Get Acquainted with Main Street

Our neighborhood here on Main Street is about two miles long. When house numbers on Main Street are mentioned, odd numbers will be on the East side of the street. Buildings designated (NR) are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mayle Cottage - 551 Main Street, Cottage of East Lake design, built around 1890 and kept in the original design., except for the small recent addition. The cottage at 547 next door is of similar design,

Clarke House - 419 Walnut Avenue - This small native fieldstone house is across from the Post Office on Walnut. The stone for the home was removed from a railroad cut near Devil's Hole. Charles E. Clarke, a railroad engineer built the house, in the 1840's. The downtown Railroad Station and a school were also built of stone from the same source, but have since been torn down.

Main Post Office (NR) - 615 Main Street at the corner of Walnut and Main Street. It was designed as Niagara Falls' Federal Building, and housed not only the Main Post Office, but also the Collector of Customs and other Federal offices. In his address at the dedication of the Corner-Stone in 1906, the Niagara Falls Gazette quoted the Hon. Mayor O.W. Cutler: "Being erected on the highest eminence in Niagara county, its towering structure will ever serve as a monument to the suremacy (sic) of our government." (we do not think the Post Office is located on the highest point of Niagara County)

Unitarian Universalist Church - 639 Main Street - A history of this church states: "Work on the excavation for the new building was started on July 20, 1921, and proceeded with difficulty because it was solid rock. The rock, however, broken up into the proper sizes, on the recommendation of the (building) committee, served as the rubble exterior with which the outside of the building is faced."

Wrights Park (now called Cenotaph Park) - at Main, Park Place and Pine (across the street from Manchester House) contains war memorials for the period after the Civil War. A Civil War monument is in the State Park near Old Falls Street. The Main Street park is the location of annual Memorial Day and Flag Day civic ceremonies.

Paul A. Schoellkopf House - 730 Main Street - Built in 1902 by Frederick J. Lovelace, a prominent lawyer. Purchased by the Paul Schoellkopf family in 1915 and occupied by his family until 1949. This house was located next to the larger home of his father, Arthur Schoellkopf (the site now occupied by a Gas Station). Paul, along with Arthur and Jacob were leaders in developing Niagara's Hydro-Electric power. In common with other houses in town, an addition turns this historic house into a law firm's office building.

James Davy House, 742 Main Street - was built in 1893 by Davy, who owned Davy Pulp and Paper Company. The Queen Anne style exterior is essentially as it was originally constructed; the building houses the Hooper Real Estate Agency.

Gassler House - 770 Main Street - was built in 1892 by Frank E. Johnson. In 1902, it was occupied by the William Gassler family who operated Gassler's Bakery on the corner of Main and Niagara Streets. This building is noteworthy because the original house is so well-hidden by the "modern" Office addition. The First Presbyterian Church of Niagara Falls has a stained glass window donated by the Gassler family.

Niagara Falls City Hall - Main Street at Cedar Avenue - The 1925, $439,203 building is not particularly noteworthy; but the three statues in front are important art objects. Here is an excerpt from a Niagara Gazette December 14, 1991 story :

"The statue on the right is of William Birch Rankine… Mr. Rankine first came to Niagara Falls in 1877.. (and) immediately saw the potential of the massive amounts of water power available here. It was Rankine's nearly single-minded dedication that wove diverse interests and ideas together to create the Niagara Falls Power Company in 1889. In addition he actively attracted new industries to the area, recently born companies such as the Carborundum Company, the Shredded Wheat Company, and the Pittsburgh Reduction Company which has evolved into what is now known as ALCOA. "

"The second statue is of Arthur Schoellkopf, Jacob's son. It was Jacob Schoellkopf's purchase of a virtually abandoned hydraulic canal that began Niagara's gradual climb to world fame as an electrical center. In 1878, Arthur and Jacob formed the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company which used water power from the canal to turn millstones of the flour and paper mills arrayed along the top of the gorge (the present location of the Discovery Center). In 1895 construction began on a powerhouse in the gorge. This would evolve over the next 30 years into the mighty Schoellkopf Power Station."

"The statues, along with the symbolic figure between them representing the birth of water power, are the work of J. W. Fraser. Among his achievements were the design of the Buffalo Nickel, which circulated between 1913 and 1938, the Alexander Hamilton Memorial in Washington, DC, and the 1915 World's Fair gold medal winning statue 'The End of the Trail'." The approximately $24,000 (about $250,000 in year 2004 dollars) paid for the statues in 1925 was raised by public subscription - which included a $250 check from J. Pierpoint Morgan.

Keen observers have pointed out that Mr. Rankine's coat is buttoned the wrong way - with the right side lapel over the left, making it appear that William is wearing a woman's coat.

 

New York State Armory - Corner of Main and Spruce Streets - built in 1895 to house the 42nd Separate Company organized in 1885; the Armory building was constructed according to plans drawn by State Architect I. G. Perry. The big drill hall is 80 by 120 feet.

Walker House - 921 Main Street - Was one of the first two houses built in the Hamlet of Clarksville, named for Henry W. Clark who owned and farmed Lot 39 of the Mile Strip. Mr. Walker, who built the house, was the founder of Walker's Laundry. The house was converted into a restaurant.

The Carnegie Library (NR) - 1022 Main Street - Erected in 1904, was largely funded by a $50,000 grant from steel manufacturer Andrew Carnegie. This building was designed by E. Joralemon, and features stained-glass skylights and once had a second level whose floor was made of glass blocks. The building is now used for City Offices.

Bramer's Tavern - 1402 Main Street at Pierce Avenue - According to Marjorie F. Williams "Christopher Hiller. Jr. built this tavern between 1875 and 1886, and operated it until his death in 1911. The next to own it was his son-in-law Jacob Soell until his death in 1932. John F. Bramer, Jr. took over the tavern until his son followed him in 1961. The Bramers were related to the Soell family, which makes the tavern having been kept by relations from its building until the present." Ms. Williams gives this description of the building: "Two story wood frame Italianate structure kept almost entirely in its original form. The exterior clapboard has been covered with shingle, the wood floor covered with linoleum and modern light fixtures installed. The original bar with foot rail remaining as well as the original tables which were built by local carpenter Jacob Kilberer."

Pierce Avenue - is named for Gad Pierce, perhaps the first permanent settler in this area. He opened a tavern to provide refreshment to portage workers hauling goods along Portage Road between the upper Niagara River and Lewiston. Pierce Avenue marks the southern boundary of the former Village of Suspension Bridge. The village was named for John A. Roebling's engineering marvel, constructed between 1851 and 1853, which provided Niagara's International road and rail link across the river. Construction of the bridge brought many skilled workmen to the area. Subsequently the resulting rail traffic made Suspension Bridge a busy center for shipping. When the Suspension Bridge was first placed into operation, it had three sets of railroad tracks because the track gauge was not yet standard. Imagine all the on-and-off loading that had to be done to transfer goods from one rail car to another!

Church of the Epiphany - corner of Main and Lockport Streets was built in 1857. The church's bell, still in use today, was given by Mrs. Roebling in memory of her husband. Mr. Roebling was remembered as a compassionate man by church members: During the time the bridge was being constructed, a terrible cholera epidemic broke out here, and Mr. Roebling was one of the few people willing to risk carrying food and aid to the strickened families. He looked after the workers, who were the worst hit by the epidemic. Later, of course, Roebling went on to design and build the Brooklyn Bridge, and to found the company that supplied the wire cable for the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco's cable cars.

Old German Settlement - includes Pierce, Willow and Linwood Avenues between Main and Whirlpool Streets. Many of the houses in this area were built in the 1850s by German immigrants who came to build the Suspension Bridge, and stayed to work on construction of the "Great Gorge Route" railroad. This line ran along the river between Niagara Falls and Lewiston. Construction began in 1854. Originally most of the houses were built on the back part of the lots. When the sons and daughters grew up and were married, houses were built for some of them on the front part. The two different architectural styles on the same building lot remain to this day. Pierce Ave. still has some good examples. Years ago the "Farmer's Market" was on the west side of Main Street between Willow and Linwood Streets. The market was later moved to Pine Avenue and 18th Street.

The Colt Block - at the Southeast corner of Main and Ontario was built in 1865. Leander Colt returned to the area after finding his fortune out West in the Gold Rush. He built this business block of native gray stone and operated a shoe store and rented out space to other merchants. Over the years the building was the home of local newspapers including the Niagara City Herald, The Sentinel, the Free Press, and the Suspension Bridge Journal. Upstairs, over the stores, was Colt's Hall, the venue for the village parties, concerts, and theatrical performances. The upstairs floors have now been converted into apartments.\

United States Custom House (NR) - at 2445 Whirlpool Street near the bridge to Canada. The building housed the local Collector of Customs office, which had been moved from Lewiston to Suspension Bridge in 1863. At one time imports across the river here were second in value only to imports at New York City, making the post of Collector of Customs here a big political plum. When the Main Post Office was built, the Collector moved there. The local customs district was merged with Buffalo in 1913 and the Collector's headquarters moved to Buffalo. Some space was retained in this building for customs inspectors until the 1960s. The building will be integrated into a multimodal transportation center now in the final design stage..

The Whirlpool Rapids Bridge across from the Custom House was completed in 1897. It was built under and around the old Suspension Bridge, and rail traffic was maintained during constriction. The Michigan Central Railway Company built the second railway-only bridge at this location in 1925. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company now owns that bridge and it is not currently in use..

Tuesday, June 12, 1900 - was an exciting day at the Bridge. Max J. Lasar (The King of Diamond Smugglers according to the Cataract Journal) had duped a Canadian couple coming here on their honeymoon into bringing $75,000 worth of diamonds over the bridge as trinkets without declaring them. , Customs agents got wind of the plot, and arrested the Honeymooners as they crossed the bridge. The Niagara Falls Gazette reported: "Through the kindness of Collector Low, the couple spent the third night of their honeymoon in a hotel at Lockport under special care of Deputy Collector Warner. The groom is held in $3,000, the bride in $5,000 bail,.(as witnesses)…. It is a peculiar honeymoon for them…The penalty for smuggling diamonds is confiscation of the jewels, a large fine, and imprisonment both." Max was arrested in Buffalo and charged with smuggling. The newspapers of the day reported the seizure of the diamonds as the biggest on record. To us today the plot seems like a lot of work to avoid paying the 10 percent duty levied on imported diamonds at the time.

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We thank the Local History Section of the Niagara Falls Public Library (at the intersection of Main, Portage & Pierce) which provided the material on which this tour is based. See them if you want more information.

Copyright 1993 - 2004 Carl P. Slenk. All rights reserved.