Buffalo Takes on the Ku Klux Klan
On the evening on August 31, 1924, shots rang out in front of 128 Durham Street, near Delavan and Grider in Buffalo. Moments later, Special Officer Edward C. Obertean lay mortally wounded; Klansman Thomas Austin was dead; and Ku Klux Klan recruiter, or Kleagle, had a gunshot in the groin. Armed warfare had broken outContinue reading “Buffalo Takes on the Ku Klux Klan”
Back Cover Blurb for City on the Edge
It is easy to dismiss Buffalo as the poster child of urban decrepitude and dysfunction. It is also wrong.
Who Can Help With a Little Web Design Problem?
As you may know, I run this site as an on-my-own-time, on-my-own-dime project to pull together online resources for researching ancestral & architectural history in Buffalo. I host it at WordPress with a personal account. For $25 a month, I could upgrade to the business plan, which opens up all the WordPress plug-ins, of whichContinue reading “Who Can Help With a Little Web Design Problem?”
Thoughts on Little Libraries
LLs are a creative solution to the fact that in many places, book supply exceeds demand. There are more books than there are collectors or libraries or used bookstores or rummage sales who want or need them.
No, City Hall Did Not Lose Records in a Fire
Originally published at my LinkedIn page in December 2019, then reprinted by BuffaloRising.com, with the title “Buffalo’s Newest Urban Legend” at both sites. Reproduced here with minor edits and updates. Image of Buffalo City Hall courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. The assertion first came to my attention in 2018 in the comment section at a popularContinue reading “No, City Hall Did Not Lose Records in a Fire”
Why We Need Municipal Sidewalk Plowing
This essay originally appeared in The Buffalo News on Feb. 5, 2013 and has since been edited and expanded. Image shows elderly couple walking in street due to unplowed sidewalks. One of them is pushing the other in a wheelchair. Photo taken by author on Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY, January 2020, all rights reserved. WhenContinue reading “Why We Need Municipal Sidewalk Plowing”
Build the Larkin Rowhouses
Originally published in Buffalo Spree, July-August 2006, p. 150 Most architecturally-aware Buffalonians know how the Darwin Martin-Frank Lloyd Wright friendship led to commissions for the now-demolished Larkin Administration building and homes for the top Larkin Company officers. Demolished portions of the Martin House complex are being rebuilt as the site undergoes a complete restoration. Martin alsoContinue reading “Build the Larkin Rowhouses”
Buffalo Hotels and the Niagara Movement: New Evidence Refutes an Old Legend
In 1905, W.E.B DuBois organized the first meeting of the Niagara Movement, a civil rights organization that eventually morphed into the NAACP. Instead of meeting in Buffalo, NY as originally intended, the group crossed the Niagara River and met in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada.
If All of Buffalo Read About the Klan
In 1923-1924, the Ku Klux Klan set up shop in Buffalo. The Klan was not just an organization, it was an ideology of racism, anti-semitism, anti-Catholicism, and nativism. Buffalo rejected that ideology. Buffalo fought back, Buffalo fought dirty, and Buffalo won. This was the one of our finest moments as a city. The Buffalo KKKContinue reading “If All of Buffalo Read About the Klan”
The Truth About Snow in Buffalo
Some Top Ten US Weather Facts 10 Snowiest Cities1. Blue Canyon, CA2. Marquette, MI3. Sault Ste. Marie, MI4. Syracuse, NY5. Caribou, ME6. Mount Shasta, CA7. Lander, WY8. Flagstaff, AZ9. Sexton Summit, OR10. Muskegon, MI 10 Coldest Cities1. International Falls, MN2. Duluth, MN3. Caribou, ME4. Marquette, MI5. Sault Ste. Marie, MI6. Fargo, ND7. Williston, ND8. Alamosa,Continue reading “The Truth About Snow in Buffalo”
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