South Buffalo: Harbor Inn, Chicago & Ohio Streets 1874 - 2003
In 1870, Patrick Kane opened a bar on this wedge-shaped plot and, in 1874, built
the structure above to be a bar and
boardinghouse. Kane was part of the "saloon boss system," by which
access to waterfront jobs was controlled by bar owners.
Kane allotted jobs to men who rented his rooms, ate his food, and drank his
alcohol. During the heyday of Buffalo's
shipping and milling industry, places like the Harbor Inn prospered, attracting
single men into their 'system.'
The building was designed to exactly fit the sharply angled corner it occupied.
Local historian Tim Tielman
calls its style, "commercial Italianate." The detail above, with its
two cast-iron Corinthian columns, was likely the
original entrance to the building. Eventually, the Harbor Inn was purchased
by Charlotte Salkey in the early 1950's
and then by her brother Edward Malloy and his wife Julie in 1975. Their clients
were truckers instead of dock workers
until business dwindled and the Malloys sold the building in 1995 to Carl Paladino's
Ellicott Development Company.
Mr. Paladino later stated that he had intended to restore the building for the
heritage tourism expected at such time that a
planned Industrial Heritage Trail was opened.
Mr. Paladino had the building demolished on March 29, 2003, after the city issued
one of its notorious "Friday afternoon"
demolition permits which, because of their speedy issue, bypassed review by
city agencies and, particularly, the Preservation
Board. Mr. Paladino defended his decision by declaring that the insurance liability
had grown too great and the Inn's vacant status
had resulted in numerous break-ins and a deteriorating condition. The city vowed
a permanent end to "Friday afternoon" permits
and to require a proper review of all such requests by the appropriate city
offices. (Photo, November 2004)
Only one operating bar remains in Buffalo that was part of the "saloon
boss system." It is the Swannie House, at 170 Ohio Street.