. He is president of The Buffalo and Susquehanna 
 Coal and Coke Company and a director of The Buffalo and 
 Susquehanna Iron Company and of numerous other indus- 
 trial and financial institutions. 
 
 He is also prominent in the social life of the city, being 
 a member of the Buffalo, Saturn, Ellicott, Country, and 
 Liberal clubs, a Free and Accepted Mason, a life member 
 of the Buffalo Library Association, and a trustee of the State 
 Normal School of this city. His religious affiliation is with 
 the First Presbyterian Church of Buffalo, and in all phil- 
 anthropic and good government movements, tending towards 
 the relief of the distressed and the betterment of the city, 
 he is always foremost. 
 
 On March 23d, 187<>. Mr. Goodyear married Miss Ella 
 Portia Conger, of Collins Center, New York, and four chil- 
 dren have blessed the union- Anson Conger, Esther, Charles 
 W., Junior, and Bradley Goodyear. 
 
 John Newton Scatcherd. — There is no more promi- 
 nent figure in the business, civic, and social life of Buffalo 
 than John Newton Scatcherd, the subject of this sketch. 
 His business interests extend beyond his home city, and 
 his name is known throughout the whole lumber world. 
 For many years he has been in the forefront of the timber 
 interests of the nation and held a most prominent situation 
 in financial circles. His connection, in high capacities, with 
 many of Buffalo's greatest institutions has had a most 
 beneficial effect. 
 
 Mr. Scatcherd has attained his success in the city of his 
 nativity. He was born in Buffalo, September 12th, 18.>7. 
 the son of James Newton Scatcherd. who was one of the 
 pioneers in the lumber business of Buffalo, and one of its 
 foremost business men; and a grandson of John Scatcherd. 
 who was the descendant of an old English family that 
 
 JOHN NEWTON SCATCHERD 
 
 settled in Canada in 1821. The grandfather was for many 
 years prominent in the public' life round about London, 
 Ontario, he having held several high offices and having rep- 
 resented the District of Middlesex in the Canadian Parliament 
 for a number of terms. James Newton Scatcherd, the 
 father of the subject of this sketch, came to Buffalo in 1852, 
 and five years later established the lumber business now 
 carried on by his son. The elder Scatcherd was promi- 
 nent in the financial and philanthropic affairs of his city, 
 and for four years was chairman of the Board of Water 
 Commissioners. He died January 18th, 188.5. 
 
 John Newton Scatcherd received his education in the 
 Buffalo public' schools and at Professor Briggs's Classical 
 School. In lS(ii) he entered Helmuth College, in London, 
 Ontario, graduating from that institution in 1872 and becom- 
 ing associated with his father in the lumber firm then known 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 14.5 
 
 as Scatcherd & Helton. In is?!i he was taken into part- 
 nership with his father, the firm becoming Scatcherd & Son. 
 
 I pon the death <>t' Ins father in lss.5, the son continued 
 the business as managing partner with Mrs. E. L. Cary, 
 which association continues to the present day as one of 
 the largest hardwood lumber concerns in the country. Mr. 
 Scatcherd is also president of The Batavia and New York 
 
 Woodworking Company, at Batavia, New York, engaged widely commented upon, eventually resultin 
 in the manufacture of inside finishing for buildings and high- of the Grade Crossings Commission, which has resulted in 
 class cabinet work. This plant is one of the largest the abolition of many dangerous crossings at grade, and will 
 of its kind in the United States. eventually free the city of these deadly perils. 
 
 Mr. Scatcherd's associations with the financial insti- Mr. Scatcherd 's greatest service to his city was as chair- 
 
 His tenure of office as president of (lie exchange will hot he 
 remembered from the fact that it marked the beginning of a 
 movement to abolish grade crossings. Mr. Scatcherd fre- 
 quently insisted that the grade crossings were a great detri- 
 ment to the city's trade, and to prove his assertion appointed 
 a number of men to watch and take tally at the dangerous 
 crossings. A.s a result of this a report was compiled and 
 
 SCATCHERD & SON 
 
 tutions of Buffalo are numerous. From \S'.H until 1896 
 he served as president of the Bank of Buffalo, and is at the 
 present time a director in that institution; since ISSti he has 
 served as director in the Third National Bank; and since 
 IKS!) has been a director in The Buffalo Loan, Trust, and 
 Safety Deposit Company. He was one of the projectors 
 of The Ellicott Square Company, and acted as its president 
 from 1S!)4 to 1906, and is now the vice-president and a mem- 
 ber of the board of directors. He was a director in The 
 Buffalo Railway Company and was for a long time a director 
 of its successor. The International Railroad Company. 
 
 During the years 1886, 1887, and 1888, Mr. Scatcherd 
 was president of the Buffalo Lumber Exchange, and for 
 two years president of the Buffalo Merchants' Exchange, he 
 having been the first to fill this office for two successive years. 
 
 man of the executive committee of the board of directors of 
 the Ban-American Exposition in 1901. This committee 
 was practically in charge of the enterprise and wholly respon- 
 sible for it. Mr. Scatcherd was elected a member of the 
 board of directors and subsequently was made chairman of 
 the exposition committee of that board, and during its con- 
 tinuance gave up the most of his time to its interests. The 
 benefit of this exposition to Buffalo can never possibly be 
 overestimated. The year it was held marked the transfor- 
 mation of Buffalo from an overgrown provincial community, 
 to a great, teeming, pulsating city. The increase in values 
 was almost unprecedented — institutions grew, and real 
 estate rose in value as it never had risen before. No small 
 part of this can be credited to the unselfish efforts of the 
 subject of this sketch. 
 
 10 
 
1 16 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Mr. Scatcherd has ever been prominent in the Repub- 
 lican Party. lie was for three years president of the 
 Buffalo Republican League and served for seven years on 
 the Republican State Committee for Erie County. For a 
 number of years Mr. Scatcherd, with George Urban. Junior, 
 chairman of the Republican General Committee, was the 
 leader of his party in this county. When they assumed 
 direction of its affairs, there was but one Republican office- 
 holder in the county. When they resigned there was but 
 one Democrat. Mr. Scatcherd received the Republican 
 nomination for mayor in 1897, but went down to defeat 
 before the Democratic landslide of that year. 
 
 In club life Mr. Scatcherd is especially prominent. He 
 is a member of the Buffalo, Country. Ellicott, and Park 
 clubs of this city, the New York and Republican clubsof 
 New York City, and the Tennessee Club of Memphis, Ten- 
 nessee. His religious affiliation is with the Delaware Avenue 
 Methodist Church, which he has served as its trustee. He 
 is also a member of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, and was 
 for some years a trustee of the Buffalo General Hospital. 
 
 On September 9th, 187!), he was married to Mary 
 Eunice Wood, granddaughter of ( ). G. Steele, of this city. 
 They have two children, Madeline Steele Scatcherd and 
 James Newton Scatcherd. 
 
 Theodore S. Fassett, one of the Niagara Frontier's 
 largest lumber dealers, was born at Albany, New York. 
 February 10th. 1848. His father, Asa Fassett, was born in 
 New England, and his mother in New York City but was 
 of Holland ancestry. The young Mr. Fassett received his 
 education in the public schools of Albany and the Albany 
 Academy. At the age of sixteen he entered into business 
 life, becoming bookkeeper for W. II. Gratwick, who was 
 then prominent in the lumber trade at Albany. 
 
 After seven years with that concern, and after the death 
 of his father, in 187"2, Mr. Fassett removed to Tonawanda 
 and entered the lumber forwarding business under the firm 
 name of Lane, Fassett & Company. In the year 1S73, 
 during the depressing financial troubles, this firm was dis- 
 solved, and in 1874 Mr. Fassett formed a partnership with 
 the late James R. Smith of Buffalo, under the firm name of 
 Smith, Fassett & Company. 
 
 This firm has been in the lumber business continuously 
 since that time at North Tonawanda. Mr. Fassett has been 
 the senior member in the firm since the death of Mr. Smith, 
 which occurred on May 25th, 1!)<>4. In 1881 Mr. Smith 
 and Mr. Fassett jointly purchased Tonawanda Island, and 
 this was rapidly developed into an important lumber storage 
 district, with a water frontage of nearly two miles. It is 
 now entirely occupied, under lease, by ten large lumber 
 concerns, which carry in pile over one hundred million feet 
 of lumber. This property, since its development, has 
 proven a most successful enterprise. 
 
 After living in Tonawanda for the time necessary to get 
 his business on a firm basis, Mr. Fassett removed to Buffalo, 
 where he has since lived. For many years past he has been 
 at the head of all important committees in Buffalo and the 
 Tonawandas that have had to do with the improvement 
 
 of Niagara River and its channels. He is at the present 
 time chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Committee 
 on Niagara River Improvement, which has brought to its 
 present successful issue the great project known as the Black 
 Rock Ship Canal and Lock, which will open to the largest 
 steamships of the lakes the great, deep-water basin of the 
 Niagara River below the International Bridge. This is 
 now impassable to the larger type of vessels because of the 
 shoal waters of the upper river. The Government estimates 
 for the cost of this improvement are four million five hundred 
 thousand dollars, of which two million seven hundred thou- 
 sand is already appropriated. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was also an active member 
 of the canal committee of the Chamber of Commerce through 
 all the years of the great campaign for the thousand-ton 
 
 THEODORE S. FASSETT 
 
 barge canal. Mr. Fassett has performed further service as 
 a member of the New York State Executive Canal Committee, 
 with which he has been associated since its formation. Mr. 
 Fassett's business capacities are by no means confined to the 
 lumber industry. He is vice-president of The Consolidated 
 Telephone Company, a director in The Century Telephone 
 Construction Company, also a director in The Inter-Ocean 
 Telephone and Telegraph Company, which companies are 
 developing the great system of independent telephones 
 covering Buffalo and western New York. 
 
 Mr. Fassett is also prominent as a club man, being a 
 member of the Buffalo, Country, Park, and Ellicott clubs. 
 His family consists of a wife and one daughter. Mrs. Fas- 
 sett is prominent socially and active in most of the leading 
 charities in the city. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 147 
 
 John Willoughby Robinson, oneof Buffalo's represent- 
 ative citizens, was !><>rri of Canadian parentage on October 
 14th, 1848. Like many other self-made men of today, he can 
 attribute his success only to his own efforts, and to the 
 personal qualities which Dame Nature bestowed on him. 
 Indeed, at the age of fourteen, liis home life came necessarily 
 to ail end, and lie was called on to leave school and commence 
 the battle of life, but from that time on he supp'emented bis 
 education by attendance at night schools and by careful 
 reading during leisure hours. 
 
 When about seventeen years of age, Mr. Robinson 
 came to Buffalo in quest of employment, and met with many 
 discouragements until a kindly disposed gentleman assisted 
 
 JOHN WILLOUGHBY ROBINSON 
 
 him in securing a situation, which he rilled with complete 
 satisfaction to his employers. 
 
 After a few years' work, believing he could foresee better 
 prospects in the lumber business, and following a natural 
 inclination to take up the line of business in which bis father 
 had been interested, he went to Michigan for the purpose 
 of acquainting, himself with that industry. He found 
 employment with one of the largest operators in the State, 
 whose headquarters were at Detroit, and received there the 
 training which prepared him for the long and active career 
 that the future had in store for him. By faithfulness, indus- 
 try, and a determination to succeed, he was rapidly promoted 
 to the highest position within the gift of his employers. 
 Then, having acquired a moderate capital, as well as a 
 thorough knowledge of the business, he resigned his 
 position for the purpose of going into business on his 
 own account. 
 
 In isi!) Mr. Robinson became associated with two of 
 his brothers in the establishment of a wholesale lumber 
 business in Detroit. Iii 1884 one of his brothers withdrew 
 from the firm. The business, however, was carried on 
 until 1888, when, owing to changed conditions in (he source 
 of supplies and transportation facilities, il was decided 
 that Buffalo or vicinity would be a more advantageous 
 location. After careful investigation, a suitable place was 
 found on Little Island in North Tonawanda, and in ISSS 
 and 188!) the offices and yards of The Robinson Brothers 
 Lumber Company, of which the subject of this sketch was 
 president, were removed from Detroit to their present 
 location. 
 
 The following year Mr. Robinson's remaining brother, 
 who was associated with him. died. Soon afterwards Mr. 
 Robinson purchased the interest held by the estate of his late 
 brother, and since then has conducted the business as the 
 sole owner. Today the business enjoys a most enviable 
 reputation for its magnitude and reflects due credit upon 
 the integrity, conservatism, and commercial acumen of its 
 founder. 
 
 Although not residing in North Tonawanda, Mr. Rob- 
 inson has always taken a prominent part in promoting the 
 business interests of the twin cities, and has several times 
 visited both national and State capitals in the interests of 
 legislation of importance to the Tonawandas. He has sev- 
 eral times been elected to the presidency of the Tonawanda 
 Lumbermen's Association. He has also been twice honored 
 with the presidency of the National Wholesale Lumber 
 Dealers' Association, an organization of national reputation 
 and influence. 
 
 In 1872 Mr. Robinson married Matilda Oxenham, and 
 they lived in Detroit until his business was well established in 
 North Tonawanda. when he brought his family to Buffalo, 
 and soon afterward purchased a home in North Street, 
 where they still reside. 
 
 During Mr. Robinson's residence in Buffalo he has 
 taken an active interest in all matters pertaining to the wel- 
 fare of the city. He did much to promote the Pan-American 
 Exposition, serving on important committees from its incep- 
 tion until its close, and was one of the first liberal contributors. 
 He has always taken a great interest in religious and chari- 
 table work, and is a member and trustee of the Delaware 
 Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. He has been a 
 liberal contributor to the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation both in Buffalo and North Tonawanda. He is a 
 trustee of the Buffalo Orphan Asylum, ami is a life mem- 
 ber of that institution. He is also a life member of the 
 Buffalo Fine Arts Academy ami the Buffalo Society of 
 Natural Sciences; is a trustee of the Erie County Savings 
 Bank, and a member of the Buffalo, Country, and Park 
 clubs, and of the Buffalo Historical Society. He is a thirty- 
 second degree Mason, a Knight Templar, and a Noble of 
 the Mystic Shrine. 
 
 In January, 1908, Mr. Robinson was elected to the 
 presidency of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce, proving 
 the popular choice of Buffalo's representative business men 
 by a large majority. 
 
148 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 In politics Mr. Robinson is a Republican, and although New York, and entered the canal forwarding business as 
 taking a keen interest in all municipal and other public foreman in the firm of J. II. Crawford & Company. The 
 affairs, he has refrained from seeking office. following year the firm removed to Buffalo, Mr. Tindle 
 
 accompanying it, and becoming manager. In 18(!8 Mr. 
 
 William H. Gratwick was born in Albany. New York, Tindle entered the firm of Toles &: Sweet, engaged in simi- 
 
 February 14th, 1870. He attended Professor Horace Briggs's lar business, and among the large dealers in cooperage stock 
 
 school in this city, anil graduated from Harvard University in this State. With this firm he was associated for twelve 
 
 with degree of B. A. in 1892, and M. A. 18!)4. He is now years as purchasing agent and salesman. 
 
 About this time Mr. Tindle saw vast possibilities in the 
 cooperage trade, and in 1880 engaged in business for him- 
 self, purchasing a stave mill in Canada, the headquarters 
 of the business remaining in Buffalo. In a short time he 
 extended his interests to other Canadian mills, and from 
 1880 to 1888 he devoted himself mainly to the jobbing busi- 
 ness. In 1888 Willis K. Jackson, Mr. Tindle \s son-in-law, 
 became associated with him in the business: the firm name 
 becoming Thomas Tindle & Company. The business 
 grew so rapidly that it became necessary to manufacture the 
 stock dealt in by the firm. Stave and saw mills were erected 
 in several towns in Michigan, including Saginaw, Thompson- 
 ville, Bellaire, ( raylord, Alba, and Nessen City. A large stave 
 and heading mill was also erected at Cedar Springs. At 
 Pellston the firm operates saw, hoop, and stave mills, broom- 
 handle factory, and a general store. The firm also has a 
 
 WILLIAM H. GRATWICK 
 
 a member of the lumber firm of White, Gratwick & Mitchell, 
 North Tonawanda, New York, and The Split Rock Lumber 
 
 C pany, Duluth, Minnesota. 
 
 He was vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, 
 1905, and president in 1906 and 1907, during which years 
 the new building was constructed. Mr. Gratwick is Com- 
 missioner of the State Board of Charities for the Eighth 
 .Judicial District. 
 
 Thomas Tindle, senior member of the firm of Tindle 
 &■ Jackson, and one of this city's prominent cooperage 
 stock and lumber men. is a native of Yorkshire, England, 
 and came to this country when a young lad. He was born in 
 Broomfleet, April ?lh. 18,'5(i, and received his early trainine 
 in the common schools of that place. At the age of fourteen 
 he left school and was employed on his father's farm, at 
 which work he continued until he reached the age of nine- 
 teen years. In 1855 he came to America, settling in Saint 
 Lawrence County, this State, and engaged in farming for a 
 short time. The following year he went to Canada, remain- 
 ing for four years, returning to his former residence in Saint 
 Lawrence County in 185!), where he resided until 1865. 
 
 In the spring of 18(>5, Mr. Tindle went to Oswego, 
 
 THOMAS TINDLE 
 
 controlling interest in The Superior Veneer and Cooperage 
 Company at Munising, Michigan. 
 
 The firm has the most improved facilities for transpor- 
 tation. A railroad was constructed to convey the timber 
 from the forests to the mills, and these combined industries 
 furnish employment to about nine hundred hands. The 
 annual trade amounts approximately to about one million 
 five hundred thousand dollars. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 149 
 
 A branch office for marketing purposes is maintained 
 nt Minneapolis. 
 
 Mr. Tindle, though a citizen of much public spirit, 
 gives the most of his time to his personal business affairs. 
 He has never entered much into the political or club life of 
 Buffalo. He is one of the type of independent Republicans 
 who have done much to better Buffalo's municipal govern- 
 ment. His religious affiliation is with the Asbury Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, of which lie is a trustee, and a member of 
 the executive committee of the Methodist Union. He was at 
 one time director in the Niagara Hank. 
 
 April 5th, 1856, Mr. Tindle was married to Miss Harriet 
 Braithwaite, of ( )i>densbur<>'. New York, who was also a 
 native of Broomfleet, England. Two children are still 
 living — Annette, now Mrs. Willis K. Jackson, and Frank 
 T. Tindle, who is associated with his father's business. 
 
 George Michael Zimmermann, Comptroller of the 
 city of Buffalo, has confined his business activities to the 
 city of his nativity. He was born in Buffalo April 29th, 
 
 GEORGE MICHAEL ZIMMERMANN 
 
 18;>4, the son of (leorge Zimmermann and Catherine Fisher, 
 who came to the United States from Germany, settled in 
 Buffalo, and were among the city 's leading German-American 
 citizens. The younger Zimmermann received his education 
 in the public and parochial schools. He was graduated 
 from both Saint Joseph's College and Professor Barrett's 
 private school. After completing his school training, he 
 entered into the lumber business with his father, who was 
 one of the pioneers in that trade in this city, and who, at that 
 time, conducted an extensive wholesale and retail business. 
 In this business Mr. Zimmermann has remained through- 
 
 out his life, although he has of late years largely turned 
 his affairs over to his son. However, the business is still 
 carried on in his name and i-~ incorporated over his signature. 
 The firm maintains its offices and headquarters, yards and 
 sheds at 305 323 Pine Street, with a branch mill on Cypress 
 Street. It is foremost in the city's wholesale and retail 
 lumber trade. 
 
 Aside from his activities in the lumber world, Mr. 
 Zimmermann is director of the German-American Bank; 
 of the German and French Roman Catholic Cemetery 
 Association; of the Buffalo Volksfreund, of which he was 
 president for one year and vice-president for eight con- 
 secutive years; and of the German Roman Catholic Orphan 
 Asylum, of which he is vice-president, also a director of the 
 American Savings Bank. He is a member of the Buffalo 
 Council, Number 184, Knights of Columbus; Branch Number 
 Sixteen, Catholic Mutual Benefit Association and of the 
 Knights of Saint John. 
 
 Aside from the keen interest shown in the affairs of 
 the city, Mr. Zimmermann had never taken part in the city's 
 municipal affairs until in November, 1!)().>, when he was 
 induced to take the Democratic nomination for City Comp- 
 troller. Though the city has a Republican majority, the 
 esteem in which he was held overshadowed party lines 
 entirely, and he was elected by a most flattering majority. 
 He has filled the position of Comptroller since that time 
 most creditably. 
 
 On May 9th, 1876, Mr. Zimmermann was married 
 to Miss \gnes Steinmann, of this city. 
 
 Charles Boiler & Sons Company. Among the most 
 prominent lumber firms in this city — in fact, in the country— 
 
 CHARLES HOLLER 
 
150 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 is that of Charles Boiler & Suns ( lompany, controlling planing 
 mills and yards that possess dockage facilities for the handling 
 and transferring of lumber. This business was first estab- 
 lished in Buffalo in 1861, as a partnership between Charles 
 Boiler and Peter Recktenwalt, and it thus continued until 
 1SN4, when Mr. Holler succeeded to the entire control of the 
 company, and admitted to the firm his two sons, Henry E. 
 and Albert R. Holler. 
 
 In 1900 the firm was incorporated under the laws of 
 the State of New York, taking the firm name of Charles 
 Holler & Sons Company, with the following officers: presi- 
 dent. Charles Boiler: vice-president and treasurer, Henry 
 E. Boiler; secretary, Albert H. Holler. That personnel 
 continues to the present time. 
 
 In their large plant at the corner of Chicago and Carroll 
 streets the concern produces every class of wood that is 
 utilized in buildings. A complete line of wood and building 
 material is turned out, and their patronage is extensive 
 throughout Buffalo and a greater portion of New York and 
 adjacent states. The pine forests of California, Northern 
 Canada, and Minnesota, the cypress and hardwood timber 
 belts of Mississippi and the Southwest, all furnish the raw 
 material that is subsequently worked into the finished prod- 
 
 uct by this firm. The mahogany, rosewood, and other 
 more expensive classes are also handled here on a large scale. 
 
 One of the most valuable illustrations of the high class 
 of work turned out by this firm is the finish in the new Cham- 
 ber of Commerce Building, especially the fine figured 
 mahogany, which has made the Columbia National Bank, 
 in that building, one of the handsomest banks in the city. 
 The woodwork for the construction of the large group of 
 buildings recently erected at the United States Military 
 Academy at West Point, comprising the new cavalry and 
 artillery barracks and stables and gun sheds, was also fur- 
 nished by the subjects of this sketch. A contract now being 
 fulfilled by this firm is that of furnishing the interior wood- 
 work for a new Roman Catholic church now being erected 
 in New York at an enormous cost. 
 
 The company's planing mid occupies an area of about 
 one hundred feet by five hundred feet at the corner of Chicago 
 and Carroll streets, upon which the plant was erected when 
 it was founded. A large force of men is engaged in handling 
 and working the lumber, which is being constantly received. 
 The yards and dockage are located at Louisiana and Macki- 
 naw streets, and have a capacity of five million feet of lumber, 
 with exceptional shipping facilities, both by rail and by water. 
 
BUSINESS INTERESTS 
 
 B 
 
 EALS & COMPANY.— A record of seventy years in has since grown until it occupies a foremost place among 
 ctive business marked by constant expansion and the makers of belting and allied commodities. 
 
 uninterrupted prosperity, until it has come to !>e 
 known as one of the largest iron, steel, and hardware con- 
 cerns in the United States, is a matter of special pride for 
 Beals & Company and generally pleasing to every Buffalonian 
 who has at heart the commercial supremacy of his city. 
 
 The business was instituted by Samuel F. Pratt in the 
 days when Buffalo was but a village. Mr. Pratt bought 
 out the Weed Hardware Store and established the firm of 
 Pratt & Company in 18:56. Ten years later, in 1846, Mr. 
 Edward P. Beals was admitted to the partnership, and the 
 firm became known as Pratt & Beals. 
 
 From 18.36 until 1850 the business was conducted at 
 the old Weed store, at the corner of Main and Swan streets. 
 At that time the firm's constantly increasing business brought 
 the necessity of more commodious quarters, and the business 
 was removed to its present location on the Terrace, one of 
 the best localities for wholesale institutions in the city. 
 
 Mr. Beals continued in business with Mr. Pratt until 
 a comparatively recent period, 1886, when the firm was 
 reorganized under the name of Beals & Brown. In 1893 
 the firm became Beals & Company, and as such it is still 
 conducted. Mr. Edward P. Beals died in 1903, and the 
 present members of the firm are Pascal P. Beals, Charles 
 P. Rogers, Eugene J. McCarthy, and Samuel C. Pratt, all 
 of whom have been associated with the business for 
 many years. 
 
 The firm occupies the large buildings at numbers 
 44, 46, 48, and 50 Terrace, with its salesrooms, sample 
 rooms, and warehouses for the storage of iron, steel, general 
 hardware, and allied commodities. The offices of the com- 
 pany are also located within these buildings, the executive de- 
 partment, various storehouses, and salesrooms occupying 
 a total of two hundred thousand square feet of floor space. 
 
 The Bickford & Francis Belting Company. — An 
 
 active business life of nearly a half century is a matter 
 of special pride to this concern, and of general pride to 
 every Buffalonian who has a heart in the city's successful 
 business institutions. Organized in 1867, at a time when 
 the country's business was just recovering from the stag- 
 nation incidental to war, the company began to thrive and 
 
 The original firm was organized in 1867 by Richmond 
 H. Bickford, who was for a number of years associated with 
 
 THE BICKFORD & FRANCIS BELTING COMPANY 
 
 151 
 
U-2 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Fred B. Curtiss under the firm name of Bickford & Curtiss. 
 In 1881. Mr. Curtiss retiring, W. C. Francis assumed his 
 interest, the firm name becoming Bickford & Francis. 
 In 188!). upon the death of Mr. Francis. Walter T.Wilson and 
 1{. Kenneth Bickford were taken into the firm, the firm name 
 becoming The Bickford & Francis Belting Company, which 
 it still remains. The members of the firm at present are 
 Walter T. Wilson, R. Kenneth Bickford. and W. Morse 
 Wilson. 
 
 The business in which the firm has always been en- 
 gaged, the scope of which has been enlarged from time to 
 time, is the manufacture of oak-tanned leather belting. 
 For the past forty years they have manufactured the 
 celebrated B., C. & I), brand of leather belting, that has 
 gained an enviable reputation in every branch of manufac- 
 turing where belting is used. The business of the company 
 is largely wholesale, although a large retail business has 
 been built up in Buffalo and vicinity. Their field is the 
 entire United States, and a large corps of commercial men 
 are constantly engaged in carrying the " Bickford & Francis 
 mission" to the remote parts of the country. 
 
 For forty years the firm 's place of business was at num- 
 bers 53 and 55 Exchange Street. May 1st, 1007, they moved 
 to their commodious new home at number ,'i.) Pearl Street, 
 in the heart of the wholesale district. It was built by them 
 exclusively for their own purposes, a handsome six-story 
 building fitted with every modern convenience necessary 
 for the better conduct of their business and the comfort 
 and well-being of their employees. 
 
 The R. H. Thompson Company are wholesale paper 
 dealers, at numbers 184, 18(i, 188, and 190 Washington 
 Street. The business was first established twenty-six veai'S 
 
 ago on Lloyd Street by Richard II. Thompson, and has been 
 carried on under his management since that time. The 
 firm was incorporated as The R. H. Thompson Company 
 under the laws of the State of New York in 1900. The 
 business is in fine writing papers, printing papers, and 
 cardboards of all sorts and descriptions. 
 
 The F. P. Weaver Coal Company, one of the most 
 prominent of the representative coal corporations in western 
 New York, was incorporated in this city. December, 1903, 
 with the following officers: president, Frank P. Weaver; 
 
 R. H. THOMPSON 
 
 FRANK P. WEAVER 
 
 vice-president, Charles L. Couch; secretary. Charles W. 
 Moss; treasurer, Coplin James; all of whom still retain 
 their respective positions. The company represents extensive 
 bituminous, anthracite, and coke interests, shipping large 
 quantities to representative manufacturing institutions and 
 dealers throughout a comprehensive territory. The business 
 headquarters are in this city, with offices at 824 and 848 
 Prudential Building, while branch offices are maintained 
 at Syracuse, New York, with I.. 1). Fuller as manager, 
 and at Toronto, Ontario, with I.. G. Mickles as local repre- 
 sentative. In addition to the salesmen traveling through- 
 out western New York and the Niagara Frontier from the 
 home office, the men traveling from the branch offices cover 
 the eastern territory and Canadian markets. 
 
 The company's mine associations are with bituminous 
 and anthracite districts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West 
 Virginia. This company handles the output of many 
 individual mines in the Bessemer, Clearfield, and Smithing 
 fields of Pennsylvania, and particularly in Armstrong 
 County, where the Black Hawk steam coals are mined; 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 153 
 
 and in the higher grades of coal for steam and gas purposes 
 from the Pittsburg district, the company is the exclusive 
 representative in New York State and Canada of The 
 United Coal Company, of Pittsburg, with a daily capacity 
 at their several mines of ten thousand tons of Youghiogheny 
 gas coal, and The Morss Hill Coal Company, of Carbon- 
 dale, Pennsylvania, producing a standard grade of anthra- 
 cite coal. 
 
 Among the specialties handled by the Weaver Coal 
 Company is the "Rosebud Youghiogheny " gas coal, sold 
 by them to many gaslight companies and steel and iron 
 industries throughout New York and Canada; also a 
 by-product coke which is largely supplanting Connellsville 
 coke for foundry, furnace, and domestic purposes. 
 
 For the shipping and general transportation of coal 
 and coke, the Weaver company is especially well situated, 
 having at its command \ipwards of a thousand individual 
 coal cars and practically unlimited facilities for shipping 
 from the various ports on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario to 
 Canadian points and the great Northwest. 
 
 Since the inception of the company the business has 
 grown rapidly, the inevitable result of careful business 
 methods and prompt service to its customers. Though its 
 clientele is distributed over an extensive territory, the Weaver 
 company has established a reputation for carrying out the 
 spirit, as well as the form of a contract. This has been 
 especially noticeable during the period of car shortages 
 which have been of almost yearly occurrence for the past 
 ten years. During those periods the Weaver company 
 has always been prompt to care for its patrons' require- 
 ments, and once a customer has given his order or contract 
 to the Weaver company he is spared the annoyance of de- 
 layed shipments, evidenced by renewal of contracts at 
 expiration period. 
 
 Frank P. Weaver, the president of the company, is 
 a former treasurer of Niagara County and has been prom- 
 inent in Republican politics in Lockport, where he resides. 
 C. L. Couch, the vice-president, has had many years' 
 experience in the coal business, fourteen years of his service 
 having been with The Philadelphia and Reading Coal and 
 Iron Company. Mr. Moss is also a Lockport man, with 
 ten years' experience in the coal business in Chicago and 
 Indiana. Mr. Couch and Mr. James are both Buffalo 
 men, with excellent standing in Buffalo business circles. 
 
 The Pittsburg and Buffalo Company, with offices at 
 512 Prudential Building, this city, is one of the largest 
 representative coal and brick firms in Buffalo. Besides 
 furnishing coal and coke to the local trade, they engage 
 extensively in the manufacture of front brick, paving brick, 
 sewer pipe, and hollow block. Their operating mines are 
 noted throughout the Pittsburg, Youghiogheny, Ohio. 
 West Virginia, and Pennsylvania Freeport coal districts, 
 as the most modern and largest mines in the country. 
 
 To take prompt and efficient care of their large list 
 of customers this concern maintains a line of their own 
 railroad cars. That this means a great deal is shown when 
 the fact is made known that this company's trade extends 
 
 over most of the great cities of the country, as well as smaller 
 places throughout a great portion of the Union. 
 
 The new Pittsburg Youghiogheny mines, recently 
 opened, will, when fully developed, be the largest in this 
 country. To these and their other big mining operations 
 will be added soon a large high-grade coking plant of 
 three hundred beehive ovens, thus enabling them to enter 
 the coking trade with one of the best grades of coke turned 
 out for foundry and furnace use. 
 
 Their brick and sewer pipe plant combined is the largest 
 single plant between New York and Chicago, having a 
 capacity of over twenty million brick annually, and a mile 
 of sewer pipe daily. The front brick made by this company 
 is seen in some of the largest apartment buildings, office 
 blocks, school buildings, churches, and residences in New 
 
 York. Philadelphia. Washington. Baltil v, Pittsburg. 
 
 Buffalo, Cleveland, Niagara Falls, and smaller cities and 
 towns. Their paving brick and block is used in over one 
 hundred cities and towns in a dozen States. 
 
 The entrance of The Pittsburg and Buffalo Company 
 into the industrial world of Buffalo adds another chapter 
 of progressive firms to this city's credit. The present officers 
 of the company are Thomas P. Jones, president; John II. 
 Jones', treasurer; David (i. Jones, secretary. 
 
 The Buffalo Storage and Carting Company, with 
 offices and stables at :5.»0. 352, .'i.J4, and .'!.»(> Seneca Street. 
 and large storage facilities on Scott and Larkin streets, is 
 one of the largest institutions of its kind in the country. 
 It has an established business of upwards of forty years' 
 creditable standing in the city, Inning first been started 
 in a small way on Michigan Street near Seneca. Little bj 
 little it has grown under the direction of W. P. Taylor 
 until it has attained its present status. The past thirty 
 years the company's quarters have been on Seneca Street. 
 
 In 1903, a little more than four years ago, the immense 
 buildings of the company on Seneca Street, near Louisiana, 
 were destroyed by fire. In this instance, as is very often 
 the case, fire performed some service, for the reason that the 
 destroyed buildings were replaced with a structure of a 
 more desirable and elaborate class. This structure now 
 stands above all of its surroundings, a monument to the 
 energy and enterprise of the men who promoted it. It is 
 handsomely constructed of brick, three stories in height. 
 and has a frontage of eighty feet and a depth of one hundred 
 and eighty feet. 
 
 The building, which is used for storage purposes, is 
 on Scott Street, extending from Larkin to VanRensselaer 
 Street, and it is also used as a shipping point for the immense 
 amount of freight which is handled daily by this company. 
 Part of this building is one story high, having a frontage of 
 one hundred by four hundred feet. The other part, two 
 stories high, has a frontage of one hundred and fifty by 
 one hundred feet. This latter building faces directly on 
 the tracks of the Vanderbilt lines, thus giving unequaled 
 railroad facilities and enabling the company to take care of 
 its immense amount of business in a careful, svstematic, 
 and rapid manner. 
 
154 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 In this structure are constantly stored great quantities 
 of valuable merchandise, either consigned to the business 
 houses and industrial plants of the city, or to be forwarded 
 to other parts of the world. The rapid growth of the city 
 the past ten years and the consequent increase in freight 
 shipments, has made a business of this nature an absolute 
 necessity, and The Buffalo Storage and Carting Company 
 has ever met all the demands in a highly satisfactory manner, 
 as the increasing patronage and constantly growing busi- 
 ness attest. 
 
 The concern employs a large working force and has a 
 vast number of wagons and horses to handle its business 
 The officers are: president. William P. Taylor; vice-president 
 
 County, where the father died in 1863. After the death of 
 the elder Snyder the family removed to Buffalo, and the 
 boys of the family, as was the custom at the time, were set 
 to work at an early age. Mr. Snyder's education was neces- 
 sarily limited to that possible of acquirement in the district 
 schools, and his first work was on a farm when he was a lad 
 of very tender years. 
 
 When he attained his majority Mr. Snyder entered 
 the employ of a feed merchant in Buffalo and two years 
 later entered the employ of a Mr. Pettebone, who was 
 engaged in the trucking business. For seven years this 
 employment continued, during which time the thrifty young 
 man saved some money and engaged in the trucking busi- 
 
 THK BUFFALO STORAGE AND CARTING COMPANY 
 
 and manager, C. D. Taylor; secretary anil treasurer, F. J. 
 Abel. 
 
 Frank Snyder. — The subject of this sketch is one of 
 many Buffalonians of German nativity who have helped so 
 much to build up the city's industrial and commercial 
 supremacy, a class of foreign-born men whom the city has 
 always been glad to receive and proud to extend the 
 privileges of citizenship. Mr. Snyder was born in Wald- 
 munchen, Bavaria, Germany, January '28th, 1852, being 
 one of the family of four sons and two daughters of Joseph 
 and Magdalene Snyder. His father, a tanner by trade, 
 came to America in 1853 to prepare a home in the New 
 World for his family, who followed him five years later. 
 Thev settled at Griffin's Mills, in the town of Aurora, Erie 
 
 ness on his own account. From this humble beginning the 
 business has grown until, at the present time, it does most 
 of the heavy moving and trucking in Buffalo, a business 
 of immense proportions that has kept pace with the growth 
 of the city. 
 
 Mr. Snyder has his business headquarters at numbers 
 263 and 205 Fagle Street, where all contracts for work are 
 executed. The business is not confined solely to Buffalo, 
 but extends beyond to every city and hamlet within a radius 
 of two hundred and fifty miles. 
 
 Special attention is given to what is known in business 
 terms as "heavy work" requiring tackle and apparatus of 
 extraordinary capacity. For this the firm is well fitted and 
 moves heavy safes, monuments, and mammoth quarry 
 products with the greatest facility, despatch, and safety. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 155 
 
 One local contract, that reflects great credit upon Mr. Snyder 
 and his start', was the placing of the great marble lions on 
 the pedestal of the McKinlcv monument. The pieces 
 weighed many tons and required the most skillful handling 
 to prevent breakage or marring of the artist's handiwork. 
 This was accomplished in a most thorough and business- 
 like manner, and the performance of the contract attracted 
 thousands of people. A dray that has a capacity of seventy- 
 five tons has recently been added to Mr. Snyder's equip- 
 ment, which, together witli all the hoists and derricks, makes 
 possible the moving of almost anything movable. 
 
 FRANK SNYDER 
 
 Mr. Snyder is essentially a self-made man and an im- 
 portant factor in the business life of Buffalo. Through his 
 energy, business capability, anil integrity he has won the 
 esteem and confidence of the. entire community. 
 
 The Buffalo Dredging Company. — Charles E.Williams, 
 Frank L. Bapst, Pliny B. McNaughton, William H. Kinch. 
 and Samuel J. Dark are the five men controlling The Buffalo 
 Dredging Company and its kindred organizations — The 
 German Hock Asphalt and Cement Company, Limited; and 
 The Buffalo Expanded Metal Company. The three com- 
 panies represent the very largest interests of their classifica- 
 tion in western New York, and the various firms are known 
 throughout the United States where great contracts have 
 been performed. 
 
 The names of the various companies indicate in a 
 general way- the nature of their respective businesses, which 
 can be classified under the one head of general contracting. 
 No field of modern enterprise requires such versatility as 
 general contracting. It demands the thorough and tech- 
 
 CHARLES !'.. WILLIAMS 
 
 nical work of the civil engineer and all the tact and wisdom 
 of the successful business man. The associated companies 
 of The Buffalo Dredging Company are admirably fitted 
 with men and managers to meet all possible conditions that 
 may arise in their field of work. Some of the greatest con- 
 tracts of the past century were performed by these companies, 
 and their completed tasks stand today lasting monuments 
 to the skill and genius of their promoters. 
 
 FRANK L. BAPST 
 
150 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 PLINY B. McNAUGHTON 
 
 A summary of their greatest work in the past few years 
 will give a more comprehensive idea. The Buffalo Dredg- 
 ing Company is now, and has been for four years, engaged 
 in excavating a channel in what is known as Black Rock 
 harbor, which is to be a part of the proposed inside route 
 from Buffalo to the Tonawandas, under supervision of the 
 United States Government. These contracts involve more 
 than one million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 They have also been awarded the largest single contract 
 ever awarded by the city of Buffalo — the contracts for tun- 
 nels, foundation to new pumping station, and so forth — 
 connected with the waterworks system, and amounting to 
 about one million, five hundred thousand dollars. They 
 also hold the awards for the contracts for the intake, pump 
 well, submarine pipe, and so forth, of Lockport 's new water 
 system, in Niagara River at Tonawanda. This involves 
 eighty thousand dollars. Among the greatest of its tasks, 
 now completed, are the Union Ship ("anal for the Pennsyl- 
 vania Railroad and the Buffalo & Susquehanna companies 
 at West Seneca, amounting to over a million dollars; the 
 Buffalo River improvement work; a million dollars' worth 
 of work on the barge canal; also a contract with the United 
 Stales Government for deepeuing Detroit River, amounting 
 to two million nine hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 WILLIAM II. KIXC'll 
 
 SAMUEL J. DARK 
 
 Hundreds of miles of asphalt pavement have been laid 
 by The German Rock Asphalt and Cement Company, 
 Limited, since its inception and incorporation in 1888. 
 The records in the Board of Public Works will show paving 
 by this company, with stone, asphalt, brick, and macadam, 
 aggregating four million dollars in value. One of the 
 largest paving contracts was that on Main Street, the new 
 work extending from Goodell to Amherst Street. An- 
 other large contract was the paving of Fillmore Avenue 
 from Seneca Street to Best. Asphalt Moor work is a specialty 
 of this company, and their contracts for this class of work 
 include nearly all the breweries in the city and many large 
 manufacturing concerns. 
 
 The Buffalo Expanded Metal Company are expanded 
 metal and concrete fireproofing contractors and agents 
 for the sale of expanded metal lath and mesh. Their 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 157 
 
 business extends over ;i large pari "I the State, and some 
 immense contracts have been performed outside of Buffalo. 
 Here at home some of the largest contracts have been the 
 fireproofing of The I-arkin Company, the Lafayette Hotel, 
 the Sidway and Spaulding buildings at the corner of Main 
 and Goodell streets; Providence Retreat, the plant of The 
 American Malting Company, it being the largest single 
 malting plant in the world; and the Erie Railroad's new 
 freight houses. 
 
 Dark & Company. — The firm of Dark & Company, 
 engaged in the contracting and plumbing business, is one 
 of Buffalo's largest and best-known business institutions. 
 The business was originally carried on under the name of 
 Thomas Dark &: Sons, having been established in this city 
 in 18.5? by Thomas Dark, Senior, with whom were associated 
 his two sons — Thomas, Junior, and George. The firm 
 engaged in general contracting business, following much the 
 same lines as does the present firm, with the exception that 
 they did no plumbing work. In 1880 Samuel .1. Dark, a 
 grandson of Thomas Dark, Senior, was admitted to the 
 firm. 
 
 In 1SS.», owing to the fact that sewer and sanitary 
 contracting work is so closely allied to plumbing work, and 
 also to a general demand among the firm's clientage, a 
 plumbing department was instituted. This branch of the 
 work, which was at first subservient, became, in a few years, 
 its most important feature, and as such it still continues, 
 although it must not be inferred from this that the contract- 
 ing business has been relegated. On the contrary, the con- 
 tracting business has grown and developed until at the 
 present time Dark & Company is numbered among the 
 largest and most important contracting firms in the East. 
 
 The business was carried on by Thomas Dark, Senior, 
 and his sons until the spring of 1900, when all the senior 
 partners of the firm retired, and it passed into the control 
 of Samuel J. Dark. Thomas Dark, Senior, the parent of 
 the firm, is still living in Buffalo at the age of ninety-four, 
 and, despite his advanced years, he still takes an active 
 interest in Buffalo's affairs, particularly those which have 
 to do with sanitary conditions in the city. 
 
 Upon taking control of the business Samuel J. Dark 
 associated with himself Walter H. and Albert W. Caines, 
 brothers, who had been connected with the business for 
 many years, and whose practical experience, coupled with 
 Mr. Dark's executive ability, rapidly brought the firm to 
 the front. Walter H. Caines has been superintendent of 
 the plumbing department of the concern since its installa- 
 tion. 
 
 With the retirement of the elder members of the old 
 firm, the business assumed a new title, Dark & Company, 
 under which name it has since continued. The firm's 
 contracting work covers all classes of sewering, foundations, 
 the laying of conduits, general underground work, and plumb- 
 ing work of every description. They have installed the 
 plumbing, drainage, heating, and sanitary systems in hun- 
 dreds of Buffalo homes and apartment houses, and in many 
 of the largest factories and industrial plants. They have 
 
 also tilled numerous contracts for the city government, 
 
 installing large drainage, also healing and sanilarv, systems 
 in the schools and other public buildings. 
 
 The establishment of Dark <!* Company has been 
 located at 654 Main Street since toon. Here is maintained 
 one of the largest and best-equipped showrooms to be found 
 in the plumbing and contracting trades. It is handsomely 
 lilted and is in a rapidly developing section of the city, 
 convenient alike to the business and residence portions of 
 Buffalo. 
 
 A large staff of competent workers in the contracting 
 and plumbing trade is constantly employed; oftentimes 
 there are as many as one hundred plumbers and steam- 
 fitters on the pay roll of the company at one time — an infal- 
 lible indication of the extent of their business. 
 
 GEORGE W. MAI/1'BY 
 
 George W. Maltby, 
 
 id of the well-known firm of 
 
 George W. Maltby & Sons, engaged in the marble, cut 
 stone, and granite business, was born in West Henrietta. 
 Monroe County. New York, in 1845. While acquiring the 
 meager education that the district school of the time afforded, 
 great events overshadowed his life. The Civil War came 
 on. and at the age of seventeen he enlisted in Company II 
 of the One Hundred and Eighth New York Volunteer In- 
 fantry, which history records as one of the most gallant 
 commands in Hancock's Army Corps. During his service 
 Mr. Maltby participated in many of the most important 
 battles of the war, including Antietam, Gettysburg, and 
 Spottsvlvania Courthouse. He was wounded in all three 
 of the battles mentioned, and at the last named was so 
 injured as to be disabled for further service. He was sent to 
 Satterlee Military Hospital at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
 
158 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 where he remained until lie received his discharge in Novem- 
 ber. 1864. 
 
 At the clnse of the war. young Mr. Maltbv turned again 
 to peaceful vocations and completed his schooling by attend- 
 ing Bryant & Stratum's Business College at Rochester, New 
 York. In 18(i,5 he became engaged with the firm of Whit- 
 more, Carson & Company, of Rochester, in the cut stone 
 business, the members of the firm at that time being W. W. 
 Whitmore, of Lockport; Charles H. Rathbun. of Buffalo; 
 and William < arson, of Rochester. Mr. < arson died in 1872, 
 and Mr. Gilbert Brady, of Rochester, his half lirother, took 
 his place. Mr. Rathbun had charge of the business in Buf- 
 falo, and the title of the local company was Whitmore, Rath- 
 bun & Company. Mr. Whitmore retired in January, 1879, 
 and Mr. Rathbun died in June the same year. In March 
 of the following year Mr. Maltbv came to Buffalo, to take 
 charge of Mr. Brady's interests, and in 1880 the partnership 
 of Brady & Maltbv was formed, which continued until Mr. 
 Brady's retirement in 1896. For a time Mr. Maltbv carried 
 on the business alone, later taking into business with him 
 his two sons, James C. and William C. Maltbv. This change 
 was made in 1904, and since that time the concern has been 
 known in the business world as George W. Maltbv & Sons. 
 
 The firm is known as one of the largest cut stone con- 
 tracting firms in New York State, furnishing all grades of 
 granite and marble used in interior and exterior work. They 
 also have a lartre stock on hand of Medina sandstone, Ohio 
 sandstone, Queenston limestone, and Indiana limestone. 
 Their custom extends throughout the United States. 
 
 Among the more important contracts which have been 
 filled by this company in recent years may be mentioned 
 the McKinlcy Monument in Niagara Square, for which they 
 furnished and cut the marble, which by experts is considered 
 to be one of the finest marble exhibits in the world, and 
 displaying a remarkably high order of skill in its cutting. 
 
 The Harrison Granite Company, of New York, the 
 general contractors for the McKinlcy National Memorial 
 at Canton, Ohio, awarded the contract to this firm for the 
 interior marble, the sarcophagi, and the base, also for the 
 complete erection of the building, excepting the exterior 
 granite, which was furnished by The Harrison Granite Com- 
 pany and set by this firm. The marble used in the con- 
 struction of the New Y'ork State building at the Pan-Ameri- 
 can Exposition, the granite terraces, fountain, etc.. around 
 the Albright Art Gallery, the granite bridge across Park 
 Lake in Delaware Park, and the granite work at Gates Circle 
 were furnished by this firm. Other large contracts for which 
 the Maltbv company have furnished the stone and in some 
 cases constructed, may be mentioned the handsome Dela- 
 ware Avenue entrance to Forest Lawn Cemetery; also the 
 office building, the overflow station, portal, and valve cham- 
 ber of The Ontario Power Company at Niagara Falls, Onta- 
 rio; the First Presbyterian Church, the granite and marble 
 work in the Statler Hotel, the cut stone and marble for the 
 new addition to the Buffalo Club, and the cut stone for hun- 
 dreds of large residences in Buffalo and other cities. 
 
 The plant of George W. Maltbv & Sons is located at 
 the foot of Maryland Street, with admirable shipping facili- 
 
 ties. The mill is a fireproof building one hundred feet 
 square, and the cutting and blacksmith shops are three hun- 
 dred by forty feet. Their importations of marble and stone 
 are large. Nearly every State in the Union furnishes stone 
 for its various purposes. For the most part, the granite 
 comes from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachu- 
 setts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Wisconsin. 
 
 Formerly the firm had an extensive business furnishing 
 material for curbing, paving, and flagging, and work of a 
 similar nature in Detroit, Lansing, and other cities in Michi- 
 gan and ( )hio. 
 
 With the social and fraternal organizations Mr. Maltbv 
 is naturally closely identified. He is a member of Bidwell- 
 Wilkeson Post. Grand Army of the Republic; the L'nion 
 Veteran Legion; and Queen City Lodge, Free and Accepted 
 
 CHARLES MOSIER 
 
 Masons. He is also a trustee of the Blocher Home, a mem- 
 ber and former president of the Builders' Exchange, also a 
 member of the Chamber of Commerce. His religious affilia- 
 tion is with the Plymouth Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 August "27th, 1865, Mr. Maltbv married Mary J. Pierce, 
 a daughter of Caleb Pierce, of Rochester. New York. 
 
 Mosier & Summers. — Among the leading contracting 
 and building firms in western New York, enjoying a reputa- 
 tion for great building achievements, is the firm of Mosier 
 & Summers, established in this city in 1897, a business 
 partnership between Charles Mosier and William Summers. 
 From the very beginning their establishment began to have 
 a potent influence upon the building industry in Buffalo, 
 and they have a constantly increasing business under the 
 head of general contracting. Their work is by no means 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 159 
 
 confined to Buffalo, l>ut extends throughout the surround- 
 ing towns and country, and to distant parts of the State. 
 
 Among the many great contracts fulfilled by tliis com- 
 pany may be mentioned the building of Power I louse Number 
 Two, at Niagara Falls; Lafayette High School, one of Buffalo's 
 handsomest school buildings and one of the show places 
 of the city; the new Sixty-fifth Regiment armory, said to 
 he the second largest and most magnificent structure of its 
 kind in the world; the Mayer Building; and the new Statler 
 Hotel, recently completed. For the State and the Federal 
 Government they have fulfilled many contracts, notable 
 among them being the construction of twenty buildings for 
 tin' United States Government at Oswego, New York, and 
 a large group of buildings for the Gowanda State Hospital. 
 Tin' erection, several years ago, of three additional stories 
 
 WILLIAM SUMMERS 
 
 on the Hotel Iroquois was also one of the firm's great achieve- 
 ments. 
 
 Among the later contracts which they have filled, some 
 of which are even now in the process of fulfillment, may be 
 included the erection of the wing on Providence Retreat, 
 a newfreieht house for the Erie Railroad on Louisiana Street, 
 and a contract for the erection of three new buildings for 
 the Dansville State Hospital. The subjects of this sketch 
 have also filled and are engaged in filling contracts for the 
 State on the barge canal, and in the good roads work which 
 is being carried on in this vicinity. 
 
 The flattering reputation of Mosier & Summers has 
 been built up through the prompt and satisfactory execution 
 
 of all contracts. The offices and the planing mill of the 
 company are located at 1266 Seneca Street, where a large 
 force of men is kept constantly busy on the lumber used by 
 the firm in its various contracts. 
 
 Charles Mosier, the senior member of the firm, was 
 born in Buffalo, February 28th,1861,the son of John and Mary 
 Mosier. He attended the public schools of this city until 
 he was thirteen years of age, when he entered a planing mill, 
 beginning at the foot of the ladder, mastering the trades of 
 woodworking, carpentry, masonry, and architecture, thus 
 gaining a thorough knowledge of the trades which he has 
 since followed. In March, 1890, he entered the contracting 
 business for himself, and seven years later entered a copart- 
 nership with William Summers. 
 
 In politics Mr. Mosier has always taken an active interest, 
 being affiliated with the Republican Party, and having served 
 as delegate to several State conventions, and the Republican 
 national convention in 1904. He has been a member of the 
 Republican General Committee, representing for some time 
 the old Fifth Ward as committeeman. He has also been a 
 staunch champion of civil service reform, and during Mayor 
 Jewett's administration was appointed a civil service com- 
 missioner. During the administration of Mayor Erastus 
 ('. Knight he was further honored by appointment to the 
 Board of Park Commissioners, and afterwards reappointed 
 for a term of five years, which term he is now serving. 
 November 8th, 1884, he married Margaret Cullon, of this 
 city. Mr. and Mrs. Mosier have one daughter, Ellen 
 Mosier. 
 
 William Summers, the junior member of the firm, was 
 born at Niagara on the Lake, New York, November 1st, 1852, 
 the son of Thomas Summers, who had emigrated from Ire- 
 land two years previous. He received his education in the 
 public schools of his native village, but went to work at an 
 early age. In 1865 he came to Buffalo, and while employed 
 in a butcher shop completed his education by attending 
 night school. Ten years later he went into business for him- 
 self, and a few years afterward entered the contracting busi- 
 ness, which he followed until the partnership with Mr. Mosier 
 was formed. 
 
 Mr. Summers, like his partner, has always been promi- 
 nent in politics, having been elected, in 1882, Alderman from 
 the old Thirteenth Ward, afterwards the Fifth, and at the 
 present time the Fourth Ward. From 1888 to 1891. inclu- 
 sive, he served as Chairman of the Council. He was elected 
 no less than eight times from the same ward on the Demo- 
 cratic ticket, and served on the Board of Aldermen with 
 energy and ability, bringing about many needed improve- 
 ments in that part of the city from which he came. He has 
 served a number of terms on State and county committees, 
 and has often been a delegate to State and national con- 
 ventions. 
 
 Mr. Summers is married and has five sons — Joseph W., 
 Robert J., Austin W., George J., and Eugene F. Summers. 
 
HOTELS. 
 
 THE IROQUOIS HOTEL 
 
 cuisine is unsurpassed, its convenience and 
 accommodations for guests are distinctive, and 
 the management numbers among its patrons 
 the most exclusive and exacting people of the 
 traveling world. 
 
 The Iroquois Hotel was first opened for 
 business in this city, August 3d, 1889, though 
 it was for the greater part rebuilt in 1901, to 
 meet the new and greater demands of Pan- 
 American year. It is now an imposing struc- 
 ture as nearly fireproof as it is possible to build, 
 and has accommodations for six hundred guests. 
 In its spacious restaurants five hundred people 
 can be seated with ease at one time. 
 
 To those who have a love for the beautiful, 
 and in whom the artistic temperament is well 
 developed, a mere visit to the Iroquois furnishes 
 much enjoyment. Only by a personal inspec- 
 tion can anyone gain an idea of the quiet 
 elegance, luxurious comforts, and refinement 
 of modern life which characterize this hotel. 
 
 Every convenience known to those engaged 
 in the business of catering to the traveling 
 public lias been provided for its patrons. Each 
 one of the guest rooms is splendidly and 
 artistically furnished, equipped with telephone 
 connections, both local and long distance. 
 The rooms are well lighted with electricity, 
 have hot and cold running water, and. in fact, 
 nothing has been overlooked that will sub- 
 stantiate the claim that the Iroquois is in every 
 sense of the word a high-class hotel. 
 
 It is distinctly metropolitan in its business 
 methods and management. For the past few 
 years it has been recognized by the traveling 
 public and business men of large caliber, who 
 have made a practice of holding business meet- 
 ings, social gatherings, and conventions there. 
 It may also be said to have a distinctive part 
 in the politics of the city, as it is here that 
 politicians gather nightly and discuss their campaigns. 
 many more ways than one it has rendered valuable 
 
 The Iroquois Hotel, located at the corner of Main and tin 
 Eagle streets, has long enjoyed the distinction of being not In 
 only the best high-class hotel in Buffalo, but in the fore- service to the city, and it has become as much a part of the 
 most rank of hotels throughout the United States. Its city as the city 's history. 
 
 100 
 
/'///•: CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Kil 
 
 The management of the hotel is in the hands of Messrs. particular. Ii is so delightfully situated thai il is regarded 
 
 Woolley and Gerrans, both of whom have had many years' ;i s ■ of the principal attractions of Buffalo, and the rapid 
 
 experience in the hotel business, and to whom the credit electric carriage service, operating continuously, exclusively 
 
 of the standing of the Lroquois may justly be given. The For patron's, to wharves and depots and through the busi- 
 
 hotel activities of the two gentlemen named arc not con- U ess district, makes it the most generally accessible and 
 
 fined exclusively to the Iroquois, bul extend lo the well- convenient hotel in Buffalo. 
 
 ' 
 
 -•'/.' . 
 
 
 
 t[f; ,n ,»[ 
 
 ■ 'Mr 
 
 ■M iff IB 
 
 H p 
 
 I, 
 
 il i, 
 
 j-Jiili 9$-MK 
 
 THE LENOX HOTEL 
 
 known Marie Antoinette on Broadway, New York, and the The Lafayette Hotel, at the corner of Washington and 
 
 Grand Union Hotel at Saratoga Springs, Loth of which Clinton streets, is one of the many satisfactory results of 
 
 they manage. The former is one of the most magnificent the Pan-American Exposition held in this city in 1901. It 
 
 hotels of its kind in the country, and the latter is famed as is. perhaps, one of the best fifteen hotels in the United States, 
 
 one of the best summer resort hotels in the East. The and its elaborate construction was directed by Walter B. 
 
 Iroquois is conducted on the European plan. Duffy, a well-known Rochester capitalist. It was built at 
 
 The Lenox is really a strictly high-class hotel in every a cost of one million dollars, and opened for business on 
 
[62 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 June 1st, 1!>04. The personnel of its directorate since its oj 
 
 incepti 
 
 lias been, George W. Sweeney, of New York, 
 
 president; Walter 1$. Duffy, Rochester, vice-president. 
 ('. R. Eldridge is now manager. All of the gentlemen are 
 well known in the hotel world, particularly Mr. Sweeney, 
 who is the proprietor of the Victoria and Marlborough 
 hotels in New York, and is at present engaged in the con- 
 struction of another immense hotel in Rochester. 
 
 The Lafayette is distinguished by its French Renais- 
 sance style of architecture. The exterior of the building 
 shows a surface of vitreous red brick with semiglazed 
 ivory-white terra cotta trimmings. The window balconies. 
 porte-cochere, and entrances are finished in art wrought 
 
 THK LAl'AYKTTK HOTF.L 
 
 iron. The main entrance to the hotel opens into a grand 
 lobby, seventy-two by eighty-five feet in size, with ten large 
 plate glass windows overlooking Lafayette Park. 'The lobby 
 is finished in red Numidian marble and Fonterre mahogany. 
 In it are located the hotel office, the men's check rooms, 
 telephone offices, cigar stands, and so forth. Handsome 
 and comfortable lounges, davenports, and chairs are placed 
 about. 
 
 The carriage entrance, on Washington Street, opens on 
 the main lobby, also the ladies' reception room, adjacent 
 to which are the cloak and toilet rooms. These rooms 
 
 open on the three restaurants, called the Brown and (Jreen, 
 the Reil and Gold, and the Crystal rooms. On the first 
 floor, also, are to be found the kitchen and serving rooms, 
 easily accessible, and the bar and grill room, both of which 
 arc furnished in the old Dutch style. 
 
 In the basement is located the machinery necessary for 
 the operation of a big modern hotel. The elevators in the 
 hotel are operated either by steam or electricity, the latter 
 being used in the summer when no heat is desired. In the 
 basement are located the billiard rooms, barber shops, and 
 men's lavatories, all of which are distinctly modern in every 
 respect and equipped with every possible convenience. 
 In the hotel proper there are nearly three hundred guest 
 
 rooms, most of which have 
 baths or showers attached. 
 Each room is equipped with 
 complete telephone service, 
 which is designed for long- 
 distance connections, and has 
 hot and cold running water. 
 Particular attention has been 
 paid to the wants of com- 
 mercial men and many large 
 sample rooms, well-equipped 
 and perfectly lighted, are 
 always available to the tran- 
 sient trade. Every room in 
 the hotel is handsomely fin- 
 ished and entirely in keeping 
 with the management's ideas 
 of modern hotel equipment. 
 
 The upper floors are fin- 
 ished in oak. Little wood 
 is used, however, in the 
 decorations. The windows 
 are of French plate glass with 
 reversible sashes. The deco- 
 rations, which have attracted 
 much attention throughout 
 the hotel world, are the work 
 of Duryea & Potter, of New 
 York City. Particularly rich 
 and impressive are the deco- 
 rations in the public rooms, 
 which are finished in Louis 
 the Fourteenth, Louis the Fifteenth, Marie Antoinette, and 
 First Empire styles. The "Golden Suite" is one of the 
 most lavish suites in any hotel in the United States. 
 
 The location of the hotel is desirable from every view- 
 point, easily accessible to those who are in the city on purely 
 business affairs, and very convenient for sight-seers. It is 
 close to the shopping districts and railroad stations, facing 
 beautiful Lafayette Square and the Soldiers' Monument. 
 It is within two minutes' walking distance of the trolley 
 cars for Niagara Falls, Olcott Beach, Lancaster, Loekport, 
 Hamburg., and all other suburban points. 
 
PUBLIC SERVICE. 
 
 POWER HOUSE 
 
 THE International Railway Company. — Buffalo has 
 made remarkable strides within the past half cen- 
 tury, and to this phenomenal growth is ascribed the 
 development of the public facilities within the municipality. 
 In a large measure the progress made by the street railway, 
 now The International Railway Company, embracing all 
 the lines within the city and the greatest combination of 
 interurban service in the country, has been a potent factor 
 in the expansion of the city. Today Buffalo has within 
 its confines the greatest of all street railways, operating a 
 system which is regarded by railway experts as a model 
 service. 
 
 The trolley service in Buffalo has grown like the acorn 
 developing into the mammoth oak. Naturally it was but 
 a puny stripling at first; but with time, a thriving locality, 
 and an enterprising and energetic corps of officers, its 
 growth was apace with the times. The modernization of 
 the railway in Buffalo, even with the electric power, has been 
 the talk of the railway world; and today, Henry J. Pierce, 
 the president of The International Railway Company, 
 occupies a foremost position among the executives of public 
 service corporations. 
 
 Less than fifty years ago Buffalo's railway service was 
 not a comprehensive line. The demand for a big service 
 
 163 
 
164 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 was not in existence. The Buffalo Railway Company, as 
 it was then called, operated its cars in a few of the thorough- 
 fares of the city, using the only power that was available 
 at that time — the horse. Horse cars were modern means of 
 conveyance hack in the sixties, and with S. V. R. Watson as 
 president, and C. W. Miller as the superintendent. The 
 Buffalo Railway Company ran the horse cars in Main Street, 
 from the foot of the street to Cold Spring, and in Niagara 
 Street from Main to Amherst. These were among the first 
 lines established in the city, and others followed. The 
 development was slow, but gradually the horse-car lines were 
 extended in a number of other streets. These streets 
 included Genesee, Batavia (now Broadway), which was 
 afterward abandoned but later replaced, Exchange Street 
 Ohio Street, and a few others. One of the notable lines 
 was that running from Ohio Street to Michigan to Goodell 
 to Main. This was afterward torn up, as there were ample 
 facilities for handling the traffic in other directions. These 
 same cars which were drawn through the streets by horses 
 
 J 
 
 v» 
 
 THE OLD HORSE CAR 
 
 in the days gone by would be looked upon as curiosities in 
 the present age. The cars were dimly lighted with oil 
 lamps, and in winter there was no means for heating the 
 cars except a bit of straw on the floor to warm the feet of 
 the passengers. 
 
 Inventive genius soon asserted itself, and primitive 
 methods of transportation were relegated to memory's 
 pages. A period of reconstruction came. Buffalo had so 
 far advanced that it had outgrown the horse cars, and a 
 reconstruction followed. In 1891 horse cars were replaced 
 by more modern methods and the Niagara Street line was 
 electrified. It meant a reconstruction of the line. New- 
 rails were laid, and all the accessories of a first-class electric 
 system were secured by the company. The long red ves- 
 tibuled cars were operated and proved so successful that the 
 electrification of other lines followed. In the same year 
 Main Street cars were propelled by electricity, the territory 
 covered being from the foot of Main Street to Scajaquada 
 Creek. 
 
 The company later extended the Main Street service to 
 the New York Central crossing and a short time afterward 
 to the city line, giving an uninterrupted run from the dock 
 
 to the city limits. Two years later the trolleys were placed 
 in Broadway from Main Street to the city line, and other 
 streets were given similar service as soon as the construction 
 could be begun. In less than five years Buffalo had a trolley 
 system that seemed to meet the demands of the people, but 
 it was seen that the equipment would not stand the heavy 
 traffic and it was necessary to rebuild the line. This work 
 was beeun in 18!)(i, and it was continued until heavier rails, 
 more modern cars, and up-to-date machinery were installed. 
 Part of this work was done by The Crosstown Street Railway 
 Company, which was organized in 1884. Later, The 
 Buffalo Traction Company entered the field of competi- 
 tion, but it was absorbed by the larger company. At this 
 time practically all the prominent streets were occupied 
 by the tracks of the company, and it was possible to reach 
 almost every point within the city in a comparatively short 
 time. 
 
 Buffalo was also served with facilities for reaching the 
 suburban places and the cities of Lockport and Niagara 
 Falls. In 1902 a merger was effected whereby all the 
 existing lines were entered in the one company, which 
 was called The International Railway Company. It 
 took in sixteen different lines, including the Niagara 
 Falls, the Lockport. the Lancaster, the Kenmore and 
 Tonawandas, and other companies. In all these 
 years there were but three presidents at the head of 
 the trolley system — S. V. R. Watson, Henry M. Wat- 
 son, and W. Caryl Ely. 
 
 Henry J. Pierce assumed the office of president on 
 March 4th, 190,5, and since he has been at the head of 
 the company it has forged to the front rapidly. By his 
 indomitable spirit, his indefatigable efforts, his unfail- 
 ing enterprise, and constant study of transportation 
 problems, he has given Buffalo a service of which the 
 city is proud and which is taken as a model by other 
 cities. Mr. Pierce has proved himself a general by 
 his business methods, for he is a man who does things. 
 He is constantly on the alert for the improvement of the 
 service, anil through his administration there is the word 
 "progress" marked on every act and deed. More than 
 this, Mr. Pierce's attitude toward the city in every way 
 has been one of fairness and liberality not exhibited by many 
 corporations. 
 
 During the last few years there has been considerable 
 work done. It may be truthfully said that the system has 
 been practically rebuilt. New equipment has been intro- 
 duced, including handsome cars of the modern type. The 
 latest manufacture of rails are being laid as the old ones give 
 out, and everything possible for the safety and comfort of 
 the people is looked after by Mr. Pierce. He has surrounded 
 himself with a most efficient corps of officers, and it may be 
 said that the faultless manner in which the policy of the busi- 
 ness president is carried into effect is responsible for the 
 high standard of service. Notable among the officers is 
 Thomas W. Wilson, general manager. Mr. Wilson had his 
 early training as an engineer, and he is therefore a practical 
 railroad man. Success has also crowned his efforts, and he 
 has many achievements to his credit. 
 
/'///•: CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 165 
 
 The International Railway Company today, therefore, 
 is a system which ramifies to all points in Buffalo, extends 
 to all suburban points contiguous to the city, and enters the 
 cities near by. The interurban service is regarded as the 
 greatest in the country, it' not in the world. No other com- 
 pany operates in so extensive a field with the uninterrupted 
 successes of The International Railway Company, when it 
 is taken into consideration the vast number of people carried 
 in its cars every year. 
 
 The equipment of the company consists of three hundred 
 and sixty-five miles of track, two hundred and ten miles of 
 which is in the city and one hundred and fifty-four miles 
 interurban; twelve hundred and fifty cars; ten enormous car 
 houses, some of which are in Niagara Falls, Lockport, and 
 in Canada; one generating station, or reserve steam plant; 
 eight transformers; and numerous accessories. 
 
 The nature of the advancement can he judged from the 
 fact that after horse cars were abandoned rails forty pounds 
 to the yard were laid. Now the rails weigh one hundred 
 
 d reaches practically 
 
 THE NEW TROLLEY CAR 
 
 and forty pounds to the yard. They are firmly supported 
 by steel lies and are imbedded in a base of concrete, joints 
 are welded, and there is no vibration in the cars running 
 over the improved roadbed. Thus it can he seen that Buffalo 
 has a trolley system which commands the attention of the 
 world and it is rapidly approaching the point of perfection 
 in transportation facilities. 
 
 The Bell Telephone Company. — In the year 1876, at the 
 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Professor Alexander 
 Graham Bell first exhibited his electric speaking telephone. 
 Its wonderful reproduction of human speech at once stamped 
 it as a scientific marvel, and as such it has remained to 
 the present day. During the thirty-one years that have 
 intervened — less than a generation — it has grown into one 
 of the greatest and most widely used and distributed agencies 
 and contributors to our social and commercial activities 
 that can be named. At the office, in the home, in the hotel, 
 on trains and ocean steamships, in the mines and on the 
 
 farms, the telephone is lo be found 
 everywhere. 
 
 At the end of 1906 the Hell system served more than 
 three million stations to be found in every Stale and Terri- 
 tory in the Union, reached by over seven million four hundred 
 thousand miles of wire and furnishing channels for more than 
 seventeen million conversations each day. This would mean. 
 could the conversations be so distributed, that about one 
 
 half of the entire population of the United Stales men, 
 women, and children — would either make or answer a call 
 on the Bell system every day in the year. 
 
 The western New ^ ork representative of this great 
 national system is The Bell Telephone Company of Buffalo, 
 organized in 1879, owned largely by Buffalo capital, ami 
 operating through the counties of Erie, Genesee, Niagara, 
 Orleans, Monroe. Wyoming, and Livingston, with head- 
 quarters in this city. Within this territory can be found 
 about sixty thousand Bell telephone stations, of which about 
 twenty-three thousand are in this city and the others in the 
 remaining fifty-five exchanges owned and operated bv 
 the company within those confines. To reach its 
 present subscribers, and lo take care of its rapid 
 increase, no less than one hundred and seventeen 
 thousand miles of wire, in addition to that of its toll 
 plants, are to be found in the company's exchange 
 systems, over ninety thousand miles of which arc in 
 cables, eighteen thousand being added during the 
 year 1906. 
 
 To connect all these exchanges The Bell Tele- 
 phone Company of Buffalo has created a toll line 
 plant, recently greatly enlarged, and containing over 
 fourteen thousand miles of copper wire. For the size 
 of the territory served it is conceded to be one of the 
 largest and most complete in the world. 
 
 Besides its own toll line system the Buffalo com- 
 pany also enjoys, through its association with the 
 national system, the privilege of connections with all 
 the long-distance lines in this country and Canada. 
 The offices and central station of the company 
 were at first located at the corner of Main and North Division 
 streets, fn ISS.j a removal was made to the present central 
 station on West Seneca Street, at the corner of Pearl. The 
 company was organized and incorporated under the laws of 
 New York State with a moderate capital. In 1000 the 
 authorized capital was made ten million dollars, of which 
 eight million dollars has been issued. 
 
 Since the formation of the company in 1870 its president 
 has been Mr. Henry M. Watson. During the entire period of 
 his service he has devoted that same constant energy, atten- 
 tion, and capacity to the financial and executive affairs of 
 the Bell company that characterized his service for many 
 years as head of the Buffalo Street Railway interests- now 
 a part of The International Railway Company's system — in 
 which company Mr. Watson still remains a director. 
 
 The first general manager of The Bell Telephone Com- 
 pany was Mr. Edward J. Hall, to whom is due the credit 
 for the introduction of the telephone into Buffalo and western 
 New York, and who laid the foundations for the youn« 
 
100 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 company on which it has continued to develop and expand so 
 successfully. In 1887 Mr. Hall left Buffalo to become, 
 and has since that time remained, the first vice-president 
 and general manager of The American Telephone and 
 Telegraph Company, now the national organization before 
 referred to in this .sketch. 
 
 The other executive heads of The Hell Telephone 
 Company of Buffalo are: T. T. Ramsdell, vice-president; 
 
 Colonel Henry M. Watson, for more than a quarter 
 of a century president of The Bell Telephone Company 
 of Buffalo, and familiarly known as the "father of Buffalo's 
 street railway system." has probably been more closely 
 identified with the city's rise and development than any 
 other single person. After long and valuable service in 
 building up the street carrying system, he was one of a coterie 
 of men who saw the possibilities of the telephone in business 
 
 THE bi;ll TELEPHONE COMPANY 
 
 J. S. Baechcr. secretary and treasurer; A. P. Roberts, auditor. life and introduced the then innovation in Buffalo, the begin- 
 
 The directors are H. M. Watson. T. T. Ramsdell, T. X. ning of the excellent service that Buffalo now enjoys. 
 Aail, E. .1. Hall, L. L. Babcock, J. 1'. Bradfield, B. E. Chase, Colonel Watson was born in Unadilla, Otsego County, 
 
 E. M. Hager, C. M. Helmer, C. (). Howard. Porter Norton, New York. His father was a noted educator, whose name 
 
 S. S. Spaulding, George Weldon, C. H. Wilson, and J. S. was closely associated with the State's early strides toward 
 
 Baecher. mental advancement. The elder Watson was also known 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 167 
 
 in public life, and served as a member of the State Legislature 
 in 1839. 
 
 In 1857 Colonel Watson went to Albany, where for many 
 years he was engaged in tin* banking business, turning his 
 attention from that in 1805 to the railroad business, and was 
 the first general passenger agent of the Albany & Susque- 
 hanna Railroad, now a part of the Delaware & Hudson 
 system. This association he discontinued in lS(i7. and in 
 1868 removed to Buffalo, being elected, that same year, 
 secretary and treasurer of The Buffalo Street Railroad 
 Company. In 1871 he was chosen secretary and treasurer 
 of The Buffalo East Side Railway Company, and upon the 
 death of Stephen Van Rensselaer Watson in 1881 Colonel 
 Watson was elected president of The Buffalo Street Railroad 
 Company. 
 
 COLONEL HENRY M. WATSON 
 
 In November, 1890, the Buffalo Street Railroad, the 
 Buffalo East Side Railway, and the Buffalo West Side Rail- 
 way were merged into The Buffalo Railway Company, and 
 Colonel Watson was elected president of the united lines, 
 continuing in that office for the following ten years. During 
 his tenure of office many of the plans were laid and improve- 
 ments projected that, being carried out since, have resulted 
 in Buffalo's splendid system. When he first became presi- 
 dent of the company the Buffalo Street Railroad system used 
 three hundred horses in its operation. At the time when 
 electricity was substituted for horse power, two years after 
 Colonel Watson's induction into office, the business had 
 grown until eighteen hundred horses were being used. 
 
 In ISS'i Colonel Watson took an active part in the organ- 
 ization of The American Street Railroad Association, an 
 institution including the street carrying interests of the 
 
 I'nited States and Canada, which has since proved to be 
 a powerful factor in transportation affairs. In 188.5 he was 
 elected president of the Street Railway Association of New 
 York State, and in 1800, when the American Street Railway 
 Association held its convention in Buffalo, Colonel Watson 
 was signally honored by being chosen its president. 
 
 Colonel Watson turned his attention in 1879, for the 
 moment, to the telephone, which at the time was considered 
 with views askance and as an almost incredible and impossible 
 invention. He was elected president of The Bell Telephone 
 Company of Buffalo in that year, an office he has filled with 
 much credit. He has seen his project grow into a great 
 system, with thousands of miles of wire reaching out to everv 
 home within his territory, no matter how remote. 
 
 He has always been prominently identified with the 
 military affairs of the State, and the present high state of 
 efficiency in the State soldiery is largely due to his early 
 efforts. In 1861, when living in Albany, he was one of the 
 organizers of Company A. Tenth Regiment, National Guard, 
 and afterwards gave ten years of service to his State. In 
 1865 he was promoted to second lieutenant, and is still an 
 honorary member of that company. In January, 1880, 
 he was appointed aide-de-camp, with the rank of colonel, 
 on the staff of Governor Alonzo B. Cornell and served 
 throughout that administration. He was also an aide-de- 
 camp at the funerals of Presidents Lincoln and Garfield, 
 and attended, by invitation, the funeral of President 
 McKinley. 
 
 Colonel Watson is a trustee and second vice-president 
 of the Erie County Savings Bank, has been vice-president 
 of The Fidelity Loan and Trust Company, and is now one 
 of its directors and a member of its executive committee; 
 is also director of the Manufacturers' and Traders' National 
 Bank and vice-president of the Buffalo General Hospital. 
 He is a director in The International Railway Company; 
 a member of the Buffalo, Saturn, and Country clubs of this 
 city, the Fort Orange Club of Albany, and the Genesee 
 Valley Club of Rochester; a life member of the Buffalo 
 Public Library, a member of the Buffalo Historical Society, 
 and a vestryman of Trinity Church. 
 
 Thomas T. Ramsdell, whose name is associated with 
 many of Buffalo's greatest business enterprises, is a native 
 of Buffalo, having been born here March 15th, 1854. He 
 received his general training in the public schools of the city, 
 and his technical education in Professor Briggs's Classical 
 School, from which he graduated in 1871. 
 
 Two years later Mr. Ramsdell entered business life 
 as a clerk in the wholesale boot and shoe house of (). P. 
 Ramsdell & Company, a business house of much prominence 
 established by Mr. Ramsdell's father in 1837. At the time 
 the business was being conducted by his father. Orrin P. 
 Ramsdell, and William H. Walker. In 1877 Mr. Walker 
 retired from active business, and the subject of this sketch, 
 with his brother, Albert N. Ramsdell, was taken into partner- 
 ship. Albert N. Ramsdell died the following year, and in 
 1879 W. C, G. W., and S. M. Sweet were admitted to the 
 firm, the firm name becoming O. P. Ramsdell, Sweet & 
 
168 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 THOMAS T. RAMSDELL 
 
 Company. At the death of his father Mr. Ha 
 the senior member of the firm. 
 
 This firm continued until 1903, 
 when Mr. Rarusdell retired and be- 
 came vice-president and general man- 
 ager of The Bell Telephone Company 
 of Buffalo, which offices he continues 
 to hold at this writing. 
 
 He is president of the Buffalo 
 Public Library, trustee of the Buffalo 
 General Hospital, trustee of West- 
 minster Church, trustee of the Erie 
 County Savings Bank, director in The 
 Ellicott Square Company, director of 
 The Bell Telephone Company, mem- 
 ber of the Chamber of Commerce, life 
 member of the Buffalo Fine Arts 
 Academy, member of the Buffalo His- 
 torical Society and the Society of 
 Natural Sciences, member of the 
 Buffalo, Saturn, and Ellicott clubs of 
 Buffalo, the Genesee Valley Hunt Club, 
 and the Whist Club of Rochester. 
 
 Mr. Ramsdell married Louise 
 Miller, of Sterling, Illinois, Novem- 
 ber 10th, 1881. 
 
 The Frontier Telephone Com- 
 pany was incorporated under the laws 
 of New York State in 1901 and was 
 created to fill a long-felt want in the 
 local field of public utilities. Since 
 
 lsde 
 
 then it has been no inconsiderable factor in Buffalo's 
 industrial development. Immediately following its incor- 
 poration the company began the construction of its lines and 
 several offices, including its main office and central plant 
 at 332 Ellicott Street. In March, 1903, after a most phe- 
 nomenal construction record, the company first extended 
 its service to the citizens of Buffalo. 
 
 At once the favorable results of competition became 
 manifest, and Buffalo's telephone service became a model 
 for the country. Through the company's excellent service 
 and thoroughly businesslike methods it speedilv gained the 
 confidence ami good will of telephone users, so much so 
 that the city rewarded it with a generous patronage which 
 at this writing has grown to sixteen thousand subscribers. 
 This number is three times the total served by the Bell 
 company, the competing corporation, at the time the Frontier 
 franchise was granted. 
 
 Though a corporation of but a few years' growth, the 
 Frontier company has established an excellent long-distance 
 service. Its connections include The Inter-Ocean Tele- 
 graph and Telephone Company, through which connection 
 the local company secures an admirable service with all the 
 smaller corporations in western New York, Ohio, and 
 Pennsylvania. This service is complete in every respect 
 and entirely justifies the constantly increasing long-distance 
 business the company enjoys. 
 
 THE FRONTIER TELEPHONE COMPANY 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 169 
 
 The offices and central station, which have been the 
 company's home since its incorporation, are perfectly 
 appointed. The building is a three-story structure, entirely 
 fireproof, and designed and built expressly for the purpose 
 to which it has been put. Of itself it constitutes a remark- 
 able exposition of telephonic perfection, containing as it does all 
 the new ideas and departures in the Held of word transmis- 
 sion. 
 
 A distinguishing feature in which the company in par- 
 ticular, and the public in general, take much pride is the one 
 great central switchboard through which all the local and 
 long-distance connections are operated. This is acknowl- 
 edged to be the finest system of telephonic interchange. 
 Following its unprecedented success as used by the Frontier 
 company, it is being generally adopted by other telephone 
 corporations throughout the United States and the old world, 
 as a great time and labor saver and the most perfect and 
 dependable system. 
 
 ford, Burt G. Hubbell, Clark L. Ingham. Andrew Langdon, 
 Thomas B. Lockwood, II. II. Litteli, Elgood C. Lufkin, 
 Carl Machemer, Henry II. Persons, George A. Plimpton. 
 
 The Buffalo Gas Company. — AYhat has come to be 
 regarded as an essential necessity of modern cities is a steady 
 and reliable supply of manufactured gas. Buffalo is fortu- 
 nate in being well equipped in this respect, and The Buffalo 
 (ias Company, which now controls the entire manufactured 
 gas industry of the city, is the source of this supply. This 
 company is one of the largest concerns of its nature in the 
 country today, and has been prominently identified with 
 the growth and development of the city of Buffalo. 
 
 The Buffalo (Jas Company is the outgrowth of several 
 gas companies which were founded in Buffalo many years 
 ago. The first company organized for the purpose of sup- 
 plying gas to the city was The Buffalo Gaslight Company, 
 established in February, 1848, and in which Samuel F. Pratt, 
 
 THE BIFFAI.O GAS COMPANY 
 
 Another feature of the Frontier company's service that 
 is generally appreciated by the citizens of Buffalo is the cor- 
 poration's willingness to install their lines underground, by 
 the conduit method. At the time of the company's inception 
 overhead wires had become a problem to Buffalo, and the 
 constantly increasing overhead network became a serious 
 menace. Most of the new Frontier lines were, however, 
 installed in conduits, and it is probable that henceforth all 
 lines will be thus buried. 
 
 Closely associated with The Frontier Telephone Com- 
 pany is The Century Telephone Construction Company. 
 It is a distinct and separate concern, and is engaged in 
 the manufacture of telephone apparatus of all descriptions. 
 The telephones and switchboards used by the Frontier are 
 all manufactured here at home by the Century company, 
 which concern also carries on an extensive business through- 
 out the country, their products going everywhere where 
 telephones are used. 
 
 The official personnel of the Frontier company at present 
 is: president, Burt G. Hubbell; first vice-president, Henry 
 H. Persons; second vice-president, E. C. Lufkin: treasurer, 
 Raymond Bissell; secretary and general manager, G. Barrett 
 Rich, Junior. 
 
 The directors are William H. Andrews, Walter P. Cooke, 
 Robert W. Chapin, Charles W. Goodyear, Robert R. Hef- 
 
 one of the pioneer business men of Buffalo, was largely- 
 interested. In 1870 the Common Council granted the right 
 to lay pipes in the streets of the city to two other gas com- 
 panies. The Buffalo Mutual (ias Light Company and The 
 Buffalo Oxygen and Hydrogen Gas Light Company. The 
 former company commenced the laying of pipes in the 
 following year, 1871, but the latter company was unfortunate 
 in its start. In 1873 the mortgage on its property was 
 foreclosed, and during the next year it was acquired by The 
 Citizens' Gas Company, which concern then followed the 
 plans laid out by the company it succeeded. 
 
 In 1897 The Buffalo City (ias Company was organ- 
 ized, taking up the stock of The Citizens' Gas Company. 
 In July, 1899, The Buffalo (ias Light Company, The Buffalo 
 City Gas Company, and The Buffalo Mutual Gas Light 
 Company were all merged under the name of The Buffalo 
 Gas Company, which organization then succeeded to all 
 the rights, privileges, and franchises of all the companies 
 engaged in the coal gas business in this city hitherto. Two 
 years afterwards The Buffalo Gas Company acquired a 
 large majority of the stock and bonds of The People's Gas 
 Light and Coke Company. 
 
 The directors of The Buffalo Gas Company, including 
 some of the best-known business men in the country, 
 are Alexander C. Humphreys, New York; Robert L. 
 
170 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Fryer, Buffalo; William W. Randolph, East Orange, 
 New Jersey; Robert C. Pruyn, Albany, New York; Henry 
 Seligman, Stephen Peabody, and Emile Guillaudeu, New 
 York; Howard L. Clark, Providence, Rhode Island; and 
 Franklin D. Locke, Louis L. Babcock, and William S. 
 Riselay, of this city. The officers of the company are: 
 president, Alexander C. Humphreys; vice-president, Robert 
 L. Fryer; general counsel, Franklin D. Locke; secretary 
 and treasurer, William S. Riselay. 
 
 The Buffalo Gas Company was incorporated under the 
 laws of New York State, with a capital stock of seven million 
 dollars common stock and two million dollars preferred 
 stock. No dividends have been earned or paid on this stock 
 since incorporation. The funded indebtedness of the com- 
 pany is five million nine hundred thousand dollars five- 
 per-cent fifty-year gold bonds. 
 
 The main offices are located at 186 and 188 Main 
 Street. The company maintains three hundred and eightv- 
 five miles of gas mains, covering the entire residential section 
 of the city of Buffalo, and one of the first improvements 
 installed in any new street is the product of The Buffalo 
 Gas Company. Free meters and their service are supplied 
 to their customers. Ten large gasometers for the storage 
 of gas are maintained at different parts of the city, as well 
 as four gas works, and six distributing stations. There are at 
 present eighteen thousand meters being used in the service 
 of the company. 
 
 The Buffalo Natural Gas Fuel Company.— Buffalo is 
 
 perfect in many of her most important appointments, to 
 which is due, in no small measure, her remarkable growth 
 and expansion of the past quarter of a centurv. Par- 
 ticularly is this true of her supply of natural gas, the most 
 perfect and convenient fuel known. It is doubtful if there 
 is a city in the Union so bounteously blessed in this respect, 
 thanks to The Buffalo Natural Gas Fuel Company, whose 
 officers have seemed to strangely foresee the city's development 
 and made territorial acquisitions, years in advance, that in 
 due time were to be drawn upon as the increase in needs 
 of the city's population warranted. 
 
 In chronicling the history of the subject of this sketch 
 it seems that a brief foreword, giving some information upon 
 its product, is an absolute necessity. Natural gas is found 
 peculiarly prepared by nature to serve the needs of man. 
 It is prepared for immediate use and literally stored in 
 immense reservoirs under such high pressure that, when it 
 is tapped by the drill, it furnishes the power itself to trans- 
 port its own body hundreds of miles through pipe lines to 
 the consumer. No artificial gas compares with it, one cubic 
 foot of it being sufficient, when utilized with the proper 
 appliances, to evaporate a pint of water. It is instantly 
 available for use, and by merely turning a valve it is ready 
 for service. A similar operation is alone necessary when 
 its service is completed. It is appropriate to record here 
 that its first use was in Fredonia, New York, but a few miles 
 from Buffalo, where sufficient was piped from a near-by 
 well to illuminate the village upon the occasion of the visit 
 of General Lafayette. 
 
 In the development of Buffalo, and the creation of all 
 that makes the city attractive and desirable as a residence 
 city, The Buffalo Natural Gas Fuel Company has had an 
 important part. Its early history is fraught with many 
 hardships, disappointments, and discouragements, — vicis- 
 situdes that were mastered and eventually overcome by such 
 men as John D. Rockefeller and Daniel O'Day. The gas 
 territory of Pennsylvania was first located and became a 
 worthless asset, inasmuch as the most fanciful person could 
 not conceive of the piping of the gas a sufficient distance to 
 make it a marketable commodity. Yet Messrs. Rocke- 
 feller and O'Day were insistent that any practical project, 
 such as the piping of gas or of oil, should not be affected by 
 distance and went about their plans with little or no encour- 
 agement. For the first brief period it seemed likely that 
 the calamitous prognostications might be painfully realized. 
 But gradually it became plain that those two master minds 
 had seen clearly and that the project was entirely feasible. 
 Both gentlemen lived to see their theories vindicated entirely, 
 not alone in the case of Buffalo and her supply, but through- 
 out the civilized world, where pipe lines of hundreds of miles 
 in length are now common. 
 
 The source of Buffalo's gas supply is principally in the 
 McKean County, Pennsylvania, fields, where seven hundred 
 wells are constantly drawn upon and their product trans- 
 ported one hundred miles through three pipe lines to our 
 very kitchens. This field is under control of The United 
 Natural Gas Company. Another important source of 
 supply in the past few years has been from the wells of The 
 Provincial Natural Gas Company, controlling the field 
 in the province of Ontario, where they have one hundred 
 and fifty wells producing. A limited supply is also obtained 
 here in Erie County, at West Seneca and Lancaster, where 
 about forty wells contribute their tithe to the great volume 
 of gas necessary to meet the city's demands. 
 
 Some idea of the extent of the company's local business 
 is gained when it is known that it serves thirty-eight thousand 
 customers with the desired pressure daily, and has been so 
 doing for upwards of twenty-one years. At the time of this 
 writing there are on file many applications from people who 
 live on streets that have not been piped by the company. 
 Quite naturally a denial of this convenient commodity to 
 these people would be followed by more or less criticism. 
 The company has always met these criticisms with the 
 entirely reasonable explanation that the supply of gas is 
 limited and that it hesitates to lay more lines without the 
 assurance of an increase at the supply sources. 
 
 The company's thorough methods and extensive busi- 
 ness necessitates one of the largest clerical forces in the city, 
 located in the company's offices in the Coal and Iron 
 Exchange. A small army of men is also required in caring 
 for its hundreds of sublines that are to be found throughout 
 the city. It pays out an aggregate sum in wages every year that 
 compares with some of the city's largest industrial institutions. 
 
 The present officers of The Buffalo Natural Gas Fuel 
 Company are: president, Walter Jennings; vice-president, 
 W. W. Richardson; secretary and treasurer, William M. 
 Cusack; superintendent, John H. Walsh. 
 
DEPARTMENT STORES 
 
 FLINT & KENT— Upwards of fifty years ago, when 
 Buffalo's business activities centered in the vicinity 
 of the Terrace, the firm of Howard, Whitcomb & 
 Company was foremost in the dry goods business of the city. 
 From that humble beginning has sprung the business house 
 of Flint & Kent, in which all Buffalonians lake pardonable 
 pride. In 1856 the firm, crowded by its constantly increas- 
 ing business, was forced to secure new and moie commodious 
 quarters at 207 Main Street. An extract from an advertise- 
 ment printed at the time has some interest for those who 
 peruse this sketch. It reads as follows: 
 
 ELBERT B. MANX 
 
 "Howard, Whitcomb & Company have removed to 
 their new and commodious store at 207 Main Streel and 
 216 Washington Street (the block below Sage & Son's 
 Music Store, in the building formerly occupied by Parmalee 
 & Hadley)." 
 
 The firm at that time was composed of Ethan H. How- 
 ard. Joshua M. Whitcomb. William B. Flint, and Francis 
 
 M. Snow. Subsequently the interests of Messrs. Howard, 
 Whitcomb, and Snow were acquired by Mr. Flint, II. M. 
 Kent, and U. P. Stone, the former gentlemen retiring from 
 the business and the latter group forming the new company. 
 The new members of the firm came to this city from New 
 England, when- they had been engaged in the dry goods 
 business in Boston and in Bangor. Maine. 
 
 The firm continued to occupy the premises at 207 Main 
 Street until March 1st, 1880, a short time prior to which 
 Messrs. Flint & Kent had acquired the interest of B. 1'. 
 Stone, who retired. At this point the firm became known 
 as Flint & Kent. The business has been conducted until 
 the present day under that title, and although Mr. Flint died 
 about 1885 his interest in the business has been continued 
 by his heirs. 
 
 Between the years of 1885 and IS!)i). increasing growth 
 necessitated their removal, the new home of the firm being 
 at 261 and 263 Main Street. In December. 1891, Mr. E. 
 B. Mann came to Buffalo to assist in the management of 
 the business, and upon the death in lSllt of Mr. Kent, 
 succeeded to its sole management. 
 
 Under the new management there was an entire re- 
 organization of the establishment. The store was completely 
 remodeled, and additions effected by opening into the ad- 
 joining buildings. The growth of the firm was entirely 
 commensurate with the growth of the city, and i • > September, 
 1807, it was agaiii found necessary to secure larger quarters. 
 The building at .>.J4 to 562 Main Streel, between Huron and 
 Chippewa streets, was erected especially for the purpose. 
 This building has a frontage on Main Street of about one 
 hundred feet and is handsomely constructed of terra cotta 
 and steel throughout. It is absolutely fireproof and was elabo- 
 rately fitted with every modern improvement and convenience. 
 
 Throughout the entire history of the firm of Flint & 
 Kent it has been widely known for adhering strictly to a 
 high standard, both as regards its stock and its dealings 
 with the public. I"p to the time of the tenure of the present 
 management the business had been conducted along con- 
 servative lines, dealing only in the standard stock of merchan- 
 dise classed as dry goods. With the reorganization of the 
 business in 1N04. while preserving its general characteristics 
 and standards, modern progressive methods became evident, 
 and its growth has been rapid and substantial, until its 
 reputation has spread far beyond Buffalo and the Stale. 
 
 171 
 
172 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Particularly pleasing is the reputation the firm has 
 for a liberal attitude toward its employees. A spirit is found 
 among its helpers that could only have been prompted by 
 considerate treatment and which results in long service and 
 a perfect understanding, by its employees, of the firm's 
 trade. Its business is by no means confined to Buffalo, 
 but extends throughout New York State and the entire 
 United States. As a matter of fact, the firm is known 
 everywhere as catering to a large clientele in the classes 
 known as middle and fine trade. 
 
 In merchandise, nothing is found to In' too exclusive 
 for this firm to handle, and dignity marks all its dealings. 
 
 Elbert B. Mann, under whose control this business is 
 at the present time, was born in Rochester, New York. 
 He was educated at Williams College and Yale University, 
 subsequently receiving a thorough training in the dry goods 
 business in Rochester, and coming to this city in 1 Hi> 1 to 
 assist in the management of the Flint & Kent store. At 
 the death of Mr. Kent, three years later, he was left in sole 
 charge, and in that capacity has continued to the present 
 time. 
 
 The Adam, Meldrum & Anderson Company. — 
 
 Less than four decades ago, in a little store in the American 
 
 FLINT & KENT 
 
 Like other houses of its character, it has maintained a strong 
 hold upon the trading public by the excellent and exclusive 
 character of its merchandise. This insures a superior stock 
 at all times. 
 
 Under the present management a resident representa- 
 tive has been located in New York, and during the past 
 few years the firm has allied itself with a dozen or more of 
 the world's greatest dry goods institutions, catering to their 
 own particular class of business. This gives the firm of 
 Flint & Kent increasing prestige both in the American and 
 foreign markets, and insures to its customers the very best 
 merchandise available. 
 
 Block, was laid the foundations of what is now the largest 
 department store in the city and one of the most important 
 of Buffalo's business enterprises. It was in 18(!7 that the 
 firm of Adam, Meldrum & Whiting was organized, and 
 the modest store, with its frontage of twenty-two feel and 
 its depth of eighty-five feet was thrown open to the public. 
 From the start it grew in public favor, and each year wit- 
 nessed its speedy growth, until now it occupies the entire 
 American Block, having a magnificent frontage of one 
 bundled anil thirty-five feet on Main Street, the handsome 
 store running through to Pearl Street, where it has a front- 
 age of more than two hundred feet. A few years ago the 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 1T3 
 
 THE ADAM, MELDIU'M <S: ANDERSON COMPANY 
 
 rapidly growing wholesale business necessitated the erection 
 of a fine eight-story structure, adjoining the retail depart- 
 ment and connected with it, the frontage being on Pearl 
 Street. 
 
 The original firm of Adam. Meldrum & Whiting 
 continued for several years, and then, by the retirement 
 of Mr. Whiting, was changed to Adam & Meldrum. In 
 187ti Mr. William Anderson was admitted to partnership 
 and the name became Adam, Meldrum & Anderson. In 
 1S9'2 Mr. Anderson died and the present company was 
 incorporated under the name of Adam, Meldrum & Ander- 
 son Company. 
 
 The growth of this business is typical of the develop- 
 ment of Buffalo and is an exemplification of the value of 
 honest and fair dealing. Each year marks an increase in 
 business mounting far into the hundreds of thousands of 
 dollars. Its resources and facilities arc constantly in- 
 creasing, and new departments are constantly being added. 
 
 The rapidly growing business necessitated closer con- 
 nections with the great manufacturers of the world, and a 
 number of years ago the firm established foreign offices in 
 the leading commercial centers of Europe. 
 
 Buffalo has many industries potential in the promotion 
 of her prosperity and contributors to her wealth, but none 
 that in importance exceeds this sterling house. 
 
 Robert Borthwick Adam.— The late Robert Borth- 
 wick Adam was a citizen of the finest type. For more 
 
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 1 
 
 
 
 
 HuSs^H 
 
 j£ 1 
 
 ROBERT BORTHWICK ADAM 
 
 than a third of a century he was prominent in the business, 
 social, and religious development of Buffalo. He was an 
 earnest advocate and promoter of every enterprise which 
 
174 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 had for its aim the social, intellectual, or moral welfare of 
 his fellow men. 
 
 He was born, in Peebles, Scotland, in 1833, and left 
 school at the age of ten years to go to work in Edinburgh. 
 In 18.55 he married Grace Harriet Michie, and two years 
 later left Scotland for Boston. He was employed in Boston 
 for ten years. In 18G7 he came to Buffalo and formed the 
 partnership now known as The Adam. Meldrum & Ander- 
 son Company. Upon its incorporation he became its presi- 
 dent, which position he filled until his death in 1904. 
 
 He educated himself against great odds and attained 
 a notable position in culture and learning. 
 
 His sagacity and sense of honesty brought him into great 
 prominence in the commercial world, but, notwithstanding 
 his active mercantile life, he devoted much of his time and 
 ability to projects for the promotion of the welfare of the 
 city. From its inception he was chairman of the Grade 
 Crossings Commission, and to him is chiefly due the credit 
 for the abolition of the grade crossings in the city. He was 
 an active member of the Chamber of Commerce and busi- 
 ness organizations. The influential position of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association of Buffalo is also due, in a 
 large measure, to him. 
 
 ROBERT B. ADAM 
 
 Robert B. Adam, president and treasurer of The 
 Adam, Meldrum & Anderson Company, is one of Buffalo's 
 youngest and most prominent business men. He was 
 born in Loughborough, England, July 7th, 1863. He was 
 graduated from the Buffalo Central High School, and, at an 
 earlv ag<\ entered The Adam, Meldrum & Anderson Com- 
 panv, filling many important positions until the death of the 
 late Robert Borthwick Adam, when he was made president 
 
 and treasurer of the company. He is also president of the 
 Retail Merchants' Association of Buffalo; president of 
 The International Glass Company, of Buffalo, and of The 
 Centemeri Glove Company; of New York City. 
 
 Mr. Adam is also president of the Buffalo Civil Service 
 Commission and a member of the Buffalo Club and the 
 Country Club. 
 
 
 
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 THOMAS M. GIBSON 
 
 Thomas M. Gibson, vice-president of The Adam. 
 Meldrum & Anderson Company, is a type of the Scottish- 
 Americans who are so active in commercial life. He was 
 born in Kilmarnock — a land immortalized by Scotland's 
 renowned bard, Robert Burns. 
 
 He served his apprenticeship as a draper, and came to 
 Buffalo in 1869 and entered the employ of Adam, Meldrum 
 & Whiting as a clerk. He rapidly rose to a position of 
 responsibility, and on the incorporation of the company he 
 was made a director. On the death of the late R. B. Adam, 
 Mr. Gibson was made vice-president of the company. Mr. 
 Gibson has always been identified with movements for the 
 public good, is active in charities, is warden of Saint Mary's 
 Church on the Hill, and is a prominent club member. 
 
 The William Hengerer Company is the oldest of the 
 big department stores of Buffalo. In 1904 the business 
 was removed from lower Main Street to the magnificent 
 new building on the site of the old Tifft House, "in the heart 
 ol' Buffalo." The structure was planned for the purpose, 
 and is the finest equipped as well as the largest depart- 
 ment store in the city. In 1905 the Hengerer interests were 
 sold, and the store since that time has been operated in 
 connection with James McCreery & Company, of New York. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 175 
 
 M. L.Wilkinson. < >ul of Indiana comes the kind of 
 men who accomplish things. The phenomenal growth of 
 The William Hengerer ( lompany, during the past three years 
 is due t<> the business acumen and tireless energy of the 
 president and general manager of the company, Melville I>. 
 Wilkinson. Mr. Wilkinson was born in Indiana in isii."). 
 Early i • 1 life he became identified with The Knisely Dry Goods 
 Company, of Butler, Indiana, where he laid the foundations 
 of a thorough experience iii mercantile life. So well were 
 these foundations laid that broader fields were opened and 
 Mr. Wilkinson came to Cleveland in 1S!)S. two years later 
 becoming interested iii the firm of William Taylor. Sons & 
 Company as director and general manager of the retail 
 department. Through his work here he became well known 
 throughout the country as a successful department store 
 manager. He was invited to become the head of The 
 William Hengerer Company, accepted, and began his work 
 here in January, l!)ii<>. Mr. Wilkinson is a man of character 
 and force and a welcome addition to the business men of 
 Buffalo. 
 
 Edward L. Hengerer was born in Buffalo in 1875, and 
 in November, 1NJU3, began his work with the firm of which 
 his father was the active head. The concern was then 
 
 M. L. WILKINSON 
 
 THE WILLIAM HENGEREE COMPANY 
 
 The Barnes-Hengerer Company. Mr. Hengerer held an when he became identified with the retail end of the busi- 
 important position in the wholesale department until 1903, ness, as a director and treasurer of the company. Mr. 
 
176 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 EDWABD L. HENGERER 
 
 Heiogerer has had a thorough training in the dry goods 
 business iii this city, which enables him to meet successfully 
 the demands of a great modern institution like The William 
 Hengerer Company. 
 
 J. N. Adam & Company, one of Buffalo's oldest and 
 largest department stores, opened for business on Thursday 
 the twentieth day of October, 1881. They first occupied 
 the ground floor and basement of the old White Building, 
 and it was there that the foundations wen' laid for the mag- 
 nificent business which they now possess. At first they 
 had one horse and one delivery wagon, while now there are 
 thirty delivery wagons and sleighs. In the first year the 
 total of employees was seventy-five, today the force is ten- 
 fold that number. From the very beginning, the business 
 grew, and in 188!) the volume of business was so great thai 
 it necessitated an enlargement of quarters. Number 24 
 Erie Street, the old office of Jewett M. Richmond, was added 
 to the White Building store. Still more business demanded 
 still more room, and the premises at number 92 Pearl 
 Street were taken for a storehouse. Steadily the business 
 grew until the old quarters were too small. In 18!)'2 it was 
 decided to move uptown, and what is now the center store 
 of J. X. Adam & Company, numbers 387 and .'58!) Main 
 Street, was occupied. This was the beginning of what was 
 
 .1 N. ADAM & COMPANY 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 177 
 
 later known as the uptown movement, A year after J. X. and high schools there. His business career was begun 
 Adam & Company moved into their new store, the increase with the Claflin interests in Louisville and after a short 
 of the business compelled them to expand, and they ab- 
 sorbed the John Hamilton building, now their south store. 
 'The great enlargement was insufficient for their ever increasing 
 business, and in 1896 liny occupied what is now the north 
 store, this giving them three large buildings as their Main 
 Street front, numbers 383 to 393, and running through to 
 Washington Street. The vast patronage this store enjoys 
 has been built up by fair and honest dealing with the people, 
 ami the result is easily seen. Their business has grown, 
 not spasmodically or erratically, hut steadily, surely, splen- 
 didly. J. N. Adam & Company have not only kept pace 
 with the city's growth; they have always been among the 
 leaders in its advancement and betterment. The integrity 
 and honor of this great store is a guarantee of the excellence 
 of everything offered for sale in their many departments. 
 
 John F. Jones vice-president and manager of J. X. 
 Adam & Company, was horn at Rome. New York, February 
 
 EDWIN S. WHEELER 
 
 service he was elected to the office of secretary in The Stew art 
 Dry Goods Company, also to that of assistant treasurer 
 in J. Macon & Son> Company. These positions were held 
 until September 1st. 1905, when Mr. Wheeler was trans- 
 ferred to the J. X. Adam store in Buffalo. 
 
 JOHN F. JONES 
 
 6th, 1859. He came to Buffalo in lS7(i and began the dry 
 goods business with the firm of Barnes, Bancroft & ( onipanv. 
 He was with this firm for five years, leaving them to go 
 with J. X. Adam & Company when they began business 
 in Buffalo in 1K8I. lie received an interest in this firm in 
 18!).'}, and was elected a director in the new corporation of 
 J. X. Adam & Company when the firm was reorganized 
 in 1903. He was elected vice-president and manager of 
 this company in l!)()(i. which office he still holds. 
 
 Edwin S. Wheeler, secretary and treasurer of J. X. J0HN ''■ WEENEY 
 
 Adam & Company, was horn in Louisville, Kentucky, on The Sweeney Company opened for business in a mam- 
 
 June '23d, 1881, and received his education in the public moth perfectly equipped new store on September 28th, 
 
178 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 in l!)()f. Never did a mercantile venture start under more 
 favorable omens. The vast crowds of the opening week, 
 who came to wonder and admire, found much that pleased 
 them in Buffalo's newest big store. 
 
 Each year the business has steadily increased, and many 
 thousands have been added to the clientele of the establish- 
 ment, until a considerable proportion of the residents of 
 Buffalo and the surrounding territory look to the Sweeney 
 store to supply every want for the home and table. 
 
 This metropolitan departmental 
 establishment comprises seventy-five 
 splendidly stocked departments. The 
 lines of merchandise include complete 
 popular-priced selections and higher- 
 priced floods as well. It isa founda- 
 tion principle of the store to stand hack 
 of every sale with the positive guaran- 
 tee of perfect satisfaction or money 
 hack. 
 
 The president of the company, 
 Mr. John F. Sweeney, who has just 
 entered into his fifties, was horn in 
 Ireland. He came to America when 
 a verv young man after serving his 
 apprenticeship in the draper's trade 
 in the country of his birth. Mr. 
 Sweeney entered the employ of Col- 
 lander. MacAuslan &: Troupe, of 
 Providence, Rhode Island, one of 
 the old Scotch syndicate dry goods 
 houses, and, beginning as a salesman. 
 rapidly rose through successive pro- 
 motions to thi' position of buyership. 
 
 Mr. Sweeney's first venture in 
 business for himself was in Lock- 
 port. New York, where he founded 
 the firm of Walsh, Sweeney & Hoff- 
 man, which establishment met with 
 pronounced success, and in a little 
 over a decade was counted one of the 
 leading dry goods stores of the county'. 
 
 Not content with the limitations 
 of a small city. Mr. Sweeney moved 
 to Buffalo, and together with Mr. 
 Ilerhert A. Meldrum and one of his 
 former partners in Lockport, K. M. 
 Hoffman, established The II. A. 
 Meldrum Company, of which lie has 
 been president since its inception. 
 
 Associated with Mr. Sweeney, who is the president, in 
 The Sweeney Company an- the following officers: vice- 
 president, William Hamlin ; treasurer, Herbert A. Meldrum. 
 The active management of the business is in the hands of 
 Donald Mackay, who is secretary and general manager. 
 
 Carl C. Machemer is a fine example of the younger 
 type of energetic business men to whom the great city of 
 Buffalo is trusting her industrial and mercantile future. He 
 
 was horn in this city, the son of the late Conrad Mache- 
 mer, whose name was a synonym for honesty and fair busi- 
 ness dealing throughout his long business life. He received 
 his early education in Buffalo's schools, and after gradua- 
 tion entered into the dry goods business with his father, 
 who was then conducting, on William Street, one of the 
 largest mercantile houses on the East Side. At the death 
 of his father, several years ago, the subject of this sketch 
 came into the sole control of the establishment, and has 
 
 THE SWEENEY COMPANY 
 
 since conducted it with signal success, enlarging it until 
 it has become one of the city's best-known and most com- 
 plete department stores. The store is located at 211 to 215 
 William Street. 
 
 Mr. Machemer early displayed a liking for military 
 associations, and enlisted as a private in the Seventy-fourth 
 Regiment. X. G. X. Y.. soon afterwards being made ser- 
 geant. On June 18th, 1901, he was elected first lieutenant 
 of Company G. This post he retained until August 23d, 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 17!) 
 
 CARL C. MACHEMER 
 
 1905, when he received the post of regimental quartermaster 
 with the rank of captain. In 1907 he resigned from the 
 Seventy-fourth Regimen! to become aide-de-camp on the 
 staff of Brigadier-General Lauren W. Pettebone, com- 
 mander of the Fourth Brigade. 
 
 He has been a lifelong Democrat, and, for a man of 
 his years, has performed most commendable public service. 
 His services to his party were recognized on January 4th, 
 1!)()<;, when Mayor Adam appointed him a Civil Service 
 Commissioner. 1" the same year his party tendered him 
 the nomination for <'ity Treasurer, against Charles J. 
 Fix on the Republican ticket. Although Mr. Machemer 
 ran ahead of every representative on his ticket, he was 
 defeated by Mr. Ki\, who polled a most abnormal vote. 
 March 11th 1907, when Mayor Adam announced his appoint- 
 ments, Mr. Machemer was appointed on the Union Station 
 Commission, with Henry J. Pierce and William H. Gratwick. 
 
 During 1!M>? Mr. Machemer was elected to the presi- 
 dency of the East Side Business Men's and Taxpayer-' 
 Association. He was also elected to the directorate of The 
 Frontier Telephone Company, of this city. ( >n June 1st, 1908, 
 he was appointed Fire Commissioner for a term of six years. 
 He holds membership in many of the best clubs and 
 enjoys the respect and esteem of a wide circle of friends. 
 
 THE H. A. MELDRUM COMPANY'S DEPARTMENT STORE, 460-470 MAIN STREET 
 
REPRESENTATIVE MEN 
 
 PAST AND PRESENT. 
 
 JACOB F. SCHOELLKOPF, than whom there lias and was enabled, by the flow of water, to generate power 
 been no more important figure in Buffalo's business for his large Niagara Falls manufactories. This power 
 life, was born in Kirchheim unter Teck, Wurttem- enterprise was under the control of The Niagara Falls 
 berg, Germany, on November 15th, 1819. He attended the Hvdraulie Power & Manufacturing Company, of which 
 schoolsof his native town and at the age of fourteen years Mr- Schoellkopf was president. 
 was apprenticed to liis father, to learn I he tanner's trade. 
 the trade thai his grandfather had also pursued before 
 him. Later the young Schoellkopf clerked in a mercantile 
 house tor two years. Gradually he was impressed with 
 the opportunities offered in the New World and came to the 
 West with the stream of emigration which was just begin- 
 ning to set towards the United States. 
 
 In 1841, al the age of twenty-two years, he reached 
 New York City, wholly without knowledge of the English 
 language, yet thoroughly proficient in liis trade, and with- 
 out difficulty secured employment in a tannery. There he 
 remained two years, spending his odd moments in the study 
 of English, and then came to Buffalo, where he established 
 a small leather store on Mohawk Street. During that 
 same year he purchased a small tannery at White's Cor- 
 ners now Hamburg). In 1846 his business venture had so 
 prospered thai he started. a sheepskin tannery in this city, 
 extending his enterprise two years later to Milwaukee, 
 where he built a tannery and carried on thai business under 
 the name of (i. Pfister & Company. Two years later 
 he became interested in still a third tannery, the firm of 
 C. T. Grey & Company in Chicago, in which firm lie re- 
 mained until ls.jd. In 1853 he further extended his busi- 
 ness l<> a tannery at Fort Wayne. Indiana, and in the fol- 
 lowing year he instituted another at South Evans, New 
 York. This latter manufactory he operated with remark- 
 able success for twenty-two years. 
 
 In is. - )? Mr. Schoellkopf made his first deviation from 
 the tanning industry, establishing the North Buffalo Flour 
 
 Mills, and soon became OJ !' the largest millers in the 
 
 Stale. In 1K70 he bought the frontier Mills of this city and 
 later erected extensive Souring mills and a large brewery 
 
 at Niagara Falls. It was (here he made the first extensive 
 
 use of Niagara Falls power, by means of a system of canals 
 
 and tunnels emptying into the rapids of the lower river. sketch were with the BuffdoT" New York ^Philadelphia 
 
 180 
 
 JACOB F. SCHOKLLKOPF 
 
 One of the most important business connections of the 
 later years of Mr. Schoellkopf 5 S life was as senior partner 
 of one of the largest sheepskin tanneries in the United 
 States, located on Mississippi Street in this city. At the 
 lime of his death he was also senior partner of the well- 
 known milling firm of Schoellkopf & Mathews. 
 
 The other business affiliations of the subject of this 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 181 
 
 Railroad, as its vice-president; the Third National Bank into the West, where they did their pari toward developing 
 of Buffalo, as vice-president; White's Hank, as director; the then little known country beyond the Mississippi. In 
 
 and with the Merchants' Bank and German Bank of this Is7s Mr. R o1 disposed of his interests in the <• panj 
 
 city, as well as being on the directorate of other banks in and engaged in the manufacture and sale of hemlock sole 
 
 leather. Here again his business integrity and careful 
 
 Buffalo Genei 
 Probably 
 Niagara Frontier industrial field was 
 
 Niagara Falls. He was a director, and. at one time, pres- 
 ident, of the Citizens' Gas Company, and a trustee of the 
 ■al Hospital until his death. 
 Mr. Schoellkopf 's greatest service to the 
 his interest in and 
 activity towards the development of the power possibilities 
 of the Niagara Cataract. In IS?? he purchased the Hydraulic 
 Canal of Niagara Falls, and The Niagara Falls Hydraulic 
 Power and Manufacturing Company was subsequently 
 formed. The extensive enlargements and improvements 
 in the canal were made largely under his supervision, and. 
 in fact, to him, more than to any other man. is due the credit 
 for Niagara Falls' admirable power facilities. His activity 
 in this direction continued almost up until the time of his 
 death, September 15th, 1S<)(». 
 
 In 1S48 Mr. Schoellkopf married Miss Christina Duerr, 
 also of German nativity. Mrs. Schoellkopf survived her 
 husband about three years, passing away October 13th, 
 L902. Their children were Henry Schoellkopf, who died 
 in 1SS0; Louis Schoellkopf. who died in 1901; Alfred, who 
 died in 1901; Arthur. Jacob, F. C. 1'. Hugo, and Helen, 
 all of whom survive. 
 
 Francis Hinsdale Root was one ofacoterieof far-seeing 
 business men of the old school who early saw the great 
 possibilities of our city as a business center. The great 
 industries we now have, the great power that has been 
 coaxed from Niagara, the massive buildings that Hank our 
 business streets, are but the realization of the dreams of 
 Mr. Root and his colleagues of that time. And our present 
 industrial and commercial supremacy is largely due to the 
 earnest, unselfish efforts made by these industrial pioneers, 
 no small part of it due to Mr. Root 's personal efforts. 
 
 Mr. Root was born at New Berlin, New York, May 
 30th, 1815, subsequently spending more than fifty years 
 in active business life in this city. He was educated in the 
 district schools in the village of his nativity and at Lodi, 
 New York, and later studied for one term at the Spring- 
 ville Academy, Springville, New York. In January, 188.5, 
 he came to Buffalo, then a city of about eighteen thousand 
 population. He secured a position with Isaac W. Skinner, 
 a maker of plows and castings, in the capacity of clerk and 
 bookkeeper. He was quick to acquire understanding of 
 the business, for a year later lie with two associates entered 
 business for themselves, Mr. Skinner's establishment hav- 
 ing been destroyed by tire. Then began an era of uninter- 
 rupted prosperity. 
 
 The personnel of the firm changed frequently, until, 
 in 184,'J, Mr. Root entered into partnership with Sherman 
 S. Jewett, for the manufacture of stoves. The firm re- 
 mained in business for thirty-five years, business integrity 
 and honest products bringing them great success. Their 
 stoves were known throughout the country, and were among 
 the first of the commodities to follow the emigrant trains 
 
 methods served to build up a greal industrial concern. 
 
 FRANCIS HINSDALE II' N f] 
 
 In his early life Mr, Root became affiliated with the 
 Swan Street Methodist Episcopal Church, an affiliation he 
 continued throughout all his life, an ardent supporter of 
 all the institutions of Methodism. He was appointed bj 
 the laymen's conference, held in Philadelphia in 1852, a 
 representative to the general conference held in Boston in 
 the same year. He was a member of the committee appointed 
 to arrange for the centennial celebration of the Methodist 
 Church in America, held in 1866, ami the bishops appointed 
 him a delegate to the First Ecumenical Conference, held 
 in London. England, in 1SS1. 
 
 Mr. Root was also an ardent supporter of the Chau- 
 tauqua Assembly and unselfishly gave of his time and 
 attention toward furthering the Chautauqua idea through- 
 out the country. For several years he was president of the 
 board of Trustee-, of the Stale Normal School of this city 
 and was long a member. He was a trustee of Syracuse 
 University and for several sen- preceding his death he was 
 president of the board. His connections with financial 
 and industrial associations were numerous, and included 
 membership in the directorate of many banks and railroad 
 corporations. 
 
 In politics he was a Republican, but, though repeatedly 
 solicited to accept public office, he as often declined, giving 
 nearly all his time to his individual business and to the 
 

 THE CITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 various philanthropic organizations with which he was 
 connected. His death occurred September 6th, 1892. 
 
 Mr. Rool was married in 1838 to Delia M. Spencer, 
 of Lodi, New York. 
 
 Bronson Case Rumsey, for many years one of the most 
 prominent citizens of Buffalo, and one of the leading factors 
 in its development ami rapid growth, was born in Warsaw. 
 Wyoming County. New York, on August 1st, 1823, the son 
 of Aaron an. I Sophia Rumsey. During hi- early life the 
 family moved to Westfield, Chautauqua County, retracing 
 their steps a short time afterwards a- far a- Buffalo, which 
 was then but a small hamlet. The members of the family 
 were at that time, besides tin' parent- anil tin- subject of this 
 sketch, Dexter I'. Rumsey, four years the junior of Bronson. 
 ami their sister, Eleanor. 
 
 Shortly after reaching Buffalo Aaron Rumsey estab- 
 lished a tannery, ami as soon a- hi- -on- came to manhood 
 they became associated with him in the business. The 
 father 'lied while the brothers wen- still young men. ami 
 through the business capability handed down to them, they 
 succeeded in placing the leather firm of A. Rumsey & Com- 
 panj among the leading industries of that nature in the United 
 States, which held until a number of year- ago, when the 
 business was absorbed by The United State- Leather Com- 
 pany. The brothers believed implicitlj in the future of 
 Buffalo, ami -howed material proof of their belief by invest- 
 ing a large portion of their fortune in real estate in this city. 
 
 Hirers' ami Traders' Bank from its inception; and as one of 
 the promoter- of the beautiful park -ystem of the city he 
 became a member of the Park Board, which office he filled 
 until within a short time of hi- death. 
 
 During hi- later year- Mr. Rumsey lived to a great 
 extent in retirement, but he was interested as few others have 
 Ween in the financial, industrial, and civic affairs of the 
 city of Buffalo. He was a successful hanker, merchant, and 
 capitalist, but ever refrained from entering public life. He 
 had come to Buffalo when the city was a small town, and 
 during his sixty-eight years' residence he witnessed and 
 helped it- growth to second position in the greatest State in 
 the Union. During forty of those years he was, beyond a 
 doubt, Buffalo- most prominent business man. 
 
 DEXTF.R PHELPS RUMSEY 
 
 Dexter Phelps Rumsey. — One of the last representa- 
 tives of the older generation of Buffalonians passed away 
 
 in the death of Dexter Phelps Rumsey on April .5th. 1906. 
 Born in Westfield seventy-eight years ago, he came to 
 Buffalo at the age of four, and this city had been his home 
 ever since. 
 
 He was a son of Aaron Rumsey, who established several 
 large tanneries here and elsewhere in western New York 
 nearly three quarters of a century ago. Aaron Rumsey 
 was energetic and progressive, and he was, soon after com- 
 ing from Westfield. one of the foremost business men of 
 the city. His two sons, Bronson ('. and Dexter P. Rumsey, 
 likewise made their mark early as active, clear-sighted 
 Mr. Bronson C. Rumsey was a man of large and varied business men, and when they became of age their father 
 
 interests. He was the firs! president of the Buffalo, New took them into partnership with him. and the firm of A. 
 
 Yoik & Philadelphia Railroad; a director of the Manufac- Rumsey \- Company was organized. 
 
 BRONSON CASE Rl M-l *> 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 183 
 
 After the father's death the two sons continued the 
 business. Their mutual affection and confidence in each 
 other were such thai neither, it is -aid. ever took a business 
 step without consulting the other; and so it happens that 
 they were associated in most of their undertakings. 
 
 Dexter P. Rumsey was a conspicuous figure in the 
 social as well as the business lifeof Buffalo. His belief in the 
 future of the city was shown by his large investments in 
 Buffalo real estate. He took an active and enlightened 
 interest in the public and semipublic affairs of the city, and 
 in its charities, to which he was a liberal though always 
 unostentatious friend. His favorite charities seemed to 
 be the Fresh Air Mission and others connected with children, 
 which he helped out of many financial difficulties. 
 
 Mr. Rumsey was a greal reader of scientific and phil- 
 osophical hooks, and had a keenly analytical mind, and an 
 apt vigor of expression, combined with humor, which made 
 his conversation on such subjects most enjoyable. On his 
 yacht, which he used daily during the summer months, and 
 at afternoon gatherings of business and professional men 
 at the Buffalo Club, he was a leader in conversation, ami 
 always created a center of interest around himself. 
 
 Mr. Rumsey left a widow and three children -Mrs. 
 Ansley Wilcox, Miss Ruth Rumsey, and Dexter 1*. Rumsey. 
 From the lliijjuld Express, April ijth, igo6. 
 
 David R. Morse, in whose death on January 27th, 1!)0S. 
 Buffalo suffered a deplorable loss, was horn in South Wester- 
 loo, Albany County, New York, October 15th, 1819, the son 
 of Asher and Anna Reynolds Morse, being direct descendants 
 of the Morses who came to this country and settled in Con- 
 necticut and Massachusetts during the seventeenth century. 
 He was brought up on his father's farm, and received his 
 education, such as it was, in the country schools, interspersing 
 his schooling with service in his father's saw and grist mills 
 and on the farm. 
 
 When a young man he became a clerk in a general store 
 and forwarding house in ("oxsackie, remaining there for four 
 years. He afterward worked as a clerk in New York City 
 for about ten years, and in 1843 came to Buffalo, where lie 
 entered into the dry goods business. Seven years after his 
 arrival in Buffalo, in 1850, he engaged in the ship chandlery 
 and vessel business, conducting that for thirteen years, and 
 retiring from active commercial pursuits in lS(i.'i. 
 
 In IS?!) Mr. Morse first became connected with the 
 Erie County Savings Rank as a trustee. His capable ser- 
 vices in that connection were recognized and rewarded 
 by his election to the vice-presidency, and later, in 1SS!), 
 to the presidency of the hank. This responsible position he 
 maintained until the time of his death, directing the affairs of 
 the hank wisely and with such conservatism as to place it in the 
 foremost rank of American finance. Mr. Morse was also 
 president of the Buffalo Cemetery Association, which posi- 
 tion he resigned two years ago, and a former director of the 
 Buffalo. New York & Erie Railroad. 
 
 Being so successful in business, it was hut natural that 
 his services in public office were solicited, as they were many 
 times, and as often Mr. Morse declined. He was at one 
 
 lime, however, a memhei of the Common Council, where 
 he did highly creditable service. Il< lived a quiel life. caring 
 little for social or fraternal associations. He was a member 
 of the Buffalo Club, Buffalo Chapter Sons of the American 
 
 DAVID K. MORSE 
 
 Revolution, and of the Morse Society of America. For 
 
 fifty years he was a prominent attendant of the hirst Presby- 
 terian Church and served a long period as a mcuihcr of its 
 Board of Trustees. 
 
 Mr. Morse married, in 1845, Miss Elizabeth G. Miller, 
 daughter of the late William T. Miller. To them were horn 
 three children — Mrs. Walter T. Wilson: Charles M. Morse, 
 the city engineer; and Mrs Samuel Ames, who, by a strange 
 coincidence, passed away on the day preceding the death of 
 her father. The death of Mr. Morse at the advanced age 
 of eighty-eighl years, while not unexpected, was a severe 
 loss to Buffalo, and to his large circle of Friends and acquaint- 
 ances, hoth in the business and social world. 
 
 William H. Gratwick was horn in Albany, New York, 
 January 20th, 1839, After a public school education he 
 went into the lumber business, starting as a tally hoy. In 
 
 I860 he organized the firm of W. II. Gratwick & C pany, 
 
 which firm continued in hiisjucss for nine years. 
 
 At the expiration of this time Mr. Gratwick moved to 
 Buffalo, making the headquarters of his husinesv at Tona- 
 wanda hut establishing branches in Albany and Detroit. 
 The firm name at that time became The Gratwick, Smith 
 & Fryer Lumber Company, operating mills in Michigan 
 and New York State and owning timber limits in Michigan, 
 Minnesota. Wisconsin, and Canada. 
 
 Later iti life Mr. Gratwick became actively interested 
 in lake transpo.tation, owning and controlling a considerable 
 licet of vessels. 
 
184 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 From early life he was deeply interested in, and per- 
 sonally associated with, many reform measures, and his 
 interest in all such work having to do with the betterment 
 of others «;i- < l<-< j > and liberal. 
 
 Infantry. He was in active service for three years, partici- 
 pating in many of the most important battles, including 
 Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Autietam. At Gettysburg 
 
 lie was in command of the picket guard in front of the sum- 
 mit of Round Top. On July 2d, he was wounded in the 
 Battle of the Wilderness, and at Cold Harbor he was wounded 
 in both feet, from the effects of which he has never entirely 
 recovered. Two attacks of sunstroke seriously affected his 
 sight during this period of his war service, and for a month 
 he was scarcely able to use his eyes. 
 
 At Alexandria. Virginia, the young soldier was promoted 
 to quartermaster sergeant, later to the rank of second lieu- 
 tenant, and afterwards, in recognition of his services, to the 
 rank of captain. At the time he received his last wounds, 
 he was in command of two companies. The nature of his 
 wounds made him physically unfit for active service, and in 
 1864 he was honorably discharged, having served just three 
 years and two weeks from the date of his enlistment, Sep- 
 tember 10th, 1861. He returned from the field of war to 
 Philadelphia, where he recuperated from his wounds. 
 
 About that time the oil fields of Pennsylvania were at 
 the height of their production. Many discharged soldiers 
 were attracted by the vast possibilities there, and among 
 them Captain Jones, who went to Rouseville. Pennsylvania, 
 on Oil Creek, in 1S(I.>, to enter the oil business. As in the 
 case of a great many oil players. Captain Jones was unsuc- 
 
 WILLIAM II. GRATWICK 
 
 In 1 1 1 • - liquor crusade of |ss:i. he was one of the com- 
 mittee of twenty of the Citizens' Reform Association and 
 
 during the progress of this, personally ace plished much 
 
 in aid of the movement. He was from the first a warm 
 friend and ardent supporter of die Young Men's Christian 
 Association movement, and was for several years president 
 of the organization. lie was also a member of the inter- 
 national committee of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation and interested in its work at home, not less than he 
 was in its fortunes abroad. 
 
 His generous ami kindly influence was deeply felt in 
 the Erie County Bible Society, and his aid and advice was 
 generously given the Buffalo Homeopathic Hospital and the 
 Buffalo Orphan Asylum, of which two institutions he was 
 a trustee. He was also president, for a lime, of the < >phthal- 
 mie Hospital. 
 
 Mr. Gratwick died August 15th, 1S!)<). 
 
 Captain Joseph T. Jones was born in Philadelphia, 
 
 Pennsylvania, June 11th. 1st-.', the sou ,,f Albanus A., a 
 native of Philadelphia, and a descendant of English an- 
 cestry, and .lane Thomas Jones. '|'li,. father died in 1,S4.'{. 
 The younger Jones spent his youth in Philadelphia, and 
 ^quired the education common t„ the time, but before he productive, and what were knownjn oil parlance as "dusters." 
 
 '" | lNl ''' 1 '" s «■ Iin 8 ""• War "'' ""' Rebellion broke out. His fortune soon changed, however, and he found a paying 
 
 Mr. Jones enhsted in the army whe, nineteen years of age, venture. He continued in business on Oil Creek with vary- 
 joining Company II. Nmetj Brsi Pennsylvania Volunteer ing degrees of success, until the Bradford field came into 
 
 CAPTAIN JOSEPH T. JONES 
 
 cessful. The first thirteen wells which he drilled were un- 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 185 
 
 prominence, where he went and acquired several desirable 
 pieces of property. These he developed in a cautious man- 
 ner, with the result that in a short time he had a large dailj 
 production of oil. He has retained his associations with 
 this territory to the present day. with the greatest success. 
 When the tide of oil emigrated that way. Captain Jones 
 entered the fields of southwest West Virginia and was one 
 of the pioneers in the development of the Sistersville property 
 in Tyler County. 
 
 He is popularly known as one of the most extensive oil 
 producers in the Bradford oil fields, and counts among his 
 holdings some eight hundred gas and oil wells. He is the 
 owner of the Bradford, the Mitchell & Jones, and Post & 
 Jones oil companies, the combined business of which is a 
 large factor in the year's oil productions. He was one of 
 the incorporators of The Bradford ( )il Company, and has 
 since become its sole owner. 
 
 In 1890 Captain Jones moved to Buffalo, and, as lie 
 realized the splendid future of the city, became heavily inter- 
 ested in various Buffalo and Niagara Falls enterprises. He 
 is a stockholder in several Buffalo hanks, a director in the 
 Manufacturers' and Traders' National, and the People's 
 Bank, the principal owner of the Pettebone-Cataract paper 
 mills, of Niagara Falls, ami interested in the flour mills of 
 The Cataract City Milling Company, al Niagara Falls. He 
 is also president of 'Fhe Niagara Gorge Railroad Company. 
 
 In 1895 Captain Jones found his health gradually failing. 
 The relief besought he found on the Gulf of Mexico, where 
 the breezes sweeping over hundreds of miles of piney forests 
 ami from the open gulf seemed to be of material benefit to 
 him. From a physician there he also learned of the Schott 
 baths, and in consequence he visited Bail Nauheim, Germany, 
 where, under the care of Doctor Schott, he rapidly regained 
 his health and strength. 
 
 When some of Captain Jones's friends sought to interest 
 him in railroad building in Mississippi, he saw there an outlet 
 for his business energy, and at the same time, life in an 
 agreeable climate, that would probably permit him to retain 
 the health he had regained. Hence, in 1895, he became 
 interested in the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad, which was 
 being built from Gulfport, Mississippi, to Hattiesburg, Mis- 
 sissippi, and later extended to Jackson, the capital. This 
 enterprise grew quite beyond the conception of its promoters 
 until presently it required more capital than they were able 
 to supply and in 190] they proposed to him that be should 
 take over the entire road, which he did, and since that time 
 has managed it in person. Under his management the Gulf 
 and Ship Island Railroad has changed from a cheaply con- 
 structed railroad to a trunk line of three hundred and seven 
 miles, usinj;' the heaviest rails and locomotives, and the most 
 up-to-date passenger equipment of any road in the South. 
 It is also distinguished by having the best harbor and termi- 
 nal facilities of any railroad on the Gulf Coast. A channel 
 three hundred feet wide and twenty-four feet deep has been 
 dredged at Gulfport, extending from the shore to the deep 
 water, a distance of seven miles, with an enclosed anchorage 
 basin at the shore end a quarter of a mile wide ami half a 
 mile long dredged to the same depth as the channel. 'Fhe 
 
 pier, one mile long, extends into the gulf alongside of the 
 anchorage basin. The exports of lumber and naval stores 
 from the harbor of Gulfport have grown From nothing until 
 thev exceed the exports <>\' these commodities from any port 
 in the United Stales. One item among these exports is 
 thirty-three million feci of lumber even month. 
 
 Captain Jones, realizing that with such a large business 
 
 better hotel facilities were Heeded. Iillilt the (ileal Southern 
 
 Hotel at Gulfport iii 1902. It has proved a distincl success 
 and is a popular winter resort for Northern people and a 
 summer resort for people of the South and Southwest. In 
 1906, finding that the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad had 
 entirely outgrown its station Facilities at Hattiesburg, Mis- 
 sissippi which, by tin' way, had increased its population 
 from ten thousand to twenty thousand in three years and 
 realizing that the ground was entirety too valuable for a 
 passenger station alone. Captain Jones built a seven-story 
 building, combining a passenger station and one of the most 
 modern hotels in the South. 
 
 Captain Jones has taken the same interest in developing 
 Mississippi that In- did Buffalo, aiding the establishment 
 of cotton compresses, creosote works, banks, electric light 
 plants, and trolley roads along the ( rulf & Ship Island Railroad. 
 
 He is a Republican in politics, and in isss was elected 
 one of the Presidential Electors from Pennsylvania. In 
 club life he has always been prominent in Buffalo, being a 
 member of the Buffalo. Fllicott, and Country clubs. Ib- 
 is also associated with many of Buffalo's largest enterprises, 
 social, industrial, and financial. 
 
 October 15th, is?(i, he was married in Venengo County, 
 Pennsylvania, to Miss Lou F. Blackmarr, a daughter of the 
 Reverend R. L. Blackmarr. They have two children 
 Albert and Grace Jones. 
 
 Thomas Guilford Smith, A. M.. C. F . I. P. 1).. one of 
 
 the chief figures in New York State educational matters 
 and one of the industrial leaders of Buffalo, is a native of 
 Pennsylvania, born in Philadelphia August 27th, 1839. 
 Though assisting in many of the movements toward the 
 Empire State's welfare, hi' has ever been extremely loyal to 
 the State of his nativity ami largely interested in the business 
 that comes to Buffalo from the Keystone Stale. 
 
 Mr. Smith is the son of Pemberton and Margaretta F. 
 (Zell ) Smith. His early education was received in the private 
 and public schools of Philadelphia. He graduated from 
 Central High School of that city wi h the degree of A. B., 
 being designated to deliver the salutatory address. In 1861 
 he graduated from the Rensselaer Polytechnic School of 
 Troy, New York, civil engineer, and in tsii.'i was still further 
 honored by receiving the degree of A. M. from the Central 
 High School of Philadelphia, the institution where he coin 
 plcted his classical education. His later efforts in behalf of 
 education broughl him the degree of 1,1,. I), from Hobart 
 College, which was conferred upon him in 1899, and in 1903 
 Alfred University conferred a like degree upon him. This 
 latter was bestowed upon him in recognition of his activity 
 in establishing the New York Slate School of Clays and 
 ( Vramies at that institution. 
 
180 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Mr. Smith entered professional life alter his graduation 
 from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in the engineering 
 department of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, after- 
 ward becoming resident engineer of the company in the Ma- 
 
 THOMAS GUILFORD SMITH 
 
 hanoy district of the anthracite coal Gelds. He resigned 
 From the staff of the Philadelphia & Reading Company in 
 IS(>."> to become manager of the Philadelphia Sugar Refinery, 
 a position he retained fur four years. At that time his capa- 
 bilities were recognized by various commercial interests ami 
 fur several years lie was connected, as consulting engineer, 
 with railroad enterprises. In is?',' he visited Europe in 
 furtherance of railroad projects, and also as a delegate to 
 the International Prison Congress in London. In 187:5 he 
 was appointed secretary to The Union Iron Company of this 
 city and came here to live. In this capacity he represented 
 large interests in the concern held by Pennsylvanians. 
 
 In is?s Mr. Smith became Western sales agent of The 
 Philadelphia & Heading Coal and Iron Company, being 
 put in charge, under F. H. (I, men of the Philadelphia & 
 Reading Railroad, of the Jersey Shore. Pine (reek & Buf- 
 falo Railroad, which line formed an outlet to the lakes for 
 the Philadelphia & Reading Company. This road, after- 
 wards -old to Mr. \Y. II. Vanderbilt, now forms a part of 
 the New York Central system, known as the Pennsylvania 
 I Kvision of that company. 
 
 In 1883 the lirm of Albright & Smith was formed, as 
 -ale- agents lor the same company in New York State and 
 Canada. In ISSt) Mr. Smith became -ale-, agent for Carne- 
 gie Phipps & C pany, Limited. This company has 
 
 since merged with The Carnegie Steel Company, and Mr. 
 Smith is its Buffalo representative. 
 
 Mr. Smith has always taken a most active interest in 
 educational matters, and the various institutions of that char- 
 acter in Buffalo have received a great impetus from him. 
 In 1890 he was elected by the State Legislature a Regent of 
 the University of the State of New York, a life position. 
 In the following year he was made chairman of the Museum 
 Committee, the body having charge of the geological and 
 other scientific surveys of the State, and of the State Museum. 
 In 1<S!)4 he was a delegate from the American Society of 
 Civil Engineers and the American Society of Mining Engi- 
 neers to the International Congress of Medicine and Surgery 
 in Rome. 
 
 He is a member of many scientific and literary societies, 
 including the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 
 the Franklin Institute, the American Society of Civil Engi- 
 neer-., the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and the 
 Historical Society of Pennsylvania. In 189£ he was elected 
 a member of the Sons of the Revolution to represent Colonel 
 Christopher Meng, Assistant Deputy Quartermaster General 
 of the Continental Army. He is honorary president, and 
 for many years was the active president, of the Charity 
 Organization Society of Buffalo, and has been president of 
 the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and of the Buffalo Public 
 Library. In 1894 he was made an honorary member of 
 the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity by Hobart College. Mr. 
 Smith is also a member, and for the past five years has 
 been president, of the Buffalo Society of Natural Science-. 
 
 Mr. Smith was married July 14th, 1864, to Mary Stewart 
 Ives, of Lansingburg, New York, and to them two sons have 
 been born — Pemberton Smith. C. E., and Chauncey Pelton 
 Smith. M. I). 
 
 CHARLKS II. WILLIAMS 
 
 Charles H. Williams, the oldest son of the late Gibson 
 Williams, was born in Buffalo on August 1st, 1842. After 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 1ST 
 
 attending Russell's Military Scl 1. at New Haven, Com,,,- the Saturn Club, and the Country Club He is a Mason 
 
 tieut.for four years, he entered the celebrated school of The free and accepted, belonging to the Lodge of the Ancient 
 
 RESIDENCE OF CHARLES H. WILLIAMS 
 
 Abbe Paris at Versailles, France, where he remained for one 
 year. On September 19th, 1866, he married Emma Alice 
 Jewett, of Buffalo. Of the three children born to them, only 
 one, Mrs. Frederick Lorenz Pratt, is living. 
 
 Buffalo's large banking and real estate interests are 
 fortunate to have among the men in their ranks those of the 
 high standing and integrity of Charles 11. Williams. Mr. 
 \\ illiams is a business man of wide experience and ability, 
 whose standing in the world of commerce and finance is 
 unquestioned. 
 
 Notwithstanding Mr. Williams's large banking interests, 
 he has always had great confidence in Buffalo real estate, 
 in which, not only through what was left him by his 
 father, but by his own judicious investments he has seen a 
 very great increase in value. His largest holdings are situ- 
 ated on the east side of Main street, between Eagle and 
 Tupper streets. 
 
 Mr. Williams has a high standing in banking circles, 
 being connected with several leading institutions. He i-, a 
 director in the Bank of Buffalo and in the Bank of Niagara, 
 of Niagara Falls, New York. .Mr. Williams is a member 
 of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, the Buffalo His- 
 torical Society, the New York State Historical Society, the 
 American Historical Association, the Buffalo Fine Arts 
 Academy, the Buffalo Club, the Park Club, the Elliott Club, 
 
 Landmarks, Number 441, of Buffalo, lb' i- a vestryman 
 of Trinity Episcopal ( !hurch. lb- i-- a member of the Society 
 of the Sons of the Revolution, having been president of the 
 
 Buffalo Association of thai order: of the National Society of 
 Descendants of French and American Officers, who worked 
 together in the struggle for liberty; and of the Society of 
 Colonial Wars. Mr. Williams is also a member of the 
 Society of the Cincinnati and of the Audubon Society of the 
 city of New York. He resides at 690 Delaware Avenue. 
 
 Walter Townsend Wilson was born in this cit) March 
 
 27th, 1S4T. the eldest > f Guilford Heed Wilson, who 
 
 came to Buffalo in 1842 and engaged in the coal business, 
 being the pioneer coal dealer in Buffalo; and .bine < '. Tow n- 
 send. daughter of Judge Charles Townsend, who came to 
 Buffalo in the year 181 1. 
 
 Mr. Wilson's education was attained in Buffalo, and 
 after spending a year abroad. 1862 63, he relumed to 
 Buffalo and finished his education at Professor Briggs's 
 Classical School. In 1865 he entered his father's office 
 and became associated with him in the coal business, being 
 admitted a member of the firm three years later. In Jan- 
 uary, 1875, Mr. Wilson married Jeanie Morse, the daughter 
 of David B. Morse, one of Buffalo's most prominent citizens. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have three diildren Waller Morse 
 

 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Wilson, < 
 Margaret 
 
 Gertrude Wilson (now Mrs. John S. Littell), and George Goundry to the village of North Tonawanda, dated 
 Wilson l824 ' ' s st '" m I )l,ss( ' ss ' ()n °f James Sweeney, Senior, son 
 
 of the James Sweeney mentioned above. In a few years 
 the remaining property passed over to the control of the 
 Sweeney family and has remained in its possession ever since. 
 The sales which have been made from time to time to indi- 
 viduals, and also to the city of North Tonawanda, leave at 
 the present time in the possession of the Sweeney family. 
 about one hundred and fifty to two hundred acres, and com- 
 prise what is left of the original grant of the three farm lots. 
 At the death of the elder Sweeney, his son, James 
 Sweeney, took over the management of the property, which 
 was becoming more valuable year by year. About ten years 
 ago, he in turn gave over the control of the property to his 
 son. James Sweeney, Junior. The elder Sweeney still lives 
 and is manager of the property, but James Sweeney, Junior, 
 acting as his agent, does the active work in connection there- 
 with. 
 
 During the latter part of the ten years that James 
 Sweeney, Junior, has been in control, he has paid particular 
 attention to the building up of large factory buildings and 
 industries on the property. During the past five or six 
 
 \\ M.TI'.li TOWNS!-: XI) WILSON 
 
 All his life having been spent in Buffalo, naturally 
 Mr. Wilson is deeply interested in anything that pertains 
 to tin' welfare of the city. While never having entered 
 public life, he lias always given wise counsel, and his bene- 
 ficial influence has Keen fell in the affairs of the city. He 
 is a prominent clubman, being a member of the Saturn, the 
 Park, ami a number of other clubs. He is also a member 
 of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences and the Buffalo 
 Historical Society, in both of which institutions he has al- 
 ways had a deep interest. 
 
 Among the many business connections which he main- 
 tains is a directorship in The ( 'on m ion wealth Trust Company. 
 
 James Sweeney, Senior, and James Sweeney, Junior. 
 
 About the year L820 three residents of Buffalo— James 
 Sweeney. John Sweeney, and William Yandevoort — came 
 into possession of three farm lots north of Tonawanda Creek, 
 comprising in all about five hundred acres, and upon which 
 a part of the city of North Tonawanda now stands. This 
 land had been selling at a very low figure, land that only 
 awaited the development of the Niagara frontier to become 
 
 one of the s| valuable tracts in this section of the State. 
 
 (ieorge Goundry had a third interest in the property at one 
 time. Mr. Goundry being one of the pioneers of North Tona- 
 wanda. 
 
 In 1824 the owners of this land, which is located north 
 of Tonawanda Creek, began to dispose of it, piece by piece, 
 to the village corporation ami the residents therein. A copy 
 of a deed of land from James Sweeney, John Sweeney, and 
 
 JAMES SWEENEY, SENIOR 
 
 years he has closed twenty-three factory deals, the owners 
 of the land erecting the factories on the property and leasing 
 them to the manufacturers on long terms of from ten to 
 twenty-five years. These factories, combined, employ about 
 two thousand people, and the desirability of the property 
 as a site for manufacturing purposes is plainly manifest. It 
 is situated on the thousand-ton barge canal and the Niagara 
 River, accessible to connections with every important rail- 
 road line in this part of the country. Natural gas and elec- 
 tric power from Niagara falls add to its desirability. It is 
 
Till. CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 189 
 
 within twenty minutes' ride of either Buffal ■ Niagara churchand 
 
 Falls, and has Keen no small factor in making Niagara Fron 
 tier supreme as a manufacturing territory. 
 
 the son was the holder of one of the original pews. 
 He is al the present time one of its vestrymen. 
 
 James Sweeney, Junior, was born in this city in 1866 
 James bWEENEY, the father of James Sweeney, Senior, and supplemented his earlj training in the Buffalo public 
 was one of the pioneer settlers in Buffalo, coming to this city scl Is with a thorough course of training in Professor 
 
 JAMKS SWEKXEY, JUNIOR 
 
 sometime before the War of 1SK>. The old family records 
 show that he was one of those who fled up the beach road, 
 when the British and Indians sacked the town in 1S1 t. After 
 peace came and the hardy settlers went back to their former 
 vocations, Mr. Sweeney seems to have been attracted Tona- 
 wandawards, and lie also owned a large amount of land in 
 the south village of Tonawanda, as well as in the north vil- 
 lage. He was subsequently actively identified with the early 
 railroad interests in this section of the State, and was one 
 of the stockholders of the Buffalo & Niagara Falls Railroad, 
 which ran between those points as early as 18.'J(i and was 
 later merged with the New York Central, whose Buffalo and 
 Niagara Falls division now runs over the same road. 
 
 James Sweeney, Senior, son of the preceding .Fames 
 Sweeney, was born in North Tonawanda in 18.'51, and re- 
 ceived his early education in the Buffalo public schools. 
 Having completed his school education he began to assist 
 his father in the management of his large holdings in the 
 Tonawandas. Ten years ago his advanced age forced him 
 to retire from the active management of the property, but 
 he still maintains an active interest in Buffalo and Niagara 
 Frontier affairs. He is a trustee of the Erie County Savings 
 Bank, a member of the Buffalo Historical Society, the Buf- 
 falo Society of Natural Sciences, the Buffalo Club, ami several 
 other social and business organizations. He has been iden- 
 tified with the history of old Saint Paul's Church for many 
 years. His father was one of the original members of this 
 
 Briggs's < l;i->^i«-.il Scl I. from which he graduated. Vfter 
 
 spending a war in Europe Mr. Sweencj returned to this 
 country, ami al once look up the active management of the 
 Sweeney property, which he retains up to the lime ,,f this 
 writing. 
 
 He is a member of the Buffalo, Ellicott, Country, Sal urn. 
 ami Park club, of this city and of the Frontier < Hub of North 
 Tonawanda. < )ther business associations arc with the \m. , 
 ican Savings Bank ami The Tonawanda Power Company, he 
 being a trustee of the former and a director of the latter 
 organization. Mr. Sweeney's office is in the building which 
 was formerly occupied by the first bank established in Tona- 
 wanda. 
 
 Augustus Porter Thompson, one of the l\ pe of energetic 
 
 business n who have contributed so much to Buffalo's 
 
 supremacy, is a member of one of the most distinguished 
 families prominent in the days of the American colonies. 
 Mr. Thompson was born al Black Rock, New York, Feb- 
 ruary 14th. 1825, the son of Sheldon Thompson, one of 
 the earliest settlers in western New York. 
 
 AUGUSTUS PORTER THOMPSON 
 
 Anthony Thompson came to America in 1638 and was 
 one of the founders of New Haven. Colonel Jabez Thomp- 
 son, the great-grandfather of the subjeel of this sketch, 
 
 served through the colonial war. and the early part of the 
 
 [{evolution, being killed during the retreat from New York, 
 September 1.3th, !??(!. 
 
I!M) 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Hi- grand Sheldon Thompson, the father of Augus- 
 tus P. Thompson, came, with a number of other-, to western 
 New York in 1810, for the purpose of establishing trade 
 mi the Great Lake-. They formed the firm of Townsend, 
 Bronson & Company, and launched several schooners in 
 the lake trade. 
 
 In 1816, Mr. Thompson removed from Lewiston to 
 Black Rock, and at once assumed a degree of prominence 
 attained by but few in that early day. He was the first 
 Mayor of Buffalo to !><■ elected by the people and was one of 
 the founders and vestrymen of Saint Paul's Episcopal 
 Church, the Brsl church of thai denomination in Buffalo. 
 The miii. Ilie subject of tin- -ketch, was horn in Black Hock 
 when that village was still a rival of Buffalo, a question of 
 supremacy that was determined, however, by the choice 
 of the latter place as a terminal of the Erie (anal. In 1830 
 the family took u|> it- residence in Buffalo. The son re- 
 ceived his education in academies at Lewiston and Ganan- 
 daigua, and in Buffalo private schools. Having completed 
 his education, be entered his father '- employ a- clerk. 
 
 Upon attaining his majority. Mr. Thompson received 
 an interest in the firm of Thompson & Company, manu- 
 facturer- of white had. and with the exception of a short 
 interval during the sixties be ha- Keen engaged in this line 
 of business until the present time. 
 
 In I860 he disposed of his interest in the lead works 
 and associated himself with Edward S. Warren and I)e 
 Garmo Jones, and a large anthracite blast furnace, the 
 second of its kind in Buffalo, was built. The two furnaces 
 were later united under the name of The Union Iron Works, 
 and a third furnace was constructed, together with one of 
 the largesl rolling mills ever erected up to that time. 
 
 Six years later Mr. Thompson severed his connection 
 with the I nioii Iron Work- ami secured all interest in the 
 lead works of S. (1. Cornel] & Son. which afterwards 
 became Fhe Cornell Lead Company. He became vice- 
 presidenl of that company and afterward- president, hold- 
 ing the latter position until the business was transferred 
 in iss? lo The National Lead Company. Since that year 
 he has Keen a director in the company, and manager of 
 the Buffalo branch. 
 
 Iii Buffalo affairs Mr. Thompson has always been deeply 
 interested and ha- had a most beneficial influence. He was 
 for some years the cashier of the Buffalo City Bank, and a 
 member of its board of director-. He was also a member 
 of the board of director- of the old railway company that 
 constructed the road on Niagara Street in I860. He has 
 taken aii active interest in many movements that have pro- 
 moted the welfare ami intellectual well-being of the city; is 
 a member of the Buffalo Historical Society and the Buffalo 
 Societj of Natural Science-, a life member of the Buffalo 
 Library and the Buffalo Fine Art- Academy, a trustee of 
 Saint Margaret 's School, and a warden of Saint Paul 's Church. 
 
 On June 9th, is.*).'!. Mr. Thompson was married to 
 Matilda Cass Jones, of Detroit. 
 
 Edward Howard Hutchinson was born in Buffalo, 
 March 7th, 1852, and has been a resident of tin- citv all 
 
 hi- life. The house in which he was born is still standing 
 at the northwest corner of Ellicott and North Division 
 street-. Mr. Hutchinson was educated in the public schools, 
 attending and graduating from Number Ten on Delaware 
 Avenue. He afterwards entered the Central High School, 
 which he left in 18(i!) to study under Professor Horace 
 Briggs to prepare for entrance to Harvard University. His 
 eyesight failing him. however, he was obliged to give up his 
 intention, and. after a winter spent in regaining his health, 
 in the spring of 1870 he entered the business world, in 
 which he soon became prominent, and for many years he 
 has been known as one of Buffalo's leading citizens. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson has done a great deal to improve the 
 city, having erected "The Hutchinson. " a block of four 
 stores and twelve flats on Main Street just north of Virginia 
 Street, in 1887. and in 1890 duplicating the block by build- 
 ing what is known as "The Strathmore, "' at the corner of 
 Main and Carlton streets. In 188!) he erected what is 
 
 EDWARD HOWARD HUTCHINSON 
 
 known as the Hutchinson Office Building at 71 and 7.'J 
 West Eagle Street, opposite the City and County Hall, in 
 which he has his office. 
 
 In politics Mr. Hutchinson is a Democrat, and in ISS7 
 he was nominated by the Democrats for the office of Alder- 
 man from the old Tenth Ward. His great popularity among 
 his friends and neighbors enabled him to win the election, 
 running nine hundred and seventy-seven votes ahead of his 
 ticket in a poll of about twenty-eight hundred votes and 
 having a majority of one hundred and seventy-seven over 
 his opponent. He therefore enjoys the distinction of 
 having been the only Democratic Alderman ever elected in 
 the old Tenth Ward, and in the present Twenty-fourth Ward. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 191 
 
 which is practically the old Tenth, the Dei :rats have 
 
 never elected an Alderman. In 1891 Mayor Bishop appointed 
 Mr. Hutchinson a fire commissioner, which office he held 
 about two years, resigning on being obliged to spend the 
 winter in the South with a member of bis family who was 
 in ill health. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson has never lost his interest in the Fire 
 Department, and he retains the friendship and respect of 
 all the men who were in the department at the time he was 
 commissioner. He was at one time chairman of the Board 
 of Fire Commissioners. The taxpayers, and the public 
 too, have reason to remember his sterling honesty and 
 integrity of purpose in the administration of the affairs of 
 the Fire Department. He has been mentioned a number of 
 times as a candidate for Mayor, hut his disinclination for 
 further political honors has led him to decline to stand as 
 a candidate. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson is a director of the Marine National 
 Batik, the leading hank of this city, ami a stockholder in the 
 Bank of Buffalo. He is also president of the board of 
 trustees of the Buffalo City Cemetery (Forest Lawn), and a 
 member of the vestry, chairman of the finance committee, 
 and treasurer of the Endowment Fund of Saint Paul's 
 Protestant Episcopal Church. He has always taken a 
 great interest in the Church Charity Foundation of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church in Buffalo (Church Home), 
 and for a number of years was a member of its hoard 
 of managers. In 1895 he erected on the grounds of the 
 Home, in memory of his parents, what is known as 
 the Hutchinson Memorial Chapel and made a gift of the 
 same to the Church Charity Foundation. Mr. Hutchinson 
 is a life member of the Veteran Volunteer Firemen's Asso- 
 ciation and an honorary member of the Buffalo Exempt 
 Firemen's Association. He is a life member of the Lodge 
 of the Ancient Landmarks, Number 441, Free and Accepted 
 Masons; Adytum Chapter, Number 235, Royal Arch Masons; 
 Keystone Council, Number '20, Royal and Select Masters; 
 and Hugh de Payens Commandery, Number .'SO, Knights 
 Templar. He is also a member of Ismailia Temple, of 
 the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, 
 and a member of the Associate Society of Chapin Post. 
 Number 2, Grand Army of the Republic. Besides these 
 fraternal societies he is a life member of the Buffalo His- 
 torical Society, the Buffalo Library, the Buffalo Society of 
 Natural Sciences, and the Buffalo Orphan Asylum, and a 
 member of the Church Home League and of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association. 
 
 Personally Mr. Hutchinson is of a rather retiring dis- 
 position and very domestic in his habits, most of his even- 
 ings being spent in reading in the quiet of his home on 
 West Chippewa Street. He is a man of intense energy, 
 however, and very positive in his opinions, and once his 
 efforts are enlisted in any cause he may he relied upon to 
 give to the subject his time, attention, and thorough con- 
 sideration. He is very democratic in his manner, and is 
 popular with all who know him. Jealous of his credit ami 
 good name, a marvel of punctuality in keeping his engage- 
 ments, faithful in his friendships, energetic and honest in 
 
 all his transactions, Buffalo contains no better citizen than 
 Edward Howard Hutchinson. 
 
 Howard H. Baker, senior member of the firm of Howard 
 II. Baker & Company, 18 to 26 Terrace, is a representative 
 of one of America's oldesi families. II,. is (he third son of 
 the late George Washington Baker and Phila Putnam, and 
 was born at Fast Aurora. New York, Ma\ [9th, 1886. His 
 great-grandfather, George Baker, of Vermont, foughl through 
 the Revolution with distinction, and was a distant relative 
 of Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence. 
 The other members of the family were distinguished in the 
 service of their State and nation. 
 
 Howard II. Baker attended scl I in East Aurora until 
 
 the family removed to Buffalo in 1st?, in which citj he 
 attended public school until his eighteenth year. On March 
 9th, 1854, he began his business career with a clerkship in 
 
 HOWARD II. BAK1 I: 
 
 the firm of Hart, Newman \- Company, the oldest ship 
 chandlery house along the Greai Lakes. The firm had 
 been established by Hiram Waters in 1880, later becoming 
 Waters & Atwater, with their place of business located at 
 the foot of Lloyd Street. From time to time a great many 
 of Buffalo's prominent business men have been associated 
 with the firm, including Gibson T. Williams. General B. L. 
 Howard, and George L. Newman. The subject of this 
 sketch was admitted to the firm as junior partner in 1863, 
 the firm then being known as Newman. Scovill & Company. 
 Upon the death of Captain Scovill. in |s?(>. it became New- 
 man, Vosburgh & Baker, and later Vosburgh & Baker. In 
 188s! the firm name became Howard II. Baker & Company, 
 Thomas Warren being the junior partner at the time. Souk; 
 

 THE ill V 01 BUFFALO. 
 
 o both Mr. Baker and Mr. Warren retired from it, this city July 12th, 1850, the son of George Urban, a 
 
 active business, leaving the management to Mr. Baker's son, native of Alsace, France, who settled in Buffalo in 1835 
 
 11, , ward A. Bake, who has been connected with the house and a number of years later entered the wholesale Hour 
 
 twenty-six years, and a member of the firm since January business. The younger Urban received his education at 
 
 1st, ISS7. The other active member of the linn at this time the Buffalo public schools, and at the age of sixteen years 
 
 ;„ i|. Sey ir Balme, who was admitted in January. 1901, entered the employ of his father. Four years later, in 1870, 
 
 after holding a position of -real trust for many years. he was admitted as a partner in the business, which then 
 
 Mr. Baker has Ion- been associated prominently with became known as Urban & Company. 
 
 the social and business life of the city. He was at one time The original establishment, located at the corner of 
 
 presideni of the Young Men- Library Association, and Genesee and Oak streets, was augmented in 1SS1 by the 
 
 served lor three years a- one of its real estate commissioners erection of the first roller flour mill in Buffalo, on a site 
 
 and treasurer of the managing board, with Judge James M. opposite the store of the firm. Four wars later the senior 
 
 Smith and Edward 1.. Stevenson as associates. In the old 
 days of Buffalo's volunteer fire-fighting service he was an 
 officer and member of Neptune Hose Company, Number 
 Five. For many years il has been the custom of veterans 
 of that company to gather re a year for the company ban- 
 quet, as in the days of old. Gradually time has depleted 
 the merry banqueters, until, for the past lew years Mr. Baker 
 has been one of the two sole survivors of Hie charter members 
 of the gallant old fire-fighting crew to gather around the 
 banquet board. In the early days of the Volunteer Fire- 
 men's Benevolent Association Mr. Baker served as its treas- 
 urer and was one of its most valued friends. 
 
 Mr. Baker's only appearance in public life was when 
 he was appointed postmaster of Buffalo July 1st, 1894, by 
 Presideni Cleveland. That position he filled until April 
 1st. is!) 1 .), in a manner that elicited great praise from his supe- 
 riors and from all Buffalonians generally, irrespective of party. 
 
 lie was a member of the executive committee which 
 raised forty-three thousand dollars to remove the debt from 
 the Buffalo Music Hall. lie was president of the old City 
 Club of Buffalo, of which Grover Cleveland was a member. 
 His local club associations extend to membership in the 
 Ellicotl Club, of which he is now a director, and the Buffalo 
 (lull, serving two terms of three years each on its Board 
 of Directors. He is a Free and Accepted Mason, being a 
 member of Ancient 1 -andmarks I <odge, and Keystone ( Ihapter, 
 ami Keystone Council, lor many years he was a vestryman 
 of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church. 
 
 I pon his retirement from active business he did not 
 sever his connections with the executive boards of the several 
 large commercial organizations with which he had Ion- been 
 identified. He is at present vice-president and a director 
 
 Urban retired from active business life, and George Urban, 
 
 Junior, became the head of the firm, having associated 
 
 with him E. G. S. Miller anil W. C. Urban, a brother of 
 I he senior member of the firm. 
 
 GEORGE URBAN JUNIOR 
 
 The 
 
 business is now 
 
 ki 
 
 lown uniler 
 
 the name of The 
 
 if the Third National Bank: trustee of the Western Savin- George Urban Milling Company, turning out several wel 
 
 Bank and chairman of its finance committee; trustee of the 
 Buffalo Public Library, of the Foresl Lawn Association, 
 and of several other associations. 
 
 January I Uh, IS(i.'{, Mr. Baker married Miss Annie E. 
 Allen, daughter of Carlisle T. Allen, of this city. He has 
 Iwo suns. Howard A. and George II. Baker, and two daugh- 
 ters — Alice, wile of Richard M. Cushman, of Last Aurora, 
 New York, and Helen, wile of Albert Mann, of West New- 
 ton, Massachusetts. Howard A. Baker married Miss Mar- 
 tha Adams, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 
 
 George Urban, Junior, one .,1' the leading factors in 
 
 known brands of flour, which are used in every part of the 
 country. The immense new mill of thecompany, at Urban 
 and Kehr streets, adjacent to the tracks of the New York 
 Central Belt Line, was completed in 1903. This mill, 
 which is one of the best equipped and handsomest of its 
 kind in the world today, was the first mill in Buffalo in which 
 the motive power was exclusively electricity, brought here 
 from Niagara Falls. 
 
 Mr. Urban does not confine his attention entirely to 
 the direction of his milling business, for he has found time 
 to become prominently identified with various others of 
 Buffalo's industrial and commercial institutions. He is 
 
 the business fifeof Buffalo and western New York. was born first vice-president of The Buffalo General Electric Company; 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 I!):; 
 
 first vice-president of The Cataract Power and Con- 
 duit Company, and president of The Buffalo and Niagara 
 Falls Electric Light and Power Company. He is president 
 of The Buffalo Loan, Trust, and Sale Deposit Company, 
 and a director of the Market Hank and the Bank of Buffalo. 
 He is also a director of The Buffalo German Insurance 
 Company, The Buffalo Commercial Insurance' Company, 
 The Buffalo Elevating Company, and The Ellicott Square 
 Company. He was one of the organizers of The Thomson- 
 Houston Electric Light Company, and served as its presi- 
 dent until the business was absorbed by the Buffalo Gen- 
 eral Electric Company. He was an organizer and director 
 of The Bellevue Land and Improvement Company, and is 
 connected in various ways with other important business 
 interests. 
 
 Although he could never he induced to take office, Mr. 
 Urban has ever been prominent in the counsels of the Repub- 
 lican party in Buffalo and western New York. He was 
 chairman of the Erie County Republican General Com- 
 mittee from 180-2 to 1895. In 1896 and 1900 Mr. Urban 
 was a Republican presidential elector from Erie County, 
 and in 1904 he was honored by the selection as Republican 
 presidential elector at large from New York State. 
 
 Mr. Urban is a member of the Buffalo Chamber of 
 Commerce and the New York Produce Exchange. He is 
 also a member of several of Buffalo's social organizations, 
 including the Buffalo, Ellicott, Saturn, Country, and Park 
 clubs of this city. His out-of-town affiliations include mem- 
 bership in the New York Club and the Republican Club of 
 New York City, and the Whist Club of Rochester. 
 
 In October, 187.5, Mr. Urban married Ada E. Win- 
 spear, daughter of Pennock AYinspear, of Cheektowaga. 
 They have four children — one son, George P. Urban ; and 
 three daughters, Emma M., Ada J., and Clara W. Urban. 
 George P. Urban is secretary and treasurer of The George 
 Urban Milling Company. 
 
 Robert Rodman Hef ford, one of the city's most influen- 
 tial business men, and long prominent in public affairs, is a 
 native of Buffalo, having been born here February 2.5th, 
 1845. He received his education in the public and private 
 schools and in Bryant & Stratton's Business College. This 
 latter educational association especially fitted him for a com- 
 mercial life, and upon his graduation he entered the employ 
 of a wholesale salt and cement house as a clerk, then being 
 but seventeen years of age. A short time afterward he en- 
 tered the service of the Canal Department as a clerk in the 
 local canal collector's office. In 1805 he formed a partner- 
 ship with E. E. Hazard to conduct a coal business under the 
 firm name of E. E. Hazard & Company, of which business. 
 Mr. Hefford came into control in 1871. At that time Mr. 
 Hefford engaged in the sale, shipping, and forwarding of 
 coal to the trade located in cities reached by lake and canal, 
 and it is to his influence that Buffalo largely owes her suprem- 
 acy in this particular line of business. He retired from active 
 business in 1896, although he has at this time several interests 
 which require his attention. 
 
 Mr. Hefford has been very prominent in public affairs. 
 
 In his early manhood he took an active interest in politics, 
 
 serving as alderman from the old Sec I Ward from 1ST!) 
 
 to ISS4, being elected lor three successive terms. During 
 l he last two years of his service In- was president of the ( !om- 
 iniiii Council and served as President of the Board of Health 
 for two terms. The election of Grover Cleveland to a highei 
 place caused a vacancy in the mayoralty, to till which Mr. 
 Hefford received the Republican nomination, but was de- 
 feated by John B. Manning, the Democratic candidate. 
 
 At a time when much of the Slate's industrial supremacy 
 depended on the better conduct of die Erie < anal. Mr. I [ef 
 ford interested himself in that public service and acted as 
 chairman of the Executive (anal Committee formed of 
 representatives from the important commercial organizations 
 of the State. This body carried, through the constitutional 
 convention of 1894 ami the Legislature of 1895 the nine 
 
 ROBERT HODMAN' HEFFORD 
 
 million dollar appropriation for canal improvement. This 
 canal committee did effectual work among the people at 
 large, and was instrumental in effecting the approval of the 
 measure by the voters of the State at the elections of IS!lf 
 and 1S9.5. Mr. Hefford was also a member of the same 
 committee when the act for the construction of the 
 thousand-ton barge canal was before the people of the State. 
 
 In December of 1895 Mr. Hefford was appointed Com 
 missioner of Public Works by Mayor Jewett, a choice warmly 
 approved by the press and people of the city. He, however, 
 declined the appointment on the grounds that his private 
 business was often concerned by public works and contracts, 
 hence he did not consider it fitting to accept the appointment. 
 
 For many years Mr. Hefford has held a high position in 
 the Republican Party of the State, particularly in western 
 
 13 
 
i<n 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 New York. He «;i s ;i member of the Republican General 
 Committee several times and was chairman of the Repub- 
 lican County Committee in 1885 86. In 1887 he became 
 the first president of the Republican League of the State of 
 New York, being re elected in 1888. He was also a member 
 of the executive committee of the State League for a number 
 of years, and was, from 1889 to 1893, vice-president of the 
 National Republican League. 
 
 Mr. HefTord served as president of the Buffalo Mer- 
 chants' Exchange, the parent organization of the presenl 
 Chamber of Commerce, and was president of the Board of 
 'Trade for the four terms included in the interval from 1S!)4 
 lo |H!)S. being unanimously chosen at the last three elections. 
 lie was chairman of the Building Committee in 1906, when 
 the new Chamber of Commerce Building was erected. He 
 was president of the Hank of Commerce and a director 
 the Merchants' Hank, both of which institutions are now 
 liquidated. He is at present a director in six business cor- 
 porations. 
 
 He has held memberships in the Liberal Club as its 
 vice-president, and in 1902 03 as its president; Buffalo Club. 
 director for six years, vice-president 1895, president 1907; 
 Ellicott Club, director six years, vice-president 1898 to 1900 
 and 1905 to 1906, president 1906 to 1907; member of the Coun- 
 try Club, and of the Republican Club of New York City 
 since 1H8S. He is also a member of the board of trustees 
 of the Buffalo General Hospital; member of the council 
 the University of Buffalo; member of the hoard of trustees 
 of the Young Men's Christian Association; a member of the 
 Board of Directors of the Buffalo Historical Society; life 
 member of the Buffalo Library; life member of the Buffalo 
 Society of Natural Sciences, a member of its board of 
 managers, vice-president li)0."> to 1906, chairman of its finance 
 committee, and trustee of the permanent fund; life member 
 of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, member of its hoard 
 of trustees and chairman of its finance committee; member 
 of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce and Merchants' 
 Exchange, presidenl for four years and trustee for fifteen 
 years; member of Board of Trade, its president for four 
 years, and a director for eighteen years. 
 
 DeLancey Rankine, whom the Niagara Frontier has 
 come to look upon as one of the pioneers in the wonderful 
 transmission and distribution of Niagara Falls power, was 
 horn in Geneva, New York, in 1867, the son of the Reverend 
 James Rankine, D.D., LL.D. He received his early edu- 
 cation in the public schools of that place, preparing for 
 college at DeVeaux College, Niagara Falls. Later he 
 entered lloharl College with the class of 1887, hut left before 
 graduation lo associate himself with the Burlington & Mis- 
 souri Railroad at Omaha. Nebraska. Me returned to the 
 Easl a leu years later, engaging in business at Niagara 
 Falls, principally along banking and financial lines. 
 
 In 1893, when The Holland-American Cotton Oil 
 Company was organized at Rotterdam, Holland, he became 
 its secretary ami treasurer ami later was elected the man- 
 aging resident director of that company. He returned from 
 Holland in 1S!)7 to form an association with 'The Cataract 
 
 Power and Conduit Company, which had just been organ 
 i/ed for the purpose of distributing Niagara Falls power 
 in the city of Buffalo, and is at present the secretary and 
 treasurer of that company. 
 
 DE LANCEY RANKINE 
 
 He is a director of The Niagara Falls Power Company, 
 The Canadian Niagara Power Company, The Niagara 
 Development Company, Niagara Junction Railroad Com- 
 pany, The Natural Food Company, and of The Cataract 
 Power and Conduit Company; also of The Tonawanda 
 Power Company, The Suburban Power Company, The 
 Automatic Chain Company, and The Francis Hook and Eye 
 and Fastener Company, of which companies he is vice- 
 president; and of The Buffalo Audit Company, of which 
 company he is secretary. He is a director of the Hank of 
 Niagara and a trustee of the Niagara County Savings Hank, 
 of Niagara Falls, and is at present a trustee of DeYeaux 
 ( ollege. 
 
 Mr. Rankine is a member of the Buffalo and Ellicott 
 clubs of Buffalo. In 1898 he married Gertrude R. Packard, 
 daughter of Ambrose Packard, of Niagara Falls. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Rankine reside in the Cataract City, and Mr. 
 Rankine maintains offices in Buffalo. 
 
 Dudley M. Irwin, one of the most extensive grain 
 merchants in the country, and a most active participant 
 in all movements that tend toward the welfare of his adopted 
 city, was horn in Fulton, New York, June 10th, 1860. His 
 early education prepared him for entrance to Lafayette 
 College, which institution lie left before graduation to enter 
 into the grain business, hut took his degree of M. A. a few 
 years thereafter. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 l« ».; 
 
 For several years lie was a junior partner in the firm of 
 Irwin & Sloan, known at the time as the largest importers 
 of grain in the United States. During the operation of the 
 
 l a rill' of lsiil he secured a place in a Western grain market 
 and removed to Chicago, where also he became widely known 
 as a grain expert. Two years later he came to Buffalo, 
 when 1 he has since made his home. 
 
 Mr. Irwin is at present identified with some of the 
 largest and most influential financial and industrial concerns 
 in the city. lie is a trustee of the Buffalo Board of Trade, 
 of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce, and The Fidelitj 
 Trust Company, and president of The United Producers' 
 Company, a corporation owning and operating greal oil 
 properties in Ohio and Illinois. Hi' is vice-president of 
 
 DUDLEY M. IRWI.V 
 
 The Great Lakes Construction Company, which firm is 
 now engaged in the construction of government piers and 
 breakwaters at various ports along the Great Lakes. This 
 company has also secured, and is now performing, large 
 contracts on the new barge canal, and pier work at Buffalo 
 harbor for the United States Government. 
 
 As a clubman he is also well known. Mr. Irwin is 
 a member of the Grolier Club, of New York City; the Buffalo, 
 Saturn, University, and Country clubs of this city; and 
 several minor organizations. He is also a trustee of the 
 Buffalo General Hospital and the Buffalo Academy of 
 Fine Arts. 
 
 In 18i)"2 Mr. Irwin married Jennie A. Marsh, of Easton, 
 Pennsylvania, a granddaughter of Andrew Reeder, the war 
 governor of Kansas. 
 
 GEORGE R. Mow AIM) 
 
 Doctor Ray Vaughn Pierce, known throughout the laud 
 
 as an eminent physician and here at home as • of our 
 
 most public-spirited citizens, was born at Starke. New York, 
 August 6th, 1S40. and received his education in public schools. 
 Afterwards lie took up the study of medicine and in 1862 
 was graduated from The Eclectic Medical College, of 
 
 !)()( IOl! KAY YAM. MX 1*1 1 RC1 
 
[96 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Cincinnati. Subsequently he practiced medicine in Titus- 
 ville, Pennsylvania, for four years, and in 1867 became a 
 residenl of Buffalo. 
 
 Soon after coming to this city Doctor Pierce started 
 the manufacture of a prescription which lie had used success- 
 fully in his practice and R'hich he called "Doctor Pierce's 
 Favorite Prescription." lie followed the marketing of 
 thi- with several other medicines, which became very well 
 known and were an unqualified success. From these he 
 achieved greal lame throughout the country, which justified 
 him, a few years later, in establishing the magnificent hotel 
 called the Palace Hotel — fronting Prospect Park, which 
 was intended for invalids, and tourists as well. This build- 
 ing, erected in ls7o. was destroyed by fire in 1881, and 
 
 ii •dialelv replaced by one of the best-known sanitariums 
 
 of its kind iii the country, called the Invalids' Hotel and 
 Surgical Institute. A stall' of competent physicians and 
 surgeons is constantly engaged at the institute, and its roster 
 shows patients from all over the United States and Canada. 
 
 By reason of its extensive advertising and popularity. 
 Doctor Pierce has one i t' the greatesl mails of any business 
 house in the country. This requires a proportionately 
 large office Fi rce, and the Pierce institution distributes a 
 large sum in salaries yearly. 
 
 Though deeply erjgrossed in his own affairs, Doctor 
 Pierce has ever found time to take all interest in the affairs 
 of his city and State. In 1878 he was elected State Senator, 
 where his services were of such a high order that in 1879 
 he was (ailed to a higher office. In that year he was elected 
 lo Congress on the Republican ticket, serving one term in 
 the House of Representatives. 
 
 Doctor Pierce is widely known through his written 
 works, most important of which is "The People's Common 
 Sense Medical Adviser. " He was for seven years president 
 of the Proprietors ' Association, and his address was always 
 one of the features of the annual convention of that body. 
 At his own request he was retired from that position in 1S!)4, 
 and was succeeded later by his sou. Doctor V. Mott Pierce, 
 who i> general manager of the laboratory — the World's 
 Dispensary at (Kit Washington Street, where all of Doctor 
 Pierce 's medicines arc put up. 
 
 Mark Packard. Buffalo possesses mam great busi- 
 ness men; nun whose influence is felt throughout the 
 
 I nited States and whose names earn an element of strength 
 •■nid prominence. Buffalo prides herself in the resi- 
 dence of several such men in the coal. iron, steel, and 
 railroad worlds. \,, one, however, contributes more to this 
 source of general pride than Mark Packard, who. in 
 recent years, has become the largest individual owner of 
 coal lands in the entire North. 
 
 Mr. Packard was l„, n i in the Mahoning Valley in the 
 Stale of Ohio, iii the early sixties, and hence, is still a man 
 "I' bul middle age. From his youth, almost he has been 
 associated with the coal, iron, and steel industries, h, [879 
 he came to Buffalo, representing some of the firsl coal oper- 
 ations in the Reynoldsville coal field. Later Mr. Packard 
 became associated with .1. <;. Butler, Junior, and the son of 
 
 Governor Tod, of Ohio, in operating the Pittsburg district, 
 until the organization of The Pittsburg Coal Company, 
 which organization took over the works. Since that time 
 Mr. Packard has acquired and owns some ten thousand 
 acres in the Pocahontas field in West Virginia, a district 
 which in the past few years has developed into one of the 
 richest coal districts in the United States. Mr. Packard 
 was a pioneer in that section and was instrumental in the 
 building of some twenty or thirty coal works there from 
 which an immense tonnage is turned out annually and 
 marketed to the United States Navy and New England 
 markets, to Chicago, and up the Great bakes. 
 
 MARK PACKARD 
 
 Being a business man of such prominence, it was inevi- 
 table that Mr. Packard should become associated in other 
 line's of business within the coal district. In the Pocahontas 
 field he became interested in banking institutions and in 
 financial corporations in Chattanooga and other cities. 
 Within the past few years Mr. Packard has turned his atten- 
 tion to the development of the extensive coal fields of Tennes- 
 see. He is at the present time president of the Cumberland 
 Plateau Corporation, owning twenty thousand acres; Cum- 
 berland Mountain Corporation, owning one hundred thousand 
 acres; The Cumberland Corporation, owning approximately 
 one hundred and fifty thousand acres; and The Cross Creek 
 Coal Company. The coal from this field will be marketed 
 to the Atlantic seaboard, throughout the South and the 
 Southeastern States to the Gulf, and in the near future an 
 outlet will lie arranged to supply a market in the North 
 and Northwest. The tonnage in Mr. Packard 's coal fields 
 aggregates several hundred million tons. 
 
 Paradoxical as it may seem, though a comparatively 
 young man, Mr. Packard is one of the pioneers of the coal 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 l!l? 
 
 business in Buffalo, as today there arc not more than two 
 or three of the larger operators or jobbers who were here 
 in 1ST!) when Mr. Packard established himself in this city. 
 His private offices and the offices of the several companies 
 with which he is associated are located in the Mutual Life 
 Building. 
 
 John G. Wickser was horn in this city in [856, i 
 received his training in the public schools of the city of 
 nativity. After leaving scl 1. at the age of sixteen. 
 
 ad 
 his 
 
 he 
 
 Qis whole time to his private business enterprises. In 
 1905 06 he served again with credit as p sidenl of the New 
 York State Prison Commission. He U at the i resent time 
 a member of the Republican State Committer nd is invari- 
 ably called to the party's important councils. 
 
 Mr. Wickser is ; >mber of the Buffalo and Country 
 
 clubs, the Buffalo Orpheus, and several minor clubs mid 
 social societies. 
 
 Richard L. O'Donnel, general superintendent of the 
 Buffalo & Allegheny Valley Grand Division of the Pennsyl- 
 vania Hailn.ad. whose office i- located in the Brisbane Build- 
 ing at Buffalo, is one of the fore -I railroad men in the 
 
 portion of the country in which he is now located. He is 
 primarily and essentially a thoroughgoing railroad official, 
 having earh exhibited marked ability in that direction, which 
 ha- been fully developed by more than twenty years' expe- 
 rience with the principal railway syste f the country. 
 
 Mr. O'Donnel was born November 5th, I860, at Phila- 
 delphia, educated at the Philadelphia High Scl 1. Wesi 
 
 Point Military Academy, and Polytechnic College at Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 Immediately upon his graduation in lSS-.' he entered 
 the railroad tied, when' at that time there existed a great 
 demand for men schooled in the solution of important cngi- 
 
 JOHX G. WICKSER 
 
 entered the employ of The Buffalo German Insurance 
 Company. Four years later, in 1876. he severed this con- 
 nection and entered the saddlery and harness business 
 under the firm name of Becker & Wickser, he being the 
 junior partner. This marked the beginning of a business 
 career that has continued to the present day and forms no 
 small part of Buffalo's mercantile history. At the present 
 time he is largely interested in The Philip Becker Company, 
 wholesale grocers, one of the city's largest and best-known 
 mercantile concerns; is president of The Buffalo German 
 Insurance Company, and associated with The Buffalo Com- 
 mercial Insurance Company. 
 
 He has for many years been active in the Republican 
 Party, an activity that was not marked by office-seeking on 
 his part, but a wholesome activity that has had for its objec- 
 tive only the good of the party and its principles. In 1903-04 neering problems. His first service was that of rodman 
 he was pressed to take the office of State Treasurer, and in the construction of the Cornwall & Lebanon Railroad, 
 finally accepted, performing the duties of that important which was followed in 1883 and ISSf by duty in the Con- 
 office so commendably as to cause his name to be mentioned struction Department of the Pennsylvania Railroad, with 
 for several of the more important State elective offices. This which company he has been connected ever since. From 
 he discouraged, however, and came back to Buffalo to give 1884 to November, 1886, he was draftsman ill the assista n | 
 
 HICHAKt) 1.. O'DONNEL 
 
108 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 engine ce of the Wesl Penn Division at Blairsville, 
 
 >• lvania;fro£) November, ISS(i. to March, 1887, assist- 
 
 ue< ■• in the main line office at AJtoona, Pennsylvania; 
 
 188' " February, L888, assistant supervisor Altoona 
 ,n at Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania; February, 1888, 
 to August, 1889, assistant supervisor Philadelphia Division 
 ,t Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In August, 1889, after three 
 weeks' duty on the Pittsburg Division at Johnstown, Penn- 
 sylvania, he was transferred to New Florence. Pennsylvania, 
 as assistant supervisor, where he remained until November 
 of the same year. From November, 1889, to April, 1891. 
 he was supervisor of the All." ma yard; April, 1891, to Decem- 
 ber, 1894, assistant engineer on the Tyrone Division; Decem- 
 ber, 1894, to February, 1897, assistant engineer Pittsburg 
 Division; February, 1897. to January. 1902, assistant super- 
 intendent, same division; and from January, 1902, to Janu- 
 ary, 1903, superintended of the same division. In January, 
 1!)0:5. he was made general superintendent of the Buffalo & 
 Allegheny Valley Grand Division, which position he retains 
 al present, having served with distinguished credit in the 
 
 various positions menti ;d, thus attaining comparatively 
 
 early promotion to high and responsible position. 
 
 Mr. O'Donnel is very well known in the social life of 
 
 Buffalo, and has 1 n actively identified with the progress 
 
 of the cit\ since his residence here. Fie is a member ofthe 
 Buffalo, Country, Ellicott, and Park clubs of Buffalo, the 
 Railroad Club of New York, and the Duquesne Club of 
 Pittsburg. 
 
 Neil McEachren, treasurer of the city of Buffalo, and 
 one of the city's most prominent pharmacists, was born in 
 Kintyre, Argyleshire, Scotland, in 1847. At the age of five 
 years he accompanied his parents to ( Canada, the family settling 
 in Ontario. There he spent hi-- early life, in Elgin County, 
 and received his early education in the schools of that neigh- 
 borhood. At the age of twenty-one Mars, in the year 18(>9, 
 he came to Buffalo, having previously mastered the details 
 of the drug business in the village of Wardsville, Ontario. 
 In Buffalo he entered the employ of William H. Peabody, 
 who for many years conducted a drug store at Main and 
 South Division streets. In the brief period of one year he 
 had so completely mastered his work that his employer 
 showed no hesitation in giving the young man complete 
 charge of another drug store under his control, at Main 
 ami Chippewa streets. There Mr. McEachren remained for 
 a number of years. 
 
 In 1S78 the subject of this sketch went to Xew York 
 City, practicing his profession there for a period of four 
 ycir-. In 1884 he returned to Buffalo, and four years later 
 entered into laisincss for himself, inaugurating a pharmacy 
 al the corner of Vermont and Fifteenth streets. A few 
 years later he removed to the store on the opposite corner, 
 where he has since carried on a highly profitable and con- 
 stantly increasing trade. 
 
 It is through his creditable association with the city 
 government, however, thai Mr. McEachren is more widely 
 known. For manj wars he has been identified with the 
 Republican Party, and his service to that party on ward 
 
 and district committees has always been of the highest 
 order. He was recognized by the voters in 1893, when 
 he was elected to the Board of Supervisors from the old 
 Twenty-third Ward, taking his seat in January, 1894. For 
 six years he continued as a member of that board, and at 
 the end of that time, in 1899, he was elected to the Board 
 of Aldermen. During his term in that office he represented 
 the old Twenty-third Ward, now the Twenty-second, in a 
 highly creditable manner. His reputation for integrity, 
 uprightness, and stability of purpose was recognized by his 
 colleagues, and he was selected for Chairman of the Common 
 Council, and in 1905, Chairman of the Board of Alder- 
 
 NEIL McEACHREX 
 
 In 1907 Mr. McEachren was induced to accept the 
 Republican nomination for City Treasurer. He was elected 
 by a Mattering majority, and his record has been such as 
 to indicate that the public will continue to demand his service 
 after the expiration of his present term. 
 
 As a business man and a public- officer he is extremely 
 well known and respected throughout the city. His fraternal 
 affiliation is with the Masonic fraternity, with member- 
 ship in several other fraternal and social organizations. 
 
 In 1881, Mr. McEachren married Miss Frances L. 
 Steele, of this city. Mr. and Mrs. McEachren have one 
 son and two daughters. 
 
 Francis G.Ward has been especially fitted by much 
 travel and contact with great engineering problems, for the 
 position of Commissioner of Public Works of the city of 
 Buffalo, which position he has now filled for several years 
 in a very creditable manner. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 1!)!) 
 
 Mr. Ward was born March 8th, 1856, in Cayuga County, 
 near .Ionian, New York. His earlj youth was spent at his 
 birthplace, the homestead on the land granl made to Colonel 
 John Ward by the State of New York, for distinguished 
 service in the War of the Revolution. His supplementary 
 training he received in the Rectory School at Hamden, New 
 Haven. Connecticut, which he entered in 1864. 
 
 In September, 1866, Mr. Ward was senl to the Institu- 
 tion Cousin and Lycee Bonaparte, in Paris, Prance, return- 
 ing to the Rectory School in Hamden in |S7(>. where he 
 prepared for Yale. He passed the Yale examinations in 
 1S71, and then returned to Paris, when' he attended, as 
 an externe, the lectures at L'Ecole des Ponts el Chausses 
 for two years. 
 
 FRANCIS G. WARD 
 
 In 1875 Mr. Ward came to Buffalo in the employ of The 
 Laflin & Hand Powder Company as agent, with which com- 
 pany he remained until 1.S77. In that year lie entered the 
 employ of The New York Central & Hudson River Railroad 
 Company as yardmaster at the Forty-second Street Station 
 in New York City. He served as yardmaster, dispatcher, 
 and assistant superintendent under general manager John 
 M. Toucey. This association was discontinued in INS.">. 
 
 At this juncture Mr. Ward's activities began to be 
 felt in a much broader held. In December, 1885, he 
 was appointed general manager of The Panama Rail- 
 road Company on the Isthmus of Panama, in which 
 capacity he served until August, 1887, when he was 
 transferred to the general office of the company in Paris 
 as manager. 
 
 The following year he was appointed engineer in charge 
 of the surveys of the Turkish Asiatic Railways (Scutari-Ismid) 
 to Damascus and the Persian Gulf. 
 
 In 1890 Mr. Ward return to Buffalo, lie assumed 
 charge of the Water Bureau oi Departm at Public 
 
 Works in 1896, having been appoi i to Cat responsible 
 position by Mayor Jewett. In this , U paci1 hi- served until, 
 
 in ISiKS, at the outbreak of the Spa. ' ..., erica,, War, he 
 
 was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the I wo II Ired 
 
 and Second Regiment of New York Stat Volun and went 
 
 to the front with that organization. The regiin erved 
 in ( uba with the arm} of occupation and was must >ut 
 
 at Savannah the follow ing year. 
 
 When Colonel Ward returned to Buffalo the Depart 
 inent ol Public Works had been made a single-headed com- 
 mission and elective. He was nominated for Commissioner 
 of Public Works in 1900 and elected; re-elected in [901 for 
 two years, and again in 1903 for four years. In 1907 Colonel 
 Ward was again elected to that important position 1>\ a large 
 and flattering majority. 
 
 The successful administration of the four bureaus 
 namely. Engineering, Water. Buildings, and Streets of the 
 
 Department of Public Works ler a single Commissioner 
 
 has been accomplished and siistai I by the untiring energy 
 
 and indefatigable attention to details given to the work by 
 Colonel Ward. What has been accomplished b) the city 
 ol Buffalo in properly control linn- public service i orporations 
 and in proper taxation of the corporations under the State 
 franchise tax law, has been accomplished by reason 
 ol the knowledge of the Commissioner as to values, serv- 
 ice requirements, and the enforcement of the laws and 
 ordinances impartially, bul with absolute regularity and 
 fairness. 
 
 Henry P. Emerson, though be will always be known 
 and remembered as a good friend and wise counselor, will he 
 best remembered as the father of Buffalo's excellent 
 school system. For fifteen years he has held the important 
 post of Superintendent of Education, during which time he 
 has brought the schools of Buffalo to a remarkably high 
 state of efficiency. At this writing he is still the incumbent 
 of that important post. 
 
 Mr. Emerson was born in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, 
 in an atmosphere of learning that no doubt had great effect 
 on his after life. He received his early training in the schools 
 of that town, later attending Phillips Academy at Andover, 
 Massachusetts, and finally graduating, with the degree of 
 A.B., from tin- University of Rochester. Three years later 
 he received the degree of M.A. 
 
 In 1S74 he was married to Mary A. Estey, of Middleton, 
 Massachusetts. He first taught Greek and Latin in the 
 State Normal School at Potsdam. New York, and in 1 S7 t, 
 in the year of his marriage, came to Buffalo to accept the 
 position of teacher of ( !reek and Latin in tin' Buffalo < lentral 
 High School. In 1883 he was appointed principal of the 
 Central High School to succeed Professor Spencer, who had 
 occupied the post for twenty years. Through Mr. Emer- 
 son's efforts an appropriation of sixty thousand dollars was 
 made for the enlargement of the old building. The great 
 increase in attendance in the next few years amply justified 
 this. 
 
200 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 In 1892 Itepublican Party made Mr. Emerson its 
 
 candidate for the position of Superintendent of Education. 
 His firsl n proved successful, and he was elected by 
 
 a flatti ring majority. II< has been retained at each recurring 
 ■ ii and the mhjorities he has received show how high 
 he is in the public's confidence and esteem. 
 
 HENRY P. EMERSON 
 
 As Superintendent of Education Mr. Emerson has made 
 a study of the most effective methods of imparting knowledge 
 to the young. So successful has he been with his methods 
 that he N yearly called into important councils of the nation 's 
 educators, where hi-- words have great weight with his col- 
 leagues. 'The improvements he has made during his tenure 
 of office may he classified under two heads: 
 
 1.— Measures designed to increase the efficiency of the 
 elementary schools and to improve the attendance. Among 
 the innovations under this classification instituted by Mr. 
 
 Emerson arc the reducti t' the elementary course from 
 
 ten to nine years, the preparation of a new and better course 
 of study, the introduction of new ami improved text-hooks 
 furnished by the city, the adoption of an adequate system 
 of school supervision, the elimination of useless examinations, 
 a more flexible system of promotion, the introduction of 
 training schools and kindergartens, a better enforcement of 
 the attendance laws. and. finally, the transformation of a 
 weak system of evening schools into a real and effective edu- 
 cational agency. 
 
 2.— Measures designed to improve the teaching force 
 of the city. Under I his classification come his measures 
 intended to raise the qualifications demanded of those desir- 
 ing to leach and the establishment of the teachers' pension 
 fund. During his years in office Mr. Emerson has seen 
 thirty elementary schools and three high schools come into 
 
 being, many of them hastened by his efforts. He has also 
 seen innumerable enlargements in the school buildings, many 
 of them made to meet conditions which he anticipated and 
 which time has fully justified. 
 
 Mr. Emerson is a member of the Alpha Delta Phi and 
 Phi Beta Kappa college fraternities, the Free and Accepted 
 Masons, the Buffalo Historical Society, the Buffalo Society 
 of Natural Sciences, and the Liberal, University, and Saturn 
 clubs; is a former president of the State Council of School 
 Superintendents, of the New York State Teachers' Associa- 
 tion, and the Department of Superintendence of the National 
 Educational Association. He is an author of considerable 
 note, having written a work called "Latin in the High Schools" 
 published by C. W. Bardeen, of Syracuse, and a series of 
 text-books on the English language and grammar, published 
 by The Macmillan Company, of New York. The latter is 
 used in many schools of this and other States of the Union. 
 
 George D. Emerson, Commissioner of Elections, is a 
 representative of one of Erie County's oldest families, his 
 grandfather, Nathaniel Emerson, who served in the War 
 of 1812, having settled in this county in April, 1804. The 
 subject of this sketch was born at Abbott's Corners, Erie 
 County, December 4th. 1847, the son of Nelson Emerson 
 and Martha J. Brayman. His uncle, General Mason Bray- 
 man, was an early Buffalo editor, a distinguished leader in 
 
 the Civil War, and later became Governor of Idah 
 
 On 
 
 GEORGE D. EMERSON 
 
 his mother's side the family history dates back through the 
 pioneer days, to the first immigrant in Connecticut in 1632. 
 Mr. Emerson came with his parents to Buffalo in 1852 
 and was afforded a public school education. Later lie grad- 
 uated from the old Buffalo Central High School, then as 
 now a celebrated institution of learning. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFF [LO. 
 
 201 
 
 After his graduation Mr. Emerson occupied several 
 minor clerkships, finally entering the employ of 1 1 1 « - New 
 York Central & Hudson River Railroad in May, I S7 t. 
 remaining with that corporation until October, iss?. when 
 he became connected with the Central Traffic Association, 
 with headquarters • in this city. 
 
 He has ever been an ardent Republican and a man 
 of great party worth. He was secretary of the Republican 
 General Committee of Erie County from January, 1895, 
 until June, 1!>(>4, where his service was most creditable. 
 During the census of 1890—91 he was appointed a special 
 agent of the United States Census Bureau, in which his ser- 
 vice was also such as to elicit commendation. He was chief 
 deputy clerk of the New York State Senate from January, 
 1.H94, until the close of the session of l!)()4. When the office 
 of Commissioner of Elections was created, to lake effect 
 May 1st. 1904, Mr. Emer on was the most prominent candi- 
 date, received the appointment, and has held the office ever 
 since, to the great satisfaction of the State departments and 
 citizens generally. 
 
 Mr. Emerson has always been deeply interested in 
 Niagara Frontier history and is today one of the best authori- 
 ties on the early days in western New York. He is secretary 
 of the Niagara Frontier Landmarks Association, a member 
 of the Buffalo Society of Colonial Wars, the Buffalo Histori- 
 cal Society, and Washington Lodge, Number L ^4l). F. and A. 
 M. He is a favorite and much-SOUght-for speaker on 
 Frontier history. 
 
 On December 11th. 1S7'2. Mr. Emerson was married 
 to Miss Susan K. Corwin, of this city, and on December 1 Ith, 
 li)()7, they celebrated the thirty-fifth anniversary of the 
 wedding. 
 
 James Smith, prominent in the political life of Erie 
 County as well as in its business and industrial life, is one 
 of a number of men of influence in Buffalo who began their 
 business life in the stock yards of this city. As a boy he 
 was in charge of stock trains coming from Chicago to Buf- 
 falo, and thence to New York and the seaboard. He grew 
 up in this business, and hence it is not strange that his first 
 business association was the formation of alive stock trading 
 firm, which is widely known as Schintzius & Smith, the 
 largest wholesale dealers in milch cows in the United States. 
 
 A man of strong character, he naturally became a power 
 in the political affairs of his own locality. He is. as he says 
 himself, a democrat by birth, inclination, and surroundings. 
 and be has made the Seventh Ward, in which his business 
 is located, one of the strongest Democratic wards in the city 
 of Buffalo. For a number of years he served as State Com- 
 mitteeman for the Forty-eighth Senatorial District, which 
 comprises what is known as the East Side, and for nearly 
 fifteen years he represented the Fifteenth Ward in the Board 
 of Aldermen. 
 
 When the question of selecting a candidate for sheriff 
 for the Democratic ticket came up in 1905, the real Demo- 
 cratic leaders in Erie County settled the problem without 
 any trouble. It was unanimously agreed that the subject 
 of this sketch would be the most desirable nominee, if he 
 
 could be induce,! to accept. Although a number of candi- 
 dates, including Herbert 1'. Bissell, were named. Mr. Smith 
 was nominated by the unanimous vote, ami carried b\ a 
 substantial majority a count < ,-al tiling, 
 
 stronglj Republican. 
 
 JAMES SMITH 
 
 Sheriff Smith was born in Troy, New York, in 1857, 
 ami came to Buffalo with his parents when he was but 
 eight years old. All hi-- business life has been spent in the 
 cattle business, and perhaps there i- no one better known to 
 the cattle men of New York and Chicago. 
 
 Fred O. Murray i- a native of Buffalo, and found his 
 success on his native heath. lie was born in this city Janu- 
 ary 30th, 1855, ami received hi- education in tin' public 
 schools. After leaving public school he became associated 
 in the house-furnishing business with William Woltge at 
 number :il!i Main Street. Upon Mr. Woltge- retirement 
 Mr. Murrav became associated with Weed & Company, 
 
 hardware dealers, one of Buffalo's oldest businessc «rns, 
 
 with whom he served seventeen creditable years in one of 
 
 the most important posts in the firm'- employ. 
 
 While actively engaged in business Mi-. Murray found 
 lime lo interest himself in politics, and became one of the 
 best-known and most staunch Republicans in the city. He 
 left the employ of Weed & Company to accept a position 
 in the State Excise Department, which he soon left to be- 
 come Deputy Treasurer of Erie County. This position he 
 held for two years. 
 
 During hi- tenure of office he gained a wide acquaint- 
 ance, which was later to show if- appreciation of him by 
 elevating him lo a position of greater trust. He was nomi 
 nated for Treasurer of Erie County and elected by a flattering 
 
202 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 majority of more than five thousand votes, a record nearly The following year he was induce.! to take the com- 
 
 unprecedented at the tiin<-. While serving the people in mission of Deputy United States Marshal under United 
 this capacity he was selected by President Roosevelt for States Marshal William R. Compton. This offiee he filled 
 theposition of Collectorof Customs for the Districtof Buffalo for three years in such a creditable manner as to elicit com- 
 Creek in February, 1906. This position he is now filling with mendation from his superiors. In 1903 he was prevailed 
 
 upon to resign his commission under Mr. Compton and 
 accept the Republican nomination for County Auditor. 
 His party anticipated a much more than normal vote for 
 Mr. Sturm, hut his actual majority of (i,.>8(> by far exceeded 
 their expectations. He was again elected to that post by a 
 flattering majority (11,: 304) in 1907. 
 
 The record of Mr. Sturm's service as County Auditor. 
 is one of the refreshing bits of Buffalo's political history. 
 Reforms were instituted and new systems devised by the 
 new incumbent to the end that the aggregate saving to the 
 taxpayers was very large. 
 
 In spite of his success as a public official Mr. Sturm has 
 never made a business of polities, and his friends relate that 
 when the nomination for County Auditor was tendered him 
 he accepted with the greatest reluctance. His record, how- 
 ever, has been such that it has elicited heartiest praise from 
 Buffalonians, irrespective of party. 
 
 FRED o. MURRAY 
 
 credit to himself and in a manner thoroughly vindicating 
 the confidence his large number of friends repose in him. 
 Mr. M uii-.i \ u.-in for twenty years committeeman from 
 the old Twenty-second Ward and for a number of years 
 served on the Republican Executive Committee. He is a 
 member of Hiram Lodge, Number 105, Free and Accepted 
 Masons; Buffalo Chapter, Number 17. Royal Arch Masons; 
 Lake Erie Commandery, Number •-'<). Knights Templar; 
 [smailia Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; and all 
 bodies of the Scottish Rite. He is also a member of the 
 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Buffalo 
 Aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. lb- is prominently 
 identified with the Acacia and Ellicott clubs, the Chamber 
 of Commerce, ami other organizations. 
 
 Charles F. Sturm, Auditor of Erie County, is a native 
 of Buffalo, having been horn here December Kith, IS.")?. 
 U\- education was received in the public schools of the city, 
 from which he graduated in 1871. 
 
 After his graduation Mr. Sturm entered the furniture 
 business which for main years had been conducted by his 
 father. This association of father and son continued until 
 1886, whin his father retired from the concern and its entire 
 control passed into the hands of the subject of this sketch. 
 1,1 1900 ill health compelled Mr. Sturm to retire from the 
 furniture business, and he disposed of all his mercantile 
 interests 
 
 CHARLES F. STURM 
 
 Charles J. Fix, Treasurer of Erie County and former 
 Alderman from the Fifteenth Ward, was born in this city 
 July 11th, 1856. He is the descendant, on both his father's 
 and his mother's side, of sturdy German stock from Baden, 
 Germany, where many representatives of the family still 
 live. His father, Nicholas Fix, was born in Aint Wolfagh, 
 Baden, in 1815, and while very young acted as postillion 
 for the government stagecoach there. In 1850 he married 
 \ ictoria Meyer, of Schnellingen, and the same year they 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 203 
 
 came to America. The journey from Havre to New York 
 occupied sixty-live .lavs and was fraughl with the dangers 
 incidental to travel in that early day. Leaving New York 
 for the then great West, they took passage on an Erie Canal 
 packet and came to Buffalo, where the subject of this sketch 
 
 CHARLES J. FIX 
 
 was horn. The elder Fix, one of Buffalo's pioneer citizens. 
 died in 188 i 2. His widow still survives. 
 
 Charles J. Fix received his education in Saint Louis 
 Parochial School, where he remained at his studies until 
 he reached the age of twelve and was apprenticed to the 
 printer's trade in the office of the old Iiuffulo Courier. Later 
 he worked at the type cases on the Evening Post. At the 
 age of twenty-one he took charge of the circulation and 
 advertising departments of the German Sunday Tribune and 
 the Daily Arbeiter Zeitung. Subsequently he entered the 
 general advertising business and published the Adelphi 
 Theater program. 
 
 In 1881 Air. Fix left the newspaper and advertising 
 field and became associated as chief clerk with the late 
 Henry Garono, who conducted a large hardware establish- 
 ment at 56'.'! Main Street. Mr. Fix served for ten years in 
 this capacity, until lSi»-2. when he entered the hardware 
 business for himself at 808 Main Street. The business 
 builded, until today it is one of the best-known retail hard- 
 ware stores in Buffalo. 
 
 Mr. Fix has been a Republican since he came of voting 
 age, and has taken a most active part in the affairs of his 
 party. Many times his fellows have wisely recognized his 
 party worth, and he has been repeatedly elevated to positions 
 of trust. In 1903 he was the Republican candidate for 
 Alderman from the Fifteenth Ward and was elected by a 
 flattering majority. At the end of his term he was reelected, 
 
 although the Democratic candidate for Mayor, the Honor- 
 able .1. \. Adam, carried the ward by a plurality of 
 
 hundred and thirty-nine. During his service on tin- Hoard 
 of Aldermen Mr. Fix s.rved with credit a- chairman of the 
 Committee on Lamps ami a- a member of the committees 
 on Finance, Schools, Streets, Water, Assessments, 
 
 Police, Licenses, and Investigation 
 
 March 6th, 1906, tin' office of Erie Count} Treasurer 
 becoming vacant through the resignation of Fred < >. Murray, 
 Mr. Fix was appointed by Governor Higgins to (ill out the 
 term of office expiring January 1st, i!in?. The <ii\ again 
 showed her faith in Mr. Fix by electing him to the office 
 lor a full term of three years, which position In- now holds. 
 
 Mr.Fix is a member of the Knights of Columbus; Number 
 23, P. P. <). Elks, the Catholic Benevolent Legion, the 
 Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, the Buffalo Orpheus, 
 the Buffalo Saengerbund, and the Turn Verein. Socially 
 he is prominently identified with the Amicus Club, the 
 oldest social club in the city, which elected Mr. Fix 
 treasurer successively for several years. He has been a 
 lifelong member of Saint Louis Church and in 1888 was 
 elected a member of its hoard of trustees, which trusteeship 
 he has since retained, having served one year, 1905, as its 
 president. Since 1894 he has been identified with the direc- 
 torate of the German Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum and 
 is now acting as chairman of the press committee of that 
 institution. He is a director of the Freehold Savings and 
 Loan Association, having twice served as its treasurer, and 
 vice-president of the American Savings Bank. He is also 
 a member of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 November -27th, 1877, the subjeel of this sketch was 
 married to Adaline F. Georger, daughter of Louis and 
 Filisie Gentilhomme Georger, of this city. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Fix have three children William ('.. Arthur .1 . and Grace 
 M. Fix. 
 
 George B. Bassett, son of Charles R. and Elvira Rogers 
 Bassett, was horn in Ballston, New York. June 17th. 1861, 
 and is a descendant of William Bassett, who came to Ply- 
 mouth, Massachusetts, in the ship Fortune, in 1621. 
 
 He was educated in the public schools of Brooklyn and 
 Watertown, New York, also took a special scientific course 
 at Yale College, under Professor Norton. After completing 
 his course at college, he was engaged in the Citv Engineer's 
 office, at Watertown, New York, with Frank A. Hinds, ('itv 
 
 Engineer and Water Commissioner. He was al ngaged 
 
 as civil and hydraulic engineer on various public works until 
 October 4th. 1886, when he removed to Buffalo and formed 
 a copartnership with his brother, Edward M. Bassett, under 
 tin' firm name of liassctt Brothers, engineers and contractors 
 of municipal waterworks. This partnership was carried on 
 very successfully until October 26th, 1892, when the firm 
 was dissolved by mutual consent. 
 
 As civil and hydraulic engineer. Mr. Bassett has pre- 
 pared plans or superintended the construction of over fifty 
 public water supplies in the United States ami Canada. 
 
 In 18!)--' Mr. Bassett organized and became president 
 
204 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 and general manager of The Buffalo Meter Company, manu- 
 facturers of water meters, which position be still holds. 
 
 Mr. Basset) is a member of the American Society of 
 ('nil Engineers, the American Waterworks Association,Jand 
 the New England Waterworks Association, and president 
 of the Engineers' Society of Western New York, 
 
 GEORGE B. BASSETT 
 
 January Slh, 1S!)(), be was married to Miss Anna Kine- 
 man, daughter of Doctor Charles M. Kingman, of Palmyra, 
 New York. They have two sons — Charles K., born June 
 12th, 1891, and Robert S., born March 19th, 1894. 
 
 Engineers' Society of Western New York. On 
 November 27th, I S!» k in response to a circular letter, four- 
 teen civil, mechanical, ami electric engineers met in a com- 
 mittee room in (he Buffalo City Hall, to consider the advis- 
 ability Of forming a local engineering society. It was decided 
 I" name Hie society "The Engineers' Society of Western 
 New '* ork." 
 
 On December L9th, L894, the second meeting was held, 
 a constitution was adopted, and officers were elected, as 
 follows: George E. Mann, president; Edward B. Guthrie 
 and Walter McCulloh, vice-presidents; George R. Sikes, 
 secretary and treasurer; George B. Burbank and Charles M. 
 Morse, directors. 
 
 November 21st, L895, the society was granted a charter 
 by the Regetits of the University of the Stale of New York. 
 
 The presidents of the society have Keen as follows: 
 
 George E. Mann (de eased), 1895, IS9<; : George A. Bicker, 
 
 IS!)?; Wallace C. Johnson (deceased . isiis. [899- William 
 
 A. Haven. 1900, 1901, 1902; Samuel J. Fields, 1903; Charles 
 E. I' Babcock, 1904; George H. Norton, 1905; Louis H. 
 Knapp, 1906; Soren M. Kielland, 1907. 
 
 The officers of the society for the year 1908 are as follows: 
 George B. Bassett, president; Thomas J. Rogers, secretary, 
 Dennison Fairchild, treasurer; William A. Haven, librarian. 
 
 The membership of the society consists of most of the 
 members of the American societies residing in this vicinity, 
 besides many other engineers who have been engaged in the 
 water power and electrical development at Niagara Falls, 
 and in the manufacturing, transportation, and other develop- 
 ments that have taken place in Buffalo and other parts of 
 western New York. 
 
 The papers and discussions at the meetings of the society 
 pertain to engineering and other technical matters in which 
 the members are peculiarly interested. 
 
 It is not too much to say that the friendships formed 
 and the mutual exchange of ideas at the meetings of the 
 society have aided largely in removing obstacles and facili- 
 tating the carrying out of the great engineering developments 
 that have taken place in western New York in recent years. 
 
 Henry P. Burgard, one of Buffalo's prominent citizens, 
 and actively identified alike with her business and public affairs, 
 was horn in this city in June. 1861. He was the son of Peter 
 Burgard, a native of Germany, who came to this country 
 in 183.5, anil, settling in Buffalo, became in later years one 
 of the best-known residents of the East Side. The younger 
 Burgard received his schooling in the grammar schools of 
 the city and at the Central High School. His entrance into 
 the business world had its inception in the form of a partner- 
 ship between himself and his brother, engaging in the coal 
 and wood trade, with an establishment on Walden Avenue. 
 
 Mr. Burgard continued in this association until 189o, 
 when he started out for himself in the general contracting 
 business, which he has followed until the present time. For 
 some years past he has made a specialty of street paving and 
 has fulfilled some highly important contracts in Buffalo and 
 neighboring cities. His business enterprises also include 
 the other branches comprised in the term general contract- 
 ing, and his establishment on Lothrop Street is now 
 recognized as one of the largest in the city if not in the State. 
 
 As an evidence of the importance of Mr. Burgard 's 
 standing in the commercial world, it may be pointed out that 
 in September, 1898, he received the contract for street clean- 
 ing in this city. During the years that he has been in con- 
 trol of this branch of the municipal street system most excel- 
 lent work has been done under his direction. 
 
 Aside from his business position Mr. Burgard is one of 
 the best-known Democrats in New York State. He was 
 in 1891 elected Alderman from the old Eighteenth Ward, 
 and served his term with an enviable record. He has been 
 a member of various local Democratic bodies, has served 
 as a delegate to several State conventions, and during the 
 past year was appointed Democratic State Committeeman. 
 
 Mr. Burgard is a thirty-second degree Mason, and is a 
 member of Erie Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, the 
 Buffalo Consistory, and other Scottish Rite bodies. 
 
BENCH AND BAR 
 
 EBEN CARLETON SPRAGUE, for half a century of the State. He was, however, vcrj active in the publi< 
 
 the loader at the Erie County bar and one of the life thai had bearing on the fortunes of his adopted city. 
 
 State's most distinguished men, was born in Bath, He was a valued member and trustee of the Children's 
 
 New Hampshire, November 2b'th, lS^. His father, Noah Aid Society, the Charity Organization Society, and the 
 
 Paul Sprague came to Buffalo in 1825, the family follow- Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, lie 
 
 ing a year later. Hence it may be said that Mr. Sprague 
 was a lifelong resident of Buffalo — a long life full of 
 kindly deeds and good influences that will forever be felt 
 by his posterity. He was one of a coterie of polished 
 gentlemen of the old school who, at the time, gave their 
 dignified presence to the growing town and who had 
 much that was good to do with shaping its destinies. 
 
 At the age of fifteen Mr. Sprague entered the Phillips- 
 Exeter Academy and prepared for Harvard, which institu- 
 tion lie entered in 1839, graduating with the class of 184.'!. 
 He then entered the law office of Fillmore & Haven in this 
 city, at the time one of the most distinguished legal partner- 
 ships in the country. Here he received admirable train- 
 ing, well fitting him for the long and useful life before him. 
 He was admitted to the bar in lS4(i, and immediately entered 
 upon the practice of his profession. Thus he continued to 
 the end of his life one of the ablest and most prominent 
 lawyers of his time. 
 
 In 18.52 he was appointed attorney for The Great 
 Western Railroad Company, later, in 1854, taking the same 
 duties for the Grand Trunk Railway. To this distinguished 
 clientele was added a number of other large concerns, in- 
 eluding the Erie County Savings Rank, The International 
 Bridge Company, and The New York. Lake Erie & Western 
 Railway Company. During the period of his greatest 
 activity he was associated for a number of years with the 
 firm of Sprague. Morey, Sprague & Brownell. 
 
 His high standing in the community and his wide 
 knowledge of law made him particularly desirable to fill 
 important state offices, and he was repeatedly solicited to 
 accept nominations. In every instance, save "lie, he de- 
 clined. In 1S7.>. when there was a vacancy in the Senate, 
 he was solicited and filled the chair fur a single session. 
 During that brief service he distinguished himself by deliver- 
 ing a notable speech favoring reduction of tolls on the Erie 
 Canal. Although his fitness for the place was plainly 
 apparent and he was cordially solicited to retain the chair, 
 he declined, and never after appearei 
 
 was at one time secretary of Ih 
 to which he gave much time am 
 dent of the Harvard Chili from the t i tut 
 
 Buffalo < > i ] > 1 1 .- 1 ii A-\ linn. 
 
 ittention. He was presi- 
 
 >f its organization 
 
 in western N 
 
 ew 
 
 Y< 
 
 1881 . As ,-i member of tin- Civi 
 
 ^rv >*v 
 
 rreatlj to the 
 ilso president 
 
 EBEN CARLETON SPR VGUE 
 
 Service Reform Association he contributed 
 
 success of its li\es. Mr. Sprague was 
 
 of the Young Men's Association, that later became the 
 Buffalo Library Association, and also the executive head 
 of the Buffalo Club. In the autumn of his life he was si L r 
 nally honored by his alma mater, the degree of Doctor of 
 Laws being conferred upon him by Harvard [Tniversity 
 
 1 in the Legislature in 1S!K'. 
 205 
 
206 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 ing citizen of East Poultney, Vermont, and served .several 
 terms in the Vermont Legislature. In 1824 he removed to 
 Gouverneur, Saint Lawrence County, New York, where 
 he died in 1864.. He married Harriet Murdock, a descend- 
 ant of John Murdock, a wealthy merchant of Limerick, 
 During his long life Mr. Sprague delivered many Ireland, who lived at the time of the Civil War of 1688. 
 
 notable addresses and prepared man} essays of much value James Murdock Smith was horn at East Poultney. 
 
 to posterity. Most of these have been published in pamphlet Rutland County. Vermont, on the twenty-third of August, 
 
 form and are now available in the Buffalo Library, the in 
 
 Mr. Sprague died February 14th. 1895. The end 
 came peacefully and in a manner eminently befitting a man 
 whose life had been one of such beauty and purity. lie was 
 reading aloud to his wife from his favorite poet. Shelley. 
 when the fatal attack came. He died the following day. 
 
 stitution of which their writer was once president. One, 
 of particular interest and value to the younger generations 
 is " [.(-.sons from the Life of Benjamin Franklin. Written 
 for the Young People of Buffalo." 
 
 Carleton Sprague, son of Eben Carleton Sprague, 
 was horn in Buffalo December 24th, 1858. He graduated 
 from Phillips-Exeter Academy in 1ST? and from Harvard 
 University in 1881, being ivy orator of his class. He entered 
 the employ of The Buffalo Pitts Company in 1882, and be- 
 came vice-president in 1883, treasurer in 1887, and president 
 in IS!) I. In 1907 lie resigned as president and retired from 
 active business, being now chairman of the hoard of trustees 
 of tin' company. 
 
 He was one of the hoard of directors of the Pan-American 
 Exposition of 1901 and a member of the executive, build- 
 ings and grounds, and tine arts committees. He was presi- 
 dent of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1906 to 1907, is 
 vice-president of the Buffalo Society of Artists, president 
 of the Buffalo Association for the Blind, president of the 
 Buffalo Harvard Club, trustee of the Charity Organization 
 Society, member of the council of the University of Buffalo, 
 and dean of the Saturn Club. In 1905 he published two 
 editions of a poem entitled "The Mission of Beauty." 
 
 James M. Smith. Among names honorably enrolled 
 in the history of Buffalo, a prominent place belongs to 
 that of the late Honorable James M. Smith, eminent alike as 
 a jurist and a citizen, a leader of the Erie County bar, and 
 for many years Judge of the Superior Court of Buffalo. 
 With judicial abilities Judge Smith united those of a bus- 
 iness man and financier. He was a man of marked public 
 spirit, a friend of religion, charity, and education, and a 
 lover of ait and culture, and few Buffalonians of his 
 time were so broadly identified with the interests and insti- 
 tutions of the city. 
 
 Judge Smith came of sterling New England stock, 
 being a descendant of the Reverend Henry Smith, an Eng- 
 lish clergyman who came to America in 1634 and was the 
 first minister at Wethersfield, Connecticut. His son was 
 Samuel Smith, of Northampton, Massachusetts, father of 
 Ebenezer Smith, of Suffield, Connecticut, who was the 
 father of Nathaniel Smith, of the same place, whose son, 
 also named Nathaniel, lived at Pawlet, Vermont, and was 
 the lather of the Honorable Harvey 1). Smith, father of 
 the subject of this sketch. By his paternal grandmother, 
 Sarah Douglas. Judge Smith was descended from the famous 
 Douglas familj of Scotland. The Honorable Harvey D. 
 Smith, father of Judge Smith, was a merchant and a lead- 
 
 1816. His education was begun in the schools of his native 
 town and continued at the Academy at Gouverneur, New 
 York, whither in boyhood he accompanied his parents. 
 
 JAMES M. SMITH 
 
 After graduating from his academic course he became a 
 law student in the office of Bishop & Thompson, at Gran- 
 ville, Washington County, New York. In 1835 he went 
 to Albany, where for two years he was managing clerk in 
 the office of the Honorable Edward Livingston, then Dis- 
 trict Attorney. In 1837 he was admitted to the bar. 
 
 In February, 1838, Mr. Smith removed to Buffalo, 
 where he engaged in the practice of his profession. He was 
 a young and enterprising lawyer, and soon became known 
 as a rising man at the bar. On coming to Buffalo Mr. 
 Smith formed a law partnership with Henry W. Kogers 
 and John J. Leonard, being afterward successively asso- 
 ciated as partner with Mr. Leonard, with James Smith, 
 and again with Mr. Kogers, the latter connection continu- 
 ing for a number of years, the firm attaining distinction 
 and carrying on a large business. In 1848 Mr. Smith 
 became the partner of Solomon G. Haven, the former 
 partner of Millard Fillmore, under the firm style of Haven 
 & Smith. 
 
THE CITY OF BUI I ALO. 
 
 IQ't 
 
 Mr. Smith's practice had thrown bim into contact with 
 some of tlie leading financiers of Buffalo, and he had exhib- 
 ited such marked ability in financial affairs thai in IN.'di he 
 was induced temporarily l<> abandon the law and take charge 
 of White's Bank as cashier. A year later, when the Clinton 
 Bank was founded, he was chosen cashier of thai institu- 
 tion, with which he continued till 1861. The period was 
 one of the most trying in the financial history of the country, 
 ami Mr. Smith 's record as official and legal adviser of these 
 two important banks stamped him as one of the ablest 
 bankers in western New York. 
 
 On retiring from banking, Mr. Smith, with that noted 
 lawyer the Honorable John Ganson, established the law 
 firm. of Ganson & Smith, an association which immediately 
 took rank as one of the foremost | a w partnerships in this 
 section of the State. It may, indeed, Ik- said that no Buf- 
 falo lawyers ever did a larger or more profitable business 
 or had greater interests committed to their care than Messrs. 
 Ganson & Smith. They were consulted by individuals 
 and corporations, had an immense court and office practice, 
 and often without the intervention of the courts brought 
 about amicable settlements in matters of great import. Mr. 
 Smith was preeminently an authority in questions relating 
 to real property, wills, estates, and trusts, and to this day 
 his influence and legal talents survive in the community 
 through the testamentary dispositions of some of our large 
 estates, made under his advice and guidance. 
 
 In 1873, on the death of the Honorable Isaac A. Ver- 
 planck, one of the judges of the Superior Court of Buffalo, 
 Mr. Smith was appointed to fill the unexpired term. This 
 honor was followed in 1S74 by his election to the Superior 
 Court bench for a term of fourteen years. The tribunal 
 over which Judge Smith now presided had in the city of 
 Buffalo a jurisdiction equal to that of the Supreme Court, 
 and as a judicial officer he disposed of a vast amount of 
 general litigation besides trying a large number of the most 
 important cases at any time brought to issue in Erie County. 
 Of wide experience, profound legal attainments, and abso- 
 lute fairness of mind, he was pre-eminently qualified for the 
 bench. His labors were arduous, but his industry was al- 
 ways equal to the demands upon it, and his opinions and 
 decisions remain a permanent monument of his discern- 
 ment and research. Judge Smith retired from the bench 
 on the first of January, 1SS7. having reached the constitu- 
 tional age limit allowed for judicial service. On this occa- 
 sion the lawyers of Buffalo, in token of their respect and 
 esteem, tendered him a complimentary banquet. 
 
 Judge Smith was always keenly interested in chari- 
 table, religious, and educational causes, ami art interests, 
 and contributed liberally to them. He also took an active 
 part in general affairs of public moment. He was chair- 
 man of the commissioners who built the City and County 
 Hall, and served as chairman of the citizens' committee 
 for the erection of the soldiers' and sailors' monument. 
 He drew the deed which conveyed to the city the Jesse 
 Ketchum Memorial Fund, to provide gold and silver medals 
 for the best pupils of our public schools, ami for many 
 years served as president of the Board of Trustees in charge 
 
 "I' the fund. In Is;.; IIob.nl College conferred on Judge 
 Smith the- degree of I.I..D. - .., , a ft er coming to Buffalo 
 Judge Smith became a member of Trinity Church, which 
 he long served as vestryman and warden. He was one of 
 
 Buffalo's most pr inenl Episcopal laymen, was in 187] 
 
 appointed chancellor of the Diocese ofWestern New York, 
 and represented the diocese al man} of the triennial general 
 conventions of the Protestanl Episcopal Church. 
 
 in June, 1840, Judge Smith married Martha Wash- 
 ington Bradley, daughter of Elias Bradley, of Buffalo. 
 She died In May, 1841. In June, IM.'.. Judge Smith was 
 married to Margaret Sherw I, daughter of John P. Sher- 
 wood, of Vernon, Oneida County, New York. The children 
 
 of the union are Philip Sherw I Smilh ami Margarel 1... 
 
 wife of Robert P. Wilson. 
 
 The death of Judge Smith occurred on the twenty- 
 seventh of November, 1899. The feeling occasioned \>\ 
 the sad event was. through its depth and universality, evi- 
 dence of the place the deceased had occupied in the hearts 
 
 of his fellow-men. Judge Smith was both esteemed and 
 
 beloved by our community. His character illustrated a 
 
 rare union of practical talents, the higher intellectual gifts, 
 
 and those traits whose gentle and refining influences alike 
 elevate and adorn a career. 
 
 John Raymond Hazel. The Honorable John Ray- 
 mond Hazel was born in Buffalo December isth. I860, 
 and received a common and private school education. He 
 
 showed an inclination toward law and entered the office >>\ 
 
 JOHN K 4.YM0ND II \ZI 1. 
 
 .lames C. Fullerton, then Assistanl City Attorney. He was 
 admitted to the bar April 7th, 1882, soon after reaching 
 the age of twenty-one wars. 
 
208 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Al'l.i be had been admitted t<> practice be became a 
 partner of his former employer, Mr. Fullerton, forming the 
 firm of Fullerton & Hazel. Afterwards this (inn was aug- 
 mented through the admission of the Honorable Tracy C. 
 linker, the fitin name becoming Fullerton, Becker & Hazel, 
 and attained much mure than local fame as a legal organi- 
 zation of high order. This partnership continued for eight 
 years, at which time Mr. Hazel became associated with Frank 
 
 A. AhlH.it. who is Districl Attorney for Erie County at the 
 present time. This association continued until Mr. Hazel s 
 appointment by President McKinley on June 5th, 1900, to 
 be United Stale- District Judge for the Western District of 
 New York. 
 
 Mr. Hazel has always been an active Republican, ardent 
 and zealous in his work for his party. In 1891 he was nomi- 
 nated by the Republican Tarty for member of the State 
 Assembly and came within one hundred and fifty votes of 
 election, cutting down the former Democratic majority of 
 fifteen hundred. In IS!) I- he was appointed by Comptroller 
 Roberts to be < lommissioner of < lorporation 'Taxes. In 18!>2 
 he was elected a member of the Republican Stale Committee 
 and appointed a member of the Executive Committee. 
 Thereafter he was reelected, successively, as State committee- 
 man for the Thirty-second Congress District, until his ap- 
 pointment to the Federal bench. 
 
 In 1896 and 1900 he wa- elected delegate to the Repub- 
 lican national conventions at Saint Louis ami Philadelphia, 
 respectively. During the sad days incident to the death of 
 President Mckinley, the duty devolved upon Judge Hazel 
 of delivering the constitutional oath to President Roosevelt, 
 which he did in the parlor of the Wilcox house in Delaware 
 Avenue. 
 
 Judge Hazel's social activities extend to nearly all the 
 prominent social and political chilis in Buffalo and many in 
 New York. He is a member of the Buffalo, Ellicott, and 
 New York Republican clubs, and of the State and local bar 
 associations. 
 
 June 26th, 1902, Judge Hazel was married to Miss 
 Elizabeth G. Drake. 
 
 Charles B. Wheeler. The Honorable Charles 
 
 B. Wheeler, Justice of the Supreme Court, was horn 
 at Poplar Ridge in the town of Venice, Cayuga County, 
 New York, December 27th, 1851, the son of Cyrenus 
 ami .lane Barker Wheeler. The parents were members 
 of old and distinguished families, anil Cyrenus Wheeler was 
 a considerable factor in the agricultural development 
 of New York State. Probably his greatest service was 
 the invention of the famous Cayuga ('hid' mower and reaper, 
 winch attained great popularity, not alone among the farmers 
 of New York State hut also with those pioneers who went 
 
 to carve their fortunes out of the I ndless farming lands 
 
 of the great West. Cyrenus Wheeler also made many im- 
 provements on other agricultural implements, thai served a 
 
 greal purpose at the lime, and he i-,. indeed, to he ranked 
 
 with the McCormicks and others of the lime who made the 
 agricultural development of the country much easier than it 
 would olherw ise have been. 
 
 Cyrenus Wheeler was president of The Cayuga Chief 
 Manufacturing Company until its consolidation with I). M. 
 Osborne & Company, with which Mr. Wheeler continued 
 as vice-president. He was Mayor of Auburn. New York, 
 for four terms, his death occurring in that city March l 24th, 
 18!)!). 
 
 Charles B. Wheeler, the subject of this sketch, received 
 his education in the Auburn High School and Williams Col- 
 lege; from which latter institution he graduated in 18?;5. 
 After his graduation he came to Buffalo and studied law in 
 the office of Sprague & Gorham, continuing with their suc- 
 cessors, Sprague, Gorham & Bacon. In 187(! Mr. Wheeler 
 was admitted to the bar, and immediately entered upon the 
 practice of his profession. In 1882 he became a member of 
 the firm of Bowen, Rogers & Locke, remaining with that 
 firm for three years, when he began practice for himself. 
 
 ( HARLES B. WHEELER 
 
 Justice Wheeler was appointed a member of the Civil 
 Service Commission in 188!) by Mayor Becker, and filled 
 this position for ten years most creditably. From 1891 until 
 the expiration of his term he was chairman of the board and 
 devoted his energies to Civil Service reform. He was again 
 appointed to the board and served another term of three 
 years. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler has ever been a staunch Republican, and 
 his service to his party has always been of a high and digni- 
 fied order. Upon the resignation of Supreme Court Justice 
 Daniel .1. Kenefick the demand that Mr. Wheeler be his 
 successor was so general that his appointment followed as a 
 matter of course, and he assumed the duties of that office 
 December 1st, l!)()(i. The preceding June he had been 
 appointed by Governor Higgins to be a member of the com- 
 mission to revise the Stale tax laws. This position he re- 
 signed upon ascending the bench. 
 
THE CITY OF Bl I FALO. 
 
 
 In September, lOUT, Justice Wheeler was placed in 
 nomination For Justice of the Supreme Court For the Full 
 term of Fourteen years,being endorsed not only by his own 
 party l>nt by the Democrats of the Eighth Judicial District, 
 and by tli<' Independence League as well. 
 
 Juno 28th, 188:5, Mr. Wheeler was married to Frances 
 Munro Rochester, daughter of the late Doctor Thomas F. 
 Rochester and Margaret De Lancey, of Buffalo. There 
 are two children, Thomas Rochester Wheeler and Jane 
 Barker Wheeler. 
 
 Ansley Wilcox was horn in Summerville, Georgia, 
 January 27th, 1856, the son of the late Daniel Hand and 
 Frances Louisa Wilcox, nee Ansley. He is a descendant of 
 John Willcocks, an Englishman, who settled in Hartford, 
 Connecticut, in 1636. Hence the subject of this sketch is 
 representative of one of America's oldest families. 
 
 Mr. Wilcox received his early education at the Hopkins 
 Grammar School, in New Haven. Connecticut, then entering 
 Yale University, from which he was graduated in IS? I- . 
 Then followed a short course in Oxford University. Return- 
 ing to this country, he settled in Buffalo, and in 1878 was 
 admitted to the bar. 
 
 In 1882 he became a member of the firm of (row lev. 
 Movius i\: Wilcox. In t In* following year the firm was 
 changed to Allen. Movius & Wilcox, and as such it remained 
 
 As a corporati I as a spi tikcr Mr. Will ox 
 
 is well known, although In- I,,,-. For the greater part, confined 
 
 his practice to advisory law. He was • of the counsel 
 
 assisting in the entrance of the West Shore Railway into 
 Buffalo in iss.'. From 1883 to 1885 he was one of the coun- 
 sel for the mi i^ion appointed by Governor Cleveland 
 
 to acquire the land lor the New York Slat.- Reservation at 
 Niagara Falls. In Rogers versus the City of Buffalo, a 
 notable case, he established the constitutionality of the < i\il 
 service law, and in 189] In- carried to the I nitcd Stale-* 
 Supreme Court the Briggs-Spaulding ease, involving the 
 duties of dire, lor-- of national banks and their liability For 
 negligence. This, also, was a notable case. 
 
 Mr. Wilcox headed the jnr\ reform movement which 
 led lo the adoption of the New York jun law in 1895. In 
 the year 1889 he was a member of the board of managers of 
 the State Reformatorj at Elmira. The presenl Charity 
 Organization Society owes much to his efforts, he having 
 been one of its most active members and being now its presi- 
 dent. His interest in the civil service has also meant much 
 for that movement, and for several years In- has been the 
 president of the <i\il Service Reform Association of Buffalo. 
 As a trustee of the Buffalo General Hospital his influence 
 ami energy have been greath I'll by thai institution, and in 
 the chair of medical jurisprudence of the University of Buf- 
 falo he has made an enviable record of service. 
 
 Mr. Wilcox was married January 17th. IS7S. to Cor- 
 nelia C. Rumsey, whose death occurred December 22d, 
 
 1880. On November 20th, ISS:S. he married Mary ( .race 
 
 Rumsey, a sister to his first wife. Mr. Wilcox has two 
 daughters— Cornelia Rumsey, wife of Henry Adsit Bull, and 
 
 Frances Wilcox. 
 
 Socially the Wilcox family has always been prominent. 
 During the dark days when President Mckinley was near 
 death in Buffalo. Mr. Roosevelt, the then vice-president, 
 came to be near him and was a guest at the Wilcox home. 
 There the oath as President of the United Slates was admin- 
 istered to him in a simple, unostentatious manner. 
 
 Adelbert Moot, one of Buffalo's best-known lawyers, 
 was born in Allen. Allegany County, New York, November 
 22d, is."»t. He attended the district and other schools in 
 the place of his nativity and in the near-bj village of Bel- 
 mont, and afterward attended the academy at Niinda. 
 New York. Then followed a period of preparatory train- 
 ing iii the Normal School at Geneseo, New York, whence 
 
 he went to the Albany Law Scl 1, from which he was 
 
 graduated. 
 
 Mr. Moot was admitted to the bar in ls7ii. on his 
 
 twenty-sec I birthday, and engaged in practice a few 
 
 months later with George M. Osg lb\ iii the town of 
 
 Nunda. Two years afterward the firm removed to this 
 city, where a broader field awaited them. The accession 
 of Judge Robert ('. Titus changed the (inn name tot >sgoodby, 
 Titus & Moot. Three years late,- Mr. Moot withdrew 
 from the lirm to associate himself with the firm of Lewis, 
 Miner the lirm became Wilcox & Moot & Lewis, where he remained for twelve years, the firm 
 
 becoming one of the best known in western New \ ork. 
 
 ANSLEY WILCOX 
 
 until 18!)s>, when it became Movius & Wilcox. In ISitt 
 Mr. Wilcox became senior partner in the law lirm of Wilcox 
 & Miner, Worthington ('. Miner being the junior partner. 
 With the death of M 
 Bull. 
 
 14 
 

 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 In IS!):; Mr. Mool withdrew from the firm to associate it as one of its most active workers. He was ;t ii advocate 
 himself with Messrs. Sprague, Spraguc & Brownell, the of sound money. When the election frauds of I892were 
 firm name becoming Sprague, Moot. Sprague & Brownell. made known to the people, their confidence in him was 
 In June of 1897, after the death of Mr. E. C. Sprague, the so great that he was one of the principal attorneys retained 
 linn was augmented bj the addition of William I.. Marcv. by them to prosecute the perpetrators of fraud. 
 
 Mr. Moot was married on July 22d, 1882, to Carrie 
 A. Van Ness, of Cuba, New York. 
 
 Henry Ware Sprague, one of the prominent legal men 
 
 of western New York, and a representative of one of the 
 State's oldest families, was horn in this city. June 20th, 1855, 
 
 a - f Eben Carleton Sprague. His father was very closely 
 
 identified with the early growth and development of Buffalo 
 and one of the recognized leaders in this end of the Empire 
 State 
 
 The son was educated first in the Buffalo public schools 
 ami later in Professor Briggs's Classical School, where he 
 remained until the age of eighteen years. Then he went to 
 Germany, where he took a course in Leipzig University, 
 returning to Buffalo in 1 S7.5. 
 
 Upon returning from Germany he immediately took up 
 the study of law, entering the offices of Sprague, Gorham & 
 Bacon. Three years later he was admitted to the bar, and 
 for two years practiced law for himself. In 1880 he helped 
 to form the law firm of Sprague. Milburn & Sprague, he 
 being the junior partner. His affiliation with this firm con- 
 tinued for three years, when he became a member of the 
 
 ADELBERT MOOT 
 
 the firm name her ing Mool. Sprague. Brownell & Marcy, 
 
 with offices on the third Moor of the Erie County Savings 
 Bank Building, where they are engaged at the time of this 
 writing. Since 11)04 Mr. Moot has been associated with 
 Hie Honorable A. J. Rodenbeek, William B. Hornblower, 
 and John C. Milburn In consolidating the statutes of New 
 , > ork. They have completed this task, and it now awaits 
 Legislative approval. 
 
 Mr. Moot has found time, outside of his professional 
 duties. |o associate himself with several of the city's leading 
 societies ami is a valued member of the Buffalo Historical 
 Society, the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, and the 
 Thursday, Liberal, and Saturn Clubs. His religious affilia- 
 tions are with the Church of Our Father (Unitarian). He 
 is an active member of both the American Bar Association 
 
 and Hie New York Stale liar Association, where his wise 
 
 counsel is often sought. 
 
 Ih- is recognized throughout the county as a most 
 able practitioner. Though he has never been an office 
 seeker or holder, his sense of justice and desire for the high- 
 est form of government has spurred him to take an active 
 interest in public affairs. A lifelong Republican, he has 
 
 ta k . en :l - 1 ''; 11 in * er « s1 in nvil service ref °rm and was a „ firm of Sprague, Morey & Sprague, which later became 
 
 achve member of the association that did uch toward Sprague. Morey, Sprague & Brownell. This firm subse- 
 
 the belle-,,,, m ,,l civil service conditions. When the good quently became Sprague, Moot. Sprague & Brownell. ami. 
 government movement began in this Stale he was one at the death of Eben Carleton Sprague.in 1895, it became 
 ' ,l, ' > ' '" see lts I lblllties and identif 3 himself with Moot, Sprague. Brownell & Marcy,' and as such it has 
 
 HENRY WARE SPRAGUE 
 
I III. CITY OF Bl FFALO. 
 
 .'II 
 
 remained until the presenl time. The linn, composed of 
 Adelbert Moot, Henry W. Sprague, William I.. Marey, ami 
 George F. Brownell, is one of the best-known legal firms in 
 the city, and has offices in the Erie County Savings Hank 
 Bui Iding. 
 
 Mr. Sprague was a member of the city Civil Service 
 Commission and helped to draw the first set of rules for the 
 city government, being a colleague, in this important duty, 
 of Sheldon T. Vide and others. He is a member of the 
 Century and City clubs of New York City; of the Country, 
 Buffalo, and Saturn clubs, of this city, and of the Thursday 
 Club. He is a life member of the Buffalo Public Library, 
 a member of the Buffalo Historical Society and the Buffalo 
 Fine Arts Academy, and a member of the advisory board 
 of the Children's Hospital. 
 
 In ISSS Mr. Sprague was married to Miss Mary C. 
 Noyes, a daughter of John S. Noyes, of this city. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Sprague have two sons. Eben Carleton Sprague and 
 John Sedgwick Noyes Sprague. 
 
 Daniel J. Kenefick. The Honorable Daniel Joseph 
 Kenetick. one of the city's foremost lawyers, and for a 
 number of years a member of the judiciary, is a native of 
 Buffalo, and his career, which has been an uninterrupted 
 
 series of successes, cannot hut lie a source of gratification 
 to Buffalo. He was horn October 15th, 1863, and received 
 his education in the Buffalo public schools, attending School 
 Number Four, and later the Buffalo High School, from 
 which he was graduated in 1881. After his graduation he 
 studied law with Crowley & Movius and their successors. 
 Crowley, Movius & Wilcox, being admitted to the bar in 
 October, 1884. 
 
 Immediately after his admission to the bar Mr. Kene- 
 fick began the practice of law for himself, and a year later 
 was appointed to a clerkship in the Law Department of 
 the city of Buffalo. This position he retained during the 
 year 1886, resigning at the close of that year to become 
 Second Assistant District Attorney under George T. Quinby, 
 then District Attorney of Erie County. In this capacity 
 he continued for five years, being appointed January 1st, 
 1S!):5, to the position of First Assistant District Attorney, 
 and upon the resignation of Mr. Quinby in November, 
 1804, he filled the office of District Attorney for the unexpired 
 term. This appointment was made by Governor Flower. 
 During the latter part of Mr. Quinby 's term the greater 
 portion of his duties had fallen upon Mr. Kenefick, and his 
 experience in the place justified the choice of the Republican 
 Party, when, in 18i)4. they nominated him for the office and 
 elected him by a majority of almost two to one. 
 
 In the fall of 1807 Mr. Kenefick was reelected to the 
 position of District Attorney, serving hut one year of that 
 term. On December 31st, 1898, he was appointed by 
 Governor Black to he a Justice of the Supreme Court to 
 fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Hamilton 
 Ward. In the fall of IS!)!) Mr. Kenefick was elected a 
 Justice of the Supreme Court to serve the full term of four- 
 teen years, hut on November K'th. 1906, he resigned from 
 that position to once re resume private practice. 
 
 Mr. Kenefick 's first legal partnership was formed with 
 
 Joseph V. Scaver, and on H,. elecli f the latter to the 
 
 Countj Judgeship, Mr. K . ,,,.,| with 
 
 Messrs. Cuddeback & Ouchie. In M 1893 the firm 
 
 "'' Kenefick & Love was formed, William II. I,,w being 
 the junior member of the fim his firm was sub- 
 
 sequently added the name of James I Quackenbush. I'his 
 nn " remained in existence until Mr. Kenefick \s election 
 to the Supreme Court bench. At the presenl tin* Mi 
 Ken. 'tick is the senior member of the firm of Kenefick, 
 Cooke & Mitchell, one of the mosl distinguished legal 
 associations in western New York. 
 
 DANIEL .1. KENEFICK 
 
 Though maintaining all the traditional dignity of the 
 bench, former Judge Kenefick ha- always found a way, 
 and the time, to lake an active interest in Buffalo and her 
 affairs. In the social organization- of the city, too. he has 
 been a prominent factor, and at tin- presenl time i- a mem- 
 ber of the Buffalo and Saturn clubs. 
 
 On June 30th, 1891, Mr. Kenetick was married to 
 Maysie < rermaine, of tin- city. 
 
 Lyman M. Bass, the presenl United States District 
 Attorney for western New "4 ork. comes from an old and 
 distinguished family. His father, the late Lyman K. Bass, 
 was one of Buffalo's foremost lawyers, a former Congress- 
 man and I >i-lricl Attorney. 
 
 Mr. I5a-s was born in tin- <il\ Jul} 5th, 1876, and when 
 hut six week- old removed with the family to Colorado, 
 remaining there, with the exception of his college years, 
 until 1900, when he returned to this city and became engaged 
 in the practice of hi- profession. lie received hi- early 
 education in the West, completing hi- studies at Yale ami 
 

 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Harvard universities, graduating from the former with the Mr. Cooke was admitted to the bar in 1892,and ini- 
 
 elass of ISH7 and from the law school of Harvard University mediately showed his faith in his home city by returning 
 
 in 1900. During iiis college years he distinguished him- and embarking in practice for himself in ]S<).>. Since then 
 
 self alike in bis class and on the campus. For three years his work has been crowned by unusual success. He has been 
 
 lie played end on the Yale football team and established an active partner in the following well-known lega 
 
 ,1,1. 
 
 l-eeonl III 
 
 ,11, 
 
 LYMAN M. BASS 
 
 Shorth after his graduation, with honors, from the 
 Harvard Law School, he was admitted to the liar and 
 entered the office of Rogers, Locke \' Babcock.of this city. 
 Two years later he severed Ibis first connection and en- 
 tered the office of Bissell, Carey & Cooke, which has 
 recently become Kenefick, Cooke \' Mitchell, with which 
 linn Mr. Bass still maintains his association. 
 
 Mr. Bass has ever been a staunch Republican, and 
 though young in years has given a yeoman's service to his 
 party, lie has been a member of the board of managers 
 
 of the Rochester Industrial Scl I. and on December 5th, 
 
 li)D(i. President Roosev'ell announced his appointment to 
 he United States District Attorney for the District of Western 
 New ^ ork. which post he retains at this writing. 
 
 At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War Mr. 
 Bass responded to the general call and was honored l>\ a 
 commission as second lieutenant of Light Battery F, Third 
 United Stales Artillery. With that organization he went 
 lo the in, ni and participated in the Porto Rican campaign. 
 
 Walter P. Cooke, one of Buffalo's leading lawyers, i-, 
 a native of this city, having Keen born here April 28th, 
 1869. He received his education in the public schools, 
 finishing his preparation in the Buffalo High School, which 
 was followed l,\ a special course in Cornell University, 
 
 from which institution he graduated with t he class of 1891. 
 
 firms: 
 Brown & Cooke; Bissell, Carey & Cooke; and Kenefick, 
 Cooke & Mitchell. He is now associated with the latter 
 firm, one of the best-known in western Xew York. With 
 railroad and corporation work the firm of Kenefick, Cooke 
 & Mitchell is especially identified. 
 
 He has found time to associate himself with many of 
 the institutions that make for Buffalo and her commercial 
 supremacy. By his college fellows he has been honored 
 with the presidency of tin- Cornell Alumni Association of 
 Buffalo; by his fellow-citizens with the vice-presidency and 
 trusteeship of the Buffalo Public Library; and has served 
 as president of the Erie County Bar Association, as trustee of 
 the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce and of the Homeopathic 
 Hospital, and on the board of managers of the Buffalo 
 State Hospital. His association with Buffalo's business 
 enterprises are many and varied. He is a director of the 
 Buffalo & Susquehanna Railway, the People's Bank, Tin' 
 Buffalo General Electric Company, The Frontier Telephone 
 Company, The Western Xew York Water Company, and 
 The Buffalo Abstract and Title Company. 
 
 Mr. Cooke is also prominent in local club life, holding 
 membership in the Buffalo, Saturn, Country. Park, and 
 Ellicott chilis. 
 
 WALTER 1'. COOKE 
 
 James McCormick Mitchell, junior member of the 
 
 firm of Kenefick. Cooke & Mitchell, and one of the liest- 
 known of Buffalo's younger legal men, was born in Wash- 
 ington, District of Columbia, September 6th, 1873. He is 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 .'I:; 
 
 the son ol the Reverend S. S. Mitchell, D.D.. Former pastor was reorganized under the linn name of Kenefick Cooke & 
 of the First Presbyterian Church of this city. Mitchell, i iated members being the Honorable 
 
 Mr. Mitchell came to Buffalo in 1880 upon bis Father's Daniel .1. Kenefick, former - mstice; Walter 
 
 acceptance of the local pastorate, and secured his early edu- P. Cooke; the subjecl of this sketch; and Lyman M. Bass, 
 cation in the public schools of the city, graduating from the the present United States District Attorney. 
 
 In the practice of his profession Mr. Mitchell has 
 devoted himself principallj to litigation, the trial of cases, 
 and argument of appeals, and in this particular field has 
 acquired a mosl enviable reputation. 
 
 Mr. Mitchell was married December 5th, 1906, to 
 Lavinia Austin Avery, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. True- 
 man G. Avery, of this city. 
 
 Porter Norton is wideU known throughout New York 
 State a^ a most able lawyer ami distinctly successful in the 
 handling of legal affairs for great corporations, which pai 
 ticular field has been the scene of his activities for the past 
 few years. Mr. Norton was horn in Buffalo Jul} 9th, 
 is.>.">, the son of Charles I). Norton and Jeanette Phelps 
 Norton, daughter of Oliver Phelps, of Canandaigua, New 
 York. He was favored in being preceded l>\ a father who 
 was an eminent lawyer, widely ami favorably know n through- 
 out the Bast. 
 
 JAMES McCORMICK MITCHELL 
 
 Central High School with the class of L890. In the fall of 
 that year he entered Princeton University, graduating in 
 
 O rs 
 
 lS'tf with the degree of A. B. 
 
 Upon his graduation, Mr. Mitchell entered the field of 
 journalism, becoming a reporter on the Buffalo Commercial. 
 In the fall of 1895 he entered the Buffalo Law- School and 
 at the same time became a student in the law offices of Hum- 
 phrey, Lockwood & Ilovt. lie graduated from the Buffalo 
 Law School in the class of ISO? with the degree of LL. B. 
 His final school year was marked by his winning both the 
 first Daniels Scholarship and the second Clinton Scholarship. 
 The same year he received the degree of A. M. from Prince- 
 ton University. 
 
 In August, IS!)?, he entered the law offices of Rogers, 
 
 Locke & Milburn as a clerk, remaining there until April, 
 li)()l. when he entered the offices of Bissell, Carey & Cooke. 
 In L900 and 1!)()1 he was lecturer on constitutional law in 
 the Buffalo Law School. 
 
 In January, 1902, Mr. Mitchell was admitted to the 
 firm of Bissell, Carey & Cooke, becoming associated in a 
 most extensive practice with Wilson S. Bissell. Martin Carey. 
 and Walter I'. Cooke, three of the most distinguished law- 
 yers in western New York. After the death of Mr. Bissell 
 he continued the partnership practice with Messrs. Carey 
 ami Cooke under the old firm name. Upon the removal of 
 Mr. Carey to New York, in May. 1906, Lyman M. Bass 
 was admitted to the firm, and in November, 1906, the firm 
 
 PORTER NORTON 
 
 He wa> educated in the local schools and received 
 training in Professor Briggs's private school. After leaving 
 
 his scl 1 duties he began the study of law in the office 
 
 of Sprague & Gorham, being admitted to the bar in 
 IS7.">. In IS?!> he formed a partnership with Henry \V. 
 Box, and eventually, through the admission of Judge Hatch 
 to the partnership, the firm name became Box. Hatch & 
 Norton. Later it became Box, Norton & Bushnell, Clarence 
 M. Bushnell being admitted as a junior partner. Mr. 
 
214 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Norton's present association is with the firm of Norton, 
 Pennej & Scar-, as senior partner in one of the best-known 
 legal firms in the State. Among its corporation clients 
 are The International Railway Company and The Bell 
 Telephone Company of Buffalo. Mr. Norton, as senior 
 member of the firm, has devoted his energies largely to 
 corporation practice, and in the argument of Mich eases 
 In- ha- lew equals. 
 
 He is a director in The International Railway Company, 
 The Bell Telephone Company of Buffalo, the Frontier 
 Electric Railroad, and the Crosstown Street Railway. His 
 club associations are with the Buffalo Club, in which he is 
 a director, the Country Club, and the Ellicotl Club. He 
 is a member of the Buffalo Historical Society, New York 
 Bar State Association, American Society of International 
 Law, a vestryman of 'Trinity Church, trustee of De Veaux 
 College, and a member of the Society of Colonial Wars. 
 
 Iii 1S7II Mr. Nort arried .leanie Watson, daughter 
 
 of the late S. Y. R. Watson, of this city 
 
 Charles A. Pooley is another native Buffalonian whose 
 life's success has been gained in the city of his nativity. He 
 was born here November ITth. is.u. and was educated 
 at Public School NumberOne, being graduated from the ( Cen- 
 tral High School with the class of is?:;. Immediately upon 
 leaving school Mr. Pooley soughl the active business field 
 and for- three years was engaged in large lumber interests. 
 
 
 f jRM 
 
 1 
 
 JL ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 m. .\^^r 
 
 
 
 ^k, 
 
 
 CHARLES A. POOLEY 
 
 Seeing greater possibilities in the professional field, 
 Mr. Pooley left the lumber business and on January 1st. 
 IsTii. began the studj of law. being admitted to the bar in 
 April. 1879. lie c pleted his studies in \} lr office of the 
 
 late Senator A. IV leaning and upon his admission to the 
 
 bar continued in the office of Laning, McMillan & Gluck. 
 He remained with that firm through its various changes — 
 Green, McMillan & Gluck; McMillan, Gluek & Pooley; 
 and McMillan, Gluck, Pooley & Depcw. At the death of 
 Mr. Gluck the firm became McMillan, Pooley, Depew & 
 Spratt, and at Mr. McMillan's retirement Pooley, Depew 
 & Spratt. Until recently the firm name was Pooley & 
 Spratt, when it was dissolved, Mr. Maurice C. Spratt 
 forming a partnership with William B. Hoyt to represent 
 the New York Central Railroad lines in Erie and Niagara 
 counties, while Mr. Pooley continues to represent the same 
 corporation in Genesee and Orleans counties, as well as in 
 sonic special proceedings before the Railroad Commission 
 and in other matters in this city. 
 
 At the elevation of Justice Albert Haight to the Court 
 of Appeals bench in 1895, Mr. Pooley was recommended 
 by the bar of Erie County, generally, regardless of party, 
 to fill the vacancy. Mr. Pooley is a trustee of the Law- 
 Library of the Eighth Judicial District, having been ap- 
 pointed by the Supreme Court. He has been a director 
 of the Buffalo Public Library, and takes a most valued 
 interest in its affairs. He is a past master of DeMolay 
 Lodge, Number 498, Free and Accepted Masons, and has 
 served a term as district deputy grand master of the Free 
 and Accepted Masons of the State of New York for the 
 twenty-fifth Masonic district. 
 
 Herbert Porter Bissell, one of the State's ablest lawyers 
 and a leading member of the Erie County bar, was born at 
 New London, New York, August 30th, 18.50. He received 
 his first training in the district schools of his native town, 
 moving later with the family to Lockport, where he attended 
 the public schools of that village. After leaving public 
 school he entered De Veaux College at Suspension Bridge, 
 graduating from that institution in 187.'}. This course of 
 training was supplemented by a two-years course in a public 
 school at Braunschweig, Germany, after which he returned 
 to his native land and entered Harvard University, gradua- 
 ting from that institution with the degree of A. 15. in 1880, 
 in the class with President Roosevelt. 
 
 In the year of his graduation he came to Buffalo and 
 began the study of law in the offices of Laning, McMillan 
 & Gluck, then one of the most prominent legal firms in 
 the State. In April, 188,'J, he was admitted to the bar and 
 has since carried on an extensive practice, devoting his 
 attention largely to corporation law. After his admission 
 to the bar lie remained with his parent firm for a short time, 
 beginning to practice for himeslf in 1885. In 1886' he be- 
 came a member of the firm of Brundage, Weaver & Bissell, 
 six months later entering the firm of Bissell, Sicard, Brundage 
 & Bissell as junior member, the senior member being the 
 Honorable Wilson S. Bissell. This firm afterwards became 
 bissell, Sicard, Bissell & Carey, remaining thus until its 
 dissolution in 1896. The firm was founded in 1834 and 
 became one of the most distinguished legal concerns in the 
 country. Organized by Orsamus II. Marshall, it had for 
 partners at different periods Nathan K. Hall, postmaster 
 general under President Fillmore; Grover Cleveland, before 
 
THE CITY OF BUI FALO. 
 
 215 
 
 his election to the gubernatorial chair, and Postmaster Gen- 
 eral Wilson S. Bissell. 
 
 In March, 18!)7, Mr. Bissell formed a partnership with 
 J. Henry Metcalf, former judge of Ontario County, and 
 later, with George C. Riley, formed the firm of Bissell & 
 Riley, in which he practices, al the time of this writing, as 
 the senior partner. 
 
 HERBERT P. BISSELL 
 
 Mr. Bissell has been active in politics since 188,), when 
 he was candidate for State Senator on the Democratic 
 ticket. In 1892 he was a candidate for district attorney, being 
 defeated by a plurality of forty-four votes, one of the small- 
 est margins in the history of balloting in Buffalo. He was 
 the founder, and, for a time, the president, of the Cleveland 
 Democracy of Buffalo. In 1901 he was prevailed upon by 
 his party to accept the Democratic mayoralty nomination 
 and made a splendid run against his opponent, Erastus 
 ('. Knight. 
 
 Mr. Bissell has served as curator and chairman of the 
 board of real estate of the Buffalo Public Library, and was 
 for twelve years a trustee of De Veaux College. He is a 
 member of the Buffalo, Saturn, Ellicott, and Transportation 
 clubs, of Buffalo, and the University Club, of New York City. 
 He has been vice-president and general counsel for The 
 Niagara Gorge Railroad Company, as well as counsel for 
 The Buffalo Traction Company, The Buffalo <S: Depew 
 Railroad Company, The Economic Power and Construction 
 Company, and numerous other large corporations. During 
 the period before the Pan-American Exposition he labored 
 unceasingly for its success, both as a. director on the general 
 board and as chairman of the committee on law and 
 insurance. 
 
 October 30th, 1883, Mr. Bissell married Luc; V.Coffey, 
 of Brooklyn, Nev i ;u have three children- 
 
 Mary R., Harriett A., and Lucj \ Bissell. 
 
 Sheldon T. Viele i- descended from colonial families 
 on both sides of thr house. Ill- pat ndfather, John 
 L. Viele, was a State Senator and friend and colleague >.!' 
 Governor Clinton in the construction of the Erie (anal, and 
 was descended from the firsl settler of thai name, who came 
 to this country about L650. Ill- maternal grandfather was 
 Sheldon Thompson, one of the early settlers of Buffalo and 
 a pioneer in the lake ami canal transportation business. He 
 was the first mayor of Buffalo elected In the people. He 
 was descended from Jabez Thompson, an officer in tin' 
 French and Indian War. and also in the War of the Revo- 
 lution, who was killed while in c ami of hi- regimenl III 
 
 the retreat from New York. September, l?7(>. 'The firsl 
 
 member of the family in thi- country was Anthony Th p- 
 
 son, who settled in New Haven in 1638. Sheldon Tl pson 
 
 Viele W as (itted for college at the Walnut Mill School at 
 
 Geneva, New York, graduated from Yale in ls<;s. and re 
 ceived the degree of Master of Ait- in course in 1871. He 
 studied law in the office of E. Carleton Sprague al Buffalo, 
 
 was admitted to the \e\\ York bar in IS(ii). ami in May. 
 187 1, began practice on hi- own account. lie- ha- practiced 
 with success in his native town ever since. Mr. Viele i- a 
 
 SHELDON T. VII l.l 
 
 vestryman of Saint Paul'- Church and a I 
 Margaret's School; ha- served a- curator 
 Library from 1 ss<; to 1889; was dean of the 
 1889; was president of the University < 'lub of 
 the three years following its organization in 
 president of the Yale Alumni Association of 
 
 Ill-Ire of Saint 
 
 of the Buffalo 
 
 Saturn Club in 
 
 Buffalo during 
 
 |S!I t; anil was 
 W'e-tel li 
 
2 1 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 York from 1895 to ISiXi. He is also a member of the State 
 Bar Association, the Lawyers' Club of Buffalo, the Holland 
 Society of New York, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Sons 
 of the Revolution, the Philadelphia Society of the War of 
 1812, and by inheritance a member of the Loyal Legion of 
 the United States. He was the first secretary of the first 
 district committee of the original Charity Organization 
 Society in the Dnited State- and a trustee from its incorpo- 
 ration until he retired from the board in December, 1907. 
 He was a member of the first executive committee of the 
 Civil Service Reform Association of Buffalo and has con- 
 tinued on the board for the last twenty-five years. In 190.5 
 he was appointed by the State Hoard of Statutory Consoli- 
 dation as inn- of its attorneys to complete a part of its work. 
 He was appointed in June, 1906, by the late Governor Hig- 
 gins, a State commissioner in lunacy to succeed the Honorable 
 Daniel N. Lockwood, and was reappointed by Governor 
 Hughes in March. 1907. The present address of his law 
 firm is 1022 Fidelity Building, Buffalo. 
 
 William H. Hotchkiss, lawyer, and referee in bank- 
 ruptcy in the Buffalo District, was horn in Whitehall. New 
 York, in 1864. He was graduated from Hamilton College 
 in 1886, admitted to the bar in 1888, and practiced Ins profes- 
 sion in Auburn, New York, until 1890, when be cameto 
 Buffalo. In 1897 Mr. Hotchkiss distinguished himself by 
 
 WILL] \\| II HOTCHKISS 
 
 preparing the monograph on primary election laws which 
 led to the general movement for better primary laws in 
 New York Stale. Later Mr. Hotchkiss gave invaluable 
 service bj assisting in drafting the primary law of 1899. 
 
 In 1898 Mr. Hotchkiss was appointed referee in bank- 
 ruptcy for the Buffalo District, which office he still retains. 
 
 Today he is probably better known than any other man 
 as an authority on the national bankruptcy law. This was 
 recognized in 1899, when he was chosen chairman of the 
 executive committee, and later president, of the National 
 Association of Referees in Bankruptcy. In that capacity 
 he made an investigation into the operation of the law, 
 .supplemented it with an elaborate report which was 
 published in March, 1900. and which resulted in the Ray 
 Amendatory Bill, passed in 1903. His articles on bankruptcy 
 contributed to The North American Review in 1898 and 
 1900 attracted general attention in the legal world. Mr. 
 Hotchkiss is also the author of the fourth edition of "Collier 
 on Bankruptcy, " and is lecturer on the law of bankruptcy 
 in the Buffalo Law School, Cornell University, and the New- 
 York Law School. 
 
 Mr. Hotchkiss is one of the pioneer automobilists in 
 America, and has given strong support to automobiling, 
 one of his greatest services being the drafting of the present 
 New York motor vehicle law, which has been largely 
 followed in other States. In 1903 and 1904 Mr. Hotchkiss 
 served as president of the Automobile Club of Buffalo, 
 in 1905 as president of the New York State Automobile 
 Association, and in 1907 and 1908 as president of the 
 American Automobile Association. 
 
 He is a member of the American Bar Association, the 
 New York State Bar Association, the Erie County Bar 
 Association, of which he is now president, and the Buffalo 
 Lawyers' Club, having been the president of the latter 
 organization in 1903. In 1907 Mr. Hotchkiss was honored 
 by Governor Hughes with an appointment as commissioner 
 for the promotion of uniform legislation for New York. 
 
 Mr. Hotchkiss is also one of the organizers of, and attor- 
 ney for, the recently established American Savings Bank 
 of Buffalo. 
 
 In April, 189."), Mr. Hotchkiss married [Catherine 
 Tremaine Bush. 
 
 William Ballard Hoyt, one of the ablest lawyers of the 
 New York State bar, and member of the well-known firm 
 of Hoyt & Spratt, was born at East Aurora, New York, 
 April 20th, 1858, the son of Doctor Horace and Josephine 
 Ballard Hoyt. His preparatory education was received 
 at the Aurora Academy and the Buffalo High School, follow- 
 ing which, in the fall of 1877, he entered Cornell University. 
 During his course at that institution, Mr. Hoyt paid especial 
 attention to history and political science. He was one of 
 the prize orators of his class, and was prominent in college 
 journalism, having been managing editor of the monthly 
 magazine, one of the editors of the college weekly, and 
 prominently identified wih the founding of The Cornell 
 Daily Sun. He graduated from Cornell with the class of 
 I SSI. 
 
 Upon the completion of his studies at Cornell Uni- 
 versity Mr. Hoyt came to Buffalo, and entered the office 
 of Humphrey & Lockwood, one of the leading law firms of 
 the city. He was admitted to the bar in March. 1888, shortly 
 afterwards becoming a member of the firm with whom 
 he had pursued his studies, the firm name then becoming 
 
THE CITY OF BUFF [LO. 
 
 HI 
 
 Humphrey, Lockwood & Hoyt. [n 1896, through the addi Acti ely connected with tlie variou ial organiza- 
 
 tion to the firm d William C.Greene and George D. Yeomans, tions of Buffalo, Mr. Hovl was For six years r director of 
 it became known as Humphrey, Lockwood, Hovl. Greene the Buffalo Club, was for thr< curator of the Buffalo 
 
 & Yeomans. The death of Judge Humphrej and the Library, and was in 1892 appoi I, ml >er of the Board 
 
 retirement of Mr. Yeomans caused a further change in the of School Examiners, a position to which lie was afterwards 
 style of the firm shortly afterwards, and until the formation reappointed. He was for a numbei o( years presidenl of 
 
 of the firm of Hoyl & Spratl during 1907, Mr. Hoyl was the Cornell University Alumni A iatio'n of Western New 
 
 ^ <>i 1^- and in 1895 was honored b\ election as a trustee of 
 the university for a term of five years. 
 
 On December 20th, 1887, Mr. Hoyl married Esther 
 Lapham Hill, daughter of Doctor John D. Hill, of this city. 
 
 Maurice Charles Spratt, a member of the firm of Hoyl 
 & Spfatt, and one of the leading corporation lawyers of 
 New York State, has earned nearly all his honors in tlii-. 
 the city of his adoption. He was born in the village of Rossie, 
 Saint Lawrence County, New York, and was educated in 
 the public schools of thai place. Later he entered the < I 
 densburg Academy, where he prepared to enter Georgetown 
 University ;il Washington, District of Columbia. In iss^ 
 Mr. Spnitl graduated from Georgetown with a Battering 
 record, and ;it once entered the lav office of lii^ brother, 
 Thomas Spratt, in Ogdensburg, having determined upon 
 the law for his life's profession. Two years later he was 
 admitted to the bar at Saratoga Springs, and in three years 
 became one of the best-known of the younger practitioners 
 in that section of his State. 
 
 WILLIAM B. HOYT 
 
 a member of the firm of Lockwood, Hnvt \ T Greene, one of 
 the best-known law copartnerships in this part of the Slate. 
 
 The association of William 15. Hovt and Maurice ('. 
 Spratt brought together two of the most promising of the 
 younger lawyers of Buffalo. The firm is now counsel in 
 this territory for the New York Central lines and other 
 Vanderbilt properties, and among their clientele may lie 
 numbered many of the largest industrial and business con- 
 cerns in Buffalo, with the local representation of such enter- 
 prises as The Western Union Telegraph Company, The 
 .Etna Life Insurance Company, The Western Transit Com- 
 pany, The New York State Realty and Terminal Company, 
 and many others. 
 
 During his career in this city Mr. Hoyt has found 
 time to serve as Assistant United States District Attorney 
 for the Northern District of New York, haying been ap- 
 pointed to that position in 1886, and continuing in it until 
 1SS!). Dining his service in that capacity, he took a prom- 
 inent and successful part in many noted cases. In 1S!)4 
 he was appointed by Attorney-General Olney counsel to 
 the United States Inter-State Commerce Commission for 
 
 the State of New York, with tl rhVial title of Assistant launched upon a professional career that has since placed 
 
 Attorney-General. Mr. Hoyt is active in the counsels of him in the foremost rank of legal workers. He first entered 
 the Democratic Party, but aside from the instances men- the law offices of McMillan, Gluck, Pooley & Depew, then 
 tioned above, he has never held public office. one of lb.- hue si legal firms iii the city, iii the capacity 
 
 MAURICE C. SPRATT 
 
 In 1893 the subject of this sketch came to Buffali 
 
-2 IS 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 York State, and Sarah Brown, daughter of the late Thomas 
 Brown, of this city. Mr. Lockwood attended the Buffalo 
 Normal School and later the Buffalo Central High School. 
 He then entered Yale University, from which he was 
 graduated with the class of 1895. Returning to Buffalo. 
 he studied law at the Buffalo Law School and later at the 
 Law School of Cornell, being admitted to the liar of New 
 York State in 1897. 
 
 Immediately after his admission to the bar, he began 
 the practice of law for himself and later entered the office 
 of the firm of Lockwood. Hovt & Greene, of which his 
 lather, Daniel X. Lockwood, was the senior member. His 
 association with this firm continued until the death of his 
 father, which occurred on June 1st, 1906. The firm was 
 then dissolved, and since that time Mr. Lockwood has 
 continued in individual practice, with offices at 77 West 
 Eagle Street. 
 
 Aside from his law practice, Mr. Lockwood has found 
 time and the opportunity to associate himself with several 
 large business concerns, principally in a legal capacity. Of 
 these the two principal associations are as director of the 
 Third National Bank and the Frontier Telephone Com- 
 pany. He was honored by the present incumbent of the 
 Mayor's chair, J. X. Adam, with appointment to the Board 
 of Park Commissioners for a term of five years to fill the 
 place of William A. Joyce, whose term had expired. This 
 appointment took effect in February, 1907. Mr. Lock- 
 wood is a member of most of Buffalo's prominent clubs 
 and is well known in club life in Xew York and other cities. 
 
 November 1st, 1904, Mr. Lockwood was married to 
 Marion Bilge, a daughter of George K. Bilge, of this city. 
 
 Clarence Munson Bushnell, only son of Sidney Norton 
 
 and Carolyn Munson Bushnell, was born at Bethany, 
 Pennsylvania, February 2d, 18.50; attended public school, 
 th'' Prompton Academy, and the State Normal School at 
 Millcrsville. Pennsylvania, and graduated from Princeton 
 University in 1877, from which he received the degree of 
 Master of Arts in 1895. Soon after graduation he began 
 the study of the law with Judge Oscar O. Hamlin at Hones- 
 dale, Pennsylvania, and entered the office of Box & Norton 
 in this city as a student in September, 1880. He was admitted 
 to the bar in October. 1882. and elected president of his 
 class, which numbered thirty-six. 
 
 On January 1st. 1884, he was made a member of the 
 firm of Box, Hatch & Norton, which firm was dissolved 
 three years later, upon the election of Judge Hatch to the 
 bench of the Superior Court of Buffalo, and reorganized 
 as Box, Norton & Bushnell, and so continued until 1901, 
 when it was dissolved by the retirement of Mr. Box from 
 the practice of the law and the withdrawal of Mr. Bushnell. 
 The firm did an extensive business, representing among 
 other large corporations The ^Yestern Union Telegraph 
 Company, The Bell Telephone Company, The Buffalo 
 Gas Light Company, and all of tlie city and suburban street 
 railway lines. Early in his career at the bar, Mr. Bushnell 
 7tn > ls7:; - •'' son of the late Daniel Newton Lockwood. demonstrated his ability as a trial lawyer, ami to him was 
 who was one of the mosl distinguished jurists in New assigned the trial work of all of the firm 's cases. For over 
 
 clerk. Upon the death of Mr. Chick, Mr. Spratt was 
 taken into the firm, which then became known as McMillan, 
 Pooley, Dcpew & Spratt. Subsequently, when ill health 
 compelled Mr. McMillan, the senior member of the firm, 
 to give up active practice and go to the more congenial 
 climate of New Mexico, the firm became Pooley. Depew & 
 Spiatt. Thus the firm remained until Mr. Depew became 
 associated with the late Frank II. and Charles W. Goodyear. 
 Then the firm of Pooley i\. Spratt continued until February 
 22d, 1907, when the partnership was dissolved and the 
 present firm of Hovt & Spiatt was formed. 
 
 The firm of Iloyl & Spratt. in the short term of its 
 existence, has won an enviable reputation for handling cor- 
 poration and other extensive legal matters. It represents 
 the New York Central Railway lines in this vicinity, being 
 largeh occupied with the affairs of that great railway system. 
 Also, iii it-, clientele, the firm numbers many of Buffalo's 
 greatest manufacturing, commercial, and financial enter- 
 prise-.. 
 
 Mr. Spratt is very prominent in Buffalo's chili life. 
 He is at present on the council of th<' University Club and 
 one of its most active members. He is also a member of 
 the Saturn. Buffalo, Country, and Transportation clubs, of 
 this city; of the Transportation Club of New York City, and 
 a member of the Buffalo Historical Society, the Erie County 
 Bar Association, the Lawyers' Club, and the Alumni Asso- 
 ciation of Georgetown University. 
 
 Thomas Brown Lockwood, a prominent figure in local 
 business mihI legal affairs, was born in this city February 
 
 111' 'M VS BROWN LOCKWOOD 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 .'in 
 
 firm, besides being frequently employed as counsel in difficull 
 and important trials. His trial work is distinguished bj 
 the most thorough and painstaking preparation of each 
 
 seventeen years he personally defended every case, excepting In politics Mr. Bushnell is a Democrat and was for 
 
 two, brought against the corporations represented by the years a member of the Democi ittee, and 
 
 for a time chairman. He has steadfastly refused 
 
 '" ll,,r ■> candidate for public office. In 1896 and again 
 
 in 1900 he refused to follow Ins part} in support of Mi 
 Bryan, ami voted for McKinley, without, however, professing 
 allegiance to the Republican Party. He i~ a publii speaker 
 of rare eloquence and ion.-, and \\a- known during the 
 
 ascendency of Mr. Cleveland as the "silver- gued orator" 
 
 of the ( lleveland I >emocracj . 
 
 He is a member of the Buffalo Club, the Countn Club, 
 tin- Buffalo Historical Society, the Society of Colonial 
 Wars, 1 1 ■ « - Sons of the American Revolution, and the Erie 
 County and the New York State liar associations. He is 
 interested in several nt Buffalo's enterprises, and i- upon 
 the board of directors of various corporations, among them 
 the (ireal Gorge Railroad at Niagara Falls, New York. 
 
 Shortly after the dissolution of tin- linn of Box, Norton 
 & Bushnell, he formed a partnership with former Judge .1. 
 Henry Metcalf, under the linn name of Bushnell & Met. alt', 
 with offices at 917 Chamber of Commerce Building. Tin- time 
 • if the linn is devoted almost exclusively to corporation 
 work and the trial of causes. Both Mr. Bushnell ami his 
 partner an- frequently employed a- counsel in the trial 
 of important causes, in addition to which they have constantly 
 upon the calendars of the different courts upward- of one 
 hundred of their own eases. 
 
 On November 29th, 1892, Mr. Bushnell married 
 Harriet Day Eames, of Buffalo. The} have three children 
 CLARENCE MUNSON BUSHNELL two daughters and one son. 
 
 ease in which he appears. The late Justice Henry A. Childs, 
 before whom he tried many cases, once remarked to the 
 writer that he had never seen Mr. Bushnell surprised in a 
 trial by any evidence produced by his opponent- that he 
 mastered every detail of his case before appearing in the 
 courtroom. 
 
 Previous to 1901, so constantly was he employed either 
 as attorney or counsel for the defense, that he rarely appeared 
 for a plaintiff. One of the few cases which he tried for the 
 plaintiff, and which attracted widespread attention, was 
 that of Deming versus The Terminal Railway Company 
 of Buffalo (109 X. Y., 1), in which the Court of Appeals 
 overruled in his favor the case of Blake versus Ferris 
 (X. Y.,48). which had stood for fifty years as a bulwark to 
 corporations doing business in this State. Previous to 
 attacking the doctrine of the Blake case, lie had secured 
 for his clients five judgments based solely upon that decision. 
 After a lengthy discussion of the Deming case in The Amer- 
 ican Law Rerun- for April, 1902, Judge Thompson, the 
 celebrated author ami law writer said: 
 
 "The public is indebted to Clarence M. Bushnell, 
 Esquire, of Buffalo, for this handsome and satisfactory 
 piece of professional work." 
 
 Xo man enjoys more fully the confidence and esteem 
 of both the bench and bar. Although earnest and aggressive 
 in his trial of a case, he is always fair to witness ami courteous 
 to the court and opposing counsel. 
 
 George Clinton, one of Buffalo's leading lawyers and 
 a representative of one of the State's oldest families, is the 
 direct descendant of Charles Clinton, who settled in Ulster 
 County in 1731. The family has been closelj associated 
 with the development and progress of the State. 
 
 Mr. Clinton was horn in this city September 7th. 1846, 
 receiving his education in private schools. In 1865 he was 
 graduated from the old Central High School, shortiy after 
 its organization. He taught school during one winter, and 
 then went to New York City, entering the Law Department 
 of Columbia University, graduating m inun with the degree 
 of 1. 1. .15. After his graduation Mr. Clinton practiced law 
 in New York City for a year, going thence lo Hud Wis- 
 consin, where he practiced for five years, returning to Buf- 
 falo in 1874. lie is now associated in business with his 
 son. ( reorge Clinton, Junior, under the firm name of Clinton 
 & Clinton. 
 
 Mr. Clinton has always been prominent in public 
 affairs. In 1883 he was elected t> the Stale Assembly 
 on the Republican ticket. During this valued service he 
 interested himself largel} in the canals and waterways of 
 the State, being chairman of the ('anal Committee In 
 the Union for the Improvement of the Canals, of which he 
 was president, he took an active part, and it was largely 
 due to his untiring efforts that this organization was able 
 to contribute >>> much to the betterment of tin- State water- 
 ways. Mr. Clinton w as second president of this organization. 
 
220 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 He has been a consistent and active leader in the move- Arthur W. Hickman, one of Buffalo's best-known 
 
 meiit which resulted in the adoption by the people of the lawyers and public men. is of English parentage, his father 
 policy of putting our canal system in the highest state of and mother being natives of Devonshire. They came to 
 efficiency. America in 1847, and lived in Buffalo till shortly before 
 
 As a park commissioner be gave the same energy, to Mr. Hickman's birth, when they went to Michigan. The 
 tin- city's great profit, and as a member of the Trunk Sewer subject of this sketch was born in Marshall, Calhoun County. 
 Commission during the building of the Genesee Street and 
 Bird Avenue branches, he served with much credit. 
 
 In isms, when the Legislature provided for investiga- 
 tion of the expenditures of nine million dollars for the im- 
 provement of the State canals. Governor Black selected 
 Mr. Clinton for chairman of the committee that made the 
 investigation. Further honors came to Mr. Clinton in [902, 
 when President Roosevell named him a member of the Inter- 
 national Wateru a\ > < 'onimission, composed of three members 
 from the United Slates and three representing Great Britian. 
 
 He helped to prepare the old city charter that 
 has remained in force for many years. lie has always 
 taken a deep interest in municipal affairs. Buffalo's excel- 
 lent school system has had no better friend than (Jeorge 
 Clinton. He was instrumental in establishing the Buffalo 
 Law School, and occupied the chair of admiralty with dis- 
 tinguishing credit for anumber of years. With the Mer- 
 chants' Exchange, now the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. 
 Clinton's association has been particularly valued, having 
 served as its president in I S!).*5. He is also a member of 
 
 GEORGE CLINTON 
 
 the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, the Buffalo Histor- 
 ical Society, and numerous other organizations. 
 
 Mr. Clinton's religious affiliations arc with the Episco- 
 pal Church. 
 
 On January l?th. 1872, Mr. Clinton married Alice 
 Thornton, of this city. 
 
 ARTHUR W. HICKMAN 
 
 Michigan, June 18th, 1850, and came to Buffalo with his 
 parents when he was but one month old. Since that time 
 Mr. Hickman has made Buffalo his home. He received 
 his early education in the public schools, graduating from 
 the old Buffalo High School in 1868, and immediately took 
 up the study of law in the offices of Austin & Austin. He 
 was admitted to the bar September 13th, 1871, at Rochester, 
 after which he continued in practice with Austin & Austin 
 for a period of about a year. In 1872, upon the retirement 
 of the elder Austin from the firm, Mr. Hickman formed a 
 partnership with the junior Austin, the firm of Austin & 
 Hickman continuing until 1879. when Mr. Austin went to 
 the Hawaiian Islands to accept a judgeship. 
 
 Subsequently Mr. Hickman practiced law alone for 
 a time and became reputed one of the most successful prac- 
 titioners in western New York. While thus engaged he 
 became interested in politics, and in 1881 was solicited to 
 take the Republican nomination for Assembly from the 
 Third Assembly District. He was elected by a flattering 
 majority. He was reelected the following year as an in- 
 dependent, on the same ticket with Grover Cleveland as 
 Mayor. He was solicited a third time to accept the 
 nomination, but declined further honors. The two sessions 
 in which Mr. Hickman participated are notable in New 
 York Stale annals as the longest two in our legislative 
 
//// 'II) 01 BUI I ALO. 
 
 ::\ 
 
 history, one continuing into Jul} and the other being finished 
 in August. 
 
 Returning to his profession, Mr. Hickman formed a 
 partnership with Nathaniel S. Rosenau, the firm of Hick- 
 man & Rosenau continuing for about two years, when Mr. 
 Rosenau retired l<> take charge of the Charity Organization 
 Society work in Buffalo. Mr. Hickman continued in prac- 
 tice alone for eight years, and in I*!):; tin- (inn of Hickman 
 & Palmer was formed. William Palmer being the junior 
 member. In January, 1908, Mr. George P. Houck was 
 taken into the linn and the firm name changed to Hickman, 
 Palmer & Houck. 'litis firm still continues. Its offices 
 are in the German Insurance Building, and tin- firm is 
 rated among the foremost of western New York's legal 
 concerns. 
 
 Mr. Hickman \s public service, aside from his service 
 as legislator, goes hack over many years, and the results 
 bring new benefits to each generation. Among the sub- 
 jects to which he has given much attention and unselfish 
 effort are municipal reform, and the improvement of the 
 Buffalo dock system and of the Buffalo public school sys- 
 tem. In ]S()(I he raised the question of the right of The 
 Buffalo Street Railway Company to use Niagara and Main 
 streets for their tracks, claiming that the franchise granted 
 the company was for thirty years and had long since expired. 
 This gave rise to a long and hitter controversy, in which Mr. 
 Hickman championed the people's rights. Eventually Mr. 
 Hickman gave a bond to the city of Buffalo to save it from 
 costs, and the Common Council directed that an action 
 he brought to test the rights of the company. Before the 
 action was commenced the Mayor appointed the Milhurn 
 Committee, which committee reported the famous Milhurn 
 agreement, under which the streets are now occupied by 
 the railway company. While in the Assembly Mr. Hick- 
 man caused to be introduced a hill changing the then vary- 
 ing rates of fare to a single < ash fare of six cents and a single 
 ticket of five cents. lie afterwards secured the passage 
 of the five-cent fare hill providing for transfers. Another 
 example of his excellent service in the Assembly, and which 
 time has fully vindicated, was the measure framed and 
 urged by him for the organization of a Board of School 
 Examiners. He was himself appointed to that hoard in 
 1903 and retained that position until February 3d, 1908. 
 
 Mr. Hickman's social affiliations are many, anil in- 
 clude the city's best dubs. He is a member of the Buf- 
 falo Chamber of Commerce, the Yacht and Island clubs, 
 and a life member of the Buffalo Public Library. He was 
 for years a trustee of the First Baptist Church. He is now 
 a member of the First Congregational Church. His interest 
 in music is marked, and as secretary of the building commit- 
 tee he served actively during the construction of the Buffalo 
 Music Hall. 
 
 Mr. Hickman married Miss Alice Gregory, of this city. 
 They have six children. 
 
 Fred Daniel Corey.— Like many another successful 
 man, the subject of this sketch was reared on a farm, and 
 began his career as a schoolteacher, making that occupation 
 
 a steppingstoiie to a profession in which he has taken fronl 
 rank. Mr. Core} was born al Black Uivcr, Jefferson County, 
 New York, May 27th, 1863, and was educated in Water- 
 town, the county seat. Graduating from the high school in 
 that place, he immediately look up the teaching 
 following thai occupation for six years. Hi served for three 
 year-, successively, a- the principal of schools al Evans Mills. 
 
 Brownville, and Sacketts Harbor, ami in iss; beei 
 
 principal of a grammar school al Norwalk, Connecticut, 
 where he remained For three years. Thai he was a success 
 as a teacher is attested bj the fart that each succeeding 
 year he was able to command an increased remuneration. 
 
 Il had been his intention, all through his younger years, 
 eventually to lake up the study of law. After his service al 
 Norwalk he returned to Watertown, New York, and entered 
 the law office of Hannibal Smith as a student, remaining 
 there for one year. In the autumn of 1891 he came to 
 
 Buffalo and entered the Buffalo Law Scl I. graduating 
 
 in May of the Following year, when he was admitted to 
 the bar. Lor two years thereafter he was associated in the 
 law offices cif Robert F. ScheUing in this city. 
 
 .Inly 1st, IS!)f. Mr. Corey formed a partnership with 
 Edward D. Strebel under the firm name of Strebel & Corey, 
 and this connection continue- at this writing. In |S!»!) Mr. 
 William F. Wierling, and in 1907 Mr. .lamest). Moore, were 
 admitted to the firm, Ihe name becoming Strebel, Corey, 
 Wierling & Moore. The firm enjoys an enviable reputation 
 among law concerns in western New York, and ha- been 
 identified with important litigation in this end of the Stale. 
 Mr. Corey has given all of his time to the practice of his 
 profession, and has attained widespread distinction a- a 
 corporation lawyer, numbering among hi- clients some of 
 the largest industries in Ihe Empire Slate. A- a trial lav yer, 
 too, he is known as one of the ablest and ino-l successful 
 of the Erie County bar. 
 
 A-ide from his strictly professional association Mr 
 Corey is a director of Tin' Commonwealth Trust Company, 
 and similarly identified with other business and financial 
 institutions. He is pari owner of the magnificent Hotel 
 Touraine and of the old Buffalo Seminar} propert} in 
 I Delaware Avenue. 
 
 With the social. clul>. and religious lilV of Buffalo he is 
 creditably identified, being a member of the New ^ ork Stale 
 and Erie County bar associations, the Lawyers' (lull, and 
 Ihe North Presbyterian Church. When, hut a few year- ago, 
 the call came to the business men of Buffalo to help in raising 
 funds for the new Young Men's Christian Association build- 
 ing he gave thereto both of his time and mean-. Mr. Core} 
 i- also a member of the Fae'ult} of the Law Department of 
 the University of Buffalo. He has lectured there for the 
 past four years on constitutional law. and for three years 
 previous thereto on special action- ami proceedings. 
 
 Edward David Strebel, member of the law firm of Slre- 
 bel, Corey, Wierling & Moore i- one of the mosl prominent 
 among Buffalo's younger lawyers. He ha- attained his pro- 
 fessional success in Ihe city of hi- nativity, having been horn 
 here May 2d, lS(i.">. He received his early training in the 
 
222 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Buffalo public schools, bul al the age of thirteen entered the home is in Buffalo, and Mr. Strebel's business offices arc in 
 law oilier of William J. Wierling as office boy. Soon after- the Mutual Life Building. 
 
 wards, in March, 1879, he became connected in the same 
 capacity with the law firm of Miller <S. Schelling, and in the 
 following year, 1880, with Robert F. Schelling, with whom 
 In- remained over twelve years. 
 
 EDWARD DAVID STREBEL 
 
 li was while engaged in this unimportant capacity that 
 Mi'. Strebel first acquired a liking for the law. There were 
 very lew law schools in those days, anil whal law lie mastered 
 was gained through hard study and the school of experience. 
 He was finally admitted to the liar at Rochester, October 
 9th, L890, and returned to Buffalo, remaining with Robert F. 
 Schelling until August, 1892. lie then took up the practice 
 of law lor himself ami continued individual practice until 
 July. IS!) t. when he formed a partnership with Fred I). Corey, 
 under the (inn name of Strebel & Corey. William F. Wier- 
 ling, son of William .1. Wierling, in whose office Mr. Strebel 
 started, was afterwards admitted to the firm, which, until 
 May, I!>ii7, was known as Strebel, Corey & Wierling. 
 Al that time .lames ( ). Moore was admitted to the firm, 
 making the present firm of Strebel, Corey, Wierling & 
 Moore. 
 
 Mr. Strebel is a prominent and active member of the 
 Lawyers' ('lub of Buffalo, ami was honored by his colleagues 
 with the election to the presidency of that organization in 
 November, l!M)7. His fraternal affiliation is with the Ma- 
 sonic order, being a Mason of the thirty-second degree, and 
 a member of the Scottish Rite. June 22d, 1892, Mr. Strebel 
 was married to Catherine Giesser, daughter of Gabriel and 
 Fredericks Giesser, of this city. Mr, and Mrs. Strebel have 
 two children. Robert I,, and Edna F. Strebel. The family 
 
 De Alva Stanwood Alexander, statesman and author, 
 was born in Richmond, Maine, July 17th, 1840*. In early 
 boyhood he went with his mother to Ohio, and when fifteen 
 years old enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth 
 Ohio Volunteers, U. S. A., serving as a private soldier dur- 
 ing the last three years of the Civil War. After the war the 
 young man. still in his teens, turned back to his native State. 
 fitting for college at Edward Little Institute in Auburn, 
 and entering Bowdoin in 18(i(i. 
 
 On his graduation Mr. Alexander went at once to 
 Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he engaged in teaching and 
 later became one of the editors and proprietors of The Furl 
 Wayne Gazette, at that time one of the leading Republican 
 dailies of the State. On disposing of his interest in The 
 Gazette after three years connection with it, he made his 
 home in Indianapolis as the State correspondent of The 
 Cincinnati Gazette. He also served at that time as secre- 
 tary of the Republican State Committee of Indiana. 
 
 Mr. Alexander was diligently engaged during several 
 years in the study of the law, and was admitted to the Indiana 
 bar in IS77. Success attended the practice of his pro- 
 fession from the outset. His practical business fa'culty also 
 brought him speedily into public notice, and in 1881, on 
 the recommendation of Senator, afterward President, Harri- 
 
 Dl, ALVA STANWOOD ALEXANDER 
 
 son, Mr. Alexander was appointed an auditor in the 
 Treasury Department of the United States, which required 
 a residence in Washington. While living in that city 
 he was elected and served a term as Commander of the 
 Department of the Potomac, Grand Army of the Republic. 
 
THE CITY OF BUI / l/.o 
 
 
 In the spring of 188.5 Mr. Alexander removed to Buffalo, 
 forming ;i law partnership with the Honorable James A. 
 Roberts, bis classmate in college ami subsequently Comp- 
 troller of the Stale. When Senator Harrison became Pres 
 idenf in 188!), he appointed Mr. Alexander United Slate- 
 District Attorney tor the Northern District of New York, 
 which then included the Western District. lie repre- 
 sented the G-overnmenl with approved ability until December, 
 ISO.'?. He then returned to private practice. 
 
 Mr. Alexander was elected a Representative in Congress 
 From Buffalo and the towns of Erie County in 1S!)(>, entering 
 the Fifty-fifth Congress in March, 18!)7, the greal Congress 
 of the Dingley Tariff Law and the Spanish War. lie has 
 been continued in office ever since l>v successive reelections, 
 and has gained distinction as a member of the Judiciary and 
 the Rivers and Harbors committees. By reason of seniority 
 he now stands near the head of each of those powerful 
 subdivisions of Congress. Since the apportionment of 1901 
 his district is the Thirty-sixth. His achievements in the way 
 of appropriations for the improvement of Buffalo's harbor 
 are unrivaled in the history of any interior district in the 
 United States. When in charge of a measure he is tactful 
 in its handling, and ranks high among the trusted advisers 
 of his party in national politics. 
 
 Mr. Alexander is author of "The Political History of 
 the State of New York," a work published in 1906 by 
 Henry Holt & Company, of New York. This unrvialed 
 book is written with a fullness of knowledge, a rare faculty 
 of discrimination, a style of unsurpassed lucidity, and a 
 political experience that enables the author to judge with 
 a soundness of opinion that is exceptional even among 
 professional historians of the first class. 
 
 Mr. Alexander is an overseer of Bowdoin College, which 
 has conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. lie is a 
 member of the Buffalo, University, and Westminster chilis 
 of this city. He is an able platform speaker, having a good 
 presence and an excellent voice, his political addresses 
 being especially notable for a clearness and sincerity that 
 make him a most convincing advocate. 
 
 He married Alice Colby, of Defiance, Ohio, in 1871. 
 and in 18!):! Mrs. Anne Lucille Bliss, of Buffalo. His wife 
 is an accomplished lady, who has been greatly interested 
 in the charity work of the city. 
 
 George A. Davis, Senator from the Fiftieth District, 
 won his political honors in the city of his nativity. He 
 was born August 5th, 18.58, and received his early educa- 
 tion in the Buffalo public schools, supporting himself from 
 early youth. Later he learned the picture-frame maker's 
 trade, and thereby earned money to take up the study of 
 law. In 1877 he entered the office of Day i\; Bonier and 
 was admitted to the bar three years later. Since that time 
 he has practiced his profession in this city. 
 
 Senator Davis has always been a prominent Republican, 
 both in the county and State. His first political honors 
 came in his election from the Ninth Ward to the Board of 
 Supervisors in 1885 to 1880. In 1887 he took up his resi- 
 
 '" Lancaster, V . llh | scrve j ,.,„ supervisor 
 
 from that place. In 1889 and 189.5 he served .<- Chairman 
 of the Board, being elected bj Ihi unanimous vote of both 
 
 Republicans and Democrat? In 189(1 bo was the I 
 
 for Congress in the Phirtj third New York District, bul 
 
 wenl to defeat beneath the Dei ratic landslide of that 
 
 year, though he was beaten by bul a small majority. 
 
 He represented the Thirty-firsI Senate Distriel in the 
 Constitutional Convention, receiving the largesl majority 
 of any delegate on the ticket. He was one of the active 
 members of thai bod) . serving on the Banking and Insurance, 
 and Military committees. In 1895 he was elected Slate 
 Senator, receiving a large majority over John I!. Veeder, 
 who was the candidate on the De ratic ticket. Senator 
 
 GEORGE A. DAVIS 
 
 Davis at once began to take an active pari in the legislation 
 of the State, an activity that has not diminished from thai 
 day until now. He is -till serving the people in the 
 same energetic manner. In L896, ISi>7. and ls!is he was 
 chairman of the Committee on Indian Affair- and a mem 
 her of the Judiciary. C merce, Navigation, and Penal In- 
 stitutions committees. 
 
 In 1898 Senator Davis was reelected, and in isici was 
 appointed to the important pn-t of chairman of the Com- 
 mittee on Canal-. Simultaneous!) he served as a member 
 of the Judiciary, < Sties, and Penal Institutions committees. 
 
 In 1900, once i e a senatorial candidate, Mr. Davis 
 
 defeated ( ieorge Stauli. the Democratic- nominee. D) a 
 
 majority of about four thousand. During this term of office 
 
 he was reappointed chairman of the Committee on Canals 
 
 and a member of the several other committees afore- 
 mentioned. 
 

 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Senator Davis was again elected from his Senate dis- 
 tricl in 1900, against Edward B. Schwartz, Democrat, and 
 returned to the Senate by a handsome majority. During 
 tliis term also, he served as chairman of the Committee on 
 Canal- and a member of the committees on Judiciary, Cities, 
 Penal [nstitutions, and Military Affairs. 
 
 Both in 1904 and 1906 Mr. Davis was reelected and 
 returned to the Senate by good pluralities. At the time of 
 this writing he is serving a- chairman of the Judiciary Com- 
 mittee, and a member of the following Senate committees: 
 Cities, Canals, and Military affairs. 
 
 Aside from his political activities, Senator Davis far 
 many years was prominent in local military affairs. Augusl 
 25th, 1875, he enlisted as private in Company 1). Seventy- 
 fourth Regiment.and was soon afterwards chosen quarter- 
 master-sergeant. July !7tli. 1876, lie obtained his com- 
 mission a- second lieutenant, was promoted to first lieu- 
 tenant March sixteenth of the following year, and captain 
 February 18th, 1878, and received his honorable discharge 
 December 1 1th. L880. January fth, 1886, he was chosen 
 major of the regiment and on < )ctober 1 4th, IS!)."), was chosen 
 lieutenant colonel, to succeed Colonel Johnson. Though 
 carrying the rank of lieutenant-colonel, for a number of 
 years he commanded the Seventy-fourth Regiment. 
 
 Senator Davis's fraternal affiliations are with the De 
 Molay 1 .< m lo-(-. Keystone Council. Buffalo Chapter, Lake 
 Erie Commandery, and Buffalo Consistory. Thirty-second 
 Degree Masons; Independent Order of Odd fellows: Arnim 
 Lodge, Number 'H~>. Knights of Pythias; and Buffalo Lodge, 
 Number '-'.'!. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. 
 
 In 1886 Senator Davis married Miss Lillie N. Grimes, 
 a daughter of Judge William II. Grimes, of Lancaster,- 
 New York. He has two children George A. Davis, Junior. 
 and Gladys M. Davis. The family home is in Lancaster, 
 liul Senator Davis has offices at !>:><> EllicotI Square in this 
 city. 
 
 Charles R. Wilson was I ioru in Dorchester. Massachu- 
 setts, October 20th, ist;:;. He is the second son of Franklin 
 Winslow and Anna [Jnderhill Mekeel, his wife, and on his 
 father- side i- ,-i lineal descendant of Kenelm Winslow 
 (younger brother of Edward Winslow, governor of Plymouth 
 ( 'olony i, who came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, from Droit- 
 wich, Worcestershire, England, in 1629. The ancient de- 
 scent and honorable record of the Winslow family in England 
 i- well known. On his mother's side Mr. Wilson descends 
 from Slii.nl Wilson and .lane, his wife, who emigrated 
 from England and settled at Albany, New York, in l?.->:i. 
 and from Christiana Clinton, who, with her sister Elizabeth 
 and her brother Charles Clinton, came from England and 
 settled al Little Britain, Orange County, New York, in 17-2I). 
 ami who an- the ancestors of the ( 'linton family in this coun- 
 try. General George Clinton and General James Clinton 
 being the -on- of the above-named Charles Clinton. 
 
 Mr. Wilson's great-grandfather, Roberl Wilson, was 
 early trained in the duties and hardships of military life 1>\ 
 his maternal uncle. Captain .lame- Gregg (whose name i- 
 
 enlisted in Gregg's company of the Third New York Regi- 
 ment in January, !??(>. being then but twelve years of age. 
 By the influence of his uncle, General James Clinton, he was 
 appointed ensign of the Fourth Company of the First New 
 York Regiment, Colonel Van Schaick, in June, 1781. His 
 commission, now in the possession of Mr. Wilson, is quaintly 
 addressed to "Robert Wilson, Gentleman," is signed by 
 Elias Boudinot, President of Congress, and countersigned 
 by Benjamin Lincoln, Secretary of War. It bears the seal 
 of the Continental Congress. On the nineteenth day of 
 October following. Ensign Wilson had the distinguished 
 honor of being selected to receive the colors of the British 
 army surrendered by Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, as the 
 fallowing record shows: 
 
 a familiar one in early annals of the Mohawk Yal 
 
 ,ha 
 
 CHARLES R. WILSON 
 
 "The delivery of the colors of the several regiments, 
 twenty-eight in number, was next performed. For this 
 purpose twenty-eight British captains, each bearing a Hag 
 in a case, were drawn up in line. Opposite to them, at a 
 distance of sis paces, twenty-eight American sergeants were 
 placed in a line to receive the colors. Robert Wilson, of 
 Clinton's brigade, the youngest commissioned officer in the 
 army, being then only eighteen years of age, was appointed 
 by Colonel Hamilton, the officer of the day. to conduct this 
 interesting ceremony. When Wilson gave the order for the 
 British captains to advance two paces to deliver up their 
 colors and the American sergeants to advance two paces to 
 receive them, the former hesitated, and gave as a reason that 
 they were unwilling to surrender them to noncommissioned 
 officers. Colonel Hamilton, who was at a distance, observed 
 the hesitation and rode up to inquire the cause. On being 
 informed, he willingly spared the feelings of the British cap- 
 tains and ordered Ensign Wilson to receive them himself 
 
THE (ITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 and hand them to the American sergeants. When the colors 
 were surrendered the whole royal army laid down their 
 arms." — Lossmg's Field Book of the Revolution, Volume II. 
 ■page 524. 
 
 Ensign Wilson was one of the original members of the 
 Soeietj of the Cincinnati, and his diploma as such, signed 
 by General Washington as the president, and by General 
 Knox as the secretary, of the society, i- now in the possession 
 of Mr. Wilson, who by hereditary right (as the lineal descend 
 ant of Ensign Wilson 1 is now a member of thai 1 to use the 
 words of Washington) "illustrious institution." 
 
 When a child, the subject of this sketch (his father hav- 
 ing died 1 was adopted by his mothers cousin, Robert Ties 
 ton Wilson, of Buffalo, New York, and took his surname. 
 
 He was educated in public and private schools in Buf- 
 falo, and in lSSti entered upon the study of law in the office 
 of Marshall, Clinton & Wilson, a leading firm of lawyers 
 in this city. He was admitted to the bar in 18N!), but con- 
 tinued in the office of Marshall, Clinton & Wilson until the 
 dissolution of that firm by the death of Mr. Wilson, in 1892. 
 He then formed a partnership with Philip S. Smith, of this 
 city, for the practice of his profession, under the firm name 
 of Wilson \- Smith. The firm built up a good business, 
 and has an excellent standing in the profession. 
 
 He has received an honorary degree of A. M. from 
 Hobart College. In July. 1906, Mr. Wilson marriedMabel 
 Rachel Letchworth, only daughter of Josiah and Katharine 
 E. Letchworth, of Buffalo, and they have one child, a daugh- 
 ter, Katharine Anne Wilson. 
 
 Mr. Wilson takes an active interest in the literary, benev- 
 olent, and social institutions of the city, and his recognized 
 business capacity has already made him prominent in their 
 management. He is a trustee of the Buffalo General Hospi- 
 tal, and has served as secretary and treasurer of its board. 
 He has been for many years one of the managers of the Buf- 
 falo Library, and is an active member of the Buffalo Soeietj 
 of Natural Sciences, of which he is the treasurer. He is a 
 trustee of Hobart College: a warden of Saint Paul's Church: 
 and a member of the University Club, of Buffalo, of the 
 Grolier Club, of New York, and of the Bibliophile Society, 
 of Boston. He is greatly interested in patriotic societies, 
 and is, by hereditary right, a member of the Society of Colo- 
 nial Wars and the Sons of the Revolution, as well as of the 
 Society of the Cincinnati. 
 
 The writer of this sketch has known him from his early 
 childhood and sees in him a young man already noted for 
 his industry, capacity, and integrity, destined to attain honor- 
 able rank in his profession, to be known and trusted as a 
 sagacious and successful man of business, as faithful to 
 every social duty, and as a wise and useful citizen. 
 
 Philip Sherwood Smith is one of Buffalo's prominent 
 lawvers and representative citizens. Mr. Smith has suc- 
 cessfully practiced his profession in this city for twenty 
 years, during most of this period as a member of tin- well- 
 known law firm of Wilson & Smith, with which he is at 
 the present time associated. In Mr. Smith legal attain- 
 
 ber of many literary and scientific societies, is a lea. ling 
 Episcopal layman, and tak tive pari in the social 
 
 life of our city. 
 
 Mr Smith is the only son of the late Honorable James 
 M. Smith, who was f,,r manj years an eminent jurist of 
 western New York, and of Margarel = .]' Smith. 
 
 daughter of John I'. Sherw I. of Vernon, Oneida County, 
 
 New York. Philip Sh.ru 1 Smith was born in Buffalo 
 
 on the twenty-second of November. 1st;.;, lie wa s educated 
 at the ll.ath. olc S.hool. of this city. Vfter graduating 
 from thai institution he was prevented by illness from enter- 
 ing college, and finished his education under private tutors. 
 He then began the stud} of Ian in the office of Marshall. 
 Clinton & Wilson, of Buffalo, and after serving the regular 
 clerkship was admitted to the bar in Iss; 
 
 After his admission to practice Mr. Smith continued 
 with Marshall. Clinton & Wilson until the firm was dis- 
 solved by the death of Mr. Wilson. He then formed a 
 
 ments are united with broad general culture. 
 
 He is a mem 
 
 PHILIP SHKRWOOI) SMITH 
 
 law partnership with Charles |{. Wilson, of Buffalo, with 
 whom he has ever since been associated. The firm ot 
 Wilson & Smith has a large law practice of a general char- 
 acter and enjoys a high standing at the bar. The personnel 
 of the copartnership forms a strong association of legal 
 ability, and the linn represents as counsel many large cor- 
 porate and private interest,. 
 
 Mr. Smith is a fellow of the American Geographical 
 Society and a member of various other scientific and lit. -ran 
 bodies. He is a director of the Fine Arts Academy, a mem- 
 ber of the Society of Colonial Wars, a member of the Uni- 
 versity Club, and belongs to Saint Paul's Episcopal Church. 
 
 A good example of the scholarly type of lawyer, 
 Mr. Smith has rescued enough time from his professional 
 

 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 pursuits to devote much atleiition to general culture. Heis 
 a gentleman of marked literary tastes, :i lover of art, and 
 .-in intelligent student of science. To these and kindred 
 
 subjects he gives si of his leisure, and lie is the possessor 
 
 of a large and admirably chosen library containing many 
 treasures in the shape of rare manuscripts, autographs, 
 
 and early printed I k>. 
 
 In 1890 Mr. Smith was married to Miss Mary L. Cush- 
 ing, a daughter of Thomas W. Cushing, a well-known 
 merchanl of Buffalo. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have one son, 
 James M. Smith, born in 1891. 
 
 Thomas Hazard Noonan, one of the best known of 
 Buffalo's younger practitioners, and past president of 
 the Lawyers' Club of this city, i> a New Englander, 
 
 having been born in Ferrisburgh, Ver nt, December l?th. 
 
 1865. In Beeman Academy, at New Haven. Vermont, he 
 received the training which fitted him to enter Middleburv 
 College, from which institution he graduated in 1891. 
 Immediately after graduation he took il|> the study of law at 
 Saint Regis Falls. New York, and later in Potsdam, New 
 
 York, in the office of tin' II rable Theodore II. Swift, now 
 
 Chief Judge of the Court of Claims, and later in the office 
 of Hannibal Smith in Watertown, New York. In 1894 
 Mr. Noonan look the liar examination, and was duly ad- 
 mitted at Utica, New York, in September of that year. 
 
 
 
 ^Mk 
 
 ' 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 [ 
 
 $ 
 
 \ 
 
 II 
 
 •kl\ 
 
 e i|lllcklv (! 
 
 future labors, 
 located in this 
 one of uniiili 
 for Four 
 was associated 
 
 I Mi >\l \> II \i ION \\ 
 
 etermined upon Buffalo as the field of his 
 ami in the month of his admission to the bar 
 
 city. Since that linn- his career has been 
 •rrupted activity ami prosperity, 
 years after coming to Buffalo Mr. Noonan 
 
 with the Honorable Henrj W. Hill, although 
 
 no formal partnership existed. In 1900 he formed a partner- 
 ship with George K. Staples, three years later adding Charles 
 J. Staples to the firm. Since that time the firm has con- 
 tinued under the name of Staples, Noonan & Staples, with 
 offices at number 736 Ellicott Square. It enjoys a wide 
 reputation for energy and ability, and its members are num- 
 bered ai lg Buffalo's most distinguished legal men. 
 
 Mr. Noonan is a member of the University Club and 
 was for three years a member of its membership committee. 
 He is a member, and has served as treasurer, of the Buffalo 
 Canoe Club. He is a charter member of the Lawyers' 
 Club, and in November, 1906, his colleagues honored him 
 with the presidency of that organization. He is a member 
 and former trustee of the Erie County Bar Association. He 
 is also a member of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity, and in 
 1901). as first vice-president of the national association, 
 presided over the convention held in Middleburv, Vermont. 
 
 During Governor Odell's tenure of office as chief 
 executive of the State, the subject of this sketch was 
 appointed United States Loan Commissioner, serving so 
 commendably that Governor Higgins reappointed him 
 to the same office, where his term of service has now run 
 into its fifth year. 
 
 Mr. Noonan 's fraternal affiliations are with the Masonic 
 order, in the circles of which he is widely and favorably 
 known. He is a member of De Molay Lodge, Number 
 498, Free and Accepted Masons; Buffalo Chapter. Number 
 71. Royal Arch Masons; Keystone Council, Number '20; 
 Lake Erie Commandery, Number '20, Knights Templar; 
 Palmoni Lodge of Perfection; and Zuleika Grotto, Number 
 10. 
 
 Robert Lynn Cox was born on a farm near Warren, 
 Illinois, November 27th, 180.). the son of Jeremiah L. Cox 
 and Delilah Garretson, both of whom were of Quaker 
 parentage. The father was for many years engaged in 
 farming and afterwards in milling near Warren, Illinois. 
 His ancestors were early settlers in Wayne County, Indiana, 
 where many of them an' well known in business and polit- 
 ical circles. The village of Cox's Mills. Indiana, was named 
 after the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. The 
 mother was of the Garretson family, widely known through 
 the State of Virginia and the South generally, but who had 
 lived in Ohio since the early part of the nineteenth century. 
 Isaac Garretson, tin' great-grandfather of Mr. Cox, was the 
 inventor of the first machine for cutting and heading nails, 
 and the original patent, signed by George Washington, is 
 still in existence. 
 
 Reaching young manhood, the East appealed to young 
 Mr. Cox as a place of greater opportunity, and when nine- 
 teen years of age he came to Buffalo, where he became ship- 
 ping clerk for The Buffalo School Furniture Company, 
 and in the short space of three years he became superintendent 
 cf that company's foundry department. In 1890 he entered 
 a partnership in the publishing business, and thereafter, for 
 two years, his headquarters were in New York City. In 
 1893 he returned to Buffalo. Several years later he took up 
 the study of law at the University of Buffalo, and was 
 
admitted l<> the bar in 1898 
 entered partners 
 
 I III: (II) OF IJUFFALO. 
 Upon admission to the bar he ber of th 
 
 .•:. 
 
 1,1 "' M " I -<■■■ ' ' nil Bar Association, of Uie Association 
 
 partnership with Maulsby Kimball under the firm of Bar of the Stair of Neu Vork, and of th utive 
 
 name of Cox & Kimball.a partnership that has continued, committee of the State Bar Association, also a member of 
 with some changes, until the present time, the firm now the Phi Delta Phi fraternity. His religious affiliation is 
 
 being ( !ox, Kiml 
 
 & Stowe. 
 
 ROBERT LYNX COX 
 
 Mr. Cox's entrance into public life began with his 
 election, as a Republican, member of the Assembly from 
 the old Second Assembly District in the fall of 1902. From 
 1903 to l!)()(i inclusive, he represented that district in a 
 highly creditable manner. The third year of his service 
 he was honored by tJic State with the appointment to the 
 Armstrong Insurance Investigation Committee, one of the 
 most important committees of its time. His service on this 
 committee was such as to attract the admiration of the 
 entire State. In 1906 lie voluntarily retired from his position 
 as member of Assembly, and early in the following year 
 went to New York City as attorney and secretary of the 
 Association of Life Insurance Presidents of New York City. 
 In this work, in which lie is still engaged, he confines his 
 attention almost exclusively to insurance law. 
 
 Although he lias taken up his residence in New York 
 City, Mr. Cox still retains an active interest in the affairs 
 of Buffalo and continues his connection with the law firm 
 of Cox, Kimball & Stowe, of this city. 
 
 While a resident of Buffalo, Mr. Cox was a member 
 of the Ellicott Club, and for several years one of its directors; 
 also a member of the Buffalo Club, the Transportation 
 Club, and the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. He is 
 a member and past grand of Red Jacket Lodge, Number 
 238, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; past master of 
 Washington Lodge, Number 240, Free and Accepted Masons; 
 member of Keystone Chapter. Uoy.il Arch Masons; mciii- 
 
 with the I nitarian Church, ami for six years he served as 
 trustee of the Firsl Unitarian Congregational Society of 
 Buffalo. 
 
 While a member of the Assembly, Mr. < ..\ served as 
 
 a member of the Cities Coi ittee, in which lie natural!) 
 
 had charge of legislation affecting the «it\ of Buffalo. In 
 
 the third year of service he was chairnn f the < ommittee 
 
 on Claims; and in his fourth year chairman of the Judician 
 Committee, as well as a member of the highly important 
 Insurance and Cities committees. 
 
 In 1S!)() Mr. Cox married Margaret McKenna of this 
 city. Mr. and Mrs. Cox have three children Howard 
 L., Carlton \V.. and Marion R. 
 
 Eugene Winfield Harrington. < >f the younger mem- 
 bers of the bar of the Eighth Judicial District, there are feu 
 
 lawyers who are better or more favorably known than 
 Eugene Winfield Harrington, the subject of this sketch. 
 
 EUGENE \\ IM [ELD II VRRINGTON 
 
 Mr. Harrington is a s,,n of Andrew 15. and Adell 
 Perkins Harrington, and was horn in the town of Bethany, 
 Genesee County, New York.Maj 30th, 1866. His is one of 
 the pioneer families of Genesee County, his great-grand- 
 father having settled on the Holland Purchase more than a 
 century ago. The patriotic instinct is strongly developed in 
 this branch of the Harrington family as Thomas Harring- 
 ton, of whom Eugene W. is a lineal decendant, was a 
 member of Captain Parker's company of minutemen and 
 participated in the Battle of Lexington on that memorable 
 
228 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 nineteenth day of April, 1775, while Andrew B. Harrington, 
 the father of the subject of this sketch, was a member of the 
 Twenty-fourth New York Cavalry, and served two and a 
 
 half year- in the Civil War. 
 
 Born in the country, and with the environment ofthe 
 country always surrounding him, Mr. Harrington obtained 
 bis education at the district school, the Genesee and Wyoming 
 Seminary, located in the village of Alexander. Genesee 
 County, and later lie became a student at the Attica Union 
 School. At the age of sixteen years be began teaching school 
 in the country districts, and after devoting three years to 
 teaching, hi- ambition prompted him to seek better oppor- 
 tunity for his life's work. Taking ii|> railroad work for a 
 time. Mr. Harrington finally came to Buffalo in the year 
 [890 and tooka position with The United States Express Com- 
 pany as cashier, where he remained for several years. Always 
 a student, and desiring to better equip himself for the future. 
 Mr. Harrington registered with the Buffalo Law School in 
 1891 and devoted his leisure hours to the study of law with 
 the linn of Swift. Weaver & Marcus, lie graduated from 
 the Law Department of the Buffalo University in 1893; was 
 admitted to the bar in 1896; and soon after commenced in 
 the active practice of his profession, which he has chosen 
 for his life's work. His success in this profession lias been 
 indeed remarkable, and by the closest application to his 
 work he has succeeded in building ii|> a business which 
 -peaks in it-elf of his ability, as he is well known as a trial 
 lawyer of a high order. The habits of thrift and economy 
 in the affairs of life inculcated by his father in his earlier 
 days, together with the unceasing efforts of Mr. Harrington 
 himself, have brought to him a large measure of success in 
 the community where he has lived for many years, and 
 where he has attained the respect of all who know him. 
 
 During the past three years, Mr. Harrington has com- 
 piled a "History of the Harrington Family of America.'' 
 which has involved a vast amount of research and has taken 
 very much of hi- time during this period. He also contrib- 
 ute- to several periodical- anil magazines on subjects of 
 current interest. 
 
 Mr. Harrington was married in l*s."> to Clara A. Losee, 
 a daughter of Richard K. Losee, living at Darien, New 
 York. They have one child. Richard Losee Harrington. 
 born in 1886. Mr. Harrington is a member of Hiram Lodge, 
 Number 105, Free and Accepted Masons; Buffalo Chapter, 
 Lake Erie Commandery; and all of the Scottish Rite bodies; 
 ami i- al-o a member of the Ismailia I 
 
 worker- who draw no sharp party lines and whose influence 
 and activities make for good in the city, State, and national 
 administrations. From 1884 to 1896 he was active in local 
 Democratic politics, and, although he never held office, 
 he was at one time chairman of the Buffalo Democratic 
 City Committee and a member of the Democratic County 
 Committee. In 1896 he was chairman of the Palmer and 
 Buckner campaign committee in Erie County, and, with his 
 associates, conducted an active campaign among the Gold 
 Democrats. In 1898. however, because of his party's frequent 
 caprices, Mr. Williams became affiliated with the Repub- 
 lican Party, with which he has remained until the present 
 time. In 1905 he was honored by the Governor by appoint- 
 
 I emple 
 
 Harry D. Williams, one of the city's best-known law- 
 yers and el ul mien, was horn in the village of I la mi It on. Madi- 
 son County. New York, October 28th, 1862. Since the year 
 18(it. however, Buffalo has been his home. He received 
 his education In the public schools of llu- city and later sup- 
 plemented that with a course of private instruction. In 
 January, issf. be was admitted to the practice of law in 
 this State. Since that time he has practiced law success- 
 full) in Buffalo. 
 
 Mr. Williams has Keen always more or less prominently 
 
 identified with politic-. lie i- one of the type of political 
 
 HARRY I). WILLIAMS 
 
 ment to the treasurership of the New York State commission 
 of the Lewis ami Clark Exposition, held at Portland, Ore- 
 gon from June first to October fifteenth, 1905. 
 
 Mr. Williams has always been a prominent figure 
 in the club life of Buffalo, being a member of the Buffalo, 
 Saturn. Ellicott, and Country clubs and the Buffalo Yacht 
 Club. For four years, from 188(1 to 1890, he served as com- 
 modore of the Yacht Club, and for fifteen years as a member 
 of its board of directors. 
 
 He now conducts a large and lucrative law practice 
 from his offices in the Erie County Savings Bank Building. 
 
 Mr. Williams was married April L 28th, 189], to Louise 
 Skew daughter of Lawrence Skey, of Port Dover, Ontario, 
 Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have three children, 
 Lawrence George, George Bennett, and Holland Van Etten 
 William-. 
 
 Fred Greiner. — Easily one of the foremost factors in 
 Buffalo's political and professional life is Mr. Fred Greiner, 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 He received his early school training in the public schools 
 
 £S^T?2?«^ ai T^ t ^ ,P T a ^ '"' Clark H. Timerman, who is one of Buffalo's best-known 
 
 ^;:-;tX:^:L: ' ,, ' , ■ ' ,ers in ■ i,s rs™ a r r v l : T*r * iu ~ born 
 
 ' J ... Herkimer, New York, December llth, 1864 He 
 
 Mr Greinerha „,.,„,,.,, „ ],„„,,„ „,,,,„• received his early education in the public schools of 
 
 te «Septei ■rWth. Little Falls, in Her] ,nty. His ambiti I him to 
 
 seek a collegi course, and he was graduated from Hamilton 
 College with the degree of A. B. Realizing thai the college 
 man was destined to be a greal factor in business life in 
 America, he further pursued his collegi studies and re- 
 ceived the degree of 1. 1.. I'.. From Cornell University. In 
 L889 he was admin,', I to the bar of the State oi Ni .. \ ,,,l 
 and immediately embarked in the general practice of law in 
 this city. 
 
 After a period of a few years in individual practice Mr. 
 Timerman formed a partnership with J. II. Pardee, which 
 force was later augmented by the addition of S. VY. Petrie, 
 the linn name being Petrie, Timerman & Pardee. This 
 firm continued For a number of years with marked success, 
 and was on the firing line of sum,' f the mosl notable legal 
 battles in western New York. At the dissolution of the firm 
 Mr. Timerman again took n|> individual practice, and has 
 continued until this time, when he has become recognized 
 as one of the ablest counselors of the Erie Counh bar. His 
 offices are in the Ellicoti Square Building. 
 
 1'KKl) GREINER 
 
 the la 
 
 ie formed a liking for 
 
 of Buffalo, and at the age of fourteen years enter, 
 offices of George Wadsworth, when 
 
 the legal profession and determined t<> make that his life 
 work. He studied in Mr. Wadsworth '.s office until 1877, 
 when he was admitted to the bar. He continued his pro- 
 fessional association with Mr. Wadsworth until 1880, when 
 he began the practice of law for himself. He continues 
 individual practice at this writing, with offices at number .'538 
 Brisbane Building, and enjoys much more than local fame 
 as a corporation lawyer and a legal counselor. 
 
 Mr. Greiner's activity in the field of politics began al- 
 most as early as his legal career, and for many years past 
 he has participated in the battles of his party, first as a com- 
 mon soldier ami later as a leader whose counsel has been 
 eagerly sought and usually followed to victory. He was a 
 member of the General Republican Committee I'm- ten years, 
 and in 1901 was elected chairman of the Erie County Repub- 
 lican Committee. In March, 1901, he was appointed post- 
 master of the city of Buffalo, an appointment that received 
 general approbation and a choice that has been amply vindi- 
 cated by his thoroughly businesslike administration. 
 
 In the social and club life of the city Mr. Greiner is 
 naturally prominent. He has membership in the Buffalo 
 and Ellicott clubs and many other social and fraternal organ- 
 izations. 
 
 Twenty years ago Mr. Greiner married Miss Helen I*'. 
 Bond, of this city. 
 
 CLARK II. TIMERM \\ 
 
 Not less than he has succeeded in business has he 
 su, reeded in political life. He early identified himself with the 
 Republican Party, and has come to be one of the must active 
 and worthy workers in its ranks. For a number of years 
 he occupied the position of first deputy in the Slate Comp- 
 troller's office at Albany, resigning on July 1st. 1905. 
 
 The esteem in which he is held by his colleagues as a 
 political counselor and |>art\ worker is attested by the la, I 
 
230 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 that ;il the banning of the present year he was chosen for 
 the >ixth time to be the executive chairman of the Lrie County 
 Republican Committee. 
 
 Edward E. Coatsworth, former District Attorney of 
 Erie Count - and very prominent in the New YorkState bar, 
 is a native of Buffalo, having been born here November 
 5th, 1866, the son of Caleb and .lane Coatsworth. Such 
 educational opportunities as existed at the time the young 
 man availed himself of and after passing through the pub- 
 lic schools graduated from the Buffalo High School. Soon 
 after his graduation he determined upon the law as his 
 lil'e\ profession and entered the offices of Tabor & Sheehan. 
 January 6th, 1888, he was admitted to the bar.and the firm 
 name became Tabor, Sheehan & Coatsworth. Later the 
 Honorable John Cunneen was added to the firm, the name 
 becoming Tabor, Sheehan. Cunneen & Coatsworth. 
 
 In IS!)-.' tl 1<I linn was dissolved and the firm of 
 
 Cunneen & Coatsworth was formed, a partnership that 
 continued for si\ years and handled some of the most im- 
 portant litigation of that period. In 1899 the firm of Fisher, 
 Wende & Coatsworth was formed, to be dissolved a few 
 years later upon the death of Mr. Theodore Wende. In 
 April. L905, the present firm of Coatsworth. Diebold & 
 Kraft was funned, and in the short period of its existence 
 has cdine to he foremost among the legal firms of western 
 New York. The offices of the firm are at f:!S Main Street. 
 
 EDWARD E. COATSWORTH 
 
 Mr. Coatsworth has ever been a staunch Democrat 
 and has >t<..x 1 K\ his party in some of the most trouble- 
 some times it has been called upon to endure locally. He 
 was District Attorney of Erie County in 1903, '04, and '05, 
 
 and made a most commendable record, that won the con- 
 fidence of all. regardless of political affiliations. He retired, 
 in the face of strong solicitation that lie accept a renomination, 
 to give his whole time to private practice. 
 
 Mr. Coatsworth is vice-president and attorney of the 
 Lackawanna National Bank of West Seneca: trustee and 
 attorney of the Western Savings Bank of Buffalo; a mem- 
 ber of the Buffalo Club and the Buffalo Canoe Club. His 
 fraternal affiliations are Masonic, being a brother of the 
 Thirty-second degree, a member of both the New York 
 and Scottish Kites, a Knight Templar, a Noble of the Mys- 
 tic Shrine, and a member of the Aeaeia Club and other 
 Masonic organizations. 
 
 June 25th, 1891, Mr. Coatsworth married Emma Marion 
 Blacking, daughter of the late Charles Blacking, of this city. 
 
 LOUIS E. DESBECKER 
 
 Louis E. Desbecker, Corporation Counsel of Buffalo, 
 was born in this city in 1871. He is the son of Samuel 
 Desbecker, a resident here since 1847. He attended the 
 Central High School until 1889. In 189-2 he was graduated 
 with high honors from Harvard University, and thereafter 
 look a complete course of study in the New York Law 
 School. He was admitted to the bar iii ]K!)L and for a 
 year served as managing clerk in the law office of Marcv 
 
 i\: ('lose. 
 
 In IS!).*), he became associated in the practice of law 
 with Simon Fleischmann and William R. Pooley, with 
 offices in the 1). S. Morgan Building. His familiarity with 
 fundamental legal principles, his sound judgment, business 
 sagacity, attention to detail, and high sense of honor rapidly 
 attracted a profitable clientage and placed him in a class 
 with the allies) of the younger members of the bar. 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 231 
 
 Morgan Building. 
 
 Mr. Desbecker, 
 awyer. II< 
 
 irm i~ 
 
 in the 
 
 Later, Mr. Desbecker, with [rving L. Fisk and James In the latter pari ol 1879 Mr. Brendel formed a parlner- 
 
 O. Mo.»rc. opened offices on the sixth floor of the I). S. ship with General James C. Strong for Hie general practice 
 
 "I law. The linn was successful ami was prominently 
 however, did not sink the man in the identified with local legal history of the period between 
 became actively interested in public is;;) and 1891, when the partnership was dissolved by 
 affairs, and in 1903 was nominated for the office of Council- mutual consent. From 1891 until ls:i7 Mr. Brendel prac- 
 
 man on the Democratic ticket. Only one Democratic ticed al ■. forming a partnership in thai vear will. Prank 
 
 nominee for that office was elected that year the present W. Standart ul,ieli partnership has since continued, with 
 
 Mayor. .lames X. Adam. 1ml Mr. Desbecker received the the additi f Francis I-'.. Bagol in 1906. The fir 
 
 highest vote east fur a defeated candidate, lie was elected 
 to his present office by a handsome vote in the fall of 1905. 
 
 By devoting to the duties of his public office the qualities 
 by which he achieved success in private practice, Mr. Des- 
 becker has made an enviable record as Corporation Counsel. 
 His aggressiveness in behalf of honest and faithful construc- 
 tion and enforcement of the law has resulted in a number 
 of notable victories for the city in litigation and negotiation. 
 
 Mr. Desbecker is a member of the Erie County Bar 
 Association and several of the most prominent social chilis. 
 Xot the least of his virtues is a democratic affability which 
 convinces all with whom he is brought into contact that 
 he is a successful, vet not unkindly, exponent of the phil- 
 osophy of the square deal. 
 
 Henry W. Brendel was born in Buffalo, of German 
 parentage, December loth, IS,}?, lie received his education 
 
 in the public scl Is of this city and pursued his studies 
 
 closely until the estate of young manhood was reached, 
 
 when he select! 
 
 the law office 
 completed his 
 
 Clark, being ac 
 
 HENRY W. BRENDEL 
 
 ■ii the law as his life profession. He entered 
 of Hawkins & Fischer in 1S7.">. and later 
 studies miller the guidance of Delavan F. 
 milted to the bar in IN7!>. 
 
 known as Brendel, Standart & Bagot, with offii 
 Mutual Life Building. 
 
 Mr. Brendel has always been active in Republican 
 politics and has served in the Republican General Executive 
 < ommittee as its chairman and treasurer. Three times he 
 was nominated for the Assembly, hut, his district having 
 
 a large Dei -ratic majority, he was defeated. October 
 
 7th, lsti7. he was appointed b) President McKinley to be 
 Collector of (us), mis at the Porl of Buffalo and served 
 with distinguishing credit in that capacity until January, 
 1906. In isixi i»7 he served in a responsible position in 
 the Department of Excise. 
 
 Mr. Brendel. though a busy man with his private and 
 public duties, has found time to identify himself with the 
 citizen soldiery, and for twenty five years has been a member 
 of the Sixty-fifth Regiment, N. G. N.Y. When the Spanish 
 American crisis in ISDN elicited a call From the nation's 
 
 chief executive for volunteers. Mr. Brendel was • of the 
 
 first to respond anil went into the United States service 
 with his regiment. His soldierly qualities wen- so manifest 
 during those dark days at Camp Black and in tin- fever 
 pen of Camp Alger thai he was quickly advanced, and in 
 l!i((7 was brevetted major. The State service has had no 
 friend more staunch than Mr. Brendel. and he has had 
 much to do with bringing the National Guard of \<w 'Sink 
 State to its present high state of efficiency. 
 
 With the German societies of this city the subject of 
 
 this sketch has also I n prominently identified. He has 
 
 I n trustee of the Butl'alo Orpheus for the past seven years, 
 
 and treasurer of both the German Society of Buffalo and 
 the German-American Alliance. He is a member of the 
 Teutonia Mannerchor, the Harugari, and other local sin<r- 
 ing organizations, and is a member ol Saint Stephen s 
 Fa angelical ( 'hureh. 
 
 Robert W. Pomeroy, sun of Theodore M. Pomeroy, 
 of Auburn, New York, was born February 24th, ts<i*. and 
 educated at the public schools of Auliurii and at Yale Uni- 
 versity, graduating in the class of 1891. Later he entered 
 the Harvard Law Scl I. graduating ill the class of 1895. 
 
 Upon graduation from the Harvard Law School, Mr. 
 Pomeroy married Miss Lin-v Bemis, of Cambridge, Massa- 
 chusetts, and after a few months of travel located a! Butl'alo. 
 serving for two years as clerk in the law office of Rogers, 
 
 Locke & Milburn. lie then opened his own office, and 
 has since continued an independent practice of business 
 law, devoting much of his time to lupines, enterprises. 
 With tin- eii\ \ commercial and financial institutions he 
 
 is eloseiv identified. He is a trustee of The Kidelilv Trust 
 
232 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 Company; also a member of the board of directors of The 
 Buffalo General Electric Company, The Edward Elsworth 
 Company, The Natural Food Company, of Niagara Falls, 
 The Buffalo Abstract and Title Company. The Eastern Oil 
 Company, The Buffalo Mines, Limited. Buffalo Belting and 
 Weaving Company, Buffalo Coated Paper Company, and 
 
 ROBERT W. POMEROY 
 
 Adirondack Fire Insurance Company; and president of The 
 New York and Buffalo Audit Company. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy is active in the club life of Buffalo, and 
 is identified with several charitable institutions. He has 
 served as president of the Country Club, vice-dean of the 
 Saturn Club, and secretary of the Buffalo Club, and is a 
 member of the University and Ellicott clubs, as well as of 
 the Yale Club and the University Club of New York City. 
 He is vice-president of the Charity Organization Society 
 of Buffalo, a member of the hoard of trustees of the Buffalo 
 General Hospital and of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 
 which he has served as secretary. He is also identified 
 with church work, being president of the Men's Club of 
 the First Presbyterian Church and a trustee of Mount Her- 
 mon Boys' School at Fast Northfield, Massachusetts. 
 
 Mayor Adam has recently appointed Mr. Pomeroy 
 chairman of the Railroad Terminal Commission of Buffalo. 
 
 Governor Higgins appointed Mr. Pomeroy to the New 
 York State Commission of the Jamestown Tercentennial 
 Exposition. 
 
 Ganson Depew has attained his legal and business 
 success in the city of his nativity. He was born March 6th, 
 ]S(i(i. and attended the public schools of Buffalo, graduating 
 from the high school in L884, and retiring from school life 
 the president of his class and the class orator. In the \ea r 
 
 of his graduation he was further honored by his fellow 
 students by his election to the vice-presidency of the High 
 School Association, which comprised and still retains a 
 very large membership throughout the city. 
 
 Mr. Depew entered the law office of Greene, McMillan 
 & Gluck, then one of the foremost law firms in western 
 New York. There he studied law until 1887, when he was 
 admitted to the bar and three years after his admission he 
 became a member of the firm under which he has pursued 
 his studies. The firm name then became McMillan, Gluck, 
 Poolev & Depew. The firm became one of the most prom- 
 inent corporation law firms in the State. Among the clients 
 it represented were the New York Central, the Lake Shore, 
 the Michigan Central and other large railroad lines, and 
 great financial interests of both the city and the State. Dur- 
 ing his connection with this firm, Mr. Depew distinguished 
 himself on many occasions. Mr. Depew 's family con- 
 nections gave him no little prestige in his profession, he 
 being a nephew of the Honorable Chauncey M. Depew 
 and a cousin of John Ganson, both of whom were, for many 
 years, leaders of the bar of the State of New York. 
 
 Upon the death of Mr. Gluck. the firm became known 
 as McMillan, Poolev, Depew & Spratt. until, some time 
 after, when Mr. McMillan went to New Mexico, it became 
 Poolev, Depew & Spratt, Charles A. Poolev and Maurice 
 
 GANSON DEPEW 
 
 C. Spratt being the other members of the firm. Mr. Depew 
 maintained this position until January 1st, 1902, when he 
 left the profession of law to devote his energies henceforth 
 to his purely business interests. 
 
 Mr. Depew 's father-in-law, the late Frank H. Goodyear, 
 had for some time felt the necessity of having some member 
 of his family interested m his increasing business charges, 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 
 and he prevailed upon Mr. Depew to become associated 
 with him in the Buffalo &.- Susquehanna Railroad and to 
 accept a managing directorship in The Goodyear Lumber 
 
 Company and other ( i lyear interests. These connections 
 
 Mr. Depew has maintained since, being at the present time 
 especially interested in The Buffalo and Susquehanna Coal 
 and Coke Company, of which he is vice-president and the 
 active head. His offices are located in the Ellicott Square. 
 
 Mr. Depew is a member of the Buffalo, Saturn, < lountry, 
 Transportation, and other Buffalo chilis, and has for many 
 years been prominent in the social life of the city. 
 
 His fraternal association is with the Ancient Land- 
 marks Lodge, Number 441, Free and Accepted Masons, 
 and with Adytum Chapter, Number '2.'5.5. Royal Arch Masons. 
 He is also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. 
 For ten years, from 1897 to 1907, he was a trustee of the 
 Grosvenor Library. Mr. Depew has always hail also a 
 deep interest in the Buffalo Public Library, and in 1892 
 and again in 1895, this was recognized by his election to 
 the office of a director of the library, he receiving on both 
 occasions the highest vote of any of the candidates. 
 
 November 15th, 1S!)4, Mr. Depew was married to 
 Grace E. Goodyear, the daughter of Frank II. Goodyear. 
 He has two children. 
 
 Frank St. John Sidway, one of Buffalo's leading 
 young lawyers, is a native of Buffalo, a son of one of its 
 oldest and most esteemed families. He was born Decem- 
 
 FRANK ST. JOHN SIDWAY 
 
 ber 5th, 1869, the son of Franklin Sidway and Charlotte 
 Spaulding Sidway. daughter of the late Honorable F. (i. 
 Spaulding. Mr. Sidway received his early education in 
 the public and private schools of the city of hi- nativity, 
 
 and latei entered Phillips-Exeter Academy in preparation 
 
 t'"i Harvard University. lb' entered Harvard with the 
 class of is!).",, Imi left before completing hi- course to enter 
 the Buffalo Law School, from which he graduated in 1894. 
 
 For two years he studied in the office of Lewis, Moot 
 & Lewis, later entering the lav Bprague, Moot, 
 
 Sprague & Brownell, where he remained for three years. 
 In IS!)? he entered into the practice of law for himself, mil I 
 has since thai time carried on an extensb practice, 
 
 with offices al 1!) I- Main Street 
 
 Mr. Sidway has given much lime and attention to the 
 citizen soldiery of his native State. He was for many years 
 a member of the Seventy-fourth Regiment, receiving his 
 commission as second lieutenant of Company 15 on March 
 1st. 1894. !!<■ was advanced to first lieutenant on March 
 6th, IS!)."), and received a capatin's commission November 
 23d, IS!)?. During the Spanish War he wenl to the 
 front with the Two Hundred and Second Regiment, formed 
 in this city and vicinity, and served in Cuba as captain of 
 Company C in that organization, lie received hi- honor 
 able discharge from the Seventy-fourth Regiment October 
 1st. 1902. 
 
 Mr. Sidway is a member of the Buffalo, Saturn, and 
 Harvard clubs, the Buffalo Orpheus, anil the Buffalo His- 
 torical Society, and a life member of the Buffalo Library 
 and the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. He is also a member 
 of the Spanish War Veterans' Association and of the Mili- 
 tary and Naval Order of the Spanish War. 
 
 On April Kith. 1903, Mr. Sidway married Amelia 
 Roberts, daughter of former State Comptroller James 
 A. Roberts, i f this city. 
 
 Frederick Coleman Gratwick, I he sec I - .1 the 
 
 late William II. Gratwick, was born in Albany, New \ork. 
 
 1 REDERICK COLEM \\ '.l: \ I W ICK 
 
234 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 in lS?f. He received his early education in Buffalo, whither 
 his family moved in 1S7(>. He entered Harvard College 
 and graduated in the class of IS!)?. Thereafter he took up 
 the study of law at the Harvard Law School, and later passed 
 his bar examinations in New York City, and was admitted 
 to the practice of law in 1900. 
 
 After traveling for a period of two years. Mr. Gratwick 
 returned to Buffalo and entered the law firm of Chester & 
 Smith in December, 1!>04. and in July, 1905, was admitted 
 to membership in the firm, which then became known as 
 Chester, Smith & Gratwick, having offices in the Ellicott 
 Square building. 
 
 Aside from his law. Mr. Gratwick has business interests 
 in lumber and lake vessels. He is vice-president of The 
 George F. Wescotl Company, manufacturers of elevators 
 and factory equipment, and has recently become a director 
 of the Columbia National Hank. 
 
 He has been secretary for the past two years of the 
 Election Laws Enforcement Association, an organization 
 which has done much to better the election conditions in 
 the city. He is also vice-president of the new Buffalo Homeo- 
 pathic Hospital. He is a member of a number of chilis. 
 among others the Buffalo Club, the Saturn Club, and the 
 Country Club. 
 
 Oscar F. Georgi was horn in buffalo September 25th, 
 1873. He graduated with the class of 1S!),3 from the Buffalo 
 Law School and was admitted to the bar during that same 
 year. Following his admission to the bar and for a period 
 of two years lie was managing clerk for Moot, Sprague, 
 Brownell & Many. 
 
 In 181)7 Mr. Georgi went to New York City to fill a 
 responsible position in the legal department of the Erie 
 Railroad, and for a number of years he was attorney in 
 charge of claims and litigations for the entire Erie Railroad 
 system, lie has been identified with large matters where 
 sound judgment was required. 
 
 Finding the city of his nativity more to his liking, he 
 returned in 1!)0.5 for the purpose of entering upon the prac- 
 tice of law. with offices in the Fidelity Building. Mr. 
 
 Georgi's business activities arc not confined exclusively to 
 the law profession. He is a director in The Jacob Dold 
 Packing Company and similarly connected with a number 
 of other of Buffalo's largest institutions. 
 
 OSCAR F. GEORGI 
 
 In social and fraternal life Mr. Ceorgi has been promi- 
 nent in his home city. He is a member of the Transporta- 
 tion Club, the Lawyers' Club, and of Manual Lodge, Num- 
 ber (53(5, Free and Accepted Masons, and is secretary of 
 the Bar Association of Erie County. While he lias always 
 taken an active interest in politics and the political welfare 
 of this city, he has never sought office. His political affilia- 
 tions are with the Republican Party. 
 
 In 1903 Mr. Georgi married Miss Florence Dold, daugh- 
 ter of Jacob Dold. 
 
OFFICE BUILDINGS. 
 
 THE Brisbane Building. — In Buffalo, on Main, Clin- each projection, gives to the whole exterior a beauty and 
 
 ton, and Washington streets, opposite Lafayette repose that could not be obtained in any other style. 
 
 Square, stood for many years the old "Arcade" The heating and power is furnished by four one hun- 
 
 Building, the largest office building in Buffalo. It was dred and twenty-five horsepower boilers, and there is mil 
 
 designed and built by Messrs. Albert and George Bris- a more admirable and perfect engine-room and plant in 
 
 bane, the owners, and the Rose Brothers, architects, in the State, 
 
 the early fifties. The ground floor of the building is occupied by the three 
 
 On the morning of December 14th, 1893, this build- largest stores of their line in Buffalo. The Kleinhans 
 
 ing was completely destroyed by fire, and on this site in 18!)5 Company, clothiers, occupy the entire Clinton Street front, 
 
 was erected the present building bv James Brisbane and Messrs. Faxon, Williams & Faxon, the most prominent 
 
 James Mooney, Mr. Mooney having acquired an interest grocers in western New York, together with S. II. Knox's 
 
 in the property some few years previous and holding same five and ten cent store, occupy the balance of the ground 
 
 until 1906', at which time Mr. James Brisbane succeeded floor of the building, both stores running through from 
 
 to the entire control of the property. Main to Washington Street, having entrances on both sides. 
 
 The Brisbane Building, as it is now known, is admit- The second floor is arranged especially for light, bav- 
 
 tedly one of the finest in the city, being on the south side of, ing a grand court fifty feet wide which extends from the 
 
 and having a frontage of two hundred feet on, beautiful center of the Clinton Street side back the entire depth of 
 
 Lafayette Park, which is surrounded bv Buffalo's finest the building. This court is covered by a colored glass 
 
 buildings. It was only needed to complete this beautiful 
 square, in the center of which stands the Soldiers' and 
 Sailors' monument of granite and bronze, that the old 
 Arcade should give way to the magnificent structure which 
 now stands on this memorable site. Added to the fact 
 that it is the very center of the radial system of the street 
 railways of the city, that two of the largest dry goods houses 
 are adjoining it, that the principal hotels are within a block 's 
 distance, and that within a small radius there are no less 
 than ten banking institutions, it will readily be seen that no 
 finer location exists in the city. The building itself has a 
 frontage of one hundred and eighty feet on Main Street, 
 one hundred and eighty feet on Washington Street, and 
 two hundred feet on Clinton Street, occupying over one 
 half the entire block. 
 
 The building is constructed of iron and steel, fireproof 
 floor-arching and partitions, concrete, terra cotta, and 
 marble. The design is of the classic Renaissance, so well 
 adapted to large buildings of this class, and has been used 
 with admirable effect in the construction of the building. 
 
 The grouping of the different stories by means of cor- 
 nices extending around the building, and the large pilasters 
 occurring at intervals and forming a break in the fronts, 
 enriched with terra cotta capitals of ornate design and 
 terminating in the Corinthian cornices with pediments over 
 
 dome, giving a very handsome effect. 
 
 The upper floors of the building are occupied l>\ the 
 New York Life, the /Etna Life, the Union, and the Pru- 
 dential insurance companies, together with many 01 the 
 offices of the large railroads (such as the New York Cen- 
 tral Railroad, the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Buffalo & 
 Lake Frie Traction Company), as well as many of Buffalo's 
 most prominent lawyers. 
 
 The Mutual Life Building. Foremost among the 
 great office buildings ami business homes in which Buf- 
 falo justly prides herself, is the Mutual Fife Building at 
 202 to 218 Pearl Street. Dignified and well located, it stands 
 well up among the great architectural monuments that 
 mark the business section of this t'a-t growing city. 
 
 The Mutual Fife Building was first opened for occu- 
 pancy in May, 1897, and since then its clientele has num- 
 bered some of Buffalo's best-known business individuals 
 ami firms. ll towers ten stories high, of superior lire- 
 proof construction, and contains two hundred and twenty 
 offices, all of which are large, well-lighted, and well-ventilated. 
 Main of these (.nice, command an exquisite view of Hie lake 
 front and the surrounding city. The building is constructed 
 around steel framework, the massive front being of a beau- 
 tiful dressed stone and the rear of brick. 
 
 235 
 
23C 
 
 THE CUV OF BUFFALO 
 
 The presenl owner of the Mutual Life Building is service. Wires are all concealed in wire conduits buried 
 The Carroll & Baldwin Realty Company, of New York City, in the ceiling. The offices and corridors are lighted with 
 The firm is composed of Joseph Carroll, an extensive dealer large windows, and special provision has been made for 
 i„ horses, who i- president of the company; Leonard D. ventilation without a direct draft. The elevator service 
 Baldwin, vice-president; and A. J. Baldwin, secretary and is of a high order and extends to the basement, where all 
 treasurer. 'The Baldwins are among the best-known cor- freight is received and delivered without annoyance to the 
 poration lawyers in New York City. Their foresight led 
 them in 1906 to anticipate an extensive demand for busi- 
 ness homes in the downtown sectii f Buffalo. They 
 
 promptly acquired the structure, and their anticipations 
 have been generouslj realized. 
 
 The local representative of 'The Carroll & Baldwin 
 Realty Company is James A. Magoffin, a well-known 
 Buffalo attorney. The office of the building is at room 
 number 821 <>n the eighth floor. 
 
 The White Building. Buffalo is particularly for- 
 tunate in possessing manj new and elaborate office build- 
 ings, no one of which brings more credit to the city than 
 the White Building, on Main Street, between Erie and 
 
 streets. It is designed on the most lern lines, 
 
 ecial eye to the comforts of its patrons. In its 
 
 speci 
 
 d 
 
 heart of the business, 
 
 swan 
 
 with a 
 
 unsurpassed location, the very 
 
 banking, ami office building district, -it is especially desir- 
 able. It is easily accessible from all important parts of the city, 
 ami but two minutes' walk to the post office, the City and 
 County Hall, ten hanks, and nine out of ten of the other 
 large office buildings. All the principal street car lines cen- 
 ter near by, and the railroad stations are conveniently near. 
 
 The building fronts on both Main and Erie streets 
 and has entrances from both streets. A particularly desir- 
 able feature is the commanding outlook from both streets; 
 the Main Street side overlooks the business section of that 
 thoroughfare, anil from the Erie Street side there is a fine 
 view of Buffalo harbor and the Niagara River, and many 
 miles of the open lake. 
 
 The building well deserves the term fireproof, for its 
 walls are heavy, self-supporting fire walls, not of the ordi- 
 nary steel construction, but absolutely fireproofed. These 
 walls form a complete fire barrier on both sides of the build- 
 ing, while it faces a fireproof building on Main Street, and 
 a large open space on Erie Street. 
 
 The White Building is eleven stories in height, with 
 the ground Moor and basement fitted out for banking and 
 store purposes, nine full office floors above the ground 
 floor, and an attic floor designed for office purposes. This 
 L,'i\es a vast floor space, which is liberally divided into one 
 hundred and fifty-six offices, all designed with a special 
 view to the convenience, comfort, and business needs of the 
 tenants. For those requiring offices a little larger or smaller 
 than the standard, the sixth and seventh floors have been 
 SO arranged that the offices arc smaller on the court ami 
 proportionately larger where they front the street. 
 
 Each office is provided with a washstand with running 
 water, also a hat and coal rack, and special arrangement 
 can be made for a large safe. All offices are wired for safety. The women's lavatory is located on the third floor 
 both frontier and Bell telephones and Postal and Western of the building, where a comfortable retiring room is also 
 Union call boxes, and have the Western Union time clock provided. The barber shop is located on the fourth floor. 
 
 'nit-: whitk nriLi>ix<; 
 
 tenants. The elevator doors are self-closing and noiseless, 
 and the entire service is designed with a special view 7 to 
 
THE CITY OF BUFF ILO. 
 
 
 as are also the gentlemen 's lavatories, and small lavatories are 
 provided on every floor. A drinking fountain, with filtered 
 running ice water, the mail chute, and other office build- 
 ing conveniences are located near the elevator on all floors. 
 The interior finish of the building is quartered antique 
 oak in all offices and corridors, marble floors and columns 
 
 in all corridors, and polished maple floors in the offices. < ' - 
 
 modious and well-lighted entrance halls arc finished with bigh 
 white marble wainscoting, paneled, the side walls and ceilings 
 being decorated in ivory white. The woodwork is mahogany, 
 and the floor is Tennessee marble. The main entrance 
 door is the most modern type of automatic revolving door. 
 
 A duplex power planl ha- been installed in the build- 
 ing, generating all the power, light, and heal required in 
 the structure. The cleaning and the building, 
 
 such an important item in every lern office building, 
 
 is given very careful attention by experienced men. 
 
 The new White Building was erected on the site of the 
 original While Fireproof Building, the firsl first-class office 
 building in Buffalo, and for many years the only oni [I 
 has been the aim of the owner and architect to make the oew 
 
 building as perfeel in all it- appointments as i lern ideas 
 
 and liberal expenditure could make it, and it ranks today 
 among the besl office buildings in the country 
 
THE BUFFALO EVENING NEWS. 
 
 THE HISTORY of a really great newspaper is vastly 
 more than can lie enclosed between covers — more 
 than mere type and the skill of men can record. 
 Up to a certain point its career is possible of description. 
 but beyond that its story must be written, and forever stand. 
 in its achievements; the battles it has won for the right, the 
 
 its columns every business day of the year. Not only does 
 this great constituency read it, but trusts it, relies upon it, 
 and looks upon it as an ever willing help for right, and a 
 fearless, uncompromising foe to all that endangers the privi- 
 leges and province of the people. From the first it has truly 
 been " The People's Paper," and its success is its own best 
 
 men it has made or unmade when the public good has commentary. 
 
 demanded Mich action, the public improvements it has The Buffalo Sunday News was established in 187:?. 
 
 wrought, and, in short, the general good it has accom- Despite prognostications of failure it thrived, and not only 
 
 plished. 
 
 More than any other institu- 
 tion, except Government; inure 
 than any man, or Eel of men. 
 however illustrious, does the truly 
 great oewspaper wield an influ- 
 ence that will serve its present 
 purpose and live to have its own 
 effect on the future of a nation 
 and a people. It is the true, and 
 only effective, mirror of public- 
 opinion, reflecting the needs and 
 wants of its community in their 
 entirety, concealing nothing. To 
 measure its importance we have 
 but to imagine, if possible, what 
 the community of modern exisl 
 
 elice would be without it. 
 
 All of these things the news- 
 paper should be and do and 
 more; it is the true agent of en- 
 lightenment and education, eluci- 
 dating practically all contem- 
 porary subjects, and giving to all 
 an understanding of current 
 things impossible of acquirement through any other channel 
 
 Such an organ, inspirer, counsellor, protector, friend there was. indeed, a religion of a distinctive type to be found 
 and neighbor the Hi FFALO EVENING News has been and in its columns— a creed that held the public good above all 
 seeks to be. 'That it has been successful only a glance at its else and the approbation of the people more to be desired 
 
 than financial success. 
 
 EDWARD II. BUTLER 
 
 became widely circulated, but 
 became a powerful arm of the 
 Empire State's journalistic body. 
 True, it had opposition at the 
 beginning, but the management's 
 determination to produce a clean, 
 pure paper, that would be wel- 
 comed in the home and at the fire- 
 side, was so completely fulfilled 
 that all competition succumbed 
 to the inevitable and discontinued 
 publication. At that early day 
 there was a pronounced dispo- 
 sition to regard a Sunday news- 
 paper as an invader of the Sab- 
 bath's sanctity, but gradually the 
 managerial and editorial policy of 
 the News served to modify that. 
 The proprietors and editors be- 
 lieved that sermons could be 
 preached upon the topics of the 
 day as well from the editorial 
 sanctum as from the rostrum and 
 pulpit, a belief that is now con- 
 curred in by all classes of citizen- 
 Reference to the files of the earlv News shows that 
 
 record is necessary to affirm. Today, but little more than a 
 quarter of a century after its inception, it circulates in round 
 numbers one hundred thousand copies every day. Figuring 
 upon the customary basis of live readers for every copy this 
 means lli.it then- arc a half million people who peruse 
 
 What was true then is true to this day, and the manage- 
 ment has never faltered in its adherence to the precepts that 
 have guided its destinies since the beginning. Xor is the 
 management unmindful, cither, of the encouragement and 
 
 2158 
 
THE CITY OF Bl FFALO. 
 
 239 
 
 undeviating efforts of the people in fighting the good fight. 
 Ever the citizens of Buffalo, irrespective of party and other 
 affiliations, have stood behind the News in its fight for right. 
 To them, scarcely less than to the management itself, has the 
 newspaper's growth to be one of the greatest li\e new spapers 
 of America Keen a source of gratification and pride. 
 
 Political it has Keen, as must every newspaper be, to the 
 extent of a party affiliation, lint the mosl careful investiga- 
 tion of its past will nol disclose a single instance wherein the 
 people have been considered second to party. Neither will 
 such a search show even an isolated ease of the News being 
 subservient to monopolies or untrustworthy individuals. 
 Ever it has progressed, content to rise or fall on its own merits 
 as a newspaper, and always with a pertinacity in the cause 
 of justice its dominant characteristic. 
 
 It would he impossible to chronicle in detail here the 
 extent to which the early News bore on the life and develop- 
 ment of Buffalo, which at that time was making greater strides 
 than it had ever before known. A passing glance will suffice. 
 Early in the existence of the Sundai News the need of 
 an ample supply of pure water for East Buffalo became 
 apparent. The fight was waged through its columns and 
 ultimately won. An investigation of the reported sale of 
 diseased meat; a protest against the employment of inexpe- 
 rienced teachers in the public schools; an expose of the 
 monopoly then existing in the manufacture and supply of gas, 
 and the defeat of the Cross Town Railroad "jobs" were all 
 accomplishments of the early months of the paper. 
 
 Its rapid growth soon led to the installation and first 
 operation, of a new Campbell press; also to the enlargement 
 of the paper from eight to nine, and two weeks later to ten, 
 columns width. 
 
 For a quarter of a century Mr. Butler gave his 
 immediate presence and undivided attention to the wel- 
 fare of the News and its constituency, and it has been only 
 in the past few years that he has absented himself from the 
 proprietor's desk, and then only for brief peiiods divided 
 between European travel and shoit sojourns at his winter 
 home in Darlington, South Carolina Always, however, he 
 is in close touch with the home office, either by telegraph or 
 cable, and the welfare of the city is as closely under his eye 
 as ever before. 
 
 In July, 1875, in a series of masterful articles, the atten- 
 tion of the legislators was directed to the necessity of using 
 their utmost endeavors to enact laws in favor of the working- 
 man and not in behalf of capital as against labor. 
 
 In September, 187.5. the News exposed the "Know- 
 nothing" societies extant in various parts of the country, an 
 expose that was copied two months later by the New ^ ork 
 Herald and flaunted by that metropolitan journal as a re- 
 markable piece of journalistic enterprise. 
 
 The following year, lS?(i, was marked by severe, but 
 warranted, condemnation of city officials, for disbursing 
 moneys without authority: a protest against the indiscriminate 
 importation of Chinese anil other aliens in competition with 
 
 American labor: a call for the alleviati f the wants of the 
 
 poor of the city, and a successful campaign against a trium- 
 virate of political dictators. 
 
 In November, 1876, the News declared the possibility 
 of Samuel -I. Tilden assuming the Presidential chair in the 
 event of tin- House of Representatives declaring his election, 
 
 and outline,! the exact course which Mi. Tilden subsequi ntly 
 
 THE BUFF \l.<> NEWS BUILDING. 
 
 followed. The paper also c lucted a highly successful 
 
 campaign for lower tolls on the canal, a work that brought 
 renewed activity to canal shipping which was then greatlj in 
 decline because of the rapid extension of railroads. In 
 August the Common Council recognized the prestige of tin 
 News by making it the official paper, commissioned to pub- 
 lish the reports of that honorable body. 
 
240 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 In October, IS??, the News commenced the political 
 campaign by supporting Doctor Eta) V. Pierce as a candidate 
 for the State Senate, a selection that was vindicated by his 
 election and bis excellent record in office. 
 
 In the following year the paper gained another flattering 
 victory in leading to a successful finish the campaign of Doctor 
 Ray V. Pierce for Congress. Doctor Pierce's opponent was 
 Honorable Daniel X. Lockwood — one of the most desirable 
 men who could have possibly been nominated — but the 
 News' candidate was supported to a triumphant election. 
 
 Wain the paper took a hold stand for labor when, in 
 
 [879, it advocated the restrict] »f convict labor to a degree 
 
 where it would not compete with free labor, a principle which 
 subsequently became paramount in all labor organizations 
 
 EDW \l!l> II BUTLER'S PRIVATE OFFICE 
 
 throughout the I fnited States, and which found its first cham- 
 pion in the News. A strong fighl against permitting politics 
 to enter into the police department, and a series of logical 
 reasons « h\ Fort Porter should be made a permanent military 
 
 post were other features of that year. 
 
 The year 1880 was a notable one in the history of the 
 pape . for it was (hat year thai witnessed the establishment 
 <>f the Pi ffalo Evening News, a daily publication destined 
 
 lo become one of the most potent factors in the World of jour- 
 nalism. A popular priced evening newspaper was at that 
 time a rarity, but the project had been long in contemplation 
 and a careful study of the field anil the conditions led to a 
 Favorable conclusion that has since been amply vindicated. 
 In that yea- th«- newspaper was removed temporarily to -214 
 Main Street, which was its place of business till it was estab- 
 lished in a new home of its own at -.MS Main Street in 1881. 
 
 The Buffalo Evening News, a brighl six-column paper 
 appeared <>n M lay. October llth. isso. and the sale the 
 
 first dav reached the somewhat remarkable total of seven 
 thousand copies. By an accident, the first edition, which 
 should have appeared at two o'clock, was stillborn, so really 
 the first edition of the News was never printed. Incidentally 
 this circumstance must shake the faith of the superstitious, 
 for the omen of ill luck has never been fulfilled. 
 
 The first issue elicited flattering comment wherever read. 
 With its very birth it established a reputation for the accuracy 
 of its prognostications by foretelling the result of the Garfield- 
 Hancock Presidential contest, an achievement that was gener- 
 ally commented upon. The prestige of the Sunday News 
 was available capital for the new publication and the editions 
 quickly increased in number from two to five. While the 
 identity of the two publications was preserved separately, 
 they were one in their efforts to com- 
 bat evil and truthfully record public 
 opinion, and the record of their achieve- 
 ments is one history. This was due 
 largely to the employment of the same 
 staff on both newspapers, or rather of a 
 double staff under the same general 
 supervision. Naturally this required a 
 greatly augmented force and recruits 
 were drawn from the staffs of the New 
 York Tribune, Star, and Times, the 
 new venture starting with a thoroughly 
 equipped force in every department. 
 
 From the very first there was the 
 strongest esprit du corps in the entire or- 
 ganization and a degree of loyalty of 
 employee to employer that is seldom 
 seen on any newspaper. The News has 
 ever been famed for its generous treat- 
 ment of its workers, a policy that has 
 figured in no small degree in the great 
 success it has attained. 
 
 Soon after the inception of the News 
 a rival publication, nearly like the News 
 in size, but wholly unlike in character. 
 was instituted and an opposition rarely 
 equalled in virulence and sharpness of personal attack 
 was commenced. From the first the News, secure in 
 its own merited position, steadily refused to recognize its 
 competitor or give it the benefit of controversy, or to 
 publish its name in any connection. Its own course was 
 followed consistently with a view to the establishment of a 
 permanent clientage by conscientious fulfillment of what it 
 deemed the true mission of a newspaper — to give all the 
 news, treat all public questions fearlessly but without bitter- 
 ness, and make friends rather than enemies by unwarranted 
 personal attacks. The policy was justified by experience, 
 and after a prolonged struggle, during which seventy 
 thousand dollars was expended, the Evening Telegraph was 
 sold by Messrs Scripps to the EVENING News. The 
 Evening News at that time was securely established and 
 possessed of a circulation exceeding that of all the other 
 newspapers in Buffalo. 
 
 The events marking the early days of the Evening News 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 •2H 
 
 of the American workingman by forcing through the I 
 lature a constitutional amendment which, when submitted 
 to the people and adopted by a large majority, ended forever 
 the convicl contrad labor 
 
 Long before the presidential campaign of Ism the \i \\- 
 began its support of < lovernoi < Cleveland for the presidential 
 nomination. As far in advance as July 80th, 1883, the sub- 
 ject was broached by this paper and supplemented bj inter- 
 views with the State's foremost men. His successful cam- 
 paign and election are matters of common history, and in ii 
 the influence of the News played no small part. While Mr 
 Cleveland's election brought no advantage to Buffalo, politi- 
 cally, it attracted attention to the growing importance of the 
 city and stimulated its energies and development. 
 
 In 1885 fire destroyed the splendid Music Hall and Saint 
 
 came in rapid succession. Only the most important of them 
 can be chronicled here and those but briefly. 
 
 In its initial week the infant journal scored one of the 
 most important news "heats" of the year, and eave through 
 its special service the first news of the loss of the Steamship 
 "City of Alpena" and its forty-five passengers. The Dart- 
 Seifert shooting, ttr Birge fire with its attendant loss of life. 
 the burning of the Palace Hotel, and the collapse of the Cen- 
 tral Depot roof were other news matters of the time thai were 
 ably and fully covered. 
 
 The year 1881 was Buffalo's great boom year and here 
 again the News displayed its true value by constantly counsel- 
 ing against abnormal, riotous speculation and did its own 
 part to keep the activity from assuming unhealthy propor- 
 tions. 
 
 In 1881, also, the "graveyard in- 
 surance" conspiracy was exposed, and 
 as a direct result of the News' 
 activity one agent was driven out of 
 business, two companies were exiled 
 from the state, another recalled and 
 its policies cancelled, and the evil of 
 "graveyard insurance" was checked. 
 
 The paper made and won the 
 fight to save Martin Flannigan, a mur- 
 derer, from the gallows in the belief 
 that the man was mentally irresponsi- 
 ble when the crime was committed. 
 Governor Cornell signed his commu- 
 tation papers. 
 
 A steady growth in circulation 
 and influence, and well-founded judg- 
 ment of a strangely disordered political 
 condition, brought the News in 1882 
 to a most commanding position. With 
 a daily circulation of eighteen thous- 
 and copies, and that constantly grow- 
 ing, it was doubtless the most import- 
 ant daily newspaper in the Empire 
 State outside of New York City. In 
 that year the paper suggested Mayor 
 Grover Cleveland to the Democracy as 
 
 a candidate for the Governorship. Its judgment was again 
 vindicated in his election by the unprecedented majority of 
 one hundred ninety-three thousand votes. In this campaign 
 the News became firmly established as one of the foremost 
 leaders of public opinion in the state. 
 
 About this time the paper's telegraphic service was 
 greatly improved through the passing of the National Asso- the water front, who were well and comfortably cared for 
 ciated Press, of which the News was a member, to the United through a fund created by the News and which reached the 
 Press. The change gave an entirely new and more thorough sum of five thousand dollars. 
 
 service, which at the time was considered well nigh perfection, In the same year the successful fight for increased pay 
 
 though in the light of the improvements of recent years, the for the firemen, and improvements in the force, and the sys- 
 wireless telegraph, the common use of the telephone, and tern of administration at the Buffalo postoffice were further 
 other forms of word transmission, it must have been more or examples of the good work an independent and vigorous 
 less crude. Edward H. Butler was one of the founders newspaper can perform. 
 of the improved system and vice-president of the association. A pause, to glance at the News of L886, is more than 
 
 In 1883 the News made another great effort in behalf worth while. Scarcely six years of age. it had attained a 
 
 THE BUFFALO NEWS COl'XTINC. ROOM 
 
 bonis' Church. By noon of the following day the News 
 had established a fund for the restoration of Music Hall and 
 had headed the list of subscribers. The subscription 
 reached the grand total of eighty-nine thousand dollars, 
 assuring its rebuilding on n grander scale than before. 
 
 In 188(i a terrible storm left twenty families homeless on 
 
 16 
 

 THE CITY OF BUFF MM. 
 
 circulation of foity thousand with occasional spurts to fifty 
 thousand and over, or one paper for every five persons of the 
 city's population. This was a greater circulation than was 
 enjoyed l>\ an) paper in the Empire Slate outside of New 
 York City, and greater than many of the New York dailies 
 thai aspired I" national importance. Facilities had been 
 
 constantly added, splendid presses, and new and improved 
 
 methods and systems of distribution. Typographically, the 
 paper was the peer of uinety-five per cenl of American daily 
 journals, and its columns scintillated with the brilliancy and 
 philosophy of such writers as Henry George, Lyman Abbott, 
 Julian Ralph, Gustav Kobbe, Joel Benton, Mrs. Hermans. 
 Colonel Robert G. [ngersoll, Reverend T. Dewitt Talmage, 
 Frank Carpenter, Will Carleton, W. S. 
 I ,ampton, and Helen ( 'ampbell. 
 
 1887 
 
 A successful movement in behalf 
 of overworked factory children; an 
 agitation that practically put an end 
 to raffling in the city; a demand for bet- 
 tersewage; the first general movement 
 toward the preservation of Niagara's 
 natural beauties and a suggestion that 
 the taking of water from the river for 
 industrial purposes be regulated by a 
 commission; for the pavement of 
 Genesee Street; for the lowering of 
 canal tolls; against the peddling of 
 impure milk. Also, in this period, 
 the News featured the Buffalo Driving 
 Park races; the burning of the Rich- 
 n I Hotel, and a fight for electric 
 
 street ears. 
 
 ISSS 
 
 A systematic I ming of Buffalo 
 
 as an industrial center; a 6ght against 
 holiday labor; a recommendation, that 
 
 was subsequently acted upon favorably, that women be 
 appointed factory inspectors. Another feature of the year 
 was a comprehensive review of the reign of the Kaiser of 
 Germany, profusely illustrated, published in the last edition 
 on the day of his death, a piece of newspaper enterprise that 
 attracted more than local attention. In this year, also, the 
 News defended George W. Rogers, a Buffalo New York, 
 and Pennsylvania Railroad clerk, whom the paper believed 
 was unjustly accused of mail robbery. Hisacquittal followed. 
 
 1889 
 
 A sane defense of the eight hour law; a movement for 
 Civil Service reform; a crusade against had meat on the city 
 markets; a demand for a new postoffice site downtown; a 
 demand for imp ovemenl in the water supply. In this year 
 
 the NEWS installed a long distance telephone, the first in the 
 city. Special features of the year were a series of letters from 
 Henry M. Stanley, then exploring Africa, and a story of fiction 
 by "Ouida." then in tin' height of her fame. 
 
 1890 
 
 A fight, that continued throughout the warm months, 
 for cheaper ice for the poor; opposed Sheehan's charter 
 amendments with success; a general crusade for cleaner 
 streets that was followed by great activity in the Department 
 of Public Works. ( )ther features of the year were the cover- 
 ing of the execution of Kemraler, the first condemned man 
 to be electrocuted, and a memorable interview with George 
 Francis Train, then one of the foremost figures in America. 
 
 1891 
 A crusade against the so-called Fish Trust; a movement 
 for fresh air for poor children which has resulted in the present 
 
 A CORNER IN THE EDITORIAL ROOMS 
 
 great system of sending thousands of poor children to the 
 country for two weeks during the summer months; an agita- 
 tion that resulted in the addition of one company — Company 
 H — to the Seventy-fourth Regiment. This year also wit- 
 nessed the publication of the greatest newspaper "extra" in 
 the history of Buffalo journalism. It was issued on the win- 
 ning of the great Brooklyn Handicap race by "Tennev," a 
 contest that attracted worldwide attention. The extra was 
 issued and was being sold on the street in but a few minutes 
 after the finish of the race and in thirty minutes the complete 
 edition of fifteen thousand copies was exhausted. 
 
 1892. 
 
 In this year the News lauded Congressman William 
 Mckinley, and described him as one of the most able men 
 in the House of Representatives. It was the News' pleasure, 
 also, to forecast a great career for him, a forecast that was 
 subsequently vindicated by his elevation to the highest office 
 within the gift of the American people. This year a general 
 
THE CITY OF Bl l l ILO. 
 
 OS 
 
 fight was instituted against drawing the schools into politics, 
 a fight that was successful, as was the crusade against over- 
 crowding the poor and insane in the various state institutions. 
 
 18!)H 
 
 In 1893 the News began a memorable fight against 
 "Paddler" Brockway, head of the Elmira Reformatory. The 
 
 paper forced an investigation thai resulted finally in the 
 removal of Brockway, ami the end of the most inhuman 
 practices in the Elmira institution. Other public move- 
 ments wen- against the usurious money lenders; to keep 
 the Police Department out of polities; the support of Chris- 
 
 is:).-, 
 
 A SECTION OF THE COMPOSITION DEPARTM] \l 
 
 This year witnessed the materialization of the cycle 
 path lo Niagara Kails. a convenience that was enjoyed by 
 thousands ,,f wheelmen so long a was followed 
 
 sport. A great political victor) in Nov. mbi i ..] t|„. 
 
 record of the year, a record which included successful agita- 
 tions for Letter markets; against ,-ar line, i,, n„. better resi- 
 dence strcis; f„r t|„. beautifying of the city's parks, and for 
 the abolition of crossing ;ll grade. In ||„. latter part of the 
 year the Xkws edit,, Hal pages forecasted events in Cuba, 
 boldh asking for interference with the Spanish military 
 policy in the island and demanding an end I,, the Spanish 
 atrocities. This was t,, |„. followed 
 soon bj a gnat patriotic upheaval thai 
 struck the chains off the helpless 
 
 < ul, ans. 
 
 1896 
 
 In 1896 the News saw the pi- 
 ing necessity of better water and more 
 efficienl intakes and promoted a suc- 
 cessful newspaper campaign t,, thai 
 end; also a movement for the purchase 
 of Riverside Park; for the improvement 
 ol the dock workers; for the Teachers 
 Pension Fund, and cleaner politics. 
 In that year Morgan Robertson and 
 Stephen Crane contributed memorable 
 stories to the pages of the Ni u s. 
 
 < )n April 29th the first page of the News 
 carried the announcement of the pro 
 jected News' Building, destined to be 
 on<- of the finest newspaper homes in 
 the world. The a iinounceineui car- 
 ried with it tin' reproduction of the 
 architect 's plans. 
 
 INII7 
 
 tian Klinck. James Ash, and Michael J. Byrne to purify 
 the Board of Councilmen; the defeat of gang rule and the 
 complete rout of election thugs who tried to intimidate 
 voters; for better gas; instituted a fund that grew to twenty 
 thousand dollars for the benefit of the city's poor during 
 the panic of 18!).'?. 
 
 !Si)f 
 
 A series of "Good Roads'' articles to promote interest 
 in cycling, a sport that was just then reaching the height of 
 its popularity; a movement for a great cinder path between 
 Buffalo and Niagara Falls; a remarkable report of the Delany 
 murder, the exploitation of several clues that were subse- 
 quently followed by the police and an equally thorough hand- 
 ling of the Montgomery Gibbs murder, which included the 
 first publication of the confession of Sad e and Clarence 
 Robinson of the murder of Gibbs. Another feature of the 
 year was the publication of the cartoons of Leon Barrett, then 
 one of the foremost cartoonists in America. 
 
 This year w itnessed memorable 
 
 efforts on the part of the News to relieve the deplorable 
 condition of the city's poor. A dollar fund was started 
 that reached into the thousands and the proceeds were 
 judiciously distributed. A relief station was established 
 by the Xkws in the Ellicotl Square, the paper paid the 
 freight on vegetables and fruits shipped in l>\ farmers, and 
 maintained a system of wagon deliver) carrying the food 
 and clothing to the distressed people. Also, in |S!I7. a 
 crusade against the bucket shops w as instituted ; a demand 
 for the better lighting of the ,il\ streets and a call to the 
 people to do the city proud in the entertainment of the fifty 
 thousand people who assembled here for the National 
 (i-aiid A"in\ of the Republic encampment. The fall of 
 that year witnessed the rush to the Klondyke and Mr. F. J. 
 Livernash was commissioned b) theNEWs to u r o to the Far 
 North and report the true conditions. This was a memora- 
 ble bit of enterprise. In the last months of that year the 
 
 News began the agitation that ended in the Pan-American 
 Exposition, Buffalo's crowning glory. 
 
244 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 1898 
 
 The year was ;i memorable one in the history of the 
 News. The paper had just been installed in its magnificent 
 new borne, with all modern conveniences and every appliance 
 that makes for a great newspaper. The firsl thorough test 
 of the facilities came when the United States Battleship"Maine" 
 was blown up in Havana harbor. The paper met the situa- 
 tion and covered all those immediate events and the Spanish- 
 American War that followed, in a mosl thorough manner. 
 Ii\ special arrangement with the New York Herald the News 
 senl one of its most alert staff members to join the Herald 
 staff of war correspondents, and the news of all important 
 movements of the army, battles and crises was given first in 
 the News. In June the News chartered refrigerator ears 
 for the shipment of supplies to the Buffalo boys at the front 
 and in Camp Alger. Throughout the period of the war the 
 
 \ CORNER IX THE NEWS PHOTO-ENGRAVING DEPARTMENT 
 
 paper was energetic in sending the home news and comforts 
 to the hoys in the field. Despite the fact that the most inter- 
 est and energy centered in the war. the paper found time to 
 fight a battle that won cleaner streets and better pavements; 
 to fighl the Ellsworth Gag Mill and help kill it; to publish 
 
 an expose of Buffalo gambling places followed, in one week, 
 
 bj the closing of the places by the sheriff; a stand against 
 pii/.e fighting in Erie County that prevented the McCoy- 
 Coibetl fight scheduled to take place at Cheektowaga. in 
 April, 1898, Mr. Butler, entertained the Republican editors 
 of New York State. It was ;| memorable gathering of 
 journalists ;i\;A included many distinguished men. It closed 
 with a banquet at the Ellicott Club at which Governor 
 Black and other prominent men of the Stale and time 
 were present, to the Dumber of more than Kill. The year 
 closed with a great campaign for Th Ion- Roosevelt for 
 
 governor, in which the News was successful in winning for 
 its candidate a great majority in western New York. 
 
 189!) 
 
 Through the early part of 1899 the News furthered the 
 interests of the Pan-American Exposition plan with the result 
 that the bill won with a large majority. In May of that year 
 one of the News' representatives drove the first stake on the 
 exposition site. The year also witnessed the adoption of 
 the News' plan to place libraries in the fire houses throughout 
 the city; a successful crusade against concert halls, and gener- 
 ous efforts in behalf of the returned Spanish-American sol- 
 diers. Halftone cuts were first introduced in the News in 
 that year and were used to profusely illustrate a great story 
 of the Dewey Jubilee in New York. During the interna- 
 tional yacht races two miniature yachts, traveling on wires 
 high over Main Street, gave thousands 
 of people immediate information of 
 the progress of the race between the 
 Columbia ind Shamrock. 
 
 1900 
 
 The beginning of the new century 
 was covered by one of the most re- 
 markable chronological features ever 
 published by any newspaper and cov- 
 ered the principal events of the pre- 
 ceding one hundred years. Christmas 
 boxes were called for by the News and 
 sent to the soldiers in the Philippines 
 by special arrangement made by the 
 paper. The News led the agitation 
 for the use of the old Seventy-fourth 
 Regiment Armory for a Convention 
 Hall, a business achievement that has 
 paid Buffalo a great return. The 
 agitations against crossings at grade 
 and against so-called "boxing match- 
 es" that were really nothing more 
 than prize fights, were continued with 
 favorable results. The Boxer Rebel- 
 lion in China was the greatest news 
 
 event of the year and was handled by the News in a 
 
 thorough and able manner. 
 
 1901 
 
 This year brought Buffalo's crowning £<l ur . v — the Pan- 
 American Exposition — a glory in which the Evening News 
 shared for it was largely through the efforts of the paper that 
 the project materialized and became possible. Long before 
 the opening day the newspaper's reportorial start' was formed, 
 equipped, and ready for service. No paper in the city was 
 able to duplicate the interesting chronicle of events as they 
 transpired and were printed in the News. The paper gave 
 to the city its first knowledge of the assassination of President 
 McKinlev in the Temple of Music, through its "extra" 
 which appeared on the streets in advance of any of its com- 
 petitors. All during the time the President was hovering 
 
THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 : i ■ 
 
 between life and death at the Milburn house the News ae 
 counts were accurate and the most reliable published. After 
 
 his death the paper suggested thai agreal mom >nt, some 
 
 thing commensurate with the late President's beautiful life 
 and career, be erected in Buffalo. The suggestion was fol- 
 lowed by a successful editorial representation which led up to 
 the passage of the bill in 1902 appropriating one hundred 
 thousand dollars. A commission was appointed of which 
 Mr. Butler was made chairman. The designs of Carrere 
 & Hastings, of New York, were accepted, and the center 
 of Niagara Square was chosen for a site. There the monu- 
 ment was erected, in front of the old home of President 
 Millard Fillmore, and today constitutes one of the city's 
 most beautiful spots. The monument was unveiled Sep- 
 tember 5th, 1907, Governor Hughes being the principal 
 speaker, and a large number of distinguished men. regular 
 and state troops and civic societies 
 being present. The guests of honor 
 were the membersof theGrand Army 
 of the Republic, who marched by 
 thousands to pay respect to the memory 
 of their old comrade the late Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 1902 
 
 In 1902 the News shared in the 
 benefits that had accrued from the 
 Pan-American Exposition of the year 
 before. New industries came and 
 greater prosperity was enjoyed than 
 ever before in the history of the city. 
 The News devoted columns to the ex- 
 ploitation of the Niagara Frontier as 
 an industrial mecca and never was an 
 opportunity lost to impress manufac- 
 turers with the desirability of Buffalo 
 as a manufacturing center. This cam- 
 paign in favor of Buffalo was notable 
 and 1 nought hundreds of industries. 
 The News also conducted a general 
 crusade against the sale of bad meat. 
 
 The corps of reporters investigated every cooling house, 
 stockyard, and slaughter place in or near the city and liter- 
 ally forced a complete rejuvenation ami the observation of 
 all laws of sanitation and cleanliness. 
 
 The year 1902 was also remarkable in the history of the 
 paper for the beginning of the greatest campaign it ever 
 waged, and the most successful one in a broad sense. In 
 April the Legislature had voted down the proposition to 
 spend thirty-two million dollars in improving the main canals. 
 The project of canal enlargement was regarded as dead. 
 In July the News took up the idea of canal enlargement, 
 advocating a channel large enough to carry barges of a thou- 
 sand-ton cargo, and warned the Republicans of the State 
 that if they neglected in their State platform to stand for that 
 policy the county of Erie would go solidly Democratic, be- 
 cause the Democrats were going to make it part of their 
 policy in their platform. A vigorous debate sprang up. con- 
 
 ducted mainly on o 1 on the other by 
 
 the anti-canal pre.. f the J bill the political point made 
 
 was so clear thai the Repub .pied the doc- 
 
 trine of the News and 1 1 
 
 platform adopted ii in even I In,., both 
 
 parlies agreed to the principle and thai lead to the main fighl 
 at the opening of the Legislature in the following kcar when 
 the Governor's message dealt at length with the subject and 
 
 it became the si bitterly contested measure of the session. 
 
 The campaign, which was begun by the News in the 
 
 summer of 1902 for tin- construct^ f a canal capable of 
 
 carrying thousand-ton barges, was carried over into 1908 
 before il resulted in complete triumph. Both political parlies 
 adopted the policy 6rst demanded bj the News 1>\ recom- 
 mending it in their platform in the fall of 1902. When the 
 Legislature assembled in 1903 a message from Governor 
 
 A VIEW IX Till: PRINTING DEPARTMENT 
 
 Odell was regarded as unfriendly in t ■ with reference to 
 
 the project, hut after a campaign of three months in the 
 Legislature enough votes were obtained in both houses to 
 pass a bill to appropriate one hundred ami one million dollars 
 for the enterprise on condition that the project should !"■ 
 approved by the people by direct vole at the general elec- 
 tion in November of thai year. 
 
 following the adjournment of the Legislature with the 
 
 Kill in llial situation, the NEWS led in the campaign for adop- 
 tion by the people as il had done during die campaign for 
 approval of the policy in the previous year. Il continued a 
 
 contest of the utmost vigor, and employed all ils resources t" 
 
 persuade the electorate- to complete the proposal by their 
 approval, and il had the satisfaction in November of seeing 
 the law ratified b\ a majority of nearly two hundred fifty 
 
 thousand of the popular vote. When the result was an- 
 nounced th<' News and its proprietor received scores 
 
246 
 
 THE CITY OF BUFFALO. 
 
 messages of congratulation from statesmen, newspapers, and 
 private citizens engaged in business, commending it for the 
 pr< longed and successful warfare that it had waged in behalf 
 of the greatesl measure ever submitted to the people of any 
 state for their approval. 
 
 Alarmed by the Cornell typhoid epidemic, the News 
 began a fighl for better water, more sewage facilities, and 
 made an urgent call for the exercise of care and prudence 
 to the end thai epidemics might be forestalled. A market 
 house for the Black Hock section was also championed by 
 th<' News. While il was nol immediately forthcoming there 
 is no doubt but that the work performed by the News at that 
 time "ill resull very soon in the establishment of a market 
 house such a^ i- to be found in other sections of tin- city. 
 
 THE STEREOTYPING DEPARTMENT 
 
 1904 
 
 The greatest news feature of 1904 was the Japanese- 
 Russian War. This was covered fully, liotli pictorially and 
 otherwise, by the News. Aside from the Associated Press 
 reports, which were remarkably accurate and complete, 
 special features of great value were secured and offered the 
 News readers regularly. During the year, also, there was a 
 revival of the agitation for a new Union Station, a project 
 thai has ever had the hearty support of the News, with the 
 resull thai a new commission was appointed, and for the 
 first time something tangible in the way of an offer was 
 secured from the allied railroads. It seems probable, at 
 this writing, that this will soon resull in a new station for 
 Buffalo. Politically the News was a stronger factor than 
 ever in 1904 and attracted much attention by its masterh 
 campaign for Roosevelt and Fairbanks on the national ticket 
 and Honorable Prank W. Higgins, of Olean, New York, for 
 governor. In western New York the majorities for both the 
 national and state tickets were flattering tributes to the News. 
 
 The paper also called the supervisors to account for extrava- 
 gant expenditures. Another feature of the year was the 
 News 1 support of Honorable Senator Chauncey M. Depew, 
 which was followed by triumphant success and Senator 
 Depew's selection to succeed himself as Senator from the 
 Empire State. 
 
 1905 
 
 In 11)0.5 the News fought the fight for the unfortunate 
 depositors of the defunct (Herman Bank. It was largely 
 through the indefatigable energy and persistence of the paper 
 that the transgressors were brought to account and forced 
 to pay a sum of money that returned the depositors about 
 seventy-five per cent of their losses. The year also marked 
 a fight against increased insurance 
 rates; a demand that the pool rooms 
 that existed throughout the city be 
 closed and gambling stopped. 
 
 1000 
 
 In 1000 occurred the North Street 
 cemetery scandal and expose in which 
 the News took no small part, show- 
 ing up the guilty men and demand- 
 ing their punishment. Much space 
 was given, too, to the South Buffalo 
 flood abatement plans and the News 
 was. and has ever been, the untiring 
 champion of the people living in the 
 Hood section. In June of that year 
 occurred another merciless investiga- 
 tion of the meat packing establish- 
 ments, the stock yards, and the retail 
 meat dealers' shops, that resulted in 
 a general cleaning up and better san- 
 itary conditions than had existed in 
 years. 
 
 1007 
 
 A campaign for good roads in western New York and 
 for better pavements in the city marked the year 1907. Edi- 
 torially, pictorially, and in its news columns the paper fought 
 for increased expenditures on the public highways and for 
 the promotion of good road building throughout the state. 
 At this writing the campaign is bearing fruit and the roads 
 of western New York are reaching a high degree of perfection. 
 Much space was also devoted to the University extension 
 movement — the enlargement of the University of Buffalo. 
 This, too, bore fruit and now Buffalo is well on the way to 
 possession of one of the finest universities in the East. The 
 News gave its undivided support to Old Home Week, which 
 was a feature of 1907 — a municipal holiday week that has 
 never been equalled in Buffalo and in but few other cities. 
 
 The year 1908 finds the News at a higher point of pros- 
 perity and of influence than it has known, even in the most 
 conspicuous of the years that have been mentioned. Its 
 proprietor was made a delegate-at-large from the State of 
 Xew York to the National Republican Convention at Chicago, 
 
THE CITY OF 111 I FALO. 
 
 247 
 
 that nominated Taft and Sherman. The close relations 
 existing between Mr. Butler and the administrations at both 
 Washington and Albany bring him more frequently and 
 intimately into contact with the ruling political Forces of the 
 United States than at any other time in his personal career. 
 The News, itself, is better equipped with material resources 
 than has ever been possible until the current year, and it is 
 entering upon the great contest involving control of the 
 nation and of the State with the greatest vigor and under 
 the splendid generalship for which it has been so long 
 distinguished. 
 
 Edward Hubert Butler, proprietor of the Buffalo 
 
 Evening News and Buffalo Sunday News, was born iti LeRoj . 
 Genesee County, New York, in 1850. lie attended public 
 schools and also studied under private instructors in acquiring 
 his education. lie gained his first uewspaper experience on 
 the staff of the LeRoy Gazette. Afterwards, he became 
 connected with the Scranton Times, as City Editor, and 
 still later was city editor, with a financial interest, in the 
 Scranton Free Press. In 1873 he came to Buffalo and 
 established the Sunday News. That paper was enlarged 
 twice before the establishment of the daily News. 
 
 In 187!), Mr. Butler established the Bradford Sunday 
 News, which he continued to own and to publish for four 
 years, when he sold it to be able to give more time to the 
 
 Buffalo Evening News, which he established in October, 
 1880. 
 
 Mr. Butler was elector-at-large on the Republican ticket 
 i:i 1S!)<;, and again in l!)(ll). In the latter year, he was 
 chairman of the Board of Electors <>< the Stale, lie was a 
 delegate-at-large in 1908 to th< Republican National < on 
 vention at Chicago. 
 
 lie has Keen a member of die Board of Trustees of the 
 
 State Normal Scl 1 in Buffalo for manv years, ami President 
 
 <>f the Board during the la-t three year,. He i. President of 
 the board of Trustees of the Grosvenor Library, and a 
 director of the Society of Natural Sciences. He has been 
 a member of the Grade Crossings Commission since its 
 organization twenty years ago. He i^ President of the 
 Buffalo Daily Newspaper Publishers' Association, was for- 
 merly Vice-President of die United Press, ami afterwards a 
 director of the Associated Press. He has served as Presi- 
 dent <>f the State Editorial Association. He is a mem- 
 ber of the Buffalo, Ellicott, Park, and Country Clubs 
 in Buffalo; the Lotus, the Larchmont Club in New York; 
 (lover Club in Philadelphia, ami Capital <itv Club in 
 Atlanta. 
 
 Mr. Butler married Miss Man E. Barber, of West 
 Pittston, daughter of Major William I), barber. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Butler were the parents of four children, of whom 
 two. a son and daughter, survive. Mrs. butler died in 1893. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Lafayette Square 
 
 Niagara Square 
 
 City Hall 
 
 I )elaware Park Lake 
 
 Brisbane Building 
 
 Delaware Park 
 
 Federal Building 
 
 Lily Pond. Delaware Park 
 
 South Park Conservatory 
 
 Park Lake, Delaware Park 
 
 ( lutes Circle 
 
 Arch Bridge, Delaware Park 
 
 Pulilic Library 
 
 Bidwell Parkway 
 
 Richmond Avenue 
 
 The Zoo, Delaware Park 
 
 Seal Pool. The Zoo 
 
 Crosvenor Library 
 
 Young Men's Christian Association Building.. 
 
 Country Club 
 
 ' Chamber of Commerce 
 
 Bear Pit, the Zoo 
 
 Mutual Life Building 
 
 Wading Pool, Humboldt Park 
 
 Spaulding Building 
 
 Builders' Exchange 
 
 Tow Path. Erie Canal 
 
 \\ ater Front 
 
 The Castle, Fort Porter 
 
 ( lentral High School 
 
 Lafayette High School 
 
 Masten Park High School 
 
 Sixty-Fifth Regiment Armory 
 
 Seventy-Fourth Regiment Armory 
 
 Ethnology Building 
 
 ( hand Court 
 
 The Electric Tower 
 
 Temple of Music 
 
 Removal of Body of President McKinley, etc. 
 
 Residence of Ansley Wilcox 
 
 Albright Art Gallery 
 
 State Normal School 
 
 Historical Society Building 
 
 Ore Dock. Jackknife Bridge 
 
 Scissors Bridge 
 
 Entrance to Forest Lawn 
 
 Marine National Bank 
 
 Manufacturers' and Traders' National Bank.. 
 
 Third National Bank 
 
 Bank of Buffalo 
 
 6 
 8 
 9 
 in 
 II 
 12 
 15 
 16 
 17 
 18 
 21 
 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 2!) 
 30 
 30 
 31 
 31 
 32 
 32 
 33 
 33 
 3<i 
 37 
 38 
 39 
 39 
 40 
 41 
 42 
 44 
 15 
 4l'i 
 
 18 
 
 4>l 
 ,">0 
 51 
 
 54 
 56 
 
 58 
 61 
 62 
 63 
 64 
 
 i 
 
 People's Bank 
 
 ( 'il i/.eiis' Bank of Buffalo 
 
 Interior View Union Slock Yards Bank 
 
 Erie County Savings Bank 
 
 Buffalo Savings Bank 
 
 Fidelty Trusl I lompany 
 
 ( iernian Insurance Building 
 
 The Dun Building 
 
 Blast . Lackawanna Steel Company 
 
 Lackawanna Steel Company 
 
 Buffalo & Susquehanna Iron i lompany 
 
 The Prati & Letchworth Company 
 
 Buffalo Union Furnace Company 
 
 Buffalo Pitts ( lompany 
 
 Lake Erie Engineering Company, The 
 
 Lake Erie Boiler Works, The. 
 Buffalo Forge Company, The 
 
 Easl Buffalo Iron Works 
 
 larrar & Trelt 
 
 Buffalo Structural Si eel Company. The 
 
 Seneca Iron and Steel Company. The 
 
 Thomas. Motor Company, The E. H 
 
 Pierce. ( lompany, The < ieorge N" 
 
 Imperial Motor Company 
 
 ( His Elevator < lompany, The 
 
 I. & I. .1. White i lompany 
 
 Reims. The J, R, Mills 
 
 Pratt & Lambert . . 
 
 Delaney Forge and Iron Company. The.. 
 
 Kellogg Elevators, A. & B 
 
 Schoellkopf, Hartford. & Hanna Company, The. 
 
 Niagara I all- Hydraulic Power anil Manufacturing Company. The 1 
 
 Ontario Power Company, The 
 
 L. M. Erricsson Telephone Manufacturing Company . 
 
 Schoellkopf & Company 
 
 Buffalo Gasolene Motor Company., 
 
 ( Irosby < lompany, The 
 
 Buffalo Cement Company . 
 
 Buffalo Cereal Company, The 
 
 11. -O. Company. The 
 
 \\ iUiara P raylor Company, The 
 Lang, < lerhard Brewery. The . . 
 Iroquois Brewing ( lompany, The 
 
 Beck, Magnus. Brewing Company. The 
 
 Simon, \\ imam, Brewing Company 
 
 Phoenix Brewing Company. The 
 
 i ,, i man- Unerican Brewing Company, '1 hi 
 
 Lake View Brewing Company. The 
 
 Schreiber, The A.. Brewing Company .. . 
 International Brewing < 'ompany, I he 
 
 07 
 
 70 
 
 72 
 
 71 
 7^ 
 BO 
 82 
 
 85 
 88 
 DO 
 91 
 92 
 
 94 
 95 
 95 
 90 
 
 '■7 
 os 
 
 IIMI 
 1(11 
 1112 
 lilt 
 104 
 108 
 106 
 109 
 I Hi 
 
 II 2 
 113 
 
 15 6 
 117 
 lis 
 120 
 I 22 
 123 
 124 
 126 
 
 13(1 
 
 131 
 135 
 
 249 
 
250 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Broadway Brewing and Malting Company, The. 136 
 
 ( iermania Brewing ( !ompany 140 
 
 ( 'liulon Star Brewery 140 
 
 Bickford & Francis Belting Company 151 
 
 Scatcherd .v Son 145 
 
 Buffalo Storage and Carting Company 154 
 
 Iroquois Hotel 100 
 
 Lenox Hotel 161 
 
 Lafayette Hotel, The 162 
 
 Public Service 163 
 
 Power House, International Railway Company 163 
 
 < M.I Horse Car 104 
 
 New Trolley Car 165 
 
 Bell Telephone Company 160 
 
 Frontier Telephone Company 168 
 
 Buffalo i i:^ • lompany 169 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Flint & Kent 172 
 
 Adam, Meldrum i Anderson Company, The 173 
 
 William Hengerer Company, The 175 
 
 Sweeney Company, The 178 
 
 Meldrum, H. A., Company 179 
 
 Williams, Charles H., Residence 187 
 
 White Building 230 
 
 The Buffalo Evening News Building 239 
 
 Edward H. Butler's Private Office 240 
 
 The Buffalo News Counting Room 241 
 
 A Corner in the Editorial Rooms 242 
 
 A Section of the Composition Department 243 
 
 A ( lorner in the News Photo-Engraving Department 244 
 
 A View of the Printing Department 245 
 
 The Stereotyping Department 246 
 
INDEX 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 CHAPTER 1 — The First White Visitors, etc 
 
 CHAPTER II— Reverend Timothy Dwight'sI Ibservations,eti 
 
 CHAPTER III— Return of the Refugees, etc 
 
 CHAPTER IV — First Railroad Connection, etc 
 
 CHAPTER V — First Street Railroad, i re 
 
 CHAPTER VI— The Erie Canal, etc 
 
 CHAPTER VII -Financial Depression, etc 
 
 CHAPTER VIII — The Pan-American Exposition, etc 
 
 CHAPTER I \ \-s-vvssi nation oi President McKinlet, et< 
 CHAPTER X — City's Rapid Strides Since Exposition, etc 
 
 SOMETHING ABOUT BUFFAD I 
 
 SHIPPING 
 
 p ao i 
 5 
 
 I I 
 20 
 26 
 29 
 35 
 38 
 43 
 17 
 52 
 
 LIVE STOCK 55 
 
 RAILROADS 56 
 
 HARBOR AND BREAKWATER 56 
 
 CHURCHES 58 
 
 FINANCIAL INTERESTS 60 
 
 MANUFACTURING INTERESTS 82 
 
 BREWING INTERESTS 127 
 
 LUMBER INTERESTS I 12 
 
 DEPARTMENT STORES 171 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE MEN ISO 
 
 BUSINESS INTERESTS 151 
 
 HOTELS 160 
 
 BEN< 'II AND BAR 205 
 
 THE BUFFALO EVENING NEWS 238 
 
 Adam, The J. N., ( lompany 176 7 
 
 Adam. Meldrum & Anderson Company 172-3 I 
 
 Adam. Robert B 171 
 
 Adam, Robert Borthwick I 7M 
 
 Alexander. Honorable De Alva S 222—3 
 
 Andrews, William H 108 
 
 Bapst , Frank L I .")."> 
 
 Baker, Howard II 191 
 
 Baker. John II 71 1 7 
 
 The Bank of Buffalo 63-64 
 
 Bass. Lyman M - 1 1 
 
 Bassett, George B 203 
 
 Beals & Company 1 ■"> 1 
 
 Beek. The Magnus. Brewing Company 102 
 
 Becker, Edward G 7,'i 
 
 Bell Telephone Company 1 • • - _ > 6 
 
 Bennet t , Lewis J 122 
 
 Biekford & Francis Belting Company 151 
 
 Bissell, Herbert P 211 
 
 Blair, William E 119 
 
 Boiler, Charles. & Suns ( lompany 149 
 
 Brendel, Henry W 231 
 
 Brisbane Building, The 235 
 
 Broadway Brewing and Malting Company, The 139 
 
 Buffalo Cereal ( !ompany, The 123 
 
 Buffalo City < lemetery 58 
 
 Buffalo Dredging Company, The 155 
 
 Buffalo Forge ( 'ompany, The 93 
 
 Buffalo Gas Company, The 169 70 
 
 Buffalo Gasolene Motor Company 117-8 
 
 Buffalo German Insurance Company, The 77 8 
 
 Buffalo General Electric Company. The Ill 
 
 Buffalo Natural < las Company . 
 
 Buffalo Piiis ( 'ompany, I he 
 
 Buffalo Savings Bank, The 
 
 Buffalo Storage and * larl inl' ' Company 
 Buffalo Structural Steel Company .. , 
 Buffalo I iii. .ii Furnace < Company, The 
 Buffalo .v Susquehanna Iron Company 
 Biislinell. Clarence M . 
 
 Butler, Edward II 
 
 Burgard, Henry P 
 
 Citizens' Bank ol Buffalo The .... 
 Clinton, ( ieorge . . 
 
 < 'Union. Spencer 
 
 Clinton-Star Brewing ( 'ompany . 
 
 ( loatsworth, Edward E 
 
 Cook,. Waller P 
 
 ( lorey, Fred D.. 
 
 ( i'o>liv 1 'ompany. The 
 
 ( Yo-liv. William 11 
 
 Cox, Honorable Robert L 
 
 I (ark a i lompany 
 
 I lark, Samuel .1 
 
 Davis, Honorable ( ieorge A 
 
 Delaney Forge and iron Company. The.. 
 I icpew . i Sanson . . 
 
 I lesbecker, Louis E 
 
 I ie\ me. The J. I' . ( lompany . ... 
 
 Holm, Albert F 
 
 Donaldson. Robert S. 
 
 Dun & Company. R. II 
 
 Emerson. ( ieorge I) 
 
 Emerson. Henry P 
 
 Engineers' Society of Western New York 
 
 Ericsson, The L. M., Telephone Manufacturing Company, 
 
 Erie County Savings Bank 
 
 Farrar & Trefls 
 
 Fasselt. Theodore S . 
 
 The Fidelity Trust ( lompany 
 
 Fischer. Louis A 
 
 Fix, Charles .1 
 
 Flint & Kent 
 
 Frontier Telephone ( lompany 
 
 ( ieorgi, < (scar F 
 
 Genua nia Brewing Company. The 
 
 German-American Brewing Company, rh< 
 ( iibson, Thomas M 
 ( ioodyear, ( lharles W . . 
 
 i ioodyear, Frank II 
 
 Goodyear Lumber Company, The 
 ( iral wick. Frederick C. 
 Gratwick, William II 
 ( Iral « ick, \\ illiam II 
 
 Grein, < lharles C 
 
 i Ireiner, I 'red 
 
 I lammond, Richard . 
 
 Harrington, Eugene W .. , 
 
 Hazel. John R 
 
 He 1 Roto rl 1! 
 
 Hengerer, I Idward 1. 
 
 PAOI 
 
 I7n 
 
 .712 
 
 "|| 
 
 84 5 6 
 
 218 9 
 
 217 
 
 204 
 
 219 20 
 
 IK) 
 
 221 
 
 120 1 
 
 121 
 
 157 
 
 156 
 
 J j i 
 105 6 ; 
 
 121 :. 
 
 lis g 
 70 i 
 
 so 
 
 200 
 199 
 204 
 
 III :. ii 
 
 69 70 
 
 94 •'. 
 
 . 1 16 
 
 . 73 I 
 
 lis 
 
 jo J . 
 
 171 2 
 Ins 
 
 ■ 
 1 III I 
 [35 
 171 
 I 13 
 I 12 
 
 I is 
 
 - 
 
 25 1 
 
252 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 William Hengerer Company, The.... 
 
 Hickman. Arthur W 
 
 Hill, William II . ... 
 
 1 1 i i i 'ompany. The 
 
 Hotchkiss, William II 
 
 Howard, David C. 
 
 I toward, < ieorge K . 
 
 I [oward, Joseph ...... 
 
 Hoyt, William B.... 
 
 Huntley, Charles H 
 
 Hutchinson, Ekiward II 
 
 Imperial Motor < 'ompany 
 
 International Brewing Company, The 
 International Railway Company 
 
 Iroquois Brewing < !ompany, The 
 
 Iroquois Hotel .... . 
 Irwin. Dudley M . . . 
 
 Jones, John I 
 
 Jones, < iaptain Joseph I 
 Keim, The John R., Mills 
 
 Kennedy Ilic'li 
 
 Kenefick, Daniel J 
 
 Kellogg, The Spencer, • 'ompany 
 
 Kinch, W illiarn II ... . 
 Knoll, August us II 
 Knoll & Tureeon 
 
 PAGE 
 
 171 5 
 
 220 
 
 12 1 
 
 124 
 
 216 
 
 107 
 
 195 
 
 106 
 
 216-7 
 
 . 114 
 
 190 I 
 
 101 
 
 138 
 
 163 I 
 
 131 
 
 160 
 
 194 ."> 
 
 177 
 
 184 
 
 104 
 
 87 
 
 . 211 
 
 108 -9 
 
 156 
 
 79 
 
 79 
 
 Lackawanna Steel Company. The 82—3—4 
 
 Lafayette Hotel, The.. 161 
 
 Lake Erie Boiler Works, The 93 
 
 Lake Erie Engineering Company ... , 92 
 
 Lake View Brewing ( ompany. The ... 135 ii 
 
 Lang, The Gerhard, Brewery 130 
 
 Lenox Hotel, The Hil 
 
 Letchworth, Jonah . . 89 90 
 
 Letchworth, ( Igden P 89 
 
 Lockwood, Thomas B 218 
 
 Machemer, Carl G . . 178-9 
 
 Mali 1 1 y < ieorge W 157 
 
 Maun. Elbert B.... 171-2 
 
 The Manufacturers and Traders National Hank H2 
 
 The Marine Valumal Hank (11 
 
 McEachren, Neil . . His 
 
 McNaughton, Pliny B !,->(; 
 
 Meadows, Williams & Company 75 
 
 Meldrum, H. A.. Company \~\\ 
 
 Miller, Edwin G. S 130-1 
 
 Mitchell, .lame- McC 212-3 
 
 Moot, \delhert 209 
 
 Morse, I lavid H ls:j 
 
 Mosier, < lharles 158-9 
 
 Mosier & Summers 158-9 
 
 Murray, Fred < > 201 
 
 Mutual Life Building, The 235 
 
 Niagara Falls Hydraulic Tower and Manufacturing Company ,The 111-2 
 
 Noonan, Thomas II 226 
 
 Norton. Porter 213 
 
 < 1 Doimell. Richard L J97 
 
 Ontario Power Company of Niagara Falls 112-3-4 
 
 Otis Elevator Company, The _ 102 
 
 Packard. Mark p,U 
 
 Pankow, Charles G pju 
 
 Pardee. 1 lharles W 77 
 
 Peoples' Hank. The .64-5-6 
 
 Phoenix Brewing < ompany, The 133 
 
 Pierce, The George N., Company 100 
 
 Pierce, I loctor Hay V 10;, 
 
 Pittsburg & Buffalo Company ]53 
 
 Pomeroy. Robert W 231-2 
 
 PACK 
 
 Pooley, Charles A 214 
 
 Pratt & Lambert 107-8 
 
 Pratt & Letchworth Company 88-9 
 
 Ramsdell, Thomas T 167-8 
 
 Rankine, De Lancey 194 
 
 Robinson, John W 147 
 
 Rogers, William A 86 
 
 Root. Francis H ." 181 
 
 Rumsey, Bronson ( '.: Rumsey, Dexter P 182-3 
 
 Scatcherd, John X 144 
 
 Schaefer, Phillip G 136-7 
 
 Schoellkopf, Hartford. Hanna Company. The 110-1 
 
 Schoellkopf, Jacob F 1 10-1 
 
 Schoellkopf. Jacob F 180 
 
 Schoellkopf & Company 116-7 
 
 Schreiber, A.. Brewing ' 'ompany 137 
 
 Schwartz, John L 139-40 
 
 Seneca Iron and Steel Company 96-7 
 
 Sheperd, William T 87 
 
 Sid way. Frank. Sr 233 
 
 Simon. The William. Brewing Company 134 
 
 Smith. James 201 
 
 Smith. James M 200 
 
 Smith, Philip S 225 
 
 Smith. Thomas Guilford. A.M., C.E., LL.D 185-6 
 
 Snyder, Abraham 119 
 
 Snyder. Frank 154-5 
 
 Sprague, Carlton 206 
 
 Sprague, Eben C 205 
 
 Sprague, Henry W 210 
 
 Spratt, Maurice C 217 
 
 Steele, John T 76 
 
 Strebel, Edward B 221-2 
 
 Sturm. Charles F 202 
 
 Summers, William 159 
 
 Sweeney Company, The 177-8 
 
 Sweeney, James. Sr 188-9 
 
 Sweeney, James. Jr 189 
 
 Sweeney. John F 177-8 
 
 Third National Bank 63 
 
 Thomas, The E. R., Motor Company 97-8-9 
 
 Thompson, Augustus P 189 
 
 Thompson, R. H., Company 152 
 
 Timmerman, Clark H 229 
 
 T indie. Thomas 148 
 
 Trapp, Christian 129 
 
 Turgeon, Newton E 80 
 
 Union Stock Yards Bank of Buffalo 67 
 
 Urban. George, Jr 192 
 
 Walz. Hiram 6S 
 
 Watson, Henry M 166-7 
 
 Ward. Francis G 198-9 
 
 Weaver. F. P., Coal Company 152 
 
 Wheeler, ( lharles B 208 
 
 Wheeler, Edwin S 177 
 
 White Building, The 236-7 
 
 L. & I. J. White Company 103-4 
 
 Wickser, John G 197 
 
 Wilcox, Ansley 209 
 
 Wilkinson, M. L 175 
 
 Williams, Charles E 155 
 
 Williams, Charles H 1S6-7 
 
 Wilson, Walter T 1S7-S 
 
 Williams, Harry D 228 
 
 Wilson, Charles R 224 
 
 Wright, A. J., & Company 74-5 
 
 Viele, Sheldon T 215 
 
 Zimmermann, George M 149 
 
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