By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo
Thirty-five years ago this month, The News began celebrating the 100th anniversary of the paper’s starting a daily edition.
In the special section called One Hundred Years of Finance and Commerce, The News recounted the history of a handful of Buffalo’s financial and commercial industries and provided ad space for many companies involved in those industries to tout their own contributions.
Ellsworth Statler came to Buffalo in 1896 to open a restaurant in the world’s largest office building, the Ellicott Square Building. His first hotel was temporary — it was built one block from the Pan-American Exposition.
His second hotel was built in 1908, and a photo of it is shown with the article. The building was still standing in 1980 at the corner of Washington and Swan streets, but it was torn down to make way for Coca-Cola Field.
Of course, the most famous of his hotels in Buffalo, the grand Statler on Niagara Square, was built in 1923. This article deals with the ups and downs of this last address.
