Western New York's Supreme Court Justice

Many in the Buffalo area are aware of the name, William J. Donovan. His name adorns the State Office Building on Main Street. Donovan was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in World War I and went on to become head of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services in World War II). However, Buffalonians are probably less conversant with the name, Robert H. Jackson, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court who also came from this area. Jackson (1892-1954) was a contemporary of Donovan and undoubtedly knew him. Both were prominent Western New Yorkers and both were lawyers and active in Bar Association matters at the state and federal level.

Jackson and Donovan had one other interesting connection during their lifetimes; both were prominent Americans at the War Crimes Trials that ended World War II in Germany. Donovan had been responsible for gathering intelligence and conducting military operations behind enemy lines. General Donovan went to Nuremburg and insured that his intelligence gathering network was put at the disposal of Justice Jackson, who had been assigned by President Truman to organize the trial of the primary Nazi defendents and to be the Chief American Prosecutor. Though friends the two viewed the direction of the trial differently...

To read more of Rolland Kidder's story, see page 4 of the Summer/Fall 2003 Heritage Magazine. Subscribe now!


 

The Oldest Continuous Book Club in America

This summer the oldest continuous book club in America, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC), is celebrating its 125th anniversary. The CLSC was co-founded in 1878 by John Heyl Vincent and Lewis Miller, just four year after they jointly founded the Chautauqua Institution on the shores of Lake Chautauqua in southwestern New York.

The CLSC was founded with the intent to provide continuing education to individuals lacking the opportunity for higher education. It was the physical manifestation of Vincent's oft-quoted belief that, "education, once the peculiar privilege of the few, must in our best earthly estate become the valued possession of the many." "The many" did benefit. More than 8,400 people enrolled the first year; of these, 1,718 members from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, China and Japan successfully completed the course and in the first "Recgonition Day" ceremony of 1882 formally became the "Pioneer Class." More than 250,000 members were enrolled in the first 20 years and by the turn of the century, the CLSC had mroe than 200,000 readers worldwide.

To read the rest of Megan O'Neil's story, see page 12 in the Summer/Fall 2003 issue. Subscribe now!


An Ornament to Pavement: Frank Lloyd Wright's Buffalo Gas Station

The development of the automobile in modern America led to the need for service facilities across the United States. In the late 1920's, Frank Lloyd Wright was asked to develop his ideas for this important new type of building for former client and friend, William R. Heath. Heath had commissioned an extensive prairie house from Wright, built in 1903 on Soldiers Place in Buffalo. Formerly an executive of the Larkin Co., Heath was the treasurer of Elmer E. Harris & Co. in Buffalo, a franchisee of the Tidewater Oil Co., better known as Tydol. The resulting exchange of ideas and designs led ultimately to the construction of a modern filling station many years later. Seventy years after its conception, the original station designed for Buffalo may be realized on the campus of the Buffalo Transportation/Pierce Arrow Museum in downtown Buffalo.

To read more of Patrick J. Mahoney's story, see page 18 of the Summer/Fall 2003 Heritage Magazine. Subscribe now!

 

 


 

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