The George Eastman House Museum

We like to say of the George Eastman House that it is more than you'd imagine. Sure enough, it unfolds in a number of fascinating directions. It is the first museum devoted to photography, motion pictures and the legacy of George Eastman.

George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film, combines the world's leading collection of photography and film with the landmark Colonial Revival mansion and gardens that George Eastman called home from 1905 to 1932. Eastman was the founder of Eastman Kodak Company and is often called the father of popular photography and inventor of motion picture film. George Eastman House, which opened to the public as a museum in 1949, is a grand place...

To read more of Anthony Bannon's story, see page 4 of the Spring 2004 Heritage Magazine. Subscribe now!


 

The Emperor of Elixir: Buffalo's Most Famous Doctor

Dr. Ray Vaughn Pierce was a towering figure in 19th century Buffalo, a man whose name and bearded countenance were familiar to people all over the world, people who relied on Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery. They trusted it to either keep them healthy or cure their ills, covering the whole spectrum of medical problembs, ranging from asthma and hemorrhoids to heart failure and weakened blood.

But that wasn't all.

He built a spectacular combination hospital and hotel on Prospect Ave. near Porter Ave. that opened in 1878. Not only did the Invalids' & Tourists Hotel have the first functioning telephone in Buffalo, among various other devices, contraptions and gadgets, it also had the first elevator. When that building was destroyed in a fire three years later, he was undaunted. He immediately began construction of another on Main Street. It opened in 1883 and was not on quite so grand and remarkable scale, but still with accomodations for 250 patients.

But that wasn't all.

To read the rest of Dick Hirsch's story, see page 10 in the Spring 2004 issue. Subscribe now!

 

Buffalo's Parkside Neighborhood

As the nineteenth century came to a close, America was trying to come to terms with the limitations of urban living. While it was convenient to live near a city center, Americans were getting tired of cramped houses, narrow streets, and lack of open spaces. Buffalo was no exception. A prosperous city in every respect, Buffalo was one of the largest cities in the Great Lakes during the 1880's and was experiencing the downsides of urban living.

Luckily, Buffalo chose to alleviate its urban problems and turned to one of the nation's most talented landscape architects to achieve this goal. Frederick Law Olmsted was a firm believer that people had a basic need for fresh air and open spaces. The city did not meet these needs. However, Olmsted did not feel that people had to live far from the city to benefit from a more natural setting.He wanted to overcome the old crowded streets and small city lots of the past and bring a new spaciousness to urban environments. Olmsted's ideas coupled with the nation's desire to live outside the city gave birth to one of Buffalo's unique neighborhoods, Parkside.

To read more of Meredith Lavelle's story, see page 17 of the Spring 2004 Heritage Magazine. Subscribe now!

 


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