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”
Category Archives: local history
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.
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”
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”
