Western New York Heritage Magazine

Sheldon Thompson, the first popularly elected mayor of Buffalo. was an ubiquitous, near-mythic figure in the development of the Buffalo waterfront and the Great Lakes maritime trade. His is the story of an adventuous and canny businessman who successfully transformed obstacles into opportunities time and time again. A shipbuilding pioneer, Thompson, who became owner of one of the largest Erie Canal packet lines, owned more lake vessels, of every description, than anyone on the Great Lakes in the 1830s. Of the first five steamboats on Lake Erie, he was the owner of four. He was an early presence on the Central Wharf at the outlet of Prime Slip, which he himself had built.

To read more of Lee Poole's story, see page 26 of the Spring 2004 Heritage Magazine. Subscribe now!

Shea's: Parapet Lost - Parapet Regained

The Shea's O'Connell Preservation Guild preserves, maintains and improves both the physical property and financial integrity of Shea's Performing Arts Center. The Guild is restoring the facade of the 646 Main Street National Register-listed site to its original beauty and grandeur of 1926, when the elaborate movie house opened under the direction of Michael Shea...

A major component of the ongoing exterior project is restoration of the building's facade parapet to its original 1926 design.

The original parapet, with its ornate baroque design, was made of terra cotta, a popular building material used in major construction projects of the 1920s. It was extremely heavy and placed a great weight burden on the supporting structure. As early as 1929, the weight of the parapet started causing problems. Mortar joints began to loosen and the inherent danger of the facade falling down onto Main Street became a stark reality. In 1933, local contractors were hired to remove the parapet from the building. Regrettably, all of the materials were scrapped. Contractors, however, left a segment of the original design and capped it with metal coping. This is how the facade has remained to this day.

Fast-forward 70 years to 2003...

To read the rest of Jeffrey Bagel's story, see page 44 in the Spring 2004 issue. Subscribe now!

The Buffalo Bicycle Clubhouse: A Hidden Landmark

In the early days of bicycling, Buffalo's young men were quick to take on the new adventure of cycling. Unknowingly, these men were the local pioneers of all of our personal mechanical modern transportation. Dr. H.T. Appleby was perhaps the oldest of the few who first started the Buffalo Bicycle Club in February of 1879. He was introduced to the bicycle at the 1876 Phildelphia Exhibition, where he (on a dare) rode an English high wheel and, unfortunately, injured his knee. He later unofficially claimed to be the first bicycle rider in America.

Apparently that injury did not leave a lasting impression that would turn him away from bicycling. On February 23, 1879, he and three other Buffalo residents organized the Buffalo Bicycle Club. It was chartered in April 1880 as the ninth bicycle club in America...

To read more of Carl F. Burgwardt's story, see page 48 of the Spring 2004 Heritage Magazine. Subscribe now!

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